About to be blight-righted, right out of their home, Mow Joe Gain and his wife Mow Ying gaze into an uncertain future in 1961. They rented their convenience store at 702 Keefer and lived in the back, but city planners had declared their block a slum and bulldozed it to create the new MacLean Park. The old MacLean Park was at Georgia and Dunlevy and that greenspace became public housing, as did many other sections of Strathcona under a 20-year modernization plan. An estimated 860 people were displaced. Over half of them were of Chinese descent. Dozens of gorgeous old heritage homes were razed. And that was just phase one.
By the late 60’s, when it was proposed that a freeway be put through the neighbourhood, the residents had had enough. They formed the Strathcona Property Owner’s and Tenant Association (SPOTA) and put an end to the city-dictated uprooting and demolition.
If you know what happened to the Mows, let us know.
Mows’ pic from VPL 41633A, MacLean Park pics from CVA 181-11 and 181-04, G. Fountain and map from Province newspaper: 4 Feb 1961, Sat · Page 17.
