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Eating your way through Burnaby: A look at Chinese Canadian history through food
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription14762
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- 27 Oct. 2020
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Village Museum fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 video recording (mp4) (61 min., 56 sec.) : digital, col., sd., stereo ; 29 fps
- Scope and Content
- Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar hosted by Kate Petrusa, Burnaby Village Museum assistant curator. The webinar is titled "Eating your way through Burnaby: A look at Chinese Canadian history through food" and is presented by Denise Fong, Planning Assistant for the City of Bu…
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Village Museum fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 video recording (mp4) (61 min., 56 sec.) : digital, col., sd., stereo ; 29 fps
- Material Details
- Presenter: Denise Fong
- Host: Kate Petrusa
- Date of Presentation: October 27 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
- Total Number of tracks: 1
- Total Length of all tracks:61 min., 56 sec.
- Recording Device: Zoom video communication platform
- Scope and Content
- Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar hosted by Kate Petrusa, Burnaby Village Museum assistant curator. The webinar is titled "Eating your way through Burnaby: A look at Chinese Canadian history through food" and is presented by Denise Fong, Planning Assistant for the City of Burnaby. The zoom webinar is the seventh in a collection of seven "Burnaby Neighbourhood Speaker series" webinars that were presented and made available to the public between September 29 and October 27, 2020. The live webinar and recording was also made available on the Burnaby Village Museum's facebook page. In this webinar, Denise Fong talks about how Chinese Canadians have played a key role in supplying food to Burnaby’s community through their participation in the local market gardening, green grocer, and restaurant industries. The presentation is supported with historical maps, photographs, documents, census records and stories from recent research on the 1960s-1970s period in Burnaby’s Big Bend and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. In her presentation, Denise also talks about the history of Chinese Immigration in Canada including the political circumstances and legal barriers that Chinese migrants faced in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Denise highlights specific Chinese Canadian family farms in Burnaby including; the Jung family farm located on 5460 Douglas Road operated by Jung Chong and his wife Jung Gee Shee; "Hop On Farms" located on Marine Drive, operated by Chan Kow Hong, Sui Ha Hong and family; the Tong Yip Farm located on Byrne Road operated by D.T. "George" Yip and his wife, Yip Chow Won Tai. Denise also highlights her recent research regarding Chinese Canadian corner stores and green grocers in Burnaby including; The Lee Kee grocery store located at 3824 East Hastings Street, owned and operated by Yow Lee Ko and his wife Say Jan Chan; the Burnaby Market located at 3942 East Hastings Street, owned and operated by Chin Yin Wong; the Quon Bros. located at 3702 East Hastings Street.; Y. Hoy Produce Co. located at 4092 East Hastings Street operated by Hoy Yen; Louie's Food Basket located at 5886 South East Marine Drive operated by Hoy Bew Louie, his wife Poy Yee and later by thier son Bing Louie and Tommy's Market located in Burnaby's Edmonds neighbourhood, operated by Tommy Chu. Denise also provides a detailed history of Tommy Chu and family who owned and operated Tommy's Market. Denise tells of how in the early 1970s, Chinese grocers in the lower mainland came together and formed the Lower Mainland Independent Grocers Association and Lower Mainland Grocers Co-Op. The organization was formed to protect the rights and promote businesses of independent grocers. In closing, Denise explains how her research of Chinese Canadian history in Burnaby continues and by the end of the project, the information will be made accessible in the form of a publication.
- Creator
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Subjects
- Persons - Chinese Canadians
- Social Issues - Discrimination
- Agriculture - Farms
- Social Issues - Racism
- Buildings - Commercial - Grocery Stores
- Names
- Fong, Denise
- Jung, Chung Chong
- Tommy's Produce
- Lee Kee Grocery
- Louie's Food Basket
- Louie, Hoy Bew
- Jung, Gee Shee
- Hong, Chan Kow
- Hong, Sui Ha
- Yip, D.T. "George"
- Yip, Chow Won Tai
- Ko, Yow Lee
- Ko, Chan Say Jan
- Burnaby Market
- Wong, Chin Yin
- Quon Bros.
- Y. Hoy Produce Co.
- Yen, Hoy
- Louie, Poy Yee
- Louie, Bing
- Chu, Tommy
- Chu, Sharon
- Chu, Calvin
- Responsibility
- Petrusa, Kate
- Geographic Access
- Hastings Street
- Accession Code
- BV020.29.7
- Access Restriction
- No restrictions
- Reproduction Restriction
- No known restrictions
- Date
- 27 Oct. 2020
- Media Type
- Moving Images
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Fraser Arm (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Big Bend Area
- Burnaby Heights Area
- Notes
- Title based on contents of video recording
- Video recording was edited for publication on Heritage Burnaby. Original mp4 video recording (BV020.29.7.1) is 72 min., 14 sec.
Images
Video
Eating your way through Burnaby: A look at Chinese Canadian history through food, 27 Oct. 2020
Eating your way through Burnaby: A look at Chinese Canadian history through food, 27 Oct. 2020
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_BVM_Moving_Images/2020_0029_0007_002.mp4
Gilmore Community School
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/landmark587
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- School building.
