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"Growing Up on Kearny Street" Tape 1 (EH), "Growing Up on Kearny Street" Tape 2 (EH)
Call Number: CD 500Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
The first part recording of a symposium titled, "Growing Up on Kearny Street" hosted by unknown woman. Three elderly speakers recount their experiences growing up on Kearny Street. The first speaker, an unidentified male, talks about how the Filipino American community was like an extended family where everyone knew each other and helped each other out. He remembers different bars, clubs, and restaurants in the neighborhood, including Tino's Barbershop and Arabian Nights nightclub. Ocampo, the second male, similarly recounts his childhood experience in the neighborhood. He remembers many different dialects of Tagalog spoken everywhere. Kearny street was home to many Filipino businesses, and a place where unemployed Filipinos could go to find work. The third speaker is Joe San Felipe. He explains that Kearny street was a bachelor community, with few women and thus few families. Briefly talks about discrimination against Filipinos and other Asian Americans. The fourth speaker, an unidentified man, is cut off very shortly after he begins talking. Ocampo is member of the Board of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation as of 2005. This recording is only on side A, and is fairly clear sounding.
Second part of a symposium named "Growing Up on Kearny Street". Contains an unidentified man recollecting his experiences on Kearney Street and his history in the army (WWII). He briefly reflects on the racial climate in the armed forces. Tony Robles, the nephew of Al Robles, recites poetry and reminisces about his experience growing up in San Francisco. To conclude the symposium, a unidentified woman tells of her family history and their journey to America throughout the 1920s and 1940s. Also sheds light on the social ills such as conditions of Kearny Street and surrounding areas during her years as a child and teenager. The biggest social ill was women not being allowed to live on Kearny street and the dangers women and children face.
Growing Up on Kearny Street" Tape 2 (cont.), Eastwind Books (EH), KPFA talk with Emil Deguzman, Norman Jayo, and Shiree Tang (EH), Luisa Castro (EH)
Call Number: CD 501AFormat: Cass ACollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Second part of a symposium named "Growing Up on Kearny Street". Contains an unidentified man recollecting his experiences on Kearney Street and his history in the army (WWII). He briefly reflects on the racial climate in the armed forces. Tony Robles, the nephew of Al Robles, recites poetry and reminisces about his experience growing up in San Francisco. To conclude the symposium, a unidentified woman tells of her family history and their journey to America throughout the 1920s and 1940s. Also sheds light on the social ills such as conditions of Kearny Street and surrounding areas during her years as a child and teenager. The biggest social ill was women not being allowed to live on Kearny street and the dangers women and children face. (8/4/1997)
At a poetry reading in Eastwind Books, Al Robles reads a piece that begins, "Coming Home to this Place Called Manilatown". (8/5/1997)
Two radio hosts talk with Emil Deguzman, Norman Jayo and Shiree Tang (on the phone) about the I-Hotel. Issues relate to housing struggles, and gentrification in San Francisco. Emil explains about the hotel previously being a community for bachelor Filipinos unable to marry. Due to immigration laws disallowing Filipina women from entering the country, anti-miscegenation laws disallowed interracial couples. Shiree Tang talks about how the I-hotel was also a home to Asian American leftist organizations such as Kearny Street Workshop and Chinese Progressive Association. The struggle over the I-Hotel was a fight for the community's entitlement to that land. "Paving new roads", the energy of that moment remains through the people, old and young. Norman and Emil explain how gentrification destroyed communities such as Yerba Buena, Tenderloin, and the Filmore. With no city plan, tenants had no choice but to stay in the hotel and resist all they could. For everyone involved in the struggle, the mission eventually was not to save the hotel, but to show the world that the city was evicting the elderly from their homes. (8/7/1997)
Short, informal interview of writer/journalist/activist Luisa Castro conducted by Estella Habal. Luisa explains her background as a mixed Black and Filipina woman who grew up in Portland, Oregon with her mother. Growing up, she never belonged in the white community and knew from an early age that she had no place in the white race. She identifies Lloyd Wake and Ron Takaki as two professors who actively supported the third world strike. (10/8/1997)
Frank Celada [Part 1] (EH)
Date: 12/1/1997Call Number: CD 502Format: CassetteCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Estella Habal and Harvey Dong have an informal discussion with Frank Celada over a meal in a restaurant. Celada's family came to United States from the Philippines in 1953. Growing up in the projects of Alameda, his father supported the family as a cook. With the Filipino American community being divided by class, Kearny Street was often looked at as a "rowdy area" that was not for respectable people. Celada got involved in the I-Hotel through his involvement in student activism at Berkeley. The student activist energy at Berkeley was strong and a lot of people wanted to fight for the I-Hotel. Celada reminisces about his activism at Berkeley, and how it led him to become a part of UFA in 1969-70. Celada was the community liaison for UFA. Talks a lot about group dynamics within the UFA, identifying key players (Mark Batista, Ness Aquino, Tony Ubaldi), and the groups relationship to I-Hotel tenants.
