`Trans' continental fruit cart

The Sears kerosene oven that heats up aromatic sweet potatoes is just not warm enough for Lang and Dam Tran. With the weather getting too cold, the fruit and vegetable vendors on 40th Street will take a break, starting tomorrow. The Trans will vacation with their two children in California, returning January 15 in time for the end of Penn's winter break. Sidewalk vendors like the Trans generally take a few days off to regroup after working intense hours. Sami Dakko, who runs Rami's food cart on the corner of 40th and Locust streets, takes shorter and more frequent breaks. Dakko, 61, said he went to a casino in Rhode Island for a few days last week. "Uh oh," said third year dental student Paul Connolly when he heard that the Trans would be gone for a month. "I better stock up now." The Trans deserve a rest. Lang Tran wakes up at 4 a.m. and picks up produce from a warehouse before driving his food cart to 40th and Locust to be ready for business by 8 a.m. His wife Dam -- known to students as "the fruit lady" or "the vegetable lady" -- meets him there, ready to offer students some of the freshest natural delicacies around. Lang, 42, said he left Vietnam for Boston in 1980 for ideological as well as practical reasons. "In my country, Communism came over... and [I could] hardly make a living," he said. In the States, he earned money at a hotel, doing laundry. A year later, Dam, 41, also left Vietnam to join the electronics work force in Boston. The two met at a mutual friend's house. Lang smiled as he reminisced. "I see her, and I fall in love with her," he said. They married two years later. Lang's cousin, who sold fruit and vegetables on Market Street, encouraged the Trans to move to Philadelphia. "This is better, more money," he said, adding that he is happy in Philadelphia. "Got to work hard [because] this is mine." Students rave about the Trans' truck, where Lang lets them try grapes before buying them. "[She is] close to school, on my way home. [The fruit and vegetables are] cheap and pretty decent quality," Connolly said. College senior Dori Kamlet also frequents the fruit truck. "If it is almost a pound, she doesn't charge you for a full pound," Kamlet said. "They add very quickly and very well."

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