Vancouver, as was

This book (bought on the ferry to Nanaimo) is set in Vancouver's Chinatown in the late 1930s and 40s. Growing up in and near Vancouver in the 1950s, I was always intrigued by Chinatown and the Chinese community. Like them I too was an immigrant and spoke another language at home, but it was a language that when written looked almost like English. And yes, the family's friends were mainly German, but my own friends, though many were from immigrant families like my own, were definitely Canadian. As a child it was all taken for granted, but as an adult I question these assumptions.

So a story about Chinatown and Chinese-Canadian families hit the spot.
Vancouver Art Gallery had just had an exhibition of photos of Vancouver by Fred Herzog, mostly from the 1950s. The accompanying book is wonderful - the city I remember, and yet the city I didn't see (oh my, how it has changed!). Chinese New Year, for instance -

And an street scene -

We've bought several copies of the book but seem to be unable to hold onto them.