PEOPLE...when you least expect it, a story emerges

During the progress of Project 851 I have come to meet a spectrum of characters that could be a book/blog in and of itself. A friend, going through the same same but different process, said to me “If I knew what I was getting into I would NEVER have started this”. It wasn’t hard for me to respond, “I know there are a lot of times I have wanted to curse people and systems, gov’t and corporations in particular, but overall I am so very glad and grateful of the stellar people I have met. So honestly I can’t honestly say the same”. When you decide to develop, renovate, restore… be prepared for the roller coaster of emotion because that’s what you’re in for.

When people ask me how it’s going, the usual response is “Oh great, the executive camping situation is alive and well in my world”. I don’t go into how discombobulated it feels to be not done, not settled, not truly grounded because part of me thinks that’s all “first world problem whining”. The other part of me says I’m ready to bond with those homeless people and others that are displaced from the safety and security of having a home. My new mantra has become “good things come to those who wait… repeat 1 million times “.

So while riding the roller coaster of madness I’ve discovered things I wouldn’t have had without this adventure. Here’s one simple one, doing laundry. If you didn’t have your laundry room/space what would you do? Damn rights, you go to the laundromat, or find friends with laundry machines, or use a friends buildings machines… It’s made me think a lot about laundry.

Firstly, how wasteful it is that we all have laundry machines. Yes it’s convenient but the laundromat has become one of my favourite Saturday morning things to do, mind you I did have to discover where they were. Apparently, there are 4-5 laundromats within walking distance and most of them on Commercial drive. The closest one to me is the definition of “fear” itself and I only went to check it out because people in the hood told me “you do not want to go there” — sorry 700 blk Hastings laundromat you are too scary for most of us.

After checking out the Drive and laundromats of the area I settled on Williams Laundromat, which is nothing fancy but has an old school feel to it that made me feel humble and comfortable. It must be at least a few months now that I’ve been going to Williams and have slowly started to build a relationship with the place and people; the owner, his kids, staff … During my first visits to William’s I looked at those front load machines, both washers and dryers, checking out the cost. Hmmmm, $3.00 a wash for 30 min. cycle and $2.50 for the dryer working out to be a 60 min. cycle that sounded very reasonable to me; also if you don’t bring laundry soap toss in another $1 and you’re covered. If you do a drop off / pick up it’s more but worth it if you’re in a hurry with your own madness in life. I love the fact that my life madness lead me to appreciate the simple adventure of laundry.

On one of the early visits to the laundromat I asked the guy who looked like the owner if he was William. He advised me that he was not but had bought the business from William, who occasionally still came into visit. This is when I decided the new owners name was William-not-William. As I continued with my Saturday routine of visiting William’s and tossing in a coffee at Turks while walking the drive, visiting friends and exploring, my happen chance meeting with William’s children occurred.

While tossing Koko, my dog’s, toys , towels and blankets into the machines I noticed 2 young men overseeing the laundromat. I asked them if they were William-not-William’s kids and they said yes, through their obviously bored to be slave children doing their duty to the family business role. My inner Balkan immigrant child, first generation Canadian, antenna went up!!

My excitement over “the Laundromat” poured out. I went on and on (a bit) about how awesome the laundromat was and my new found experience. I went on to share how I would enjoy to run this business in a hip and fun new way. It was obvious that these young people thought it was lame and a duty to the family rather than an opportunity to spring this business into the present from the past. I don’t know if my comments and ideas of painting the place and making it a happening resonated with them or not, but nonetheless the seed was planted.

Just before Easter I found myself at the laundromat with an opportunity for a conversation with William-not-William. I don’t recall how the conversation started but during it, I discovered his adventures to arriving in Canada from Vietnam. He told me how he would be having a grateful Easter celebration because it was an adventure for him to end up in this country.

His first try out of Vietnam was one on a helicopter, operated by a relative who was determined to help them leave the country. As his relative landed the helicopter for him and his family to enter and escape, they found themselves overwhelmed by other people jumping onto the exit plan. They managed to get the family onto the helicopter, with some extras, only to discover the exit plan was one that was overloaded. The helicopter was under stress and William-not-William was in the back with family which was destined to crash. The pilot relative realized what was going on and jumped out. The helicopter crashed/ broke and that’s when the pilot relative came back in, from god knows where, and rescued William-not-William and his family. They all got out safe, but that was only the beginning of the journey to Canada.

William-not-William made 2 more attempts to leave Vietnam to come to Canada. The first one resulted in his imprisonment for 1 year. When he didn’t give up and tried again he ended up caught and sentenced to 3 years in jail. Some of his family were able to leave and others not. On his final attempt he achieved his goal and met his wife in the same exodus. They came to Canada. He has no desire to return to the Communist regime that he found so distasteful and feels that supporting it is not the way to go for the people that live there.. I did not fully share my own families story of exodus from former Jugoslavia/Yugoslavia but there was a sense of understanding that existed between strangers, that understanding and respect of a personal history of immigration, that existed. I have always felt blessed to know that about myself and my identity to place and space.

