SF Filipino neighborhood disrupted by int'l dignitaries

Street banners throughout the Filipino Cultural Heritage District tout the neighborhood's residents.

Most likely the the political and economic leaders from Asia and the United States gathering later this week won't even know they're in the Filipino Cultural Heritage District of San Francisco and severely affecting the residents and businesses in the neighborhood.

Delegates to the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit  should feel at home in San Francisco where one-third of its residents are Asian. However, the attendees may be unaware that they are disrupting the lives and businesses of the Filipino American district, also called SOMA Pilipinas. A few blocks from their main meetings are the Bessie Carmichael School, home to the Filipino Education Center, and a park named after the neighborhood's most famous former resident, Victoria Draves, the first Filipino American Olympic gold medal winner.

“There’s a lot of concern,” Raquel Redondiez, the executive director of the cultural district SOMA Pilipinas told The Standard. “I was just in a meeting last night at the Children’s Creativity Museum, and a lot of residents in the area are hearing for the first time what’s happening.”

The APEC Summit will be the largest gathering of foreign leaders and dignitaries in San Francisco since the United Nations was founded in the city in 1945. Among the world leaders attending will be President Joe Biden, China's President Xi Jinping, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Philippines' President Bong Bong Marcos Jr. and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“The city and the Secret Service are telling people, ‘If you don’t have business here, stay away,’” Redondiez said. 

About 20,000 international visitors will be attending the APEC, Nov. 11-17.

San Francisco is expecting over 20,000 attendees, including state leaders, foreign press, security personnel, and global CEOs for APEC, that will be held Nov. 11-17.

Although APEC delegates will be meeting in San Francisco to discuss big-picture economics but at the same time, not seeing the plight of neighborhood small businesses being impacted by their presence.

Kristen Brillantes, who owns The Sarap Shop, told The Standard that Mayor “London Breed said APEC would return $53 million to the city. If so, how much goes to small businesses as opposed to corporations? ’Cause I’m sure they’re seeing things we’re not.”

FYI: More information regarding road closures, detours and checkpoints can be found on the SFMTA website.

The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service is charge of security. Streets near the conference will be closed to vehicles and bikes affecting businesses that depend on deliveries and catering. However, people who live, work or shop in the area will be allowed to pass with proper identification and a police search.

Several senior citizen housing projects are inside the security zone and getting around going to restaurants, buying groceries and seeking services catering to the elderly might be difficult for those with limited mobility and English skills.

Most of the APEC meetings will occur at San Francisco's Moscone Center that lies within the Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

The Salvation Army runs a senior center and food relief operation in the security zone that serves more than 200 people. Managers of the center said in a statement they're not sure if they'll be able to keep the center open through that week.

Nam Hoang, co-owner of Freshroll Vietnamese Rolls and Bowls located at the Metreon, said they will shut down the restaurant for five days. He told KTVU his restaurant relies on fresh product daily to operate.

Hoang said his business also utilizes delivery services like Doordash and Uber, which won’t be allowed to operate in the security zone.

The city assures that food delivery workers, like those delivering for companies like Uber Eats and Doordash, can enter the secure zone on foot, bicycle or non-motorized scooter. It will be a little more difficult who depend on cars for deliveries because there will no on-street parking and some streets will be closed to vehicle traffic.

Employees of businesses in the security zone will need to allot more time to get to work because of the additional security measures, and the closed streets will necessitate which will include bag checks at certain points near the Moscone Center.

Daily routines of the heritage district residents will definitely be affected by the summit.

Residents whose homes are in secure zones will have to go through a bag check upon entering. Postal services and trash pickup are scheduled to continue as usual. Street parking will not be available.

David Dalena said he's yet to hear about how Bessie Carmichael Elementary School on Seventh Street, where his wife works, will be affected.

