Watch this CBC documentary about Modernize Tailors (1903) – the last Chinese tailor shop in Vancouver Chinatown.
Bill Wong the tailor attended our 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner. His son Steven
paddles on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. This is a
wonderful documentary that received a standing ovation at the Whistler
Film Festival.
Bill
and Jack's younger brother Milton Wong is one of Vancouver's important
figures, and former chancellor of SFU, and known as the “grandfather of
dragon boat racing” in Vancouver. Both Milton and Steven were interviewed for a German public television documentary addressing multiculturalism in Vancouver. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team was featured too!
Check out: http://wstreaming.zdf.de/z
My own family has known the Wongs for many year, my aunts and uncles went to school with many of the Wong family members. My uncle Laddie works as a tailor at Modernize Tailors.
In 2004, both the “Wong Way” dragon boat team and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team participated in a workshop to carve dragon boat heads at the Round House Community Centre.
Check the Modernize Tailors Website:
http://www.modernizetailors.blogspot.com/
A naïve apprentice and a hot, young master tailor are both interested in taking over a legendary tailor shop in Vancouver's Chinatown, but they'll have a hard time convincing the hard-working Wong brothers to retire.
Modernize Tailors opened in 1913, and in the 1950s Bill and Jack Wong
took over from their father. Over the years, they've created suits for
all occasions and for customers from all walks of life-from lumberjacks
and new immigrants to movie stars like Sean Connery and politicians
like Sam Sullivan, the Mayor of Vancouver.
Now, a newer
generation is looking to make their mark and take over the Modernize
Tailors legacy. But will the 85-year-old Wong Brothers ever stop
working?
Tailor Made was directed by Len Lee and Marsha
Newbery, and produced by Marsha Newbery of Realize Entertainment Inc.
It was commissioned by CBC Newsworld.