The 1915 house is modest and now seems out of place beside the new larger homes built on either side of it. There is a tall cedar tree and a tall pine tree, and rhododendron bushes in the front yard, shielding the house as if it is hiding it from the street trying not to be noticed. It is really a wonder that such a small house has survived until now, with all the redevelopment in the Marpole neighborhood.
I looked carefully at the house that I have visited many times in the past year, always viewing from the outside. The front door was open. Inside was a planning meeting organized by The Land Conservancy of BC – the new owners of the historic house. We would be planning the open house event on September 17th as the first public event at Kogawa House.
Attending the meeting were staff and board members of The Land Conservancy of BC. Heather Skydt and Tamsin have been working with us since December 2nd of last year when the TLC officially stepped in to lead the fundraising to purchase Kogawa House. Ann-Marie Metten is my colleague and friend on the Kogawa House committee. Fran is the event chair. Janet is a member. Rich Kenney is staff.
We are planning an afternoon that will include:
- book signings by Joy
- musical entertainment
- historical displays
- history of the house
- food and drinks
The house is in pretty good structural shape. Past owners have renovated the house at different times. An addition was created. But it looks like the original wood floor and panels in some areas. Joy’s desk from Toronto and the typewriter that she used to write Obasan is now sitting in her former bedroom. A door from her childhood bedroom was created into what used to be her parents’ bedroom, next door. Her older brother Timothy slept downstairs.
It is a modest house, but a house that you could imagine a Canadian family celebrating Christmas in during the 1940s. The father telling the children that his sister will come to look after them, while their mother has to go to Japan to look after her mother. You can imagine the scenes from the Naomi’s Road opera happening in this house.
It is a house that a six-year-old would dream about in the years to come, pining that she could return, after being shuffled from temporary house to temporary house, in internment camps, and sugar beet farms where they were forced to live and work because the Canadian government had deemed this “Born in Canada” family “too dangerous” to live on the Pacific Coast.
In the past year, I have written much about the need to save this house on this website. I wrote up 20 Reasons to Save Kogawa House from Demolition on Oct 19th.
It had been September 22nd, 2005 when Ann-Marie Metten informed me that an architect was inquiring about a demolition permit for 1450 West 64th Ave. Kogawa House. Anne-Marie and I had spoken earlier in February 2005 when I first wrote 20 Reasons why Joy Kogawa’s Obasan is the perfect nomination choice for One Book One Vancouver 2005 program at VPL.
Later that same day, on Sept. 22nd Ann-Marie and I had sent out the following press release:
Kogawa Homestead threatened by Demolition Permit Application – same week as Joy Kogawa is celebrated throughout Vancouver
This week, notice was received that an application for demolition was made to Vancouver City Hall by the owner of the Kogawa homestead. It is a house celebrated by the award winning novel “Obasan,” and the childhood home of famed writer Joy Kogawa.
Kogawa’s reaction has been of shock and despair, as she knew that efforts were being made to save the beloved cherry tree in the back yard which figures prominently in the novel. Vancouver city councillor Jim Green is a founding member of the “Save the Kogawa Homestead” committee.
This is a weekend when Joy Kogawa is being celebrated all across Vancouver… at the Vancouver Public Library for One Book One Vancouver, at a Sep 24th dinner celebration for the Rice Paper Magazine 10th Anniversary Celebration, on Sunday for the Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair, and next week for the Vancouver Opera premiere for “Naomi’s Road.”
A movement to buy the house, and to apply for heritage designation was aborted 2 years ago because of high costs to buy the house and resistance from the new owner to sell. The owner at the time said that she liked the house and did not intend to demolish it.
Now more than ever, it is important to preserve this house for the cultural heritage of Vancouver. There is not another house in Vancouver that is recognized for being confiscated during a dark time in Canada’s history.
No other house in Vancouver could be turned into a bright spot on our cultural landscape as a writer’s retreat, celebrating the work of a writer which has been called the most influential Canadian novel of the past 20 years. There is no other writer whose work helped fuel the Japanese-Canadian Redress movement, and has also received the Order of Canada.
In May, the Vancouver Public Library selected Obasan as the book chosen for all Vancouverites to read, as part of their award winning “city wide book club.” Earlier this summer, during One Book One Vancouver events Joy Kogawa held up a graft of the cherry tree that held such a revered place in the novel Obasan – studied by so many Canadians in high schools and universities across Canada. Both the novel and the homestead have a proven place in Vancouver’s literary history.
By the next day, we had a call from Alexandra Gill of the Globe & Mail, who put a small article in that weekend’s edition.
Also on Friday night, highlights from the upcoming Vancouver Opera production of Naomi’s Road were performed by at the 2nd Annual Vancouver Arts Awards. I bumped into then city councilor Jim Green and Mayor Larry Campbell. They asked me about the state of the house, and I informed them. Both Green and Campbell announced to the packed audience of Vancouver’s cultural movers and shakers that they were distraught to hear that Joy Kogawa’s childhood home was threatened, especially when the city council had just passed a motion to plant a cherry tree graft from the house at city hall.
On Saturday night, Joy Kogawa was celebrated with a Community Builder’s Award by the Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop at the 10th Anniversary Rice Paper dinner. Joy asked me to speak about the campaign to save the house.
On Sunday afternoon, Joy Kogawa read from her novel Obasan, at the closing event for the 2005 One Book One Vancouver program for the Vancouver Public Library, held during the Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair.
It was a busy weekend – but the word was out – Joy’s childhood home was in danger of demolition. Who people be willing to help save it?
It is now a year later. So much has happened.
Here are some of the highlights:
May, 2005: Obasan named as the One Book One Vancouver 2005 selection by the VPL
September 27th, 2005: Joy Kogawa honoured as a Community Builder by ACWW
September 30 to Oct 2, 2005: Naomi's Road opens at Norman Rothstein Theatre
Naomi’s Road opens at Norman Rothstein Theatre. Commissioned by Vancouver Opera for the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble, it will go on to perform at schools throughout BC, plus Alberta and Washington State.
November 1st, 2005: Obasan Cherry Tree Day, declared by the Vancouver City Hall
November 3rd, 2005: Vancouver City Council votes to delay processing demolition permit for 120 days
November 2005: Joy Kogawa is one of Almanac's 100 Greatest British Columbians
December 1st, 2005: The Land Conservancy joins community efforts to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home
December 26th, 2005: Joy Kogawa featured on CBC Radio's "Sounds Like Canada"
January 22, 2006: Joy Kogawa is the featured poet/author at 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Chinese New Year dinner
February 8th, 2006: Joy Kogawa House makes it into the Heritage Vancouver's 2006 Top Ten list of endangered buildings
February 11, 2006: Joy Kogawa & Friends - Reading at Chapters on Robson
February 15, 2006: Joy Kogawa is a keynote speaker for the Canadian Club's annual "Order of Canada / Flag Day" luncheon
February 27th, 2006: "Emily Kato" book launch at Vancouver Public Libary
March 9th, 2006: Joy Kogawa fundraiser in Toronto, at Church of the Holy Trinity.
March 26th, 2006: Thomsett Elementary School children visit Kogawa House with Joy .
March 30th, 2006: TLC negotiates a 30-day extension for the demolition permit
March 30th, TLC negotiates a 30-day extension for the demolition permit with the owner of the house.
April 25th, 2006: Joy of Canadian Words fundraiser event in Vancouver, at Christ Church Cathedral
April 30th, 2006: TLC exercises their option to purchase historic Joy Kogawa House
TLC exercises their option to purchase historic Joy Kogawa House.