When I was an elementary student in Daly City, my parents told me stories about “Bayanihan,” an old Filipino tradition where a whole community would lift a family’s entire house and move it somewhere else. As a little kid, this concept felt otherworldly—how can a group of people lift an entire house and move it? Reading into the history of Filipinos in the Bay Area, the concept of “Bayanihan” has always crept its way into stories and has become an integral part of the Filipino American community.
From Filipino Americans in the ‘60s and ‘70s banding together to keep their homes in the International Hotel to the current community in Daly City, the Bay Area is rich in Filipino culture.
Isaiah Mateo is a junior at Archbishop Riordan High School and has lived most of his life around Daly City. He has seen Filipino representation around the entire Bay Area. “Filipino culture just can’t be found in one spot,” Mateo said. “I’ve been to Monterey and Marago, and throughout all these places, I’ve seen aspects of Filipino culture.”
0.2% of students at M-A identify as Filipino, making it a small group of students out of the 2,152 currently enrolled. Agnes Evangelista is a freshman and sophomore English teacher at M-A who minored in Philippine Studies at the University of San Francisco. She grew up in Mountain View and currently lives in Daly City.
“I always say that Filipinos are everywhere, but Daly City gets that reputation because of its higher concentration,” Evangelista said. “But, you can find that in other places as well.”
Evangelista previously worked at Burton High School in San Francisco, which has a higher population of Filipino students. “Coming to this environment is different, where I’m the only Filipino teacher,” she said.
Evangelista has lived around Filipino culture for most of her life and expressed how Filipinos always find a community. “There are a lot of Filipinos in Canada and Dubai. Our Overseas Filipino Workers are an essential part of the Philippines and wherever they work,” Evangelista added.
Overseas Filipino Workers is a commonly used term to refer to migrant Filipino workers who leave the Philippines to work abroad and are the backbone of the modern interpretation of “Bayanihan.”
Manilatown and the I-Hotel
Most Filipino Americans in the mid to late 1900s lived in and around the International Hotel, a former residential hotel on Kearny St. in San Francisco. The 10-block area around the I-Hotel was dubbed “Manilatown” by San Franciscan residents for its large population of Filipino immigrants living in the area. Many immigrants lived there because of its accessibility, as the rent was around $50 per month, or $532.60 when accounting for inflation today.
In the course of nine years from 1968-77, Filipino and Chinese residents of the I-Hotel would eventually be forced out of the I-Hotel to make way for other city projects.
An eviction order was given out in October 1968 by Milton Meyer & Company and residents were told to vacate the building by Jan. 1, 1969. The original owners of the building wanted to demolish the hotel to make way for a multi-level parking lot.
Tenants, represented by the United Filipino Association, would pressure the Milton & Meyer company to sign an extended lease agreement scheduled for March 16, 1969. However, on the morning the lease was set to be signed, a mysterious fire broke out at the I-Hotel. Three residents died as a result of the fire: Pio Rosete, Marcario Salermo, and Robert Knau.
The Milton & Meyer company withdrew from the agreement, claiming the building was “unsafe” and needed to be demolished. However, after more protests by community members, they eventually signed a lease agreement extending to June 30, 1972.
The building went through massive renovations at the hands of the Manilatown community, rebuilding and redesigning rooms destroyed by the fire. Additionally, community centers were built from abandoned storefronts which boosted the living standards in the community.
“Everybody’s Bookstore” was established at the I-Hotel and was the first Asian-American bookstore in the U.S.
The fight for the I-Hotel gained popularity outside the community as the 1969 student movement by the Third World Liberation Front at UC Berkeley helped support the residents of the I-Hotel.
Eventually, the battle for the I-Hotel would take a dark turn as ownership was transferred to the Four Seas Investment Corporation. Further negotiations with the company would prove no use, and eventually, residents were ordered once more to vacate the building by the California Supreme Court in 1977.
Despite the order, law enforcement was reluctant to actually force the residents out. One sheriff, Richard Hongisto, refused to enforce the eviction order and was subsequently thrown in jail for five days in April 1977.
Public opposition rose as a result of the eviction order and the International Hotel Tenants Association was formed. Residents continued protesting and postponing the eviction.
On Aug. 4, 1977, the final fight against the eviction would be held by the supporters and residents of the I-Hotel. A human wall of 3,000 protesters would guard the doors of the I-Hotel as 400 riot police officers would pile their way through the shield and eventually kick the last remaining residents of the I-Hotel out. To this day, this is still known as one of the most abhorrent actions by the City of San Francisco.
Through the work of community members of the city, affordable housing was provided through the I-Hotel once again. The International Hotel Block Development Citizens Advisory Committee was established by the city in order to determine the fate of the I-Hotel.
In 1982, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a zoning ordinance that made housing a requirement in the location of the I-Hotel.
The I-Hotels ownership was given to the Archdiocese of San Francisco as Pan-Magna, the successor to the Four Seas Investment corporation, sold the land to the Catholic Church. The I-Hotel was to be rebuilt as a joint effort with St. Mary’s Chinese Schools and Catholic Center. The housing development was given to the Chinatown Community Development Center.
Through the hard work of the City of San Francisco, the ICAC, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and many community members who helped fund the project, affordable housing was provided once again by the I-Hotel. The hotel reopened its doors in 2005, serving lower-income residents of San Francisco.
Daly City: The New Manilatown
With a current population of 98,158 and Filipinos making up 32.3% of the total population, Daly City is another ethnic enclave of Filipinos in the Bay Area. From the smell of grilled pompano at the Seafood City supermarket to the bustling crowds at Serramonte Mall, Daly City is deeply enriched with a Filipino American identity.
Around the same time as the battle for the I-Hotel, the 1968 Civil Rights “Fair Housing Act” was passed in the U.S. which prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, nationality, and family status when financing housing. As a result, numerous homes in Daly City became accessible to many working-class Filipino workers.
Daly City is also home to one of the first Jollibee chains. The Pinoy fast-food chain, which specializes in Fried Chicken and its iconic peach mango pie, opened its doors to the U.S. in 1998. It’s only fitting that it opened in one of the largest Filipino-populated towns in the U.S. Currently, Jollibee has 72 locations in the United States and 1,668 worldwide.
Whether it be the long and hard-fought battle to keep the I-Hotel or the establishment of Daly City and other regions of the U.S., Filipino Americans in the Bay Area have maintained a sense of community throughout history.
