He was the owner of Johnny Kan's restaurant, which opened in 1953, and published a book on Cantonese cuisine, Eight Immortal Flavors, which was praised by Craig Claiborne and James Beard.

Because his parents could not afford the tuition, he began working at a grocery store (Sam Hing and Company, 1040 Grant) instead of attending junior high school.

[2] Sam Hing also roasted peanuts; Kan advertised in Variety at his brother's suggestion, and earned a lucrative contract with Barnum and Bailey.

[4] Kan left the restaurant to serve in the Army during World War II,[5] enlisting on July 23, 1943, and being honorably discharged on November 26 of the same year.

World-famous celebrities, movie stars, the rich and the powerful came to Kan's, and their appearances were written up by San Francisco columnist Herb Caen."

He worked with three Chinese-American friends (George Hall, John C. Young (brothers-in-law who started Wing Nien Foods, a soy sauce company) and George Chow who had helped acquire the very important liquor license - to try to make his restaurant both respectable and modern...In the mid-1950s, Hall...put together a revolving tabletop that became the pivotal element of Kan's new banquet room.

And of course, in the years since that initial education period, we've introduced our friends to Peking Duck and many other complex dishes enjoyed by Cantonese people on the mainland, in Hong Kong, and here in San Francisco.

Celebrities who dined at Kan's regularly included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Marilyn Monroe, and Herb Caen, who helped to publicize the restaurant in his column.

[10] Jeanne Phillips, best known for helping her mother with and then taking over the advice column Dear Abby, confesses she "had a huge crush on the maitre d', and the food was good, too.

That restaurant closed at the end of 2014, and the land was intended to be redeveloped as an extended-stay hotel which would host a smaller Ming's in the lobby by 2016.

[20] Kan and his wife Helen were one of six couples who purchased the neglected Hakone Gardens in 1961 and restored the site before selling it to the city of Saratoga in 1966.