Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in cooperation with Moving Theatre, Carnegie Community Centre and radha yoga & eatery presents

RESISTANCEDISPLACEMENTSURVIVALSOLIDARITY STRUGGLECOMMUNITYHUMANRIGHTSWELL-BEING NEIGHBOURHOOD STORIES QUESTIONS COMMON GROUNDSHAREDEXPERIENCEIDENTITY/HOMEKNOWLEDGE ORALHISTORY | WALKS | FILMS | MUSIC | STORYSHARING FRIDAY JUNE 19 - SUNDAY JUNE 21 2009 Carnegie Community Centre | radha yoga & eatery | DTES streets Greetings Eastside Stories: The People. The Voices.

The Carnegie Com- When Savannah munity Centre Asso- and I fi rst moved June 19 to 21, 2009 ciation welcomes you. into the Downtown Having heard and Eastside in the mid Living memories of community Most events are free admission or pay- shared some of the 1970s we came inform our present and contribute what-you-can. Please consult each event stories of the DTES, across the now leg- to our future description for ticket information. my appreciation of endary book Open- others who struggle ing Doors – Carole has altered me. Understanding history; Itter and Daphne Various locations in the dTeS realizing kinship; developing compas- Marlatt’s extraor- The Downtown Eastside Heart of the sion: life changing indeed. Something dinary gold mine Presented by the Downtown Eastside City Festival and the Eastside Stories else, though. Maybe it is the recognition of oral history as told by East End resi- Heart of the City Festival, in cooperation Project acknowledge and honour that that it is about we and not I. dents. Opening Doors inspired us with with Vancouver Moving Theatre, our Eastside neighbourhood lies within Come to share a story, to hear personal fi rst hand accounts of our neighbours Carnegie Community Centre and the traditional territories of the Coast views of life. Come to learn about the peo- and their families: the collective histo- radha yoga & eatery Salish people. ple, what we’ve done, the places that have ry of the East End, its struggles, hopes helped shape this community. From events and dreams. long gone by, to what we are up to now, Now, over 30 years later, we feel come to hear what we have in common. compelled to join with our commu- Matthew Matthew, President, CCCA nity to give voice to residents past and present, to hear fi rst hand their stories, “Radha” is pleased to experiences, struggles and accomplish- support Eastside Stories ments; to hear what they have done www.heartofthecityfestival.com or call 604-628-5672 and to participate in – and what they are doing today – to the arts of the Down- survive and build community. town Eastside neigh- Eastside Stories is a community bourhood. We welcome kitchen table – with elders and friends Table of contents you to this story-sharing sharing stories – around which we sit, weekend that gives listen, learn, and participate. Join in the Remembering People in Vancouver’s East End ...... 4 voice to its residents – their struggles, conversation, ask questions, dig deep, Schedule of Events ...... 5 hopes and dreams. enquire into events or strategies taken, Telling Stories ...... 5 and contribute your own voice to the The Radha building has many stories Walks & Story Sharing ...... 6-9 gold mine of Eastside stories. embedded in its walls. It has lived here East End Blues & All That Jazz ...... 10 for 100 years longer than we have and Thanks to all the organizers, the par- Films ...... 12 holds the spirit of all the people who ticipants and community partners who have walked through its doors. have contributed with such enthusiasm From Oklahoma to the East End ...... 13 We are particularly pleased to host a to Eastside Stories. Selections from Interview with Kat Norris...... 14 performance of East End Blues and All See you around the kitchen table ev- Visual Arts ...... 15 that Jazz, a musical telling of the black eryone! Excerpts from “Confessions of a Laundryman’s Son” ...... 16 history of the neighbourhood. Hearing Terry Hunter Living Stories ...... 18 these stories through music is such a de- Artistic Producer, Remembering Hal ...... 20 lightful way to learn! DTES Heart of the City Festival Upcoming and Ongoing ...... 21 With special thanks to Vancouver Executive Director, Credits & Thanks ...... 22 Moving Theatre and the Carnegie Cen- Vancouver Moving Theatre tre for your inspiring community work. Bibliography ...... 23 Swami Lalitananda Radha Yoga & Eatery 2 3 Remembering (and recording an oral history of) people Schedule of Events Sunday June 21 10am – 11:30am in Vancouver’s East End Fr iday June 19 Historical Walking Tour Caught in the Middle 3:30pm – 5pm meet at Vancouver Police Museum One of the questions that was asked infections. In terms of educational op- Bruce Eriksen Heritage Walking Tour 240 E. Cordova to our elders in 1978-79 was about the portunities, the chances were limited. It meet at Carnegie front steps, 401 Main 1930s, during the Great Depression. didn’t matter how smart you were, you 11:30am – 1pm 7pm – 9pm How did they cope? We heard many might have to leave school by Grade 8 CCAP Walking Tour Story Sharing many stories of families managing, but (some even younger) in order to help Sites of Empowerment Fight for Community Recognition barely. There was no actual welfare as out your family. Not being able to read meet at Carnegie front steps, 401 Main we know it today — instead there was very well was often masked over an Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre a line up at a downtown depot where entire lifetime. 401 Main 1pm – 3pm you sent the strongest family member Story Sharing - Three Guys and an Alley to haul home a satchel of potatoes, Listening and learning from our elders Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre sometimes a satchel of turnips. Shoes is a tradition that never stops. I learned Sa turday June 20 401 Main were handed down, as were all cloth- about resilience. I learned about the ne- 10am – 11:30am 3pm – 5pm ing as kids grew up. Every yard had a cessity of family. I was already 38 years Chinatown Walking Tour Story Sharing - Standing Up for Community vegetable garden; some had chickens old when Daphne Marlatt and I started Every Building has a Story Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre and ducks. Few had cars — the streetcar listening and recording old timers. I meet at Chinese Cultural Centre 401 Main (a passenger rail car) got you around felt like I was finally “growing up.” I 50 E. Pender if you could afford the fare, otherwise remember laughing a lot at the remark- 7:30pm – 9pm people walked. In