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CALL NUMBER: T3131:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community PERIOD COVERED: 1850-1970 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-11-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Gordon Won Cumyow discusses background: born in Vancouver; father was Won Cumyow; switch of surname from Won to Cumyow; grandparents came by sailing boat in 1850s; grandfather ran supply store for gold rush miners in Fort Douglas; later moved to New Westminster; father was first Chinese born in Canada (possibly); also was first Chinese court interpreter; spoke Chinook as well. Discusses: gambling -- now syndicate gambling forbidden, but not so in those days; also Chinese lottery was very popular; it was later suppressed by Magistrate Oscar Orr who gave jail sentences; assault cases more frequent in old days- due to white drunks; Vancouver's Chinatown not as criminally organized as San Francisco's. TRACK 2: Discusses: pre-franchise ban on Chinese entering certain professions; medicine did not discriminate -- early Chinese doctors got training in U.S.; Gordon Cumyow studied law for 3 years but was not allowed to article. Mr. Cumyow gives a brief history of the relationship between Freemasons and Kuomingtang: an attempted coup of Freemasons by young Chinese immigrants. Stricter laws and more integrity on police force here prevented Vancouver from being like San Francisco re fighting tongs and gangsterism. Describes: raids on gambling clubs in old days and techniques for slowing down police (evidence hidden in v-joint planking in room; spring locks on doors and lookout; narrow corridor prevented police from battering down door); number of contemporary social clubs are really gambling clubs. Opium sold across the counter in father's days: vaults used to keep it in.; CALL NUMBER: T3131:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community PERIOD COVERED: 1850-1950 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-11-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Life of early Chinese in Vancouver: hopheads in Steveston canneries- daily routine of smoking, floating walk; opium users mostly older people, so it did not affect their health; western liquor desirable; Chinese liquor used for medicinal purposes; servant girls brought over as daughters- badly mistreated in Victoria where Manchu teaching held sway; Methodist Church started refuge for abus;ed girls; Victoria's Chinese held to old customs longer than Vancouver's; value of learning English; going to Chinese school by streetcar; Chinatown in those days was dark, shoddy locale; gives physical description of Chinatown terrain. Describes Chinese opera: little scenery; magnificent costumes; codified gestures narrate plot. TRACK 2: More on split between Freemasons and Kuomintang: killing in a sawmill. Discusses: 1907 race riot; 1923 Exclusion Act; Depression days- CBA soup kitchens, Chinese helped themselves; Powell Street- relations with Japanese, evacuation of Japanese, Chinese buying up Japanese property, Japanese fishing settlement on Mayne Island; World War II for Chinese-Canadians -- opportunity to gain vote, nephews joined U.S. Forces because they were accepted earlier there, good medical and educational advantages. Changes in Notorial Society.; CALL NUMBER: T3131:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community PERIOD COVERED: 1950-1977 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-11-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Gordon Won Cumyow discusses: ties with mainland China and money being sent here from Chinese-Canadians; new immigrants learning English; dialects surrounding city of Canton learned in trade by Cantonese merchants; Mandarin now official language; calligraphy being nationally simplified. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T2799:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community PERIOD COVERED: 1922-1977 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-09-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Harry Con discusses background: born 1922 in Canada; went to China as a boy; returned to Vancouver in 1934 and went to Strathcona School where he learned English; mother was Canadian-born; father immigrated at age 15, worked on railroad, then in sawmills; father Chinese foreman at Capilano Timber (Hastings Park area); conditions of work for father. Con served in WW II; after discharge in 1945, he worked for "Chinese Times", then as principal of Chinese Community School (run by Chinese Freemasons); father a Freemason, as is Harry; relates functions of organization pre and post WW II. Discusses: sending bones back to China; Chinese emigration; discrimination; integration; history of Freemasons as a political organization supporting Sun Yat-sen. Begins narration of urban renewal crisis in Strathcona during '60s; formation of Chinese Property Owners Association under wing of Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA). TRACK 2: Urban renewal crisis (cont'd). Phase I and II of urban renewal. Organization meeting for SPOTA in late '68 where he was elected co-chairman. Discusses his candidacy for School Board in 1968, and political tactics of Chinese Community and of SPOTA. SPOTA's legitimacy as spokesman for Chinese community, 4th level of government on Strathcona Rehabilitation Committee (SRC). Other workers in SPOTA and his resignation. Issue of narrowing roads led to his resignation. Sien Lok Conference in Calgary, Robert Andras & brother Ron Con. Ron's work in Toronto. Freeway and Columbia Connector debates: part played by CBA and by SPOTA and CCC (Chinese Cultural Centre); Reasons for SPOTA's success.

