The International Hotel struggle and the Filipino community
August 4, 1977 will go down in infamy as the date the City and County
of San Francisco executed the most ruthless persecution and violent
destruction of human life unparalleled ever except for the 1934 General
Strike. The main blow was directed at Manilatown and the Filipinos who
lived on Kearny Street since the early 1900's.
Final evictions were carried out in 1977. For those elderly
Filipinos and
Chinese who fought and stood in defense of their home that night,
it
was a sad commentary of how inhumane their treatment and the
disgrace
of a city uncaring to handle the housing crisis and the homeless
victims
of this and other evictions. However, continued community
organizing prevented the owner from building his planned development,
even after the building was demolished in 1981. The hole in the ground
served for years as
a glaring reminder of the human costs and sacrifices to defend
affordable
housing for minorities and the poor.
In 1994 the owner agreed to sell the property to the Catholic
diocese, leading to the construction of a new I-Hotel of low-cost senior
housing with a Filipino community center which opened in 2005.
Documents
I Hotel 2nd edit 30 files (ED)
Thirty digitized photograph files in jpg format of photographs taken during and after the August 4, 1977 eviction of the tenants of the International Hotel. CD format.
SF [San Francisco] City Hall Protest Hearing Rev. Cecil Williams Legislative Chambers (ED)
Twenty-one digitized photograph files in jpg format of photographs taken during a San Francisco City Hall protest concerning the I-Hotel eviction. Photographs include the Reverend Cecil Williams speaking at a hearing held in the legislative chambers. Photographs taken during the late 1970s. CD format.
Manong Joaquin Legaspi, 1973.
Joaquin Legaspi and Al Robles philosophize about life and its different aspects. Joaquin Legaspi an artist, poet, and an intellectual was a popular monong among the I-Hotel's activists crowd. Legaspi begins his viewpoint on explaining that night and day is not that much different from each other. The earth revolves constantly; light is constant and on another side of the world. By comparing this to people's thoughts, the mind is taught this through a learning process that uses labels, fractions, divisions, and sanity is only taught through separation. With this premise, he compares race to being left or right handed. Primitive people have a more natural connection with the world versus the one sided thinking of most people. The five senses around the world are the same all around yet can create ignorance, such as racism. With senses being abused, clashes cultures help to separate (western world vs. Filipino and Asian world, ie I-hotel struggle)
Lucky 'M' Pool Hall, 1973.
Al Robles recites a spoken word comparing music, poetry, art, and life. Next Al Robles interviews a group of manongs in the famed Lucky M pool hall. The interview begins with a group of manongs complaining that ignorant people think that the I-Hotel should be demolished. If this historical landmark is gone, many have no place to go. During the interview Al mainly talks to manong Duvera. Coming to America in 1917, Duvera got a Job as an apprentice barber in the famed Tino's barbershop. He explains the vibrant culture and music that was in the barbershop. Currently working at the Lucky M, Duvera reminisced of the good old days leading to lucky M's closing on March 1st, 1973. Along with other vanishing businesses, Lucky M was the last Filipino pool hall in Manilatown.
Simeon Amon Interview
Simeon Amon talks about women and his life as a child in the islands. He explains social gatherings called "Taxi Dances". This was for lonely manongs who could dance with women for a small fee. Due to miscegenation laws, suitable Pinays of there age and generation didn't exist in the states. It also gave women an opportunity for extra income. Simeon said he attended many dances in the Stockton area and San Francisco. With many of these girls being white, some disapproved the events. A Filipino man dating a white woman resulted in him being shot and her being beat up. Simeon then goes into explaining the virtues of city pinays versus country pinays. The interview ends with him explaining his childhood life on a Luzon farm.
Manong Benny Interview, 1974.
Manong Benny speaks of his past and all the areas of the world he has been to migrate and work, such as China and the US. The interview is half in Tagolog and English.
Manong Velasco Interview
Velasco talks of his health, diet, food, love life, and his past jobs. Velasco describes the conditions in the I-Hotel, for example that many manongs have no refrigerators, so they leave food out to eat and get sick. Velasco also explains his past jobs in places such as Fresno, San Jose, and Santa Clara.