Vancouver’s East End, able insight and humour I heard from 11:30am – 1pm East End Blues & All That Jazz few had telephones and those who did every one of them. Threads of Wisdom: radha yoga & eatery, 728 Main shared theirs with their neighbours. Stories of Hope in Shadows Nobody had a camera. Carole Itter Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre May 2009 401 Main There were mostly wood burning Telling Stories stoves. So there were woodpiles every- 1pm – 3pm We need to tell our own stories. where. And the woodstove heated the In 1979, with poet Daphne Marlatt, Story Sharing If we don’t tell our stories, houses, at least partially. More than one artist, writer and long-time Strathcona It’s a Long Story… people with power person mentioned the mold that grew resident Carole Itter compiled and Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre will tell our stories for us, up the bedroom walls. In most families, edited the historic collection of oral 401 Main and we won’t like what they say. the older children managed to find history, Opening Doors: Vancouver’s When we tell our stories, 3pm – 5pm we reach out to each other after school jobs, maybe delivering stuff East End, which now resides in the BC Everyday Heroes: Digital Stories and build community. by bicycle or piling wood for an elderly Provincial Archives. Carnegie 3rd floor Learning Centre We share our pain. widow. There were no adequate pen- 401 Main We share our hope. sions for seniors then. And some were We share our laughter, even carrying old wounds from World 6pm – 7:30pm and our determination. War One. Videos – Hogan’s Alley, CBC Interview When we tell our stories Because the whispers of those who Clips, Bamboula we draw our own maps, There is always the risk of idealizing an have passed on continue in the wind, Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main and we question earlier time. For certain, medical ad- their voices must be heard and the the maps of the powerful. vances were limited, as was access to a 7:30pm – 9pm struggle must continue East End Blues & All That Jazz Each of us has something to tell, doctor. Many used remedies from their something to teach. Their plight and our plight is connected. Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main own culture, brought from other lands. We speak the language of the heart – This was a time before antibiotics were Stephen Lytton, The Soul of Vancouver here – in the Downtown Eastside – developed. It was not unusual to die of the soul of Vancouver. Sandy Cameron

4 5 Walks & Story Sharing • Friday June 19 Walks & Story Sharing • Saturday June 20

Bruce Eriksen Heritage Walking and community visionary; Jean Swan- Every Building has a Story: It’s a Long Story . . . Tour With Bob Sarti son, long time community anchor; Chinatown Walking Tour 1pm – 3pm 3:30pm – 5pm Sheila Baxter, anti-poverty activist, With Maureen de Montezuma Carnegie Community Centre Meet at steps of Carnegie Community author and grandmother; Ian MacRae 10am - 11:30am 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free Centre, 401 Main, Pay what you can who rolled up his sleeves with DERA; Meet at Chinese Cultural Centre I think it’s important for our society Take a walk with Bob Sarti and hear and reporter, writer and anarchist Bob 50 E. Pender, Pay what you can to understand that each person down the stories of people, events and places Sarti. Moderator: Matthew Matthew, A walk through its streets can give a here has their story. Kat Norris that made headlines in the turbu- President of Carnegie Community glimpse into the history of Chinatown. How far do we go back? When did we lent early 1970s. Bob first walked the Centre Association. The evening opens Ancestral families and stories are tied to meet? Do we know the stories of the streets of the DTES as a reporter for with the local hand-drum group Har- the neighbourhood and some of the old- people who surround us? Share life sto- the Vancouver Sun interviewing the mony of Nations. est buildings in Vancouver can be found ries with Norma Jean Baptiste, Sandra legendary DERA founder and social within these blocks. “There’s not a build- Pronteau and Bill Quinn, all long-time activist Bruce Eriksen. Bruce fought to ing that doesn’t have a story.” A retired Downtown Eastside residents who transform the image of Vancouver’s street nurse who worked in the DTES, are artists and Aboriginal. They’ll talk lowest-income neighbourhood from Maureen de Montezuma has been lead- about their lives in the DTES, what they ‘Skid Road’ to a residential community ing Chinatown walking tours for over nine have done to survive, and what they in its own right. Recently retired to years with the Chinese Cultural Centre. have done to help build and to support Hornby Island, Bob lived and volun- their community. Moderator: actress, teered in the DTES for over 20 years Threads of Wisdom: writer and mother Priscillia Tait. and wrote last fall’s popular theatrical Stories of Hope in Shadows sensation Bruce The Musical. 11:30am – 1pm Everyday Heroes Carnegie Community Centre 3pm - 5pm Sandy Cameron The Fight for Community Recognition 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free Carnegie Community Centre 7pm, Carnegie Community Centre For the past six years, Pivot Legal Soci- 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free ety’s annual Hope in Shadows photog- The SHIRE digital storytelling project The story of the ‘Fight for Community raphy contest, and the publication of was developed by the Carnegie Learn- Recognition’ is the story of amazing a calendar, has empowered residents ing Centre and the Carnegie Seniors people who always believed in and un- of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to capture the housing and isola- derstood what the Downtown Eastside by providing them with disposable tion experiences of our DTES Seniors. is all about, and who refused to let cameras to document their lives. Since Although originally focused on hous- stereotypes undermine it. Libby Davies the contest’s inception, participants ing, the stories that emerged were In 1975, the newly-formed Downtown have taken over 20,000 images of their the ones that needed to be told. This Eastside Resident’s Association (DERA) neighbourhood. Working with this collection of digital stories highlights demanded official recognition for the archive, Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome ordinary people doing courageous acts area as a residential community rather collected personal stories behind