The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 8

A8 IIWESTCOASTNEWS BREAKING NEWS: VANC0UVERSUN.COM FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 DINING MENTAL HEALTH The Brave Bull's last stand Closing after 25 years of serving the cheapest steaks in town Videos channel depression talks Teens choose medium to tackle topic SHAWN CONNER VANCOUVER SUN SHAWN CONNER VANCOUVER SUN 0 Their different ideas of how to do it were really quite impressive. I was really moved by them. GINNY DENNEHY PRESIDENT OF KELTY FOUNDATION Long an east Vancouver favourite for its $10 sirloins, The Brave Bull's House of Steaks will close on Sunday. The family restaurant on the corner of Clark Drive and Hastings Street East has been serving steak, seafood and more since 1985. Owners Linda and Frank Lum have sold the building to a developer and plan to retire.

Besides its prices, the Brave Bull is known for its dilapidated exterior. The words House of Steaks are faded on the storefront, the yellow awnings look as though they haven't been washed in years and the moulded white columns are left over from when the building was a Greek restau children's mental health. Coniglio is part of a team of mental health professionals involved with Mind Check (mindcheck.ca), a 3. BRAVE Eyyjs TtTSrAUWAVTf When reaching out to young people, Ginny Den-nehy knows it's important to communicate on their terms. Increasingly, this means using non-traditional media, like Facebook and YouTube.

"As a foundation, we always have a challenge connecting with youth," said Dennehy, president of the Kelty Foundation, a Vancouver-based organization dedicated to preventing depression-related suicide in young people. "How do you speak to them in their own language and remove the stigma of depression?" she asked. On a recent trip to Notre Dame College, a Catholic high school in Wilcox, Dennehy said she asked a group of students how they would communicate with a friend or family member who was grappling with depression or mental illness. "They said, 'How we communicate best is with So I challenged them to do a video for the foundation on removing the stigma from depression." She ended up with three distinct videos put together by separate groups. "Their different ideas of how to do it were really quite impressive.

I was really moved by them," Dennehy said. According to the Canadian Psychiatric Association, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of 16 and 24. And Dennehy is no stranger to the tragedy it can bring. In 2001 she lost her son Kelty to suicide. "Kelty was a normal kid," she said.

"But then he got this disease, depression." Because mental illness and mental health challenges often emerge in the teen and young adult years, connect- ing with young people is particularly important, said Dr. Connie Coniglio, an executive director with the Provincial Health Authority who specializes in women's and f-ru' website resource for young people grappling with mental illness and depression. 1 The site, featuring quiz- zes, fact sheets and lists of 1 symptoms, was created spe- cifically for the 15-25 age group, she said. "Whether through the website or social media, it's important to get to that population while they're young," said Coniglio. Mind Check, which was started by the Fraser Health Authority, also ran a campaign encouraging visitors to the site to submit videos of themselves talking about depression.

The initiative, which has resulted in over 200 submissions, was spurred on by the Vancouver Canucks, which provided additional funding and helped to promote the site. "They wanted to do something to recognize Rick Ryp-ien, who suffered for quite a long time," said Coniglio, referring to the former Canuck who committed suicide last summer." .1 i Mind Check hit both thoset marks. foono That contribution mayM have been reward enoughol for the Canucks, but then" Kelty Foundation's Dennehy -wanted to do something more tangible to thank the Notre Dame students for()j 1 their video contributions. "I asked what I could giveo i them for a prize," she "i id was told 'Buy them pizza.Miw sconnervancouversun.com rant. If not for a sandwich board advertising breakfast coffee break lunch dinner, people might assume it's been shut down already.

But inside, the restaurant is neat and clean and homey. The decor includes landscape paintings, hanging plants and Chinese lanterns. And business, while not busy, is steady, with several tables occupied Wednesday evening. One couple at the restaurant, Nicole Williams and Al Fowler, said they used to come once a week before they moved to Vernon. They were disappointed to learn the Brave Bull would serve its last $10 sirloin on Sunday.

"It's good food, and it's cheap," said Williams. "You can't get a steak that cheap anywhere else." Frank, 78, does the cooking and Linda, 75, manages and waits tables. They've been running the restaurant on their own for years, working seven days a week and only going on vacation twice since they opened. Faye Lum, the Lums' daughter, said there were a few signs that it was time for her parents to shut' down the Brave Bull. Last year, Frank was diagnosed with colon cancer and they closed for a year.

