Gateway to Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown is up; dedication set for May 7

The Gateway Arch to Los Angeles 'Historic Filipinotown spans Beverly Blvd.

After a 20 year effort, a Los Angeles neighborhood has a gateway arch proclaiming that one is entering Historic Filipinotown.

The 30-feet tall Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway spanning the 80-feet wide Beverly Boulevard near the 1st Street Bridge marks the eastern entrance to HiFi. The gateway arch is part of the efforts to raise awareness of the neighborhood and Filipino American presence that has been largely overlooked even though one of the intended founders of L.A. in 1781 was a a "Chino" gunsmith from the Philippines, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.

The archway, named Talang Gabay: Our Guiding Star, was designed by Filipino American artists Eliseo Art Silva and Celestino Geronimo Jr. The gateway features several Filipino cultural symbols including a signature lantern known as a parol, the Gumamela flower and the Sarimanok bird.

"My favorite part of the entire Gateway Monument is the face on the PH Sun, which restores the original flag launched on June 12,1898," Silva tweeted after work on  archway structure was completed.

Do you see the face on the parol?

Historic Filipinotown is a 2.5 square mile district in the city of Los Angeles. It was created by a resolution proposed by then-City Councilmember Eric Garcetti on August 2, 2002. The district is bounded by the Hoover Street on the west to Glendale Boulevard on the east, Temple Street on the north, Beverly Boulevard on the south side.

Within the HiFi boundaries are several Filipino American restaurants, churches, businesses and community resources including the Filipino American Library, servicing the Filipino American community.

“Pilipino Workers Center is excited and proud of being a part of the collective process to make this HiFi gateway project a reality!” said Aquilina Soriano Versoza, executive director of Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), headquartered in HiFi.

“It really took a robust collaboration of community and city officials to accomplish the completion of the eastern HiFi gateway project. The gateway is a great project for creating visibility for the Filipino American community in HiFi and Los Angeles. That visibility gives organizations like PWC more power to lift up the issues our community is facing.”

A ribbon-cutting celebration for the gateway, with food, music and dance performances is scheduled for May 7 at 4 pm, PDT.

Silva's other major work, the largest Filipino American mural in the U.S. ,  "Glorious History, A Golden Legacy,"  and the Filipino WWII Veterans Memorial is within walking distance of the new gateway.

More than half a million Filipinos live in greater Los Angeles. It’s a symbol for many groups of people, says Jessica Caloza with the L.A. Department of Public Works

“It's not just for Filipinos or Asian Americans, it’s really a monument to all immigrants who call Los Angeles home, who come here every single day like my family did,” Caloza said to LAist.

“I was born in the Philippines, and we called L.A. home," Caloza told LAist. "This is really a testament and a love letter to them to say that you're not only here in passing, but this is your home and you're welcome here.”

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New landmark to rise in Los Angeles' HiFi (Historic Filipinoown)

Renderings by Eliseo Silva

Tourists will soon be able to find Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown when a new gateway arch arises -- just follow the stars.

The "stars" are giant parols atop a new structure that will be build across Beverley Blvd., the eastern entry into the area popularly known as "HiFi" that was the historic and cultural center of the Filipino American community during the mid-1900s. The renderings of the project were unveiled June 12, Philippine Independence Day.

“Once completed later this year, Historic Filipinotown will have a permanent reminder that showcases the beauty and storied history of the Filipino community," said L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell. 

The Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway Project, a long-awaited milestone in the Filipino American community, will serve as a welcome to this officially designated neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles region is home to over half a million Filipinos, the largest concentration of Filipinos outside the Philippines.

“The key to building and enhancing the beautiful neighborhood we all know as Historic Filipinotown has always been community," said Commissioner Jessica Caloza. "As a first-generation Filipina American, I am proud to see us celebrate and recognize our diversity and continue building it into the fabric of our city.”

"I’m proud to have partnered with Commissioner Jessica Caloza, Bureau of Engineering, one of the great Filipino artists of our time Eliseo Art Silva, and community members who have contributed their efforts, creativity, and ideas toward this soon-to-be point of pride for the neighborhood,” added O'Farrell.

The Filipino American mural by artist Eliseo Silva is already a tourist attraction in HiFi.

The name of the structure -- an artwork, really -- is fitting: ‘Talang Gabay: Our Guiding Star’ and designed by artist Eliseo Silva. The design elements include: the Parol, the Gumamela flower, and the Sarimanok, all symbols with deep roots in the Filipino culture.

Instagrammers will be happy to note that the gateway will be near the giant Filipino American mural at Unidad Park, also painted by Silva.

“This magnificent new gateway will welcome everyone to Historic Filipinotown," said Silva. "It’s a fitting tribute to the many courageous men and women on the frontlines - brave warriors such as our numerous Filipino healthcare workers. The Gateway not only signals that Filipino Americans have finally arrived, -- it also symbolizes the valor of the frontliners in our city.”