Happy Happy. He’s this old Chinese man with thick glasses and a grey moustache, wearing a straw coolie hat. He says repeatedly “happy happy happy!”
He is usually seen standing on a stepladder holding an enormous sign. The sign is made from a thick posterboard, like you’d use to make a project in grade school. It’s generally covered with all kinds of incoherent ranting about news stories.
Happy Happy used to hang out on Sproul when I was at Cal. For some reason, he and a number of other “street personalities” moved to San Francisco (including Frank “12 Galaxies” Chu). Nowadays Happy Happy stands on Grant in the middle of Chinatown.
Back in those days (the late 1990’s) he’d switch between “Happy Happy Happy” and “*evil celebrity* no good for America!” Example:
HAPPY HAPPY: Tonya Harding– no good for America! Michael Jackson– no good for America!
BRAIN: you may have a point there.
So the other day I was walking around Chinatown and I saw him there, so I thought I’d say Hi.
HAPPY HAPPY: Happy happy happy!
BRAIN: Happy happy happy!
HAPPY HAPPY: Happy happy happy!
BRAIN: Tonya Harding no good for America!!
HAPPY HAPPY: ?!?
BRAIN: Do you remember Tonya Harding?
HAPPY HAPPY: Yes!!! Tonya Harding!
BRAIN: Tonya Harding no good for America!
HAPPY HAPPY: Tonya Harding no good for America!
BRAIN: Yeah!
HAPPY HAPPY: Good to see you again! Happy happy!
He was beaming– I doubt he actually recognized me, but he seemed to key that phrase with something he’d said in the past.
Maybe he was just thrilled someone remembered what he was saying over ten years ago.