An interesting story about Detroit restaurant owner Stanley & his bestfriend Fredrick

[Sehv313]

I just got some interesting info on Stanley Hong from my family members. Stanley Hong [[of Asian decent) served in the war with a [[African American) man by the name of Fredrick Potts. They became best friends and Stanley came back home after the war [[I don't know which one) and founded his Stanley's Chinese Food restaurants.

Stanley's Asian-themed home at 961 W Boston.


In 1960, Stanley Hong purchased a plot of land in the Boston-Edison neighborhood on the corner of Hamilton & Boston Blvd. and had his home built from the ground up with stained wood and brick at 961 W. Boston Blvd. [[https://waynecountymi-web.tylerhost....DOCSEARCH582S1)



Mr. Potts Asian-themed home at 18031 Justine


In 1962, Fredrick Potts, like his best friend Stanley also purchased a plot of land on the Eastside, in the Krainz Woods neighborhood on Justine St. & Nevada E and had his home built on a smaller scale but in the a similar "Asian style flat roofed home" with a brick facade as his best friend at 18031 Justine St. [[https://waynecountymi-web.tylerhost....DOCSEARCH582S1)
Mr. Potts passed in a nursing home a few years before the pandemic.

I thought it was an interesting thing that is pretty rare in Detroit.

[Neilr]

Stanley Hong lead an interesting life. His home, pictured above by Shev313, was designed by Nathan Johnson, a noted architect in Detroit at a time when there were very few Black architects with their own firms in Detroit. Mr. Johnson himself lived in a large neo Tudor/Craftsman home at the other end of the block.



He also designed Stanley's Mannia Restrauant on East Baltimore for Stanley Hong. Nathan Johnson designed a number of similar, but smaller, houses to the Hong's house in the Russell Woods neighborhood.

Stanley Hong and Coleman Young were childhood friends having gone to the same school together. When slanderous stories started spreading about the food at Stanley's restaurant, Coleman Young publicly stood up for his friend.
https://historicdetroit.org/building...-s-mannia-cafe

[Sehv313]

Mr. Johnson’s home is beautiful. I remember Mr. Potts being a calm and chill guy and his home being a tri-level with a water fountain as soon as you walk in. The flat roofs were never pitched so water would often sit on top of the roof and garage. I had a chance to purchase it 3 years ago but the back taxes alone were too high for my initial investment. I wonder if Stanley’s old Boston Blvd home was a tri-level as well or maybe that was his own blueprint. Ironically, My family knew Mr. Potts and his son a Detroit firefighter, and I personally know the son of the current owner of Stanley’s Boston Blvd home but I’ve never been inside. Detroit is so big, yet so small.

[rooms222]

Thank you all for posting this. When there have been past discussions about these houses, I really wanted to see them, and could not find them online. I really miss Stanley's Other Place. It is the only one of the restaurants I knew, and even up until the end, it was a special place for me.