these of humanity on the streets, in the ho- than “Skid Road’. Thinking outside the stunning photographs and compiled tels, and organizations of our commu- box, they called on a host of creative, them into the award-winning book nity. These actions defy discrimination, humourous, publicity-friendly and Hope in Shadows: Stories and Pho- create opportunities, and maintain tographs of Vancouver’s Downtown dignity. Come and view these short hard hitting strategies. Their years Carnegie Volunteers, circa 1990 of struggle achieved bylaws requir- Eastside. These stories open doors into video vignettes with the storymakers ing hotel sprinkler systems; lighting the proud community. We welcome and share your own story. in alleyways; safe and secure social Vancouver’s new poet laureate Brad The project was funded by the New housing; and the establishment of the Cran and co-editor Gillian Jerome Horizons for Seniors Fund and greatly Carnegie Community Centre. Sharing  to share their experiences collecting assisted by Homeless Nation. personal stories about what the DTES these stories, along with participating community had to do to be recognized writers and photographers Helen Hill, are Sandy Cameron, historian, poet Rosalynn Humberstone and Tom Quirk. Helen Hill 6 7 Three Guys AND an Alley: Walks & Story Sharing • Sunday June 21 Growing up around Hogan’s Alley 1pm - 3pm Carnegie Community Centre 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free Hogan’s Alley was a local nickname for an elusive 8-foot alley running through this neighbourhood in the area of  Union and Prior. During the 1940s and 50s, the muddy alley passed behind Hayne Wai backyard gardens, stables, homes and businesses owned by Italian, Chinese city officials to abandon urban renew- and black entrepreneurs, but with the al in favour of rehabilitating existing construction of the Georgia Viaduct homes. This resulted in a change in the in the 70s, most of the area was way the City made decisions. Today destroyed. Join three men who lived there is more citizen involvement but in the neighbourhood as youngsters: we need to stay vigilant of the pro- Hogan’s Alley, 1958 Randy Clark walked across the street cess. Shirley Chan, CEO of BOB who

photo courtesy of Vancouver Archives to work at his grandma Vie’s Chicken continues to stand up for the commu- Caught in the Middle: Historical Walking Tour and Steak House (209 Union) before nity; author and scholar Richard Nann; With Chris Mathieson growing up to become a Vancouver and Hayne Wai, long-time community 10am - 11:30am educator; performer and technician advocate, instructor and humorist, will Meet at Vancouver Police Museum, 240 E. Cordova Elwin Xie lived and worked at his share some of their experiences and Pay what you can family’s Union Laundry; and actor Chic effective strategies. Moderator: Larry In the City of Vancouver the attitude toward ‘vice’ has changed over time, Gibson, who played in the alley, is Wong, writer, curator and historian. perhaps most notably in the Downtown Eastside. Society is currently examin- the son of Leona and Sylvester Risby, ing the idea that vice is not just a moral issue but is linked to poverty, health, proprietors of the Country Club eatery. social changes and shifts in governing policies. Law enforcement officers can get Moderator: actor, director and writer caught in the middle of struggles between justice, public policy and community Denis Simpson. values. Join Chris on a walking tour through the oldest parts of the city, explor- ing the early ’s underground Standing up for Community economy and bringing to life stories of historical per- 3pm – 5pm sonalities and events. The tour visits one of the earliest Carnegie Community Centre brothel districts, the location of the city’s first saloon 3rd floor Learning Centre, Free and the city’s first police station and jail. During the 1950s, city planners de- clared this area a slum and intended  Sites of Empowerment: A Walking Tour to wipe out huge areas of Strathcona, With Carnegie Community Action Project Chinatown and to make way 11:30am – 1pm for a freeway from New Westminster Meet at the front steps of Carnegie, 401 Main to downtown Vancouver. Despite pro- Pay what you can, all proceeds to CCAP tests, 15 blocks were cleared for urban Visit some of the best loved and worst places in the development and hundreds of homes area according to the stories of low-income DTES resi- were lost. But the neighbourhood CCAP Walking Tour dents. Join Wendy Pedersen, parent and community refused to die. Mary Lee Chan and her organizer in the Downtown Eastside, and contemplate how these key sites give daughter Shirley joined hundreds of us clues as to how to build a vision for a safe, healthy and affordable low-income people within the neighbourhood and neighbourhood in the future. CCAP is a project of the Carnegie Community Cen- beyond who stood up for this commu- tre Association and works mostly on housing, income and land use issues in the nity. They fought for years until they Shirley Chan Downtown Eastside. stopped the freeway and convinced

8 9 A Musical Family Parade. After working in their parents’ restaurant on Powell St., Thelma toured Saturday June 20, 7:30pm internationally as an actor, singer, Carnegie Community Centre Theatre dancer and choreographer, working 401 Main Street • free in nightclubs in Canada, Europe and Black History films 6pm the West Indies. Performing profes- sionally on local stages at age five as a Sunday June 21, 7:30pm tap dance phenomena, Leonard grew radha yoga studio & eatery up to become the first black dancer in 728 Main Street • $10.00 Canada to train in classical ballet; his radha is not wheelchair accessible career led him to dance, choreograph, and teach across North America and ome hear two of Vancouver’s finest gospel and blues singers in Europe. Thelma’s motto is “There’s no East End Blues and All That Jazz, a celebration of the life and such word as can’t.” All three siblings Ctimes of the Downtown Eastside’s historic black neighbour- have been honoured with awards for hood. Singers Candus Churchill and Tom Pickett, pianist/musical their contributions to the black com- director Bill Costin and bass player Timothy Stacey are honoured munity and for their achievements in to share the stage with Master of Ceremonies, the well known the performing arts. Sadly Leonard died Downtown Eastside raised actor Chic Gibson, and his sister, guest in 2008. We are all grateful he was able singer Thelma Gibson. This soul-stirring evening of