CALL NUMBER: T2799:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1965 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-09-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Harry Con discusses: his return to Canada in 1934 and practice of detaining immigrants in Immigration Building; living conditions in 1920s for Chinese in Chinatown; father's work as labour contractor at Capilano Timber; Chinese Empire Reform Association vs. Dr. Sun; split between Freemasons and Nationalists after Republic established; Freemasons no longer a political organization. Wong Foon Sien: head of CBA and head of Hoysun Ningyung Districts Association; spokesman for Chinatown. Discusses: the threat to close Chinese school in 1930s; learning to speak English; retaining Chinese culture; strong family system of traditional culture. TRACK 2: Discusses World War II: joining up to press for full citizenship rights; service in Southeast Asia in Secret Service (British). 1963-64 revitalization of Chinatown: protest over Quebec connector; money of new Hong Kong immigrants; Chinese Cultural Centre; Chinatown Historical Planning Committee. (End of interview);

CALL NUMBER: T3170:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-12-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Chan discusses: her family background; life of her grandfather; 1907 Vancouver Chinatown riots as experienced by her mother; grandfather's desire to be part of the gold rush; life of her father, various jobs he held including wood cutter, gardener, farm work; being born on Slocan Street; memories of Chinatown in the 1920s; role of women in Chinese society. Mrs. Chan then discusses her family's return to China in 1922-23 because they were so poor: family's dissatisfaction with return to China and difficulties adjusting to it; Mrs. Chan went to a co-ed school in China, rare at the time; medical services in China were limited, but all of Mrs. Chan's siblings were straightforward deliveries. TRACK 2: More about Mrs. Chan's memories in China: burglar anecdote; becoming a teacher for a government school; marriage. In 1947, Mrs. Chan returns to Canada due to help from money sent over by her sisters. Discusses: changes in Vancouver Chinatown; arrival of her husband to Canada in 1949 (daughter Shirley is 1 year old at this point); being a Chinese teacher in New Westminster; family store; growth of Chinese community; other neighbours in Strathcona area. Mrs. Chan starts to discuss her interest in stopping the urban renewal campaign of City Hall. Shirley not involved until she was a university student. More discussion about the campaign to stop the city from demolishing Strathcona community.; CALL NUMBER: T3170:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-12-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: More discussion about SPOTA and the campaign to stop urban renewal. Role of Mary's husband in SPOTA: failing health, but still chaired first meeting. Mrs. Chan is only founding member of SPOTA still on board. Mrs. Chan's plans to build Cultural Centre, another united Chinese community effort. Discusses how SPOTA achieved success. (End of interview);

CALL NUMBER: T2814:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : roads, buildings and activities, 1905-20 PERIOD COVERED: 1905-1920 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-10-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Gordon Lewis discusses: street paving on Hastings; grading and levelling of Hastings, Pender, Keefer; details of building altitudes at the corner of Pender and Jackson; B.T. Rogers' noontime route home from sugar refinery along Keefer. Gully running length of Campbell Ave, viaduct or bridge along both Hastings and Prior. CRP station at Heatley Avenue, signal house there. Hastings Mill: site, quality of lumber and size of lumber in old days. Details of construction of sugar refinery using Hastings Mill lumber. Neighbours in 600 block Keefer Street 1907-14. Old Georgia viaduct and its poor construction. Packed streetcars from Main along Harris at 5:00pm. Cattle-herding along Pender. Vickers family store. Repairing (pneumatic) flat tire. TRACK 2: Discusses: mountain ash in neighbourhood; Westminster Bridge -- bascule bridge; filling-in of False Creek and the dredging of it; CN and GN stations; Salvation Army houses on Prior backing onto False Creek; sewage in False Creek. Discusses Chinatown: originally only around Abbott Street, tenements, near Brackman and Keefer stables; Chinese badly treated; Chinese cooked on refinery's sugar beet farms; bringing wife from China; gradual extension of Chinatown eastward. Talks about Strathcona School: recalls various teachers and principals Rines and Brown; school building; snowslide in schoolyard; how various nationalities got along together. 1918 flu epidemic. Mansion on Victoria Drive. Move to Cordova Street. First jobs: deliveryman for Drysdale Drygoods; messenger for sugar refinery. Depression times: boarders, working at sugar refinery. CALL NUMBER: T2814:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : anecdotes about incidents in 1912 and the 1930s PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1920 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-10-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Continuation of Depression story about a bicycle. I.W.W. assembly on Powell St. grounds in 1912 when L.D. Taylor read Riot Act. Salvation Army's violation of no-assembly rule. (End of interview)

