Roger Ing is an immigrant from China. He came to Canada in 1950 where he became fascinated with such artists as Pollack, Goeritz, and Kline. Roger has been an amateur painter since he was a young child. He then started to adopt and combine western art with traditional Chinese art. After gaining fame around the community, he decided to open a small café where people could come and enjoy a cup of coffee and a painting in a relaxed environment; a utopia if you will, and that's exactly why Roger called it the Utopia Café. The utopia then became a country-wide landmark. If city dwellers had people come in from out of town or out of province, the first thing that they would do is take their guest to the Utopia Café for a cup of coffee like no other. The café never seemed to have a slump until July 1993 when something terrible happened. The city health inspectors closed down the café at 3018 Dewdney Avenue because Roger was guilty of severe health code violations. Roger was also fined $1,430. Instead of re-opening, Roger decided to sell the 23 year old building. Roger thought all was lost with his café. There were still a few glowing embers in the pile of ash we call the Utopia and those embers went by the names of Harold McNally and Rod Kempa. They purchased the shut down café and restored it back to everything it used to be. The only thing that was different about the café now was that it was now named the Utopia Rock Hard Café. However, don't judge a book by its cover because you could still get lunch for under $10 and if you ask you could get a freshly painted Roger Ing original. Ing's spirit was like the café and never died. Roger's Utopia may be gone , but the spirit of the Café lives in Roger's art and in the hearts and minds of Roger's legions of adoring fans.