© Michael Riis-Christianson and the Lakes District Museum Society
The New Omineca Café, now the Dragon Palace, is one of Burns Lake’s oldest surviving restaurants. The business can trace its roots to two of Burns Lake’s earliest residents, James Wayne “Jim” Locke and Louis Grindlay (Gin) Saul.
Jim Locke was born in Guangzhou (Canton), China in 1898. In 1910, at the age of 12, he boarded a steamer bound for Canada. The only accommodations available to him were in ship’s steerage, a dank and dismal location below decks. In those days, passengers in steerage were often locked behind bulkheads to prevent them from rubbing shoulders with ‘higher-class’ clientele.
After 30 days at sea, Jim arrived at his destination: Victoria, British Columbia. His uncle, already in the country, found him work as a houseboy, and the daughter of his employer taught him to speak English. Armed with a good reference, he then secured a position in a boarding house, and there learned to cook.
Jim proved at home in the kitchen, and his talents were such that he rose through the ranks to become chief cook at Victoria’s prestigious Douglas Hotel.
In 1922, after returning to Victoria from China (where he’d gone to marry), Jim received a letter from his cousin Locke Quey. In the letter, Quey pleaded with Jim to come to Burns Lake and cook for Andy Ruddy in the Omineca Hotel.
After giving the proposal some thought, Jim agreed – and the village gained a fine cook and an even better citizen.
In 1924, Locke Quey and Jim Locke went into partnership and rented a café from Ruddy. It was during this time that they met Gin Saul, a resident of the area since 1919.
In 1945, the lease on Jim and Quey’s restaurant was not renewed. About this time, Quey also expressed an interest in retiring. Faced with an uncertain future, Jim began looking for new location. He approached Gin and suggested they go into business together. Though not a restaurateur, Gin agreed, and the two men formed a partnership that lasted more than two decades.
Jim and Gin bought a small café located next door to the Burns Lake Cash and Carry store (which later became Burns Lake Cash & Delivery). On July 1, 1946, however, the building that housed their establishment was sold and moved to another location – leaving the fledgling partnership without premises from which to operate.
Jim and Gin solved the problem by building a new establishment. They completed the preparatory work by hand with picks and shovels, transporting the excavated soil across Highway 16 by wheelbarrow before dumping it into what is now the downtown parking lot. Lumber for the new structure came from the Saul property at Decker Lake.
Work on the building progressed rapidly, and on November 25, 1946, the New Omineca Café (which later boasted Burns Lake’s first neon sign) opened for business. Three years later, Jim’s youngest son Tom arrived from Hong Kong to join the kitchen staff.
In 1950 and 1951, at the height of the construction boom that accompanied Alcan’s Kenney Dam project, the partnership of Locke and Saul leased the Tweedsmuir Hotel dining room. During this period, they employed a staff of 36 cooks, waitresses, and dishwashers in the Tweedsmuir and New Omineca cafes. The line-up of hungry construction workers outside their establishments often stretched down the street.
Quey later retired and moved to Vancouver, but the partnership of Locke and Saul endured another 15 years. In 1966, Jim Locke bought out his long-time partner (who had by that time become Burns Lake’s magistrate). Jim’s eldest son Tony arrived from Hong Kong with his family, and the three Lockes – Jim, Tony, and Tom – continued to operate the café.
Jim, a well-respected member of the community and friend to many, retired from the restaurant business in 1971 and moved to Vancouver. His death two years later sent shock waves through town.
Tony Locke and his wife Kim kept the business going well into the 1980s before selling to new owners. As late as 1982, it still boasted the original lunch counter, complete with chrome-plated, red leather stools, and the best fountain drinks in Burns Lake.
Tony Fong Tong Locke, born January 19, 1929, died November 29, 2017 in Burnaby. Like his father, he had been an upstanding citizen, and many mourned his passing.