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-09-05,11, &18 SUMMARY: Yun Ho Chang discusses: peddling vegetables by horse and buggy; care of horses, type of buggy; growing vegetables on Knight St.; Sun Yat-sen -- donating money to cause, silver medal for the cause, attitude of Chinese here to Sun Yat-sen; CBA soup kitchen during the Depression; Chinatown in 1930s; learning English. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T2717:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Black-Canadians in the Strathcona neighbourhood PERIOD COVERED: 1911-1940 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-07-14 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Nora Hendrix discusses background: born in Tennessee in 1883; brief record of where she lived including places in Vancouver from 1911 to 1977. Life in Strathcona: Strathcona area restaurants; work for Mrs. Pryor's chicken house and at Soldier Williams; Jackson Street Church begun by black community in 1918; church activities -- bazaars and suppers, services, early families, entertainments, choir. TRACK 2: More about her life in the Strathcona area: big church dinners on American Thanksgiving; chitlin suppers; other black families; attitudes to life, hard times and the Depression; work as a washerwoman and cleaning lady; taking her children to the silent movies; Vaudeville and other entertainment; Mrs. Pryor's minstrel club and shows in the 1930s; husband's work; hardship for family in the Depression. CALL NUMBER: T2717:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Black-Canadians in the Strathcona neighbourhood PERIOD COVERED: 1911-1940 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-07-14 & 28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Discusses: Grey Sisters' lunches for men in the 1930s; a big wedding in the black community; 1911, social club for coloured people on Homer St.; other black newcomers; Jackson St. church; black businesses in 1911; Buddy White's place and other clubs; Ernie King family of Prior St. TRACK 2: Conversation about the Tosi family. Talks about: Fountain Chapel; cherry trees; carnival on Powell St.; Mayor McGeer's ideas for Stanley Park; celebrations in Chinatown; Mayor Taylor and prostitution; Chinese lottery. CALL NUMBER: T2717:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Black-Canadians in the Strathcona neighbourhood PERIOD COVERED: 1914-1940 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-07-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Discusses: Chinese lottery; lack of crime; description of Chinatown; prostitution in the area; Hogan's Alley clubs; Tamale sellers; stories about life during the great flu epidemic of 1918; dances in the Orange Hall in the '20s; public washrooms at Hastings and Main. TRACK 2: More about public washrooms. Story about a shooting and comments on coloured people and crime. Steambath on Hastings St. Difficulties of black men getting jobs. How Italians got rich. Visit to a bootlegger. Georgia Viaduct, 1914. Music in the family. Benefits of poverty. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T2743:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : recollections of a local firefighter PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1930 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-09-02 & 13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Tom Wylie discusses: father's background; early jobs; living in the 500 block of East Georgia; McLean Park; Vancouver City Fireman, 1927-30; CN Pier fire. TRACK 2: Wylie discusses: other fires; smoke protection; living conditions on Georgia; Jewish families; blacks in area; restaurants and pool halls in Chinatown; Pantages Theatre. CALL NUMBER: T2743:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : Vancouver waterfront and survival in the 1930s PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1940 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-09-13 & 14 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Tom Wylie discusses: prostitution in Chinatown; waterfront conditions in the 1920s; grain-lining; loading sulphur; unloading bricks; unions; story of salvaging wood (for houseboat) and stealing coal (for sale) on False Creek in 1930s. TRACK 2: More on stealing coal. Discussion of: building houseboat; stealing rowboat from Lost Lagoon; characters on houseboats; petty criminals and their methods of holdup, shoplifting, etc. CALL NUMBER: T2743:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : bootlegging, crime and survival in the 1930s PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1940 RECORDED: Vancouver (B.C.), 1977-09-14 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Discusses: department store robbery; friends robbing beer parlours; McLean Park. Discussion of bootlegging: local seller and moonshine maker in Mission district; sampling moonshine; delivery system; rum-running car, wrecked as "a favour". Describes: Union Street; Jaikie joints and Sterno drinkers along False Creek; Hastings Mill shantytown; Andy Roddan's Lumps (Depression breadline); Andrew Roddan. TRACK 2: More about breadlines, and Andrew Roddan. (End of interview)

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Strathcona neighbourhood : the Chinese community RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978-01-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Wong discusses background: born 1896; moving to Canada, 1911; what Vancouver was like in the early years of the twentieth century; living on Keefer Street; brother's laundry business; Chinatown; going back to China in 1919, but returning to Canada 1921. Mr. Wong and his brother built a new, bigger laundry business. Describes laundry business. Discusses what life was like for early Chinese in Vancouver. Few women in early Chinatown. Flu epidemic of 1918. TRACK 2: Discusses: medicines used by Chinese herbalists; the Depression -- hard times for many Chinese businesses; his opinion of urban renewal; Chinatown on Carrall St. in 1911; Chinese opera house. (End of interview);