gospel and to collaborate on East End Blues and All blues, jazz and memories, is created by Denis Simpson and Savan- That Jazz, keeping the memory of the nah Walling with assistance from the late Leonard Gibson, directed East End’s black community alive. by Denis Simpson and produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre. The concert will commemorate the Fountain Chapel, the Harlem Leonard Gibson Nocturne, fine eateries such as Vie’s Chicken and Steak House and the Country Club, and reflect on the elusive Hogan’s Alley. The hic, Thelma and Leonard Gib- Saturday evening presentation at Carnegie is preceded by films son grew up in the Downtown featuring former East End black residents, including Hogan’s Alley and an CEastside and were familiar with, episode of Bamboula: A Day in the West Indies. knew or were related to many of the people who will be mentioned to- night. At family reunions and picnics everyone HAD to sing, dance or play an instrument: there was always music, old blues, jazz and spirituals in their home. Their father played bluegrass guitar, their uncle was a local balladeer, Chic Gibson their mom sang all the time, and their brother Len was born dancing and taught them all. All three siblings grew Candus Churchill Denis Simpson Savannah Walling up to be accomplished performing artists, performing in Vancouver’s first live television show Bamboula, tour- ing internationally and across Canada, and contributing in many ways to the growth of Vancouver. In the entertain- ment business all his life, actor/singer Chic was also the first black to work for BCE (later BC Hydro); he co-chaired the first Abbotsford Air Show; and Thelma Gibson Tom Pickett Timothy Stacey Bill Costin produced the first multicultural Easter 10 11 Films From Oklahoma to the East End In cooperation with Humanities 101, Hendrix and his bandmates Noel Red- Soon after emigrating to Vancouver The roots of East End Blues and All the Saturday June 20th presentation at ding and Mitch Mitchell as they’re in 1968 (I was born in Oklahoma), I That Jazz lie in The Downtown Eastside Carnegie of East End Blues and All That getting ready to make their Vancouver dined at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House Community Play, where I was one of four Jazz is preceded by a few short films debut at the Pacific Coliseum in Sep- at 209 Union Street on the invite of collaborating co-writers collecting stories starting at 6pm. tember 1968. In this short clip Jimi talks my father-in-law, jazz musician Don from the community. I was put in touch about going to school at Dawson An- Hunter. Its southern-style cooking with past and present black residents, Black East Enders have made major nex, the good old days, family and his and cheery hospitality felt familiar, some of whom I interviewed. But their contributions to the industrial, cultural grandma Nora Hendrix. reminding me of eateries I’d known as contributions arrived too late in the writ- and culinary history of the Downtown a child and the culture I’d left behind. ing process and there wasn’t time to in- Eastside, including a legacy of musi- • CBC Studio Interview with Nora Hendrix It reminded me of what I loved about corporate much of this material into the cians and superb triple (1970, 3:56 minutes) my southern heritage (and the racism community play. Feelings of responsibility threat artists who sing, Shortly after Jimi Hendrix’s I’d hated). Vie’s eatery was one of the and a creative itch led into explorations dance and act: choreog- death in September 1970, last vestiges of what – for six decades – with Denis Simpson, Donna Spencer and rapher Leonard Gibson; Jack Webster interviews had been Vancouver’s only residential Leonard Gibson, as I felt strongly that the his brother Chic and sister Jimi’s grandmother Nora and business black community. memories, stories and musical forms de- Thelma Gibson; Nora, Al Hendrix, a former dancer, Eight years later, in 1976, I moved manded recognition. These explorations and Jimi Hendix; Jimi’s Downtown Eastside into the Downtown Eastside – north have given birth to East End Blues and All aunt Pearl Brown and her resident and one of the of Hastings, and later to Chinatown That Jazz and High Flying Bird (working sister Eleanor Collins. founders of the Fountain and Strathcona. I discovered the book title), an original collaborative musical Chapel at Jackson and Opening Doors, a wonderful treasure theatre work-in-progress, recently read • Hogan’s Alley Prior. She had a close house of oral history that opened doors for feedback at the Firehall Art Centre’s (1994, 32 minutes) relationship with Jimi; Jimi into the memories and cultures of my BC Buds Spring Arts Fair. This video documents the and his father, Al Hendrix, East End home. I was inspired and Over the years, the more I’ve previously unrecorded regularly drove up from haunted by the life stories and wisdom learned about the rich history of the history of Vancouver’s black commu- Seattle to visit Nora. of black residents Dorothy Nealy, Rosa East End – the historic Downtown East- nity between 1930 and the late 1960s, Pryor, Leona Risby, Austin Phillips and side, Vancouver’s old townsite – the specifically the area alongside Hogan’s • Bamboula: A Day in the West Indies Nora Hendrix. While I was learning more I’ve learned to love and respect Alley. The film examines the lives of (1954, 29:23 minutes) about the depth and breadth of the my home community: its physical beau- three black women: Thelma Gibson is Broadcast on September 1, 1954, this historic black community’s presence, its ty, its cultural and social diversity, its an African-Caribbean dance teacher is the second episode of the first live physical presence was vanishing: Vie’s human scale and character, its people who recalls the era with nostalgia; musical variety series produced by CBC Chicken and Steak House soon closed, and its memories. I’ve begun to think Pearl Brown is a well known local jazz Vancouver. The episode features perfor- and the Fountain Chapel – the heart a lot about how communities vanish singer who speaks about working in mances by former Downtown Eastside and spirit of the historic black commu- or stay strong, how they preserve or the chicken houses flanking Hogan’s residents Thelma, Chic and Leonard nity – was sold to Chinese Lutherans. lose their unique identities. It’s about Alley; and Leah Curtis is a lesbian in Gibson plus songs by Eleanor Collins. Over the years, I was honoured by community, it’s about preserving our her mid-forties, whose