- Associated Dates
- 1915
- Other Names
- Gilmore Avenue School
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Other Names
- Gilmore Avenue School
- Geographic Access
- Gilmore Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1915
- Description
- School building.
- Heritage Value
- This Classical Revival school was originally designed as a two-storey four-room brick building in 1915, with a two-storey four-room addition in 1922 and an auditorium in 1929. It was built to replace a wooden schoolhouse that had been built on the site in 1912. The original section was designed by Joseph Bowman (1864-1943), a specialist in school buildings who was the school board architect for South Vancouver and Burnaby, with the additions designed after the formation of his partnership with Harold Cullerne in 1919. One of Bowman’s first designs for Burnaby was a utilitarian two-storey school that could be built with two classrooms and later expanded to eight rooms as the district’s school population grew; five schools from this design were built in 1908, and then four others in modified versions between 1910-16, including this school. This school was named after provincial politician Hugh Gilmour, but the spelling of the name was inadvertently changed by a civic clerk. The classrooms retain their thick wood doors, cloakrooms and rounded walls. The first addition was built by the contracting firm of Patterson, Cope & Thomson. Original features include the dentilled cornice that encircles the entire building and its red brick façade. The school was the first brick school in Burnaby and is the only school of this era left in Burnaby.
- Locality
- Vancouver Heights
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Burnaby Heights Area
- Architect
- Bowman & Cullerne
- Area
- 7601.86
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Street Address
- 50 Gilmore Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Images
Interview with Jenny Siormanolakis
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription19635
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [1960-2023] (interview content), interviewed 26 Jul. 2023
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Village Museum fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 2 sound recordings (wav) (87 min.) + 1 sound recording (mp3) (86 min., 51 sec.)
- Scope and Content
- Item consists of a recording of an oral history interview with Jenny (Eugenia) Siormanolakis conducted by Burnaby Village Museum Registrar, James Binks on July 26 2023. 00:00-12:02 Interview opens with introductions. Jenny Siormanolakis shares details about her parents Eugene and Europe Siormanola…
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Village Museum fonds
- Series
- Museum Oral Histories series
- Subseries
- Many Voices Project Interviews subseries
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 2 sound recordings (wav) (87 min.) + 1 sound recording (mp3) (86 min., 51 sec.)
- Material Details
- Interviewer: James Binks Interviewee: Jenny (Eugenia) Siormanolakis Location of Interview: Prado Cafe, 4321 Still Creek Dr., Burnaby Interview Date: July 26, 2023 Total Number of tracks: 2 Total Length of all Tracks: 01:26:60 Digital master recordings (wav) were recorded onto two separate audio tracks, edited and merged together and converted to mp3 for access on Heritage Burnaby Ambient sound from cafe in background of interview
- Scope and Content
- Item consists of a recording of an oral history interview with Jenny (Eugenia) Siormanolakis conducted by Burnaby Village Museum Registrar, James Binks on July 26 2023. 00:00-12:02 Interview opens with introductions. Jenny Siormanolakis shares details about her parents Eugene and Europe Siormanolakis who were both born in Greece and immigrated to Vancouver. Jenny provides details about the history of Romana Pizza restaurant including; the restaurant partners, the various locations, her father’s work ethics of running the restaurant and the staff who worked there. Jenny provides details about her father's life, his ancestral background and family relations which lead him to immigrate to Vancouver. Jenny shares childhood memories of helping out in her parents’ restaurant and later working there. 12:03 – 26:41 Jenny describes various food dishes that have been on the menu of Romana Pizza and Steak House and Romana Pizza, how they've evolved over time, how her father learned to cook traditional Greek food and develop his own recipes and where he sourced his restaurant food supplies. Jenny conveys how they used social media to advertise the restaurant, describes the election pizza poll that Romana Pizza held during the federal and provincial elections and a baby poll that was held at the restaurant to guess the weight of her and her sister’s babies. 26:42 – 31:47 Jenny talks about her marriage and recollects how she got married in a civil ceremony at Romana Pizza. Jenny talks about her family life while her family was running the restaurant, their decision to sell the restaurant and describes the last days of running the restaurant. 31:48 – 46:33 Jenny conveys the background story of her business “Granpa J’s”. Jenny describes how her uncle Jimmy Voulides, created his own seasoning salt product and after he died in 2003, Jenny and her sister Nora purchased the business. Jenny describes how they developed their business, created new products, their struggles and how they became successful. Jenny describes how their products have been developed from family recipes and recalls how the actor Ryan Reynold’s helped their products become even more successful overnight. 46:34 – 55:38 Jenny talks about different community festivals and events that she’s been involved with including; Greek Day on Broadway (Vancouver) and the Hats Off Day event in North Burnaby. Jenny shares the background history of Greek Day in Vancouver and information about other Greek community events. Jenny talks about the importance of bringing the community together and the importance of knowing the history of your ancestors and where they came from. 55:39 - 1:04:35 Jenny talks about her involvement with the Greek community newspaper “Gnome” and provides details about; the former creator and editor Kostas Karatsikis, the newspaper's content, it's importance in the Greek community and the distribution. Jenny describes some of the articles that she’s written for the Gnome newspaper. 1:04:36 - 1:14:12 Jenny describes some pivotal moments that occurred over the years at Romana Pizza including; placing second in the Vancouver Sun newspaper contest for Best Pizza (1986) and having members of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team frequent their restaurant. Jenny conveys how the restaurant benefited from having a website and using social media as a marketing tools. 1:14:13 - 1:22:42 Jenny talks about her involvement with Kolanki Group West, Euro Find foods and her passion for Greek food and other European foods. Jenny describes some traditional Greek recipes, family recipes, talks about marketing Grandpa J's products and reflects on the menu of Romana Pizza. 1:22:43 - 1:26:51 Jenny reflects on the role of the Greek community, how food plays a roll, the future of the Greek community in Vancouver and Burnaby and the importance of engaging the younger generation. In closing Jenny provides a quote from an article that she wrote “Forgive the mistakes of the past, let it go and realize that we are all equals...”.