Celada got involved in the I-Hotel through his involvement in student activism at Berkeley. The student activist energy at Berkeley was strong and a lot of people wanted to fight for the I-Hotel. Celada reminisces about his activism at Berkeley, and how it led him to become a part of UFA in 1969-70. Celada was the community liaison for UFA. Talks a lot about group dynamics within the UFA, identifying key players (Mark Batista, Ness Ikena, Tony Ibaldi), and the groups relationship to I-Hotel tenants.
Frank Celada [Part 2] (EH)
Date: 12/21/1997Call Number: CD 503Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Discussion between Estella Habal, Frank Celada, and Harvey Dong about various student groups that were involved with the I-Hotel. One of which eventually created the Asian studies department at Berkeley. They explain the AAPA organization. This student organization had connections with the anti-war movement, SNCC and the farm worker movement. All three participants concluded that they got involved with activism due to the third world strike and the I-hotel.
They also discussed the AAPA [Asian American Political Alliance?] and it's founders: Bob Rita, who was a member of the UFW, Richard Aoki, [sic] who was an internee, Yuji Ichioka and his wife, and Lillian Fabros. AAPA was a political student organization, who had connections with the anti-war movement, SNCC and the farmworker movement. All three participants concluded they got involved with activism due to the third world strike and the I-hotel.
They ended the conversation by discussing the various reasons people say the I-Hotel movement failed. One reason is because the movement opened up to non-Asians, due to the lack of support from Filipinos. Estella makes the point that the movement would not have lasted as long without the outreach. Estella then talks about Peter Bacho, who taught at Davis, and said that the radicals and disunity ruined the movement, because each emphasized the flaws, and not the larger picture. Finally, it was added by Estella that the division, attacks and infiltration by the FBI through cointelpro, the FBI's counter-intelligence program, brought about the disillusion of those involved.
Mrs. Dela Cruz (1) [Part 1] (EH)
Date: 3/8/1993Call Number: CD 504Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Informal oral history interview of Mrs. de la Cruz conducted by Estella Habal. During the interview, Mrs. de la Cruz recalls her family history and her experience living in the I-Hotel. Part 1 of the interview contains Mrs. de la Cruz recollecting her family history, which includes their experience during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. Mrs. de la Cruz also recalls how she became involved with the I-Hotel and the relations amongst the tenants and the volunteers or activists of the I-Hotel. One highlight of the interview is her recollection of the fire that broke out at the I-Hotel.
Mrs. Dela Cruz (1) [Part 1] (EH) Cont., Mrs. Dela Cruz (2) [Part 2] (EH)
Call Number: CD 505Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Informal oral history interview of Mrs. de la Cruz conducted by Estella Habal. During the interview, Mrs. de la Cruz recalls her family history and her experience living in the I-Hotel. Part 1 of the interview contains Mrs. de la Cruz recollecting her family history, which includes their experience during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. Mrs. de la Cruz also recalls how she became involved with the I-Hotel and the relations amongst the tenants and the volunteers or activists of the I-Hotel. One highlight of the interview is her recollection of the fire that broke out at the I-Hotel. (3/8/1993)
Estella Habal's interview of Mrs. de la Cruz covers the tenants and volunteers of the International Hotel. Issues such as their past and current status of the tenants and activists are raised. (3/8/1993)
Emil Deguzman (EH)
Date: 5/2/1989Call Number: CD 506Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Estella Habal and Emil de Guzman discuss politics and social dynamics of activism around the I-Hotel. [D]e Guzman explains how he first got involved through a sociology community fieldwork class (SF State '69). In order to assist the struggle, his class would go to work at the I-Hotel every day of the semester. Bringing the Asian American community together, it fostering a deep sense of political identity. With few Filipino Americans involved in the struggle, de Guzman makes a connection to class background. Unlike the Chinese, Filipinos didn't have as much community resources to fund community events. There were also generational gaps within the Filipino community between first, second, and third "waves". Emil explains the working relationship between the young students and elder manongs. In result, the media falsely assumed that the young activists were manipulating the old. Finally he and Estella explore various political aspects that divided the movement and the support alliances that were formed from it.