history as an One of the first TV shows in North friendships with some of Vancouver’s physical and spiritual history; it’s about abused child is interconnected with America to feature an inter-racial cast, extraordinary black performers – art- preserving our relationships and sup- her experience as a child worker in the performers called themselves the ists such as Ralph Cole, Denis Simpson porting each other; it’s about survival. the gambling houses of Papa White. “United Nations.” Denis Quan, one of and Tom Pickett – whose triple-threat The collaborative making of East End The video investigates the identities of the lead dancers, was Chinese Canadian. artistry as singers, actors and dancers Blues and All That Jazz and my search these women, as well as the identities To everyone’s surprise, the show was inspired me. Vancouver productions into the Downtown Eastside’s black heri- of a disappeared community. Directed cancelled after only three episodes. Len celebrating black heritage – such as tage is part of my life’s journey to ac- by Andrea Fatona and Cornelia Wyn- said a Toronto CBC executive told him Ain’t Misbehav’n and Wang Dang Doo- knowledge and honour - in everything gaarden. that the interracial cast dancing togeth- dle – were deeply inspiring too. Our I do - my family’s mixed blood heritage er made the show too risky for sponsors. company Vancouver Moving Theatre and history of participation on both • CBC Interview with Jimi Hendrix Thank you to CBC Vancouver Archives began to program gospel, blues and sides of the American civil wars. (1968, 2:07 minutes) for permission to show this episode. jazz performed by some of our favou- Terry David Mulligan interviews Jimi rite artists into concerts and festivals. Savannah Walling 12 13 Selections from Interview with Kat Norris My elders talked about the cool- We used to sell our dried herring ness, the medicines and the water and salmon roe to Japanese people. – and the rivers and creeks. They miss They loved to buy our tinned salmon. how hilly the area used to be. There They liked the way our people pre- was more fresh water and creeks that pared the fish - everything always are covered over now that they could had to be really clean - that's why the follow to the water. Chinese and Japanese liked our foods. Food was more plentiful and they This area had a lot of different shops. could go anywhere. Clams, crabs, sea My mother and grandma used to like urchins, sea weed. Salmon, different to buy flour and dried foods and dry types of salmon in different seasons. goods and materials here. Different berries – salal, blackberries, They liked that if you didn’t make huckleberries. it home, you could pick any spot This area was really cool in the and sleep anywhere. There were a summertime because of the trees. The lot more casual places where certain trees regulated the weather. ‘When families would come to certain spots a tree falls,” they said, “let it stay and it was kind of like ‘their space’ – because it will help the little animals they’d make sure it was okay to come and help the earth to stay healthy.’ in and check the protocol and all. The earth was really soft. This area was shared territory. Maple trees were all over the Salish Because we were an oral people, our territory in this period. Mother, father people know stories of different places. Kat Norris is Coast Salish from Valdez This is her understanding ~ Island, the Lyackson First Nation – and grandfather – used the maple leaf to wrap around their hand to use it Interviewed by Savannah Walling, speakers of the Hulquiminum lan- (The lower mainland) was a space like a glove to whip Indian ice cream March 13, 2008 at the Park Place Café guage. Her mother was Coast Salish, shared by many peoples and my great out of the berries. Using a spoon or on Powell Street her father was Hawaiian-Filipino and grandfathers used to travel over here anything would take away from the Nez Perce. Born on Valdez, Kat attend- to share and trade with the Musqueam taste and not be as fluffy. ed Kuper Island Residential School. people as a family and there are a lot Her ancestors have a long connec- of stories people aren’t aware of and tion with this area. “Our people were stories that are lost because of people nomadic by nature.” They would travel passing away. to different areas around today’s Even our people on the island (Val- Visual Arts Lower Mainland to hunt and fish. dez) have emotional claim here. We From Buffalo Meat to Baloney: After colonization, they would travel traveled here, married here, have fam- The art of Downtown Eastside elder Bill Quinn to work on the farms, in the mills and ily members in Musqueam and Squa- To June 30 food processing plants. “A lot of our mish Nations and those ties are pretty Carnegie Community Centre, 3rd floor Gallery women worked in the fish plants. Even strong. We used to come over just be- This powerful series of artwork by longtime DTES the kids would work together.” low (today’s) Burrard bridge and catch resident and First Nation elder Bill Quinn - the re- She and two of her friends orga- fish, and by (today’s 2nd Narrows). sult of a lifetime of experience on the underside of nized the first national Aboriginal Day There are stories about there being colonialism - makes an unequivocal statement about in this area (originally on the Capilano middens around Crab Park – anywhere the nature of imperialism and global capitalism and Reserve in North Vancouver). “When there was a nice place, a beach – that’s the impact these forces have had on the indigenous they instituted National Aboriginal where our people would congregate people of the world. Ten years ago Bill took an origi- Day, I thought there should be cel- and stay for awhile and hunt. They nal approach to collage art, and began to transcribe ebrations.” Kat continues to organize wouldn’t overuse the resources of any his rich understanding of contemporary society into a the annual Aboriginal Day Communi- one area, so they would go to different visual discourse that layers tragedy and humour into ty Celebration usually held in Oppen- spaces or areas. this one-of-a-kind exploration of the journey – and the heimer Park. [see upcoming events] story – of buffalo meat to baloney. 14 15 Excerpts from “Confessions of a Laundryman’s Son” . . . At one point, a laundry equipment supplier let us try out a semi-automatic wrapping machine. It was more trouble than it was worth and was quickly re- turned. Machines cannot compete with the efficiency of a Chinese laundry boy!

