Committee
Little King & Queen Contest
Tom was born at the then French Hospital in Los Angeles Chinatown delivered by the well known Dr Julius Sue. Mr. Eng grew up in Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, while experiencing life in my parents’ Chinese laundry and Chinese food-to-go restaurant.
After graduating from UCLA with a civil engineering degree, Tom worked for Los Angeles County Department of County Engineer-Facilities which later was renamed Public Works.
In 1984, Tom volunteered at the LA Olympics as a course marshal in the women’s and men’s marathon. This inspired me to run the LA Chinatown Firecracker 10K Run and I consequently joined the committee and was race director in 1991. Tom then joined other organizations: Friends of the Chinatown Library, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Chinatown Public Safety Association, OCA-Organization of Chinese Americans, MANAA- Media Action Network for Asian Americans, CAM-Chinese American Museum and CACA-Chinese American Citizens Alliance. Some of these he served or is still serving as a board member.
In 1991, Mr. Tom Eng joined the chaperone team for the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown and have continued in that capacity. He has attended the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant every since since 1984 and helped photographed all the important moments of the Miss LA Chinatown Court’s activities. Tom has also traveled with the Court on twelve goodwill trips.
Over the years, Tom has traveled to various US cities and spent time in Chinatowns in New York City (Manhattan and Queens), Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Oakland, San Francisco as well in Vancouver and Toronto. This gives him insight by comparing them with our Chinatown.
After 40-1/2 years of service with Los Angeles County, Mr. Eng is now retired and currently manages the family properties and attend various events to continue to enrich his life experiences.
Saerlaith Anying Dunn first got involved with the CCCLA at the age of 5 when she was crowned Little Queen at the 2006 Little King & Queen Contest. She attended San Marino High School where she participated in extra curriculars such as musical theater, speech and debate mock trial. She then continued those extra curriculars at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn where and majored in Political Science. She then won the Queen title at the 2024 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant, following in her mother’s footsteps
She enjoys spending her free time learning more about and advocating for the Chinese community, and is an active member of her local Chinese Club as well as MANAA. She is also a passionate animal rights advocate and a decade-long volunteer for Zooh Corner Rabbit Rescue. She was awarded her Girl Scout Gold Award for producing a workbook educating new rabbit owners about rabbit care.
Saerlaith has strong roots in Chinatown as her grandmother, Ngoot Chan, got her first job in America at Phoenix Bakery in Chinatown. Phoenix Bakery later sponsored her mother at the 1982 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant. Her reign has been a transformative experience that has taught her many lessons about leadership, friendship, teamwork and most of all resilience. A quote she lives by is, "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History".
Mamie Hong Weinberg is a lifelong resident of Chinatown who attended Castelar Elementary School, Nightingale Junior High, and Belmont High School. During her teenage years, she founded the Blue Heaven Dancers, a Chinese Folk Dance group based in Chinatown. Besides coordinating the performances, Ms. Weinberg was also responsible for choreography and costume design and was a member of the Asian American Ballet Company, and was later invited to join the Hwa Yi Chinese Ethnic Dance Company. Ms. Weinberg attended California State University Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Clothing and Textiles. After graduation, Mamie worked for the Broadway Department Store, and later for the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Mamie is married, and the proud mother of 18-year-old twin girls, one who was the 2013 Little Queen. Mamie’s father and his family owned and operated Hong Kong Low restaurant in Chinatown, also home to the infamous punk and New Wave club, Hong Kong Cafe. Among her father's many altruistic endeavors, he served as the President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the 1960s, and Mamie feels honored to continue with that legacy in serving the Chinatown community. Mamie has been committed to volunteer work in Chinatown for decades having been a founding member of the Friends and Alumni of Castelar Elementary School (FACES), Chinatown Resident Representative and 4th President of the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council, and a Park Advisory Board member for Alpine Recreation Center, and plan to continue with that process.
Ms. Eliza Tsui has been in the hospitality industry for over 18 years, and currently is a Business Consultant for the Art District Los Angeles Regional Center, with Art District Center LLC . She has been a Board Member of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles since 2002 and leads business development roles for the Chamber among its Chinese constituent members. She also previously served as the Director of Mandarin Club of Hilton Universal City (1998-2004), Director of Catering for Hilton San Gabriel from (2004-2010), and Director of Catering for LA Grand Downtown (2010-2011).