Took in the Julia Kwan's "Everything Will Be" documentary today on Chinatown. It's being premiered and she did it to preserve some memory of what is currently Chinatown and what Chinatown was because it certainly is going to be changing soon. I felt a lot of connection to the "old" Chinatown and rather sorry to see it in its current state. One thing I learned is that Chinatown also used to have quite an Italian presence and there still is an Italian deli that's been there for almost 100 years. The father of the current owner died behind the counter from a stroke at the age of 85….good way to go! The son is pretty old himself but has no plans to sell or retire.
It's impossible to get the old Chinatown back so it will be interesting to see what the development and "gentrification" will mean. Bob Rennie came across pretty well in the film and I think he wants to respect the community and what it was. It will be a bonus if it is a vibrant community again even though it will be multicultural. As long as it doesn't become another Yaletown I'll be happy. Yaletown just doesn't seem "real" to me and we probably wouldn't set foot in it if it wasn't' for Provence Marinaside Restaurant.
The first one is from the film and the rest from google images that are like in the film.