- History
- Interviewee biography: Eugenia "Jenny" Siormanolakis is the daughter of Eugene and Europe Siormanolakis. Jenny’s father, Eugene Siormanolakis immigrated to Canada from Greece in the late 1960’s and her mother Europe Siormanolakis immigrated in 1973. In April 1973, her father and five partners opened the restaurant “Romana Pizza and Steak House” (later renamed "Romana Pizza") located at 4660 Hastings Street in the Burnaby Heights neighbourhood. Jenny and her sister Eleanora Iliakis spent much of their childhood in the family owned restaurant and also worked at the restaurant as they become older. Jenny’s parents continued to own and operate the restaurant until 2014 when they decided to retire from the business. In 2004, an opportunity arose for Jenny and her sister Eleanora to buy their recently deceased uncle’s business Grandpa J’s Seasoning Inc. They launched their business of “Grandpa J’s” seasoning first selling to local restaurants and eventually adapted their product line to include other Greek seasoning products which they developed from their own recipes. They expanded their clientele to include retail outlets and in 2020, they got a boost to their sales when actor Ryan Reynolds promoted their seasoing product "Vancity Grind" on Instagram. Since launching their business they have been featured in many culinary and business publications and were nominated in 2022 as finalists for Product of the Year by BC Food and Beverage. Jenny is extremely passionate about food, her Greek heritage and is an advocate for food security for children and seniors and mental health. Interviewer biography: James Binks has lived in the Lower Mainland since 2009 after relocating from Ontario. James holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia, where he conducted researched on heritage, environment, and globalization in India, Nepal, and Italy. At Burnaby Village Museum, James contributed to the exhibit “Truths Not Often Told: Being South Asian in Burnaby”.
- Creator
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Subjects
- Buildings - Commercial - Restaurants
- Businesses
- Elections
- Foods
- Migration
- Occupations - Entrepreneurs
- Persons - Greek Canadians
- Names
- Gnome Publications
- Iliakis, Eleonara Siormanolakis
- Karatsikis, Kostas "George"
- Siormanolakis, Eugenia "Jenny"
- Nikolaidis, "Eleni"
- Nikolaidis, Stelios
- Romana Pizza
- Siormanolakis, Eugene
- Siormanolakis, Europe
- Voulides, Demetrios "Jimmy"
- Responsibility
- Binks, James
- Geographic Access
- Hastings Street
- Street Address
- 4660 Hastings Street
- Accession Code
- BV023.16.13
- Access Restriction
- No restrictions
- Reproduction Restriction
- No known restrictions
- Date
- [1960-2023] (interview content), interviewed 26 Jul. 2023
- Media Type
- Sound Recording
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Burnaby Heights Area
- Notes
- Title based on contents of item
- Transcription available on Heritage Burnaby
Documents
Audio Tracks
Interview with Jenny Siormanolakis, [1960-2023] (interview content), interviewed 26 Jul. 2023
Interview with Jenny Siormanolakis, [1960-2023] (interview content), interviewed 26 Jul. 2023
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_BVM_Sound_Recordings/Oral_Histories/2023_0016_0013_003.mp3
Kitchener Elementary School
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/landmark614
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- School building.
- Associated Dates
- 1925
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Gilmore Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1925
- Description
- School building.
- Heritage Value
- This landmark school was designed by the architectural firm of Bowman & Cullerne, specialists in the design of educational facilities. After Harold Cullerne (1890-1976) returned from service during the First World War, he joined J.H. Bowman (1864-1943) in a partnership that lasted from 1919 to 1934. The firm’s projects include the Seaforth School (1922, now relocated to Burnaby Village Museum), Burnaby North High School (1923), and the Nelson Avenue School (1927). This was originally designed as a two-storey, four-room building in 1925, with two-storey four-room wings added two years later. The building has been altered with the addition of stucco cladding over the original siding and replacement windows, but has retained its original form and massing, as well as its domed roof ventilator.
- Locality
- Vancouver Heights
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
- Architect
- Bowman & Cullerne
- Area
- 20478.11
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Street Address
- 1351 Gilmore Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Images
