One of my favourite Vancouver events is the annual Salmonberry Days held in May and sponsored by the Dunbar Residents Association. I have had the pleasure of presenting a walking tour as part of the event for the past 20+ years. Each year we explore a different part of the neighbourhood accompanied by 65 or more interested and curious Dunbar Residents. For our 2024 walk we decided to look at the commercial development of Dunbar Street between 30th and 26th Avenues. The location our walk was chosen because of the pending development of the Dunbar Theatre and I thought it would be interesting to look at the surrounding blocks and see what was here in 1935, the year the theatre opened its doors.

In the August 31, 1935 edition of the Vancouver Sun there was a short article telling the public that the construction contract for the new Dunbar Theatre had been let by the owner Mr. F T Boothe, and unlike the lengthy process we have to day it was announced that the theatre would be ready for the public in 60 days. The article noted that “The structure will have a seating accommodation of 800; with modernistic design throughout. The architect is David Colville; A.R.I.B.A. Mr Boothe states that the “front of the theatre, modernistic in its treatment, will be entirely different from any now in the city.” 18 days after this article appeared the City issued the building permit for the $25,000 project.

The theatre was popular and had a big impact on the neighbourhood. Many businesses and home builders included their proximity to the new theatre in their advertisements. Marine View Service station at the corner of 30th and Dunbar advertised that they were “next to the theatre” while across the street Island View Service stated that they were “opposite the theatre.” Still on the east side of the street at 29th Avenue, Dunbar Super Service was “Open 24 hours” and suggested you “have your car serviced while you are at the show.” On the opposite corner Williams Super Service owner Slim Williams asked “Why go to town for your motor car maintenance and a good show.

Apart from the service stations the Dunbar Theatre’s immediate neighbours on the block were dry cleaners, real estate offices and home builders. And as you look up the street in the blocks to the north the shops cater to the needs of the neighbourhood. One interesting aspect of the research I hadn’t anticipated was the number of Japanese Canadians who had businesses along Dunbar and who were resident in the area. I discovered this when digging through the Story of Dunbar and saw the photo of Lilac Cleaners next to the theatre.

The photograph shows the Watanabe family and a friend standing in front of the business, Lilac Cleaners. It was owned by Yoneyuki Watanabe and his wife Toskiko. The couple had two children, daughter Miyoko and son Tetsuro and lived at 1642 West 2nd Avenue which was Vancouver’s other Japanese neighbourhood. Toskiko worked at Lilac as a dressmaker a service many of the city’s cleaners offered. If they got busy they also employed dressmaker Kazuko Tahara. Lilac Cleaners was seized by the government during World War Two and the Watanabe Family was uprooted and sent to Minto City, BC before ending up in Montreal. Kazuko Tahara was sent to Kamloops, BC.

After looking into Lilac Cleaners my curiosity was piqued. In the 4200 block of Dunbar, Bonnie Lass Cleaners and Dressmaking was owned by Miyo Nishi in 1935 and later it was operated by Motoharu Natori and his wife Sayo. They had two children, Yasou and Kiyoko. Interestingly, the provincial government’s list of trade licenses show that the business license was issued to Motoharu’s wife Sayo. The family was removed from the city and sent to Lillooet, BC.

There were three other Japanese owned dry cleaners on Dunbar. Mrs S. Iwai’s Olympic Cleaners was located at 3212 Dunbar. A couple of blocks away Kazuko Oyama ran Sunrise Cleaners at 3446 Dunbar St. while the Aoki’s Ohio Cleaners was across the street at 3467 Dunbar. At the far end of the street was Dunbar Dressmakers at 5555 Dunbar owned by Miyoko Yasuda. She lived at the Celtic Cannery at the foot of Blenheim St. Sadly, she had contracted TB and spent time at Mt St Joseph Hospital in Vancouver before the authorities sent her off to New Denver where she was placed in the New Denver Sanitorium where she died in 1947.

Other Japanese businesses included the Surrey Market Produce at 4265 Dunbar, produce dealer Kiyoshi Mizobuchi at 5569 Dunbar and
Mayfair Produce at 5626 Dunbar which employed members of the Yamada and Kato families.

Looking into this aspect of Dunbar’s history revealed a larger a picture of the Japanese population’s involvement in everyday Vancouver life and that’s what makes history so interesting.

The University of Victoria’s Landscapes of Injustice website is an extraordinary resource.