During the 1960s, the City of Vancouver had plans for an urban renewal project that included the construction of a free- way through the residential neighbor- man, a stereotype I was aware of even hood of Strathcona and Chinatown, at a young age. Rather than folding viewed then as an urban blight. When mounds of towels and bed sheets in a the mostly Chinese community stopped sweltering laundry, I wanted to be out- City Hall in its tracks, urban planners side playing. I wanted to live anywhere decided instead to construct a viaduct but in Chinatown. My father was born in 1920 on Lulu on the edge of Chinatown. Unfortu- In retrospect, my boyhood in a Chi- nately, this is where our family laundry Island (now called Richmond, a suburb With the purchase of the laundry, my nese laundry has left a deep impression stood. The land was expropriated, but of Vancouver), in a barn on the family father ended his career with Cana- on me. The shame I felt as a child is now not before a fight from my father, who pig-farm. He and his nine brothers and dian Pacific Airlines as an aircraft a sense of pride as an adult. The experi- was featured in the local newspaper, sisters attended a predominantly white technician . . . ence of growing up in a laundry is one I grade school on Lulu Island. He later vowing to hold off the bulldozers with would not trade. At the time, the work a shotgun as he resisted forced removal studied in California to be an aircraft Upon the change of ownership, the was labourious and never ending, but . . . With the expropriation funds from maintenance technician. There, he had laundry was renamed Union Laundry. upon reflection, it made for an unusual the City, my parents purchased a lot an instructor who could solve complex My family operated the laundry for and remarkable childhood. I can now across the street from the original laun- mathematical equations in his head. His over 30 years. Many of our customers appreciate the fact that my parents “ate dry and set up operations in 1973. name was Albert Einstein. were the rooming houses, the hotels, bitterness” in order to provide a better Our family ran Union Laundry in its At the age of seventeen, my father and the restaurants of what was then life for my brothers and sisters and me. second incarnation at its new location traveled to Yin-Ping (Enping), China known as Skid Road. to marry my mother, who was fifteen at 231 Union Street for a few more Elwin Xie years. We sold the laundry in 1979. years old. It was an arranged marriage. . . . Our living quarters were located 2007 While growing up, there were times Although she was married to a Cana- on the second floor above the laundry. I was embarrassed to be both Chinese dian born Chinese, my mother was not There were three bedrooms: my two The full article was originally published and a laundry kid. I wished my father allowed into Canada. The Chinese Ex- sisters shared a room with our mater- in the arts magazine ricepaper vol 12.2 were anything but a Chinese laundry clusion Act of 1923 placed strict limita- nal grandmother, my parents shared a tions on Chinese immigration, virtually room with one of my brothers, and I cutting off all Chinese immigration to shared a room with two other brothers. Canada. My father returned to Canada As young children, my brothers and soon after their marriage because the sisters and I started off folding small My elders would say to me that I would have to be a good little boy Japanese had captured many of China’s fluffy items such as towels. As we got in order to hear a story, of course I wanted to be a good boy to hear coastal cities. The newlyweds were older, we were assigned more diffi- the story. I now have those voices of my elders both haunting me separated for 11 years. cult jobs, such as feeding damp linen and protecting me, urging me to tell their stories. into the mangle, a massive flat iron Wayson Choy, born and raised in Vancouver’s Chinatown Soon after my mother’s arrival in for pressing bed sheets and table- Canada, my father and his brother, my cloths. I spent the bulk of my boyhood Uncle Loy, purchased the Gin Lee Laun- folding, packaging, and organizing dry at 274 Union Street on the edge of customers’ linen . . . Vancouver’s Chinatown.

16 17 Living Stories By Savannah Walling It is like the heartbeat of our city and what happens here happens to all of us. When city planners intended to Our stories celebrate people who Libby Davies, MP Vancouver East, from foreword to Hope in Shadows wipe out huge areas of Strathcona, manage to thrive and be decent to Chinatown, Gastown and the water- each other in spite of terrible obstacles, Some stories about Vancouver’s devel- of land has been an entry point for suc- front to make way for a super-freeway misery and poverty. Our stories remem- opment are to be found only in the cessive waves of immigrants and young and high-rise towers, the community ber those who have been lost and those streets, buildings and landscapes of families. It’s a working and retirement mobilized. After years of struggle, who have re-discovered who they are. the Downtown Eastside – and in the home for resource workers. It’s a haven grass-roots initiatives forced govern- Our stories honour our ancestors and memories of its residents. They are for middle class professionals who value ment policy to change. As a result, the heroes past and present. part of the founding story of this city, sustainability over growth. It’s a sanc- provincial and federal governments Our stories, like our ceremonies, the common heritage of all who live in tuary for artists and the marginalized. invested in innovative social hous- show how – as a community - we can Vancouver. These Living Stories – and Today the world of these residents co- ing programs and a Neighbourhood come together despite our seeming the stories of people who live here to- exists in many of the same places as the Improvement Program that launched a differences to bring about positive day - are the foundation of our Down- world of the street scene. cultural renaissance, improving facili- change for the future and make the town Eastside community. Shaped by its mix of housing, ties at cultural centers and supporting Downtown Eastside a healthy com- A spit of land on Burrard Inlet is the industry, cultural diversity and his- creation of the Powell Street Festival. munity for those who call it home. Our birthplace of Vancouver. During most tory, the Downtown Eastside’s distinc- As new physical and social changes stories remind us to never, never give of the city’s fi rst hundred years, this tive, overlapping mini-communities seriously strain our community’s social up; that gains always have to be de- area was simply known as the East End. feature Vancouver’s oldest buildings: fabric, new grass roots initiatives are fended; that you can’t leave it to other Its natural borders are the waters of Gastown, the Main and Hastings rising to confront the challenges. Today, people to fi ght your battles; that all Burrard Inlet on the north. Its eastern corridors, Chinatown, Japantown for example, the Carnegie Community of us are involved; that success – and and western borders were formed by (Powell Street) and Strathcona. Each Action Project (CCAP) works on hous- survival – depend upon helping and tidal streams fl owing through the gul- street is like walking in a different ing, income and land use issues. It is supporting each other. lies of today’s Campbell and Carrall/Co- neighbourhood, fi lled with interest- also mapping the Downtown Eastside In the words of Brad Cran and Gil- lumbia Streets. Its southern limits were ing people from different walks of life community to uncover stories of places lian Jerome in the book Hope in Shad- the tidal fl ats of False Creek. Today it’s and circumstance. The neighbourhood residents value, places they fi nd mean- ows, our stories are “sparks of life and called the Downtown Eastside. attracts and keeps people with a deep ingful, and how we can make danger- threads of wisdom.” Our stories make The place from which Vancouver loyalty to their home. ous or unwelcoming places safer. us whole, giving us a sense of our roots, grew, it’s one of the city’s least under- Over and over, year after year, Downtown Eastsiders are sharing our places of belonging, our destiny. stood and most publicized communities. community members and grass roots stories of today and times gone by with They help us draw strength from the Ancestors of today’s Coast Salish peo- groups such as DERA and the SRA words and images, in paintings, pho- past; to feel proud of our history and ples used this spit of land for thousands have mobilized in their struggles: for tographs, songs, dances, fi lms, essays, who we are; to have the courage to of years, establishing along the fertile dignity, equal protection under the plays, and poems. Our stories provide keep going; and to never lose hope. shores of Burrard Inlet and False Creek law, fair working and living conditions, ways for people to talk – in their own seasonal villages like K’emk’emlay’ affordable homes, work and wages, words – about their experiences and for the entire article go to (Q’umq’umal’ay’) and Lek’lek’i harm reduction and treatment centres; ways of being in the world. These www.heartofthecityfestival.com (Luq’luq’i). Use rights for its waters, theatres, gardens, community spaces stories are not always easy to hear, nor lands and tidal fl ats were overseen by a and cultural centres. They join forces easy to tell. They uncover our hardships See also: Walling, S. Raising the Silence: complex traditional governing system. to protect our community whenever and defeats, but they also reveal our Remembering The Downtown Eastside’s The area was a hub of major trade its survival is threatened. They fought strengths and possibilities. Loss is a pro- Historical Black Community routes between inland Coast Salish and for recognition as a residential commu- found turning point in many of these www.heartofthecityfestival.com interior groups – a place to meet others nity. They fi ght to preserve its historic stories. So are struggles for justice and who hunted and gathered. There has physical form and scale, its beautiful old human rights and testimonies that play always been a strong pres- buildings, its green spaces and access to a part in the process of transformation. ence here and still is today – it’s called the water front. In the words of DTES the largest urban reserve in Canada. poet Sandy Cameron, “the history of Since Vancouver’s founding upon the DTES has been one of struggle, of unceded Coast Salish territory, this spit loss, of celebration and perseverance”.

