Jimmy O. Yang bought a used Toyota Corolla for $1,500 and drove it around Los Angeles in preparation for his role as an overlooked Asian-American citizen in the hinterlands of Chinatown.
It was lemony, to say the least.
The driver’s side door did not work. There were no power windows. At one point, he braked too hard and struggled to stop in time, colliding with a Tesla whose owner was furious, but Yang noticed him and asked him to appear on his show. .
But the most memorable encounter, Yang says, was when he parked his car at the studio gate and the security guard on duty refused to let him into the premises.
Jimmy O. Yang was reminded of prevailing attitudes toward Asian Americans when security guards refused him entry when he arrived at a Hollywood studio to film “Interior Chinatown.” I remember. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/TNS
“I’m number one on the call sheet, but she wouldn’t give me the time. She was like, ‘Just pull over and call the person who brought you here.’ . If you can’t do that, you have to go. She was so rude to me because I was in this car,” the actor, author and comedian recalls.
This experience made Yang understand how people tend to look down on Asian Americans, especially those who are economically disadvantaged. “It’s sad, and it influenced a lot of my decisions on the show,” he says.
