Chinese in Niagara Falls ON

Although James “Jimmy” Lau has lived in Niagara Falls off and on since 1949, I only became acquainted with him at, and after, the Niagara Falls Ching Ming Festival in June 2017. Yet Jimmy had known my parents, my brother and me, to some extent, but for those years our lives coincided in Niagara Falls, I have no memory. I only recognize his grandfather Charlie Fong’s face when I see his photo (see Post #9: Chinese Nationalist League / Kuomintang Party; Post #14: Sam Lee & New World Café). Jimmy immigrated to Canada in 1949 so he could make a better living and support his parents in China. He stayed at 226 Park St. – my parents’ building – with his grandfather for a couple weeks before leaving for St. Mary’s ON to attend public school and work in his uncle’s restaurant. Jimmy returned to Niagara Falls in 1953 and shared a four bedroom flat upstairs at 257 Park St. He attended high school at NFCVI for a year before heading off to Ottawa. Robert Wong and Sammy Chan at...

Shortly after my mother’s death in 2010, Robert Wong and my brother kindled a friendship. It was beyond the occasional passing/greeting by chance that had occurred over the years when my parents were living. So when I called Robert in early February 2012 to tell him that Jack had been hospitalized suddenly and had stage 4 cancer, Robert shared my shock. I flew in from Victoria, BC and had only days with my brother. He died within the week. Robert told me that I could call upon him for anything. When some people say that, they don’t really mean it. Yet with Robert, I knew he did, even though I had not any contact since my mother’s funeral. I was bereaved by my brother’s death and at the same time, bereft in knowing what to do for a funeral. Unlike my mother who had had specific ideas about my father’s funeral and her own, my brother had been known by both Chinese and non-Chinese community members. I was most comfortable with Western ways. What to do? Robert ...

My first memory of Loy Chong was in 2010. My mother had died and he came to the house to pay his condolences as well as accept a donation in her name to the nascent Red Maple Tree Garden begun at the east end of the Ching Ming Festival area at Fairview Cemetery. Loy Chong had also come the funeral home to collect donations, made in lieu of flowers, to the Ching Ming Festival . Loy Chong did not surface in my consciousness again until I saw the Niagara Falls Ching Ming Festival website some time after my mother’s death. (The website was first posted as a blogspot in 2007. In 2015, Weebly became the host). Looking at the posted Gallery from past Ching Ming Festival years, I was pleased to see photos of my brother volunteering at Ching Ming and to see Robert Wong’s familiar face. It was good that this annual Chinese tradition was observed and recorded. I noted that Loy Chong was the contact person for the website. In the History section under "Head Tax" , a pho...

This cameo photo shows - starting in the back row from the left - Hugh Seto , Ann Ows Wong , and husband Jimmy   Wong holding their son, Peter . The Wongs owned and ran the Welcome Inn Restaurant on McLeod Road. Although the Welcome Inn Restaurant  had been around since at least 1960, my memory of it, or rather my recall of Ann Wong dates only back to 1982. Mr. Wong (b.1908) had passed away in 1970. Mrs. Wong (b.1915) continued to operate the restaurant on her own for many years after her husband's death. In 1982, I had been teaching in Northern British Columbia and had returned to Niagara Falls to visit my parents for a few days. It was also an opportunity to introduce my new partner, Keith, to them. Whether it was Keith's appearance - bushy beard, flannel shirt, jeans - or her understanding of Western preferences, we were surprised when Mrs. Wong brought him a tumbler of whiskey during our morning visit. As early in the day as it was, he drank it, out of politen...

At my brother's funeral in 2012, a young woman came up to offer her condolences and told me that she was Betty - Betty Lee - and over there was her brother, Bailey (see Post #17). I knew the names but not the adult faces nor did I have recall of times we might have shared as children. When I next saw Betty and Bailey, I did recognize them. It was at the Niagara Falls Ching Ming Festival in June 2017. I was pleased to see their continued involvement in the Chinese community. They also agreed to provide information about their family by completing the questionnaire that I was distributing. LEE TOY  (b.1924) immigrated from China in 1947-1948. He settled in Sturgeon Falls, ON before moving to Toronto. His wife,  QUON  HIM HI (b.1930), arrived in Canada in 1957. Lee Toy worked in the restaurant business. He passed away in 2005. Him Hi died in 2011. The couple had 4 children : Grace (b.1958), Bailey (b.1959), Betty (b.1962) and Rick (b.1969). In 1962, the...

I look at this photo Loy Chong had. It was one of many his father had taken. The photo was taken in front of 257 Park St.  At the centre of the photo is Loy Chong's mother,  Yuen Sim  (see Post 7). These were my mother's friends - the ones whom she loved to play Chinese domino games with and gossip.  I wonder why my mother is not there. The presence of Seto Mu (back row right) suggests this photo was taken on a Sunday. Her family ran a laundry in Thorold. Sundays were the day she could get away to socialize. I don't the child whom she is holding. The woman on the far right is Gam Foam Quon (b.1906, d.1997). My family, and I think many other people referred to her as Nga Choi Mu  - " Bean Sprout Lady". She and her husband, Bill QUON (b.1904, d.1996)  lived at 572 Erie Ave. and grew bean sprouts. I rarely saw Quon Jean Mu  (how I should have addressed her) when I was a child and accordingly, I think I was shy or afraid of her. I...

Growing up, we seldom ate out. There were the odd times: an invitation to a celebratory wedding, birth or funeral dinner at a restaurant, on a rare all-day trip to Toronto. During the school break when my mother, brother and I moved to the St. Paul Avenue restaurant for the summer, my mother and I would walk to Church’s Lane, catch a bus downtown, and do errands. Since this kind of trip took most of the day – the bus portion (including wait times) was probably an hour each way – my mother was generous in providing some sort of refreshment. Sometimes, it would be a soft-serve ice-cream cone from My Country Delicatessen, 351 Queen Street (block between Erie & Ontario). Mother would have been there putting in a meat order for the restaurant because somehow they had run short on ground beef. Or on an especially hot day, we might find ourselves up another block at Woolworth’s lunch counter. My mother would buy us each a Coke that came in a glass with ice and a straw. Typic...