18 19 Remembering Upcoming and Ongoing Thank You Hal, For The Gifts You Gave Us First Annual Vancouver Anarchist Bookfair 6th Annual DTES Heart of the City Festival Fri June 19 and Sat June 20 Wed Oct 28 to Sun Nov 8 federal election last fall, Russian Hall (600 Campbell) Various locations in the DTES and wrote, "It's kinda A two-day gathering of various groups Music, art, talks, walks, forums, theatre, nice being community- promoting ideas and values that are history, poetry, celebrations, video, minded at election time. consistent with Anarchism. www.van- media, comedy, food, featuring over I remember when I couveranarchistbookfair.ca hundreds of artists at over 80 events. never bothered to vote. www.heartofthecityfestival.com I guess being in Carn- Off The Street: Arts & Crafts Fair egie just makes a person Sat June 20 Arts4All Institute want to get involved. Victory Square (Hastings and Cambie) Thurs Nov 12 to Fri Nov 20 Today is Monday and Sculpture, painting, knitting, carving, A six-day practicum and creative labora- I'm helping Jean make jewelry, quilting – on display, for sale. tory for art that creates and engages buttons for CCAP. On with community with guest artist Ruth Wednesday I went over National Aboriginal Solidarity Day Howard of Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre. to Oppenheimer Park Sun June 21 www.heartofthecityfestival.com to take part in the band Crab Park (Portside Park, north end of Harold Asham contributed his knowl- practice. I don't know Main) after homelessness… edge and sense of humour to the how I got into the band, but it feels Carnegie Community Centre and Op- Fri Nov 20 to Sun Nov 29 Downtown Eastside community. He good. On Sunday I completely forgot penheimer Park staff and volunteers Firehall Arts Centre was a writer, friend, tutor, volunteer, the cake-making class. I was busy doing invite you to the festivities. Main stage Forum Theatre play pro- community activist, father, grandfather, something else. You know how it goes. duced by Headlines Theatre. brother, student, and a devoted mem- Maybe there'll be another class I can go Traces: Projecting Stories of Strathcona www.headlinestheatre.com ber of the Carnegie Community Centre. to next week. Talk to you soon. Hope Fri July 24 and Sat July 25 you have a good week - Hal." Corner of Hastings and Jackson, screen- Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project Hal worked with the Carnegie Com- ings at dusk The Hogan's Alley Memorial Project, a munity Action Project, and he said, Hal died on May 1, 2009. He was loved This living history project by Strathcona grassroots cultural organization, was "We have to fight in order to get even and respected in the Downtown East- youth, seniors, and artists creates visible founded in 2002 with the goal of pre- a small amount of justice." He was side, and we will miss him. We can re- connections between past and pres- serving public memory of Vancouver’s involved with Humanities 101, Science member him by following his example ent neighbourhood stories and images original black neighbourhood. 101, and the Carnegie Book Club. He of community service. Thank you, Hal, projected onto building facades and www.hogansalleyproject.blogspot.com was on the Carnegie Board, worked for the gifts you have given us. through storefront windows. with the Neighbourhood Small Grants Sandy Cameron www.mediaundefined.ca East End Neighbourhood History Map- Program, and was part of an Oppen- ping Project & Web Site heimer Park band. He made a database Powell Street Festival • Did you grow up in the neighbour- for the City Wide Housing Coalition, Sat Aug 1 and Sun Aug 2 hoods now known as Strathcona and fixed computers, and taught people Please remember our friends Woodland Park (700 Woodland Dr) Grandview Woodland? Are you in- how to use them. And while all this was Who are no longer with us The much loved Powell Street Festival terested in preserving the history and going on, he had to deal with diabetes Rich and poor who have died at a new location for one year only, as heritage of the East End, Vancouver's and dialysis. On the Downtown Eastside the traditional venue at Oppenheimer oldest neighbourhood and the people The Carnegie Centre and the Down- Their spirits live within us Park is undergoing an upgrade. who lived here? Contact house ge- town Eastside meant a great deal to And keep the circle strong www.powellstreetfestival.com neologist James Johnstone by e-mail Hal. When writing about Carnegie [email protected] with photos Leith Harris, “Please Remember” volunteers he said, "I'm astounded at or other data to include in an interac- We’re All in This Together the heart in this place," and "I want tive website that would resurrect the everyone to know the heart of the lost neighbourhood, in virtual reality community is alive and well in the anyway. www.homehistoryresearch.com Downtown Eastside." He voted in the 20 21 Credits & Thanks So You Want to Learn More About the Neighbourhood’s History? eaSTSIde STorIeS Producers Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling Bibliography Programme Coordinator Teresa Vandertuin Assembled by Savannah