"It ain't going to work out, just to get to his school," Delena told The Standard. "There's checkpoints, and I hear it's like airport screening. For me driving, I don't know what parking looks like. There's always conferences that go on here for Salesforce, and it's already packed for parking and dropping kids off. This would be even more challenging."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

An oasis offers relief in San Francisco's Filipino district

Kapwa Gardens, beflore (above) and now (below).

With apologies to singer Joni Mitchell's hit "They Found Paradise and Turned It Into A Parking Lot," Filipino Americans found a parking lot and turned it into paradise.

The Filipino American community in San Francisco turned a parking lot in the middle of the Filipino Heritage District South of Market Street and turned it into a neighborhood park -- Kapwa Gardens -- for the children and elders who live nearby.

"We imagined creating a space that would be a cultural asset for SOMA Pilipinas that would connect all of the different residents, students, and workers in the areaway showcasing activities that heal the mind and body and expands our consciousness and raises the level of empathy in a downtrodden area of SF," cites the park website.

Unknown to the shoppers on Market Street and the office workers at the companies on the edge of the SOMA Pilipinas, in the alleyways' homes, apartment buildings and residence hotels, a community of Filipino American community is thriving, sending their kids to Bessie Carmichael School and attending mass at St. Patrick's Church or eating at Filipino food at the neighborhood restaurants, whose very presence is promoting Filipino cuisine into the mainstream foodie culture.

“There are many residents in the area who lack their own outdoor space, including a large number of nearby single-room occupancy hotel residents,” said Kultivate Labs' founder and executive director Desi Danganan.

967 Mission has been a parking lot for decades. With the commencement of the 5M real estate development around the corner, the City of San Francisco gained possession of the parking lot. An RFP was issued in the Fall of 2019 to use the space while the long drawn-out process of creating senior housing on the site develops.

Kultivate Labs won the city's approval because the nonprofit community-based organization proposed creating a space around "Kapwa"— Filipino spiritual belief of interconnectedness. "Kapwa" is a recognition of a shared identity, an inner self, shared with others. "Kapwa" is an extension of deep empathy, explains the park's website.

As planners hurdle the red tape involved in the planning process for housing, residents and neighboring workers will have a place to take mental health breaks, escape from the tensions of anti-Asian attacks and the uncertainty of catching COVID-19.

The park formally opened on April 14. The former parking lot has a brightly painted bus and mural and a mini-grove of calamnsi trees are ready for picking; bamboo and herbs are growing in the planters; food trucks sign up to park there; Filipino bands and dancers perform for whoever drops by; a weekly yoga class is offered; free COVID tests. are offered twice a week; and Filipino seniors sit in the shade and share gossip.

Built by volunteers, volunteers will help maintain the space. Kapwa Gardens will be open Wednesday through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday Read: New banners stake out Filipino American district in San Francisco

New banners in San Francisco's SOMA Pilipinas say 'Filipinos live here.

EVEN THOUGH FILIPINOS are the largest Asian ethnic group in California, they are often mistaken for Chinese,  Vietnamese, Burmese, Malaysians, Thai or Latino.

The Giants fans, the employees at Twitter, Amazon, Google and the other tech companies, the millions of tourists and conventioneers, shoppers and museum goers may not know it, but they work and play in a Filipino American neighborhood.

To increase visibility and to pronounce to the world that the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood is the the Filipino Cultural Heritage District, banners have been placed on street posts earlier this month, Filipino American History Month. 

On the banners are pictures of the Filipino American residents of SOMA Pilipinas, the community activists, artists, the students, the elderly, and the thousands of service workers who work in the city's hotels, restaurants and offices.

“SoMa has kids and families, in spite of what others say, we live and thrive here and the banners represent that.” SoMa resident Mary Ann Magsaca, told the Philippine News. She is featured in the campaign with her two young daughters that attend Bessie Carmichael Elementary.

The design team that created the artwork for the campaign saw it as an opportunity to send a humanizing message.