Jeanette Lazan [part 1] (EH)
Date: 5/2/1989Call Number: CD 507Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Estella Habal interviewes Jeanette Lazam on her background, development as an activist, and involvement with the I-Hotel. Once living in Manhattan, she experienced living in a predominantly Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood. Growing up as a product of the civil rights movement, she developed her social consciousness as a person of color and gained a anti-racist framework. It wasn't until she moved to California she began to identify proudly as Filipino. She learned in college that there was more to being Asian than just food and dance. They discussed the generation gap of political awareness. While the third generation was more working class, greater economic hardships surpassed the second. Consequently, the third generation tended to have a greater class-consciousness, which tended to aspire towards assimilation and economic mobility. In result of the I-hotel's history and struggle, generations were brought together, even though there were language barriers. As Jeanette worked with the UFA, she provided social services and companionship to the tenants.
Jeanette Lazan [part 2] (EH)
Date: 11/13/1990Call Number: CD 508Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview between Estella Habal and Jeanette Lazam begins with the internal dynamics of the I-Hotel struggle. Lazam started with the UFA, which got her involved with the IH. Still a student at SF state, Lazan participated in a program that connected students with social service agencies. At that time, the UFA represented the tenants of IH as well as all housing issues in Manilatown. After spending a year Philippines, Lazan returned to San Francisco with a greater sense of cultural sensitivity. With motivation to continue activist work, she joined the KDP in '74. As her work became more politicized, Lazam moved into the hotel and befriended many of the tenants. With age and gender differences between her and the tenants, Lazan and the tenents still shared a working class identity that provided unity. Lazam describes the Roosevelt Hotel plan to pressure Moscone's declaration for eminent domain, and the plan for a buyback. Lazam ends with saying Cultural nationalism and its role in the movement creates tension between seeing the goal of saving the ethnic community of Manilatown and protecting all people's right to obtain housing.
Jeanette Lazan [part 2] (EH) cont., Jeanette Lazan [part 3] (EH)
Date: 11/13/1990Call Number: CD 509Format: Cass A & BCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview between Estella Habal and Jeanette Lazam begins with the internal dynamics of the I-Hotel struggle. Lazam started with the UFA, which got her involved with the IH. Still a student at SF state, Lazan participated in a program that connected students with social service agencies. At that time, the UFA represented the tenants of IH as well as all housing issues in Manilatown. After spending a year Philippines, Lazan returned to San Francisco with a greater sense of cultural sensitivity. With motivation to continue activist work, she joined the KDP in '74. As her work became more politicized, Lazam moved into the hotel and befriended many of the tenants. With age and gender differences between her and the tenants, Lazan and the tenents still shared a working class identity that provided unity. Lazam describes the Roosevelt Hotel plan to pressure Moscone's declaration for eminent domain, and the plan for a buyback. Lazam ends with saying Cultural nationalism and its role in the movement creates tension between seeing the goal of saving the ethnic community of Manilatown and protecting all people's right to obtain housing.
Interview between Estella Habal and Jeanette Lazam on external social-political forces. As a self-examination of the struggle is made, identification of different group involvement are examined. An example is groups such as whites with weak political ties (Anarchists, Maoists). However, whites joined the movement with prevalent ideologies, which were politically tumultuous of the time. There were also artists, the white working class and farm workers who wanted affordable housing as well. Within the left sphere, Lazam analyzes the political spectrum from the range of "radical/ultra-extreme left" to liberal. These groups often clashed and made it difficult to work together. Finally, she looks into the city forces, specifically Hongisto. She believes that a lot of the activists' weaknesses had to do with lack of experience and lack of coalition work with others. The struggle came from all sides. (11/13/1990)