Walling Musqueam Comprehensive Land Claim assistant Michelle Richard Preliminary Report on Musqueam Land Graphic designer John Endo Greenaway THe oLd eaST end – all Super resources! Use and Occupancy, presented to Offi ce Publicist Sabrina Furminger Barnholden, M. & Newman, N. Street of Native Claims by Musqueam Band Production Manager Simon Garber Stories: 100 Years of Homelessness in Council, 1984 Production assistants William Butler, Steve Edwards, Andy Smith, Doug Vernon Vancouver distribution Doug Vernon Tslei-Waututh First Nation and Alexan- Francis, D. Red Light Neon: A History of Story Sharing documentation Projections (Nilesh Patel, Mutafela Nasitwitwi, der Hertiage Consulting, Tsleil-Waututh Vancouver’s Sex Trade Jose Marion-Beltran) First Nation Eco-Cultural Resource Transcriber Colleen Carroll Hayes, D. Historical Atlas of Vancouver Guide for Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm, on-site Photographer Ken Tabata and the Lower Fraser Valley 2001 Videographer Tom Quirk Knight, R. Along the No. 20 Line: Remi- XAY TEMIXW Land Use Plan: For Forests Program Guide Contributors Sandy Cameron, Carole Itter, Kat Norris, Savannah niscences of the Vancouver Waterfront and Wilderness of Squamish Nation Tra- Walling, Elwin Xie MacDonald, B. Vancouver, A Visual History ditional Territory, Land and Resources Program Guide Photo Credits Sharon Burns, David Cooper, Terry Hunter, Marlatt, D. And Itter, C. Opening Doors: Committee, Squamish Nation, 2001 Adrienne Macollum, Sklya Sund, Ken Tabata, Elwin Xie Vancouver’s East End LaBour HISTory CoMMunITy ParTnerS McKellar, K. Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Barnholden, M. Reading the Riot Act Association of United Ukrainian , Carnegie Community Action Project Café and Street Brodie, S. Bloody Sunday and Vancou- (CCAP), Carnegie Learning Centre, CBC Vancouver Archives, Firehall Arts Centre, HISTorIC BLaCk CoMMunITy ver 1938 Humanities 101 Compton, W. Bluesprint MaIn and HaSTInGS SPeCIaL THankS Miller, M. Such Melodious Racket: The Cameron, S. Fighting for Community Lucy Alderson, Sandy Cameron, Colleen Carroll, Wayson Choy, Candus Churchill, Lost History of Jazz in Canada, 1914-1949 Canning-Drew, J. and Kimbley, L. edi- Wayde Compton, Libby Davies, Colin Ford, Sarah Georgetti, Kira Gerwing, Leith CHInaToWn, GaSToWn, JaPanToWn and tors, Hastings and Main Harris, Maggie Huang, Dianna Kleparchuk, Stephen Lytton, Alanna MacLennan, STraTHCona Cran, B. and Gillian J. Hope in Shadows Darlene Marzari, Lorene Oikawa, Holly Page, Colin Preston, Denis Simpson, Donna Atkin, J. Strathcona: Vancouver’s First Douglas, S. Every Building on 100 West Spencer, Paul Taylor, Rika Uto, Carolyn Wong, and to those wonderful people who Neighbourhood Hastings will step in to help after the program guide has gone to print. Choy, W. Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Taylor, P. The Heart of the Community Childhood HaTS oFF To eastside Stories SPonSorS Robertson and Culhane, D. In Plain Sight Keller, B. On the Shady Side: Vancouver SeLF-GuIded WaLkInG TourS 1886-1914 Atkin, J. Vancouver Walks Penthick,D. Vancouver: The Pioneer The printing of this program has been made possible with the generous Years 1774-1886 Footprints Community Art Project Old Vancouver Townsite Walking Tour support of the Government Employees Union. Wakayama, T. 1877-1977: The Japanese Canadians: A Dream of Riches Vancouver and District Labour Coun- doWnToWn eaSTSIde HearT oF THe CITy FeSTIVaL cil Labour, Work and Working People Wakayama, T. Kikyo: Coming Home to Produced annually by Vancouver Mov- facilitate development of artists, art Walking Tour Powell St. ing Theatre in association with the forms, cultural traditions, history, activ- Vancouver Heritage Foundation Historic Yee, P. Saltwater City: An Illustrated His- Carnegie Community Centre and the ism, people and great stories about Map-Guides tory of the Chinese in Vancouver Association of United Ukrainian Canadi- Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org ans, with a host of community partners. FIrST naTIonS If you have project or program ideas for for the entire bibliography go to Carlson, K.T. Editor, A Stolo Coast Salish The mandate of the Heart of the City future festivals or events please contact www.heartofthecityfestival.com Historical Atlas Festival is to promote, present and Terry Hunter at 604-628-5672. 22 23 The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in cooperation with Carnegie Community Centre and radha yoga & eatery presents Vancouver Moving Theatre’s production

featuring Master of Ceremonies Chic Gibson Singers Tom Pickett & Candus Churchill Musical Director Bill Costin Musicians Bill Costin & Tim Stacey Special Guest Thelma Gibson Directed by Denis Simpson Created and written by Denis Simpson & Savannah Walling with Mr. Leonard Gibson

A soul-stirring evening of gospel and blues, jazz and memories celebrating the historic black community of Vancouver’s East End SATURDAY JUNE 20 7:30pm Black history films 6pm Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street FREE SUNDAY JUNE 21 7:30pm radha yoga & eatery, 728 Main Street $10 at the door CEP 467