#yucho chow

[hibiscusbabyboy]

My Vancouver - Victoria trip

(The Elena era)

(August 27 - September 4, 2023)

[daviding]

Chinatown Storytelling Centre: A reproduction of the Yucho Chow Studio, a Chinese Canadian professional photographer serving marginalized communities from 1908 to 1949. This cultural history centre, opened in 2021, has a digital improvement enabling self-portraits to be sent as postcards. The tracing of family heritages are mostly centered on British Columbians, although we recognized the names of historians and writers from across Canada. (Chinatown Storytelling Centre, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20240331

[currentinspiration]

'Rain or Shine, Anything, Anywhere, Anytime'! 'With a photography studio in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, between 1906-1949 Yucho Chow captured a unique aspect of this remarkable neighbourhood’s history. Not only did Yucho Chow chronicle the many Chinese who lived or travelled through Chinatown in those early years. He also photographed other marginalized and newly-arrived individuals and families who were trying to make their home in what was then an often hostile and racist city. Yucho Chow was the favourite photographer to early: Sikh Canadians; Black Canadians; newly-arrived Europeans; mixed-raced families; and First Nations people.'

[fvaccsite]

The top photo recently came to my attention, a recent and significant addition to the Vancouver Archive's photo collection. Part of the Yucho Chow collection, this donation is an excellent addendum to the recent show and hardcover book curated/authored by Catherine Clement dedicated to Yucho Chow's Chinatown photo studio.

The photo is an outstanding portrait of a young man with a miniature prize-winning coach before him, but the caption sadly lacked further details. The story begged for more sumptuous details. It wasn't long before I hit gold.

I was actually able to adjust the contrast of the image and extract more details from the ribbons themselves, and was quick to learn the ribbon stated "Junior Second Award Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild" and "British Columbia 1933". That was an excellent start.

Fisher Body is of course, the famous coachbuilder of General Motors. Anyone who as ever had a GM car growing up will have seen the carriage logo on the door sill of the car, stamped there for many years, at least until the mid-1990s.

Armed with this information, I quickly found a huge trove of articles online at newspapers.com, including the article above which describes in detail the prize winners for 1933.

Initially, I made an error however. I had first thought the young man in the portrait was Wing Lim of Vancouver. But after scrutinizing the carriage further, I saw I had missed the text at the top of the coach, which stated faintly: "Canadian Guild District Junior, Tom Lowe Brit. Columbia". Tom Lowe's name is barely readable, but distinctly present once the letters become apparent. The name also corresponds precisely with the article which names Lowe as the Junior Second winner.

Furthermore, if you scroll back a few images at the Vancouver Archives, you'll find more Lowe family members, there are at least a half dozen identified Lowe portraits going back to Item 2021-034.408. More research may follow.

Not to be overlooked completely, Wing Lim is also an interesting contender in the contest, a runner up winner two years in a row for 1932 and 1933. But missing out on the grand prize didn't stop him, and it looks like he went on to start a garage in Vancouver called Center Service & U Drive Ltd, located at 575 Gore Street at Keefer in 1949.

Based on the sheer magnitude of advertorials and media coverage the contest raised across North America, this contest was a very clever advertising tool that carried on for much of the Great Depression. Started in 1930 and continuing until at least 1937, the contest hyped the grand total in prizes at every opportunity with full scholarships available to the top prize winners. This would have been seen as the ultimate golden ticket of its day.

The contest was also a subtle means to give General Motors some good PR and to inspire the next generation of automotive buyers and assembly line workers. I posted 3 GM ads that reference the coach above, the last ad features the Dionne Quintuplets who got to share their delight in the coach in a 1940s ad campaign.

I even found a couple examples of the coach online at ebay, plus an instruction book from 1934-1935 and have included a few photos above. One appears to have been built or restored some 50 years later for the 75th anniversary of GM in 1983. Another looks to be an authentic example from the 1930s in need of a full restoration. Given the number of entries across North America, and the number of years the contest ran, there would have been thousands of these coaches collecting cobwebs in basements across Canada and the USA over the decades, but there are probably few survivors today.

And so from a single portrait to an ever expanding topic of intrigue, this is a textbook example how photo archives can enrich our understanding of local history. Formal portraits like this were often taken for newsworthy events, and occasionally, with examples like this, you might just be able to reconnect the historic photo to the historic event and once again shine the spotlight on the subject, celebrating their achievement. Bravo Tom, you've made history!

[petergong]

Vancouver exhibit celebrates Yucho Chow’s work ( photographer) ! On at the Chinese cultural center Vancouver BC . This is a pic of my Dad (Peter Gong ) far left , my uncle Harry Gong , my aunty Lea Gong , my uncle Harry was the only Chinese Canadian to fly a spitfire fighter plane and my dad was a paratrooper both were volunteers # yochochow #photographer #vancouverbc #canada #spitfirepilot #paratrooper #chinesecanadianhistory #britishcolumbia https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx8wKDuAq_p/?igshid=1tdr27jueoox5

[360virtualtourgta]

Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The hidden photographs of Yucho Chow tell the stories of ignored Canadians - The Globe and Mail https://t.co/mOB6rJhUbS

Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The hidden photographs of Yucho Chow tell the stories of ignored Canadians - The Globe and Mail https://t.co/mOB6rJhUbS

— 360virtualtourgta (@virtualtourgta) May 13, 2019

from Twitter https://twitter.com/virtualtourgta May 12, 2019 at 09:01PM http://twitter.com/virtualtourgta/status/1127831216881901568

[petergong]

My daughter and grandson checking out Yucho Chow photo exhibit ! They are standing in front of my uncle Harry Gong’s wedding picture , my dad is his best man #chinesecanadianhistory #yuchochowphotos #vancouverbc #britishcolumbia #canada https://www.instagram.com/p/ByG7PXMgImE/?igshid=fyigny41jvoa