6 months after a devastating fire, beloved Ovaltine Cafe reopens thanks to community support

Vancouver's Ovaltine Cafe reopened on Friday, six months after suspected arson shuttered the beloved Downtown Eastside institution.

Grace Chen, who co-owns the café with her daughter Rachel, said the no-frills spot wouldn't have survived without the support of the community, which raised more than $20,000 for permits, repairs and renovations. 

In addition to money, many volunteered their time and labour to restore the café. 

"They always say, 'Grace, you need help, I'll give you a hand,'" said Chen from inside the café on Friday. "That's family… you feel really, really warm."

The Ovaltine Cafe, first opened in 1942, is one of few low-cost restaurants in the Downtown Eastside — one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods — where a disproportionately large number of people are homeless, living with mental health challenges, and getting by on fixed incomes. 

Chen and her daughter bought the café a decade ago, hiring many community members and new immigrants looking for low-barrier work in the neighbourhood. 

Customers coming for lunch on Friday said their first taste of favourite dishes — meatloaf, a warm plate of liver and onions or even an unwieldy bacon mushroom cheeseburger — since May was emotional.

"It's beautiful, it's just like coming home," said Gail Samuels, who cradled a cup of coffee at a wooden booth.

Makeda Martin, a longtime supporter who runs the nearby non-profit Mama Bear's Kitchen, shared the sentiment.

"To be able to come down and have a fresh brewed pot of coffee and real hash brown potatoes that aren't frozen previously, it's just like that taste of home," she said.

Susie Q, 59, has lived in the Downtown Eastside since she was 16 and ate breakfast at the Ovaltine every morning for several years.

"The prices are good, and the people who serve are good, and she's willing to help the community," she said Friday.

"And if people are short 20 cents, a couple dollars, she'll give them credit and let them go."

Ben Ger, a volunteer with the Vancouver Tenants union who sat with Martin and Q, said the café is a central social space in a neighbourhood facing rapid gentrification.