“The concept to us behind the pole banners is to show the complex vibrancy of our SOMA Pilipinas neighborhood: a beautiful spectrum of layered stories of who the people are that have defined this part of the city. We are happy, fun-loving, fearless, strong. Being visible in this way is our way of saying, if you see us– truly see us, displacement is not an option.” said An Otherwise Co. Co-Founder Irene Faye Duller to the Philippine News.

SOMA Pilipinas was designated as a cultural heritage district in 2016, and last year received a state designation by the California Arts Council.

Sabrina Pacheco of Gold Metropolitan Media, the city light pole banner company that applied the banners said, “The SOMA Pilipinas Community Pride Campaign marks a step towards placemaking for the Cultural Heritage District and offers a powerful new way to enhance the spirit, energy, pride, and vibrancy of the community.”

The apartment building owned by the Filipino fraternal organization Gran Oriente, was bought by Mission Housing Development Corp. to keep it's tenants from being evicted.

Four families who have lived for generations at 657-659 Natoma St., in the heart of SOMA Pilipinas, are facing eviction by Michael Chung, founder and managing principal of Caerus Investment Advisors, LLC. Ironically, Chung and his family live in one of the newer high-rise condominiums located in the district emphasizing the income gap between district residents.

Supervisor Jane Kim has striven to ensure that affordable housing be built into the massive new developments that are in the planning process so that some residents can stay in the neighborhood, but some question if efforts by Kim and housing advocates are enough to assure the continuing character of the Filipino district.

The banners are a small step, but it sends a strong message to all would-be interlopers, "Don't forget we live here. This is our home!"

“When I looked up and saw {the banners} on the way to work, I felt proud yet melancholy because it was a hard struggle to get to this point. Two years for me but 100 years for the community,” said Desi Danganan, executive director of Kultivate Labs, a SoMa based nonprofit.

Olympic gold medal winner Vicki Manolo Draves grew up in the SoMa Pilipinas neighborhood.

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Filipino American historic hotel preserved as affordable housing

MISSION HOUSING

The historic Gran Oriente Hotel is located at 106 South Park Street.

SAN FRANCISCO rent is among the highest in the country. Rents have risen even faster and higher in the trendy South of Market neighborhood.

The city and housing advocates have succeeded in preserving the historic Gran Oriente Hotel, which  provides 24 single-room affordable housing for recent immigrants and their families.

“I think community members around the city and county of San Francisco and the Bay Area and beyond are watching exactly what’s happening in the heart of the Filipino cultural heritage district, and watching how the community is taking back its cultural assets, partnering with non-profits and housing organizations to really not only sustain but, in the long term, empower,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed during a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The preservation of the low-rent  property grew stronger when the hotel formed a partnership with Filipino community organizations and the Mission Housing Development Corporation, the hotel's 24 units of affordable housing will remain available and all existing tenants can remain.

Smack dab in the middle of it all is the modest Gran Oriente Hotel, owned by Gran Oriente, one of the fraternal lodges formed in the early part of the last century by Filipino men who worked in the hotels, Merchant Marine and the farm fields of California. Because of the racist laws of the early 20th century, Filipinos were not allowed to own property. However, that law didn't apply to lodges.

So the Filipino men (because of another racist labor rule that limited immigration of Filipinas) banded together to purchase property that included the hotel. They bought the hotel in the South of Market area, which at the time was a primarily Irish American neighborhood.

While across town Manilatown was devoured by the financial district, including the famous International Hotel unsuccessfully fought for survival, the Gran Oriente continued to provide an affordable home for Filipinos and South of Market was designated as a Filipino Historical District known as SoMa Pilipinas.

As South of Market property values skyrocketed over the years, the fraternal organization received numerous unsolicited, speculative purchase offers for the Gran Oriente Hotel. Community leaders wondered just how long the building could avoid being “gentrified” — sold on the private market, the units rehabbed and then leased at high rents.

“The Gran Oriente Hotel is a significant building to the Filipino community in San Francisco and for the South Park neighborhood,” said Supervisor Jane Kim. “It also provides 24 SRO units which provide critical affordable housing for the community.”