It was a part of my pleasant and unexpected adventure of this project ending in joy of a laundromat — the history of this project 851 just keeps speaking to me…(and koko)

COMMUNITY... a living legend lost

April 23rd at 10 am many from the community attended Sacred Heart Church to pay their respects to “Benny”. I’ve referred to the church in a tribute to Larry Crema (Jan 14th 2019) and shared this little treasure of a building. Also there was an August 7, 2017 post mentioning “Benny” and an article written by John Mackie mentioning his legendary status as King of Strathcona.

Ironically, last week’s post ended mentioning the idea of close looking at triangles and circles. These symbols I have used for many many years with the intention of them representing equality (triangle) and community (circle). It has been my way putting out good into the world through a signature of shape — the meaning: looking forward to a time beyond, race, gender, age, sex, and honouring the individual creating community. Ramon Benedetti (Benny) was one such person that left a positive mark on the planet from this hood. He treated people fairly and if he had a beef with you he’d tell you all done with respect and honesty. That is an important voice to have and a big voice to loose.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/king-of-strathchona-dead-1.5097913

It’s lovely to see Benny being recognized by media and the community, 1928 - 2019 is a good run. His daughter Francesca Benedetti wrote a lovely tribute to him for the memorial card given at the service. This is what she had to say:

Ramon Benedetti was a renowned figure of Vancouver’s “East End” for decades. He was born, raised, lived and died in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood where he held court on the corner of Union and Princess at Benny’s Market.

He was born on Union Street on May 1, 1928 to Alfonso and Violet Benedetti. As a young boy Ramon attended Strathcona Elementary and graduated from Vancouver Technical high school (Tech). He was an active youth who played baseball, soccer and rugby, and held the title of “Mayor of Maclean Park”. He was an avid music lover and musician. From an early age Ramon took up accordion and played with Len Holland’s Accordion Band. At 16 he began playing trumpet and joined The Jack Smith band, which took him on his first trips outside of Vancouver and into the United States.

In the spring of 1956 Ramon married neighbourhood sweetheart, Irma Miotto, at Sacred Heart Church. In 1957 they gave birth to their daughter Janice, followed by Ramon Jr. in 1961 with Sandra merely a year later. To their surprised their youngest daughter Francesca was born in 1971. Ramon had 6 grandchildren Rheis and Quinten, Chase and Bianca and Carter and Nina AND 3 great-grandchildren Tia, Remi and Rio. Ramon’s love for and dedication to his family and his business was a driving force throughout his life.

Ramon enjoyed spending his leisure time in his condos in Palm Springs and Harrison Hot Springs, but most of all he cherished the company of his family and lifelong friends who affectionately called themselves the “Pal’s Club”. These were Ramon’s childhood friends and their wives: Ray and Pat, Louis and Dot, Joe and Cookie, Dukie and Anita, Tony and Chris, Danny and Lena, Barry and Gina, Ernie and Millie, and Alex and Maxine. The Pals spent many a Saturday night out on the town, either at Foo’s, Puccini’s or Ramon and Irma’s house sharing laughs, building memories and strengthening their friendships.

Ramon’s success can be attributed to his strong work ethic and love of people. During the war he spent his summer breaks working at the North and South Burrard shipyards as a Passerboy and Shipwright’s Assistant. He also worked as a cook on fishing boats for several years before returning to help his parents run Benny’s Market in 1956. Ramon and Irma grew Benny’s from the small ice cream parlour and confection shop of his parents’ time into a booming deli and grocery. Ramon also expanded the business into food supply serving local fishing boats and Vancouver’s finest restaurants. Until recently, Ramon was in the office 6 days a week, alongside his son Ramon Jr. and daughter-in-law Janet, either catching up on paperwork in the office or sitting on the corner chatting up customers and old friends. Ramon’s wit, charm and exuberance for life always drew people to him; whether offering sage advice, telling a joke, serenading customers or recounting one of his many stories. Over the years he and Benny’s have made the news in numerous newspaper articles and TV spots. In the fall of 2017, Ramon was featured in two short pieces by CTV’s Mike McCardell that focused on his courage to overcome adversity.

Over the last decade, Ramon has battled several heath challenges. In 2006 he suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after returning home from work one Saturday evening. Fortunately with Irma’s quick thinking, the persistence of the local fire department, and the medical staff at St. Pauls he was brought back to good health. However, in June 2016, after a long and painful attempt to save his legs, Ramon underwent a double amputation. For months, Ramon fought to recover. The constant love and support from his dedicated family in tandem with his medical team helped him to return home despite the odds. His doctors mentioned they had rarely seen patients of his age recover from a double amputation, let alone return home to live with their families.

Ramon’s generous spirit and love extended into the community of Strathcona where he supported various charities from Strathcona Elementary, to the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement to his beloved Sacred Heart Church - which his family and many Italian community members worked so hard to build. Sacred Heart is the parish where the Benedetti family members have been baptized, married and buried for nearly 100 years. During his times of struggle the parish has been there with much needed support and prayers.

