History of Manilatown & the I-Hotel Filipinos have been in San Francisco since and even before the early 1900s. Not many know that Filipinos have been in the Americas since the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade during the late 1500s (Mercene, 2007). As documentation of this history continues, it helps Filipino-Americans of the present to learn what our ancestors went through to build our presence in the Americas. Despite the injustice of racism and classism they experienced as a dispensable labor force, the Filipino pioneers built communities where they could live and thrive. Manilatown San Francisco was one of those places.
Since the 1920s, Kearny St. San Francisco, which extended from Market St. to Broadway St., was Manilatown, a bustling ethnic neighborhood that was home to pioneer Filipino immigrants. There were businesses like barber shops, boxing clubs, restaurants, dance halls and Single Room Occupancies (SROs). After the 1906 earthquake, the International Hotel became home to many immigrant and low-income tenants. However, during the 1960s to the 1970s, the expansion of San Francisco Financial District increased land prices, forcing many Filipino-owned businesses to close down because rents were too expensive (Habal, 2007).
In 1968, the I-Hotel owner, the Four Seas/Milton Meyer Corporation wanted to demolish the I-Hotel and replace it with a parking lot. From 1968 to 1977, a broad based effort of elders, churches, students, ethnic and labor movements came together to prevent the eviction. However, on August 4, 1977, the tenants were brutally evicted by San Francisco's Sheriff Department (Choy, 1993). Although the building was demolished, the parking lot was not even built. But the gaping hole where the building once stood did not stop the will of the community. From 1977 to 2003, the International Hotel Tenant Association's (IHTA) continued their advocacy for low-income senior housing, which led to the rebuilding of the I-Hotel. In 2005, the I-Hotel opened its doors, providing housing to 104 low-income senior tenants, and establishing the Manilatown Center to preserve the history of the Manilatown community and their resistance against corporate displacement (Cabading, 2005).
The Significance of Manilatown History Today Limited affordable housing, gentrification and displacement continue to be an issue for many low-income and immigrant communities in San Francisco. As redevelopment continues to be a priority for city officials, how can we be culturally sensitive about its effects? The Manilatown Archival Project preserves the memory of what happened to a community who were displaced because of flawed choices in city planning priorities. We chose to create a digital archives because it is a way to educate and proliferate information about San Francisco Manilatown to younger, tech savvy generations so that they may have access to a history of community organizing that has impacted city policies for affordable housing and redevelopment planning.
History of the Archival ProjectThe archival project began when activists, like Estella Habal, Emil DeGuzman, Bill Sorro and Al Robles, needed a safe place to store their materials gathered during the I-Hotel movement and to preserve the history of Manilatown. Their vision is to create an archive that is organic, community-based and closer to the people who experienced its history (Habal, personal communication, 2008).
The early stage of the archival project was to use photos, footage, oral histories gathered during the existence of Manilatown and the I-Hotel anti-eviction movement to create DVDs. For example, "Rise of the I-Hotel" a film produced by Malaya Productions retells the history of the rebuilding of the I-Hotel and the opening of its doors in 2005 (Cabading,2005).
Then, the archives were managed by Mitchell Yangson and Isaac Obenzinger who focused on archiving the oral histories through a partnership with the Freedom Archives. As more materials needed to be preserved, digitization continued (Habal, personal communication, 2008).
Read an article written by former Archival Coordinator, E-R Cachola, that documents the importance of community self-determination of cultural philosophy in the design of archival systems.
Projects and Programs Currently, the archives collects, digitizes and makes accessible digitized and born-digital materials for public use.
• The archives searchable online though Web 2.0 technology like blogger, flickr ourmedia and facebook. Visit our work so far at manilatownarchives.blogspot.com.
• Volunteer and Internship program harnesses the work of students and others who are tech savvy and interested in historical and cultural preservation work. They help us with Web 2.0 technology, summarizing information, transcription, and data-entry.
• The archive is open for public research at the I-Hotel, Manilatown Center.
Works CitedCabading, Caroline, et al. 2005. Rise of the I-Hotel. Malaya Productions, San Francisco CA.
Choy, Curtis. 1993. Fall of the I-Hotel. Chunk Moonhunter Productions, Oakland CA.
Habal, Estella. 2007. San Francisco’s International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement. Temple University Press: Philadelphia.
Mercene, Floro. L. Manila Men in the New World. University of Philippine Press: Quezon, 2007.
