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To add to this thread, one of my best friend's dads was the first Chinese kid to go to St. George's school back in the 50's; his roommates at the dorm back then were the Roger's kids (Roger's Sugar) and the Brown kids (Brown Brother's Ford).
His father came here from China as a dentist but wasn't allowed to practice and so worked as a stable boy at the PNE racetrack.
Their family eventually ran a large food wholesale business that still supplies many restaurants and businesses in Vancouver today.
He always tells us about how in those days, the West Side was exclusively old money white people, and when their family bought a home at Dunbar (which they still own today), Caucasians would yell at him "Chink what are ya doing here?"
He also tells repeatedly of how their family business and another Chinese grocer family (very well known today), pushed out other grocery businesses. He always told us at dinners how the farmers from the Valley and Okanogan would arrive early in the morning in Chinatown around 5AM, and that while the other western run grocers would show up around 7AM, the Chinese would get there at 4AM to ensure they could buy up the freshest produce available. Over 10 years, his family had a monopoly on the fresh produce delivery business servicing Shaughnessy and Dunbar.
Being another UBC alumni, he also jokes about how there were only 5 chinese people at UBC when he was there, and he could list them all as children from the other large grocery family or his own cousins!
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