Penny Wong has been Chinatown royalty ever since 1948 when she won the first-ever Miss Chinatown Pageant, and now she’s gearing up to celebrate her 100th birthday.

We’re not sure if you’re familiar with the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant, which these days is a lead-up event to the Lunar New Year Parade on Chinese New Year weekend. It’s a charmingly old-school affair, with tiaras and opulent, glitzy dresses. But it was once its own stand-alone event, originally in 1948 just a swimsuit competition intended to be called the “Bathing Beauty Contest.” It was renamed the Miss Chinatown Pageant, and its first winner was Penny Wong.

KGO caught up with Penny Wong this week, who’s still alive and kicking at an assisted living facility in Millbrae. And the reason KGO caught up with Penny Wong is because the first-ever Miss Chinatown is about to celebrate her 100th birthday.

“It was fun to be in it, I did not expect to win,” Wong told KGO. “I just walked around where people could see us. It’s not easy to go up there and show your whole body.”

And even so, she won that 1948 swimsuit competition in a one-piece. A one-piece!

You can learn more about the life of Polly Wong in the above mini-documentary Miss Penny Wong, which was shot around the time of her 93rd birthday. “This crown was made of cardboard,” Wong says in the documentary, looking back at her vintage photo album of keepsakes. “I don’t think anybody ever wore bathing suits except to go swimming.”

And what was it like being the first Miss Chinatown?

“After I won, I went out every night, partying, partying. That’s how I got fired,” Wong says. “I never got to bed before 5 o’clock. So you can imagine, I cannot get up to go to work in the office.”

Penny Wong’s actual 100th birthday will be April 12, 2025. We’ll see if she stays up partying until 5 am.

Related: The Chinese New Year ‘Year of the Snake’ Statues Are Now Up in SF [SFist]

Images: Chinatown Shorts: You Are Here Series via Youtube