Ramon was grateful to be honored as Confratellanza Italo-Canedese’s 2017 Man of the Year. True to form, he offered a piece of heartfelt advice passed down to him by Nonna Teti… “Eat your steak while you still have teeth!”

by Francesca Benedetti

PROGRESS...what does that sound like?

As I patiently (not patiently) wait for this project to become completed, the words” be patient”, “it’s okay”, “it will be amazing” keep running through my head. It’s like hearing the future while living in the present. The present sounds more like, bang, murmur, crash, grind, saw, stomp, drill… The whrrrr’s and prrr’s of construction sound like an abstract concert where the musicians take the instruments to a place of sounds you don’t normally expect. The vocals are often monochromatic gestures of instruction-like tonalities. Once in a while the vocals take on heights of dramatic intonation suggesting urgency or caution as safety may be threatened. The pending possibility of destruction or damage flies in the air as a baseline constant undertone. The title of the symphony might be something like “Happiness to ameliorate the haunted” — not a love shack but a love complex…

This symphony has been going on for 2 years now and has become more intense over the last 5 months. Will I miss it when the concert comes to a close? That is a very good question. Ask me that again in 2 years.

The actual sound is something between acoustic fractals and sam cooke’s working on the chain gang …

This imagery of this post is focused on the sound of stairs. What sounds would you expect to hear looking at these stairs? What instrument would you associate with them? How would you play them?…

hmmmm, next week a homage to the triangle and circle?

ART...what's going down in the hood on a Friday night you ask?

My dog Koko has an alter-ego, it’s ARTDOG . ARTDOG loves to explore all things “art”, particularly the visual and she definitively has a bent for street art. While on one of our walks ARTDOG discovered there was going to be an opening just around the corner from Project 851. She was delighted and nosed her way into a private preview showing to sniff out what might be some favourites.

The exhibition was the photographic work of Louise Francis-Smith and like ARTDOG, Louise has an eye for what takes place in the streets. This exhibition is well defined in her artistic statement:

As you can see ARTDOG immersed herself into the show and contemplated her favourites:

People started showing up so ARTDOG exited through the gift shop so as not to steal any attention away from Louise’ ; such a thoughtful art critic. Plus this would give her time to finalize her thoughts on the work for her review. It was a full house and amazing how many creative souls showed up and as I looked around found myself very impressed by the fact that many of these people were my neighbours — just take a look:

Yes your eyes do not deceive you in the house we had Lam Wong, Quentin Spetifore, Lincoln Clarke, Jane Wolsak, Ewan McNeil, Goya Ngan, Chick Rice, Richard Tetrault, Esther Rausenberg, Connie Sabo, John David, Daphne Marlatt, Maureen Sugrue, Leonard Brett, Sally Buck and Kent Lins to name just a few of the talented and amazing creative souls pulsating through the space. Everywhere you turned there was an opportunity for delightful discussion and Louise’s work certainly didn’t fall short of getting that ball rolling.

Some of my dear friends continued our conversations into the night and brought it over to the Garden Suite; my present executive camping spot as the project rolls into it’s final phase. Jo, Carylann, Sandra, Mira, Michael and myself got deep into dream and lotto discussion. Sandra was the instigator of creating the lotto game that connected to the tarot cards I had laying around. Michael joined in by looking up the deck of Alejandro Jodorwosky and the fun began. Keep your eyes posted as the game involves us individually and collectively tossing out numbers for each other so we could each buy a lotto ticket to continue the spirit of Louise’s exhibition.. Should I win we’re going to Paris to find Alejandro Jodorowsky to have coffee and discuss tarot.

While we were channeling the lucky numbers ARTDOG was writing up her review of Louise’s exhibition. ARTDOG gives WE WILL BUY YOUR DREAMS a big 4 PAWS UP!! This is worth taking time out of your day to go see, but be warned you’ll want to bring someone with you as it’s going to stimulate thoughts leading to conversation. Go to the Louise link for details so you don’t miss out — Artist talk is April 20th and exhibition last day is April 27th.

ARTDOG highly recommends Louise’s work and feels she nailed it; see artist statement above.. Louise achieved capturing a real human quality to a difficult and often sad topic of transition to a place. Yet, L F-S has maintained a feeling of anonymity for the individuals in the photos at the same as exposing them. The balance in the composition runs throughout the images — the lovely red street lamp posts form a triangle around an asian man getting a newspaper in one; that image generated some lively conversations. ARTDOG overheard a viewer recall a childhood memory of chinatown and how the men used to walk arm in arm up and down Pender St. with their Chinese newspapers under an arm chatting away. Those were the days when the men were here in Canada and the women were left behind in the old country. ARTDOG enjoyed overhearing all these wonderful conversations L F-S’s work generated and ARTDOG never runs tired of pole of any kind but these red street lamp posts seemed to trigger a warm spot in her heart.

Well done Louise Francis-Smith!