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SAN FRANCISCO, California, United States—Manilatown once stretched ten blocks down Kearny Street in downtown San Francisco. Today, it’s mostly a memory in the heart of this great city.
But it is a powerful memory. And this week, Filipino Americans will pay tribute to those who have helped keep it strong.
The old residential hotels and shops and billiard halls, where the old timer Filipinos, known as the Manongs, once lived, worked, and created a vibrant community, are gone, replaced by the modern building of San Francisco’s financial district.
There was a time when this was a center of Filipino America. And more than 30 years ago, it was a battleground. In 1977, the Manongs, joined by young Filipino Americans, stood together to defy an order to vacate the International Hotel, in the heart of Manilatown.
They lost. The old people were kicked out, and the building was demolished.
But the confrontation, which drew attention to the issue of housing rights in the United States, galvanized the community, especially many young Filipino Americans. They kept fighting afterwards. And a few years ago, they scored a victory. The Manilatown Heritage Center was born on the site of the old I-Hotel.
On October 2, the Manilatown Center will honor four Filipino Americans. One of them writes poetry and fiction, and has inspired hundreds of young Filipino Americans. Another helped build one of the most influential labor organizations in American history. And then there’s the couple who exemplify the spirit of Filipino American philanthropy.
Dado Banatao is a Silicon Valley pioneer, an engineer who helped pave the way for the computer revolution. He also has a compelling life story.
Banatao grew up in a poor barrio in Cagayan Valley. Through hard work and patience, he earned advanced degrees, including a doctorate from Stanford University. He was among the young engineers in the 70s and 80s who helped develop the tools and technologies that made the rise of the home computer possible. He and his wife Maria Banatao have played central roles in Filipino American philanthropy, assisting many community focused projects including scholarships for deserving students and the Manilatown Heritage Center itself.
The Banataos will be honored with the Manilatown Heritage Award for their commitment and contributions to the FilAm community.
The late Larry Itliong is a legend in the American labor movement. In the 50s and 60s, he and other Filipino labor activists, including the respected Phillip Vera Cruz, faced off with growers and police in fighting for the rights of farm workers. Their efforts and those of Mexican Americans led by Cesar Chavez eventually led to the creation of the United Farm Workers, one of the most influential labor organizations in the United States.
Itliong will receive the Bill Sorro Social Justice Award for his role in the epic battles for the rights of farm workers.
Oscar Penaranda grew up on Leyte Island and moved to the United States when he was 17. He is a modern-day Carlos Bulosan, an artist-activist, whose stories and poems are rooted in the Filipino American story. He is also a committed teacher, who taught college students, mainly at San Francisco State University, for a dozen years, and high school and middle school students for more than 25 years.
Oscar will receive an award named after the late poet-activist Al Robles.
More than anything else, the annual Manilatown Heritage dinner is a celebration of the Filipino story in America. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the event celebrates “the historic struggles of the International Hotel and its importance to the Filipino American community of San Francisco.” Congresswoman Jackie Speier said the “expansion of Filipino art and culture has been an integral addition to our multicultural Bay Area family.”
For more information, check out the Manilatown Heritage Center at this website.
