Prominent family donates part of century-old homestead to city of West Kelowna cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated Mar. 15
Lon Martin kept the bell that chimed âorder up.â The black gate that led to the entrance now hangs in Tonya Downingâs backyard. Treona Lovelady took the plates and menus from their familyâs iconic St. Petersburg restaurant.
And the red arrow that lit up 4th Street North for more than 60 years is
in storage.
In 2016, the Moon family sold China City. Mar Fee âYeeâ Moon, the patriarch, owner and chef, died in 2019. Several of his 11 children went back last year as the inside of the building was demolished.
They wanted to say goodbye.
They didnât know theyâd have a reason to go back soon.
Image Credit: Forty-eighth annual report of the Okanagan Historical Society January 24, 2021 - 8:00 AM West Kelowna residents may know Mar Jok by his name on an elementary school but his legacy stretches far beyond that as a communicator between the Chinese and Caucasian communities in the Okanagan in the 20th Century. The Canadian Chinese pioneer and his beloved Golden Pheasant Restaurant welcomed everyone, even the poor, during a time when Chinatown, located along Leon Avenue, and its residents faced racism and discrimination. Born in 1900 in Canton, China, Mar Jok came to Canada via Hong Kong in 1912, at the age of 11, according to an Okanagan Historical Society report. With his brother Mar Fee and his father, they opened a laundromat in Revelstoke.