Then, a car ran into the side of the building. And 1V2 years ago, Linda was mugged and knocked unconscious as she and Frank were leaving the restaurant for the night. "We tried to convince her to take a couple of weeks off, but she said 'I'm only taking two days Faye said. Frank and Linda are both originally from southern China. Frank RIC ERNSTPNG Top photo: Owners Frank, right, and Linda Lum share a laugh inside the The Brave Bull's House of Steaks Family Restaurant on East Hastings.

Bottom photo: The Lums outside of the restaurant. Their hobbies are limited. They like to garden. They get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to work the garden, then they go to, work. The only difference in the last five or six years is they have to have a nap.

If they don't, they say they can't work the evening shift." "I'm old, I can't take that much work," Linda said. Asked what they planned to do after retiring from the restaurant business, Linda pointed to the hanging plants inside the Brave Bull. "I'm going to work in the garden," she said. "I'm going to plant a big garden." sconnervancouversun.com immigrated in 1954 and Linda in 1959. They met in Vancouver through Frank's grandparents and married in 1959.

The Brave Bull is the Lums' third restaurant. Their first was a Chinese-Canadian restaurant, Lum's, in Port Coquitlam. The second was a diner called Uncle Tom's Cabin on Kingsway at Main. In the Brave Bull's heyday, during Expo 86, the restaurant was managed by their son Dennis and the Lums had a staff of four waitresses. When the Brave Bull first opened, the sirloin steak was $6.99.

In a 1995 photo of the restaurant, a sign advertises a sirloin steak for $8.99. Linda said the Brave Bull has regular customers. "Some of them ask me, 'Linda, where will I go for a low-price I tell them, I don't A filet mignon at the Brave Bull today costs $14.95. At the Gotham Steakhouse on Seymour Street downtown, it's $49.95. "It's my dad's stubbornness," Faye said.

"He felt he had to keep the prices low for the customers. My mom and the family agreed prices should go It took many years for them to just separate the taxes from the price of the meal." Her parents don't work at the restaurant for the money any more, she said. "It's something they like to do. See video with this story at vancouversun.com DOWNTOWN Ytw finally MMiSF4 Omei Businesses wary of pedestrian mall 1 lk6Y TIFFANY CRAWFORD VANCOUVER SUN 11 i- i (T Street closures in the downtown core should be seasonal and temporary, says the executive director of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. Charles Gauthier says closing off roads for events that attract crowds like the jazz festival makes sense, but he doesn't see any merit in making streets such as Robson permanent pedes 1 riM 4k i 1 www.authenticrugsandart.com 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 -a 1 1 vM 1 1 1 1 1 trian malls.

'We think a big problem is our weather. We are not a Southern California climate that will encourage people of Robson Street could become a permanent pedestrian mall, and will vote on a report from staff this fall. Gauthier said members of the downtown business group are upset that the city made the announcement without involving the association, and he's urging members to petition the city for further consultation. Traffic congestion and dif- ficulty delivering products to local businesses were two of the problems Gauthier i identified in arguing against making the area a perma- nent pedestrian mall. 6 Gauthier said further dis- cussion should focus on making better use of the public space on the other side of the Vancouver Art Gallery, facing Georgia Street.

"It's a significant amount jhj of space more than at Howe and Hornby." 91 Mayor Gregor Robertson said feedback from the public, TransLink and localxd business owners will be con'irr; sidered before going ahead1! with a permanent closure bf 'd Robson Street. sifl He praised the success'P of the summer street cldir" sure, saying that RobsotPin has proven to be a hub of rt activity. 2fob Robertson said there llfio an opportunity to create "an important new puh0 lie plaza" in the centre fefoiJ downtown. bbni Dbfl6 ticrawfordvancouversun.com )920b to hang around outside, he said. "We shouldn't be closing the streets just for the sake of closing them." On Wednesday, the city announced that the 800-block of Robson Street, between Hornby and Howe, will remain closed to automobile traffic until the end of the year.

The block, which became popular during the Olympics, has been closed this summer for the VIVA Vancouver Pop Rocks seating installation, which features large, white beanbag-style seats and sun umbrellas. The seats were made using recycled material from the old sails on the Canada Place roof. The city said that block I WE PAY HST (0 (fc 0) sraow 1 -v -s.