It's mooncakes and lanterns galore in China, as Monday marked the Mid-Autumn Festival. The traditional festival is associated with family reunions. Many people spend the three-day holiday in their hometowns to celebrate with family meals. People make and enjoy traditional mooncakes for dessert, as they sit among lanterns to watch the full moon. Celebrations happen across China and Asia and in Chinese communities overseas. One bakery in Los Angeles has been making mooncakes for decades. CGTN's May Lee has their story.

It's mid-autumn festival season, which means this modest bakery in LA's Chinatown is pounding out mooncakes by the hundreds literally.

Phoenix Bakery is a historic landmark that's celebrating its 80th anniversary. Chinese immigrant Fung Chow Chan started the business in 1938.

KATHY CHAN CEPPI, CHAIRMAN & CEO PHOENIX BAKERY "Rumor has it he started out sweeping back rooms and studied and my mother said people always celebrate with sweets and we sort of miss the sweets we had in China so how about we try a bakery and that's sort of how it grew."

And grew it did, but Phoenix Bakery has always been a family run business. Kathy Chan Ceppi along with her brothers and cousins grew up in the bakery and some are still part of the business.

KATHY CHAN CEPPI, CHAIRMAN & CEO PHOENIX BAKERY "For as long as I can remember I was here and as soon as you could do something useful you were put to work. It was a family business."

The bakery is best known for its legendary strawberry cake, a simple yellow sponge cake with layers of fresh strawberries and whipped cream. This is a cake that has stood the test of time.

"This is the cake that has lasted 80 years."

YOULEN CHAN, HEAD OF PRODUCTION PHOENIX BAKERY "Yes, this is the cake that my father created that's been in existence for 80 years."

"And will obviously keep going?

But there's much more to Phoenix Bakery and it's founder than just cakes and cookies. Despite having a successful business, Fung Chow Chan couldn't get bank loans because of discriminatory laws, so in 1962 he opened Cathay Bank, the first Chinese American owned bank in Southern California.

Ten years later, Chan started East West Bank, which provided mortgages to Chinese home buyers. Both financial institutions now have global operations with 2018 assets totaling 36 billion dollars for East West and 16 billion for Cathay.

Without a doubt, both banks helped change lives at a time when Chinese immigrants didn't have many options.

KELLY CHAN, VP OF FINANCE PHOENIX BAKERY "They gave economic opportunity, it gave them the ability to buy a house and become mainstream."

But the Chan family never let go of Phoenix Bakery, symbol of hard work, sacrifice and community and it's all because of one man with a vision.

He was a maverick, he was a visionary. He could be difficult because he was a visionary but he had good ideas and made a lot of them happen.

And to think it all started with a cake. May Lee, CGTN, Los Angeles.