There is a sign outside the China Rose restaurant on East Speedway that has taken some longtime customers by surprise:
"Carol retiring."
On Friday, Carol Hunter, who opened the restaurant 26 years ago, will serve her final meals.
"At night I'll turn off the lights and say goodbye," she said Monday as she started her final week in the work world. "I had a lot of fun for a lot of years, but I've come to a point where I never wanted to work past 60."
Hunter turns 60 in September, around the time that her husband, Tucson radiologist and amateur astronomer Tim Hunter, will step down as chairman of the University of Arizona department of radiology and possibly retire by year's end.
"I'm going to retire a little earlier than him," she said. "I think I worked long enough."
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China Rose was Hunter's second Chinese restaurant in Tucson. The Hong Kong native ran the first one, Rose Garden on Campbell Avenue, for a few years in the early 1980s with family members, who eventually took it over. She opened China Rose at 5101 E. Speedway in 1985 and the 100-seat restaurant quickly caught on with diners with its menu of Szechuan and Cantonese dishes.
About 10 years in, Hunter added a night sky mural to the ceiling of one room, where she also hosted live smooth jazz performances on Friday nights.
She adorned the walls with astronomy pictures, inspired by her husband's interest in the planets, stars and night sky. (Tim Hunter writes Caliente's weekly Spy Sky column.)
In recent years, though, business has slowed with the economic downturn that has yet to loosen its grip. So when Hunter got an offer for her property from her neighbors, she decided to go for it. The building will be torn down later this summer so that the auto shop next door can expand, she said.
"It's hard, but I made a good fortune for years, and I want to pass it along to somebody else," she said. "It's a good corner and a good location."
Hunter said she's planning a retirement party for longtime customers, family members and friends - some of whom are coming from California. She will serve a menu that draws from customer favorites, including the spicy sesame chicken and Mongolian beef, earthy walnut shrimp and house-favorite lo mein. A jazz trio will perform.
She plans to spend her retirement traveling, doing volunteer work and taking up arts and crafts.
