Uncle D

David Duthie, Bill’s brother, arrived in Vancouver in 1961. A few days later, he began working at the Robson store, with Bill, Binky, Jane Redpath, and Ivy Mickelson. He moved to the first Tenth Avenue store when it opened in 1962 and came to be known to everyone as Uncle D.

Bill, David, Binky, and Don MacKinnon celebrated Duthie’s fifth anniversary by attending Lenny Bruce’s first and only performance in Canada. David remembers Bruce reaching down and taking his G&T from the table “and the bastard never gave it back”. The police closed the show down later that night.