“I am honored to have worked with SoMa Pilipinas and Mission Housing over the last two years to facilitate its purchase through the Small Sites Program and ensure it remains a community-owned site.”

In meetings between the leadership of the Filipino Community Development Corporation, the Filipino-American Development Foundation, SOMA Pilipinas, the SOMA Stabilization Fund Community Advisory Committee and Mission Housing representatives, ideas were shared about how to honor the Filipino legacy of the building, and find a current and future co-ownership structure that involves the Filipino community.

The outcome: a Filipino organization will own or co-own the Gran Oriente by 2025.

Until then, Mission Housing  Development Corporation will be working with community members on rehabilitating the site, ensuring that all existing tenants remain, and utilizing the site for future community activism and support.

"I am committed to making sure that we invest more in small-site acquisition programs like this so that we can have incredible block parties where we are saving housing,” said Mayor Breed.

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Filipino Night Market returns to the Filipino Cultural Heritage District in SF

Some of the food of 5A BBQ will be among the culinary offerings at the night market.

SAN FRANCISCO'S Filipino American night market won't be like Manila's Divisoria or Legazpi markets but it will have the same spirit, good eats and joyful entertainment of those traditional markets with a Filipino American spin. And the food -- oh -- the food!

The second season of the wildly popular night market will begin Saturday, July 21 and returns every third Saturday through October.

The primary model was never the palengke night markets that you can find all over Manila, but rather some combination of Off the Grid, Outsidelands, and the Renegade Craft Fair, according to Desi Danganan, executive director of Cultivate Labs, the nonprofit that runs the market along with Undiscovered SF.

The food is what Danganan calls the “third wave” of Filipino cuisine in America—not steam-table joints (the first wave) or Frenchy fine dining (the second), but next-generation Filipino American chefs “flipping Filipino food in a hundred different directions,” whether that be via lumpia that tastes like a cheeseburger or a Filipino-Mexican burrito stuffed with pork sisig.

There will be at least a dozen food purveyors, including the popular Senor Sigsig, Jeepney Guy, Sarap Shop and Bombzies BBQ.

Last year's wildly popular inaugural season drew 35,000 and was held indoors at the historic San Francisco Mint building. This year, the night market will be even more reminiscent of Manila's markets by relocating it outdoors in the alley ways of the South of Market neighborhood where thousands of Filipino Americans reside.

“We are creating an experience around what the Filipino-American community in the Bay Area feels like, looks like, sounds like, and tastes like," said Gina Mariko Rosales, event producer and co-founder of Undiscovered SF.

"Last year, we were limited by capacity in the SF Mint, so this year we’re excited to move fully outdoors into open public space for everyone to enjoy," she said.

UNDISCOVERED SF

Last year's night markets attracted 35,000 people.

Marketgoers will be able to buy books, hats, unique, deisgner clothes, arts and crafts from the 50 retailers present. 

Since its a Filipino event, music will play a big part of it. Besides the expected Karaoke, kicking off the festival on July 21 are the legendary DJs Qbert and Shortkut of the Invisbl Skratch Piklz, playing a rare collaborative set together on 4 turntables; alongside new school tastemaker Kronika of Soulection.

"Filipino American DJs Qbert and Shortkut are considered the pioneers of Turntablism and rank up there with Hip-Hop's elite. They also happen to be from the Bay Area, and we’re thrilled to showcase two local legends who paved the way for an entire generation of DJs, including myself," said Marky Enriquez, Music Curator/DJ.

RSVP:​ http://undiscoveredsf.com

IF YOU GO: The entrance is at 401 Fifth Street (Behind the San Francisco Chronicle building), 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

COST: This is the best part. It's totally FREE!.

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SoMa Pilipinas and Little Tokyo receive special status in California

Students from the Filipino Education Center perform.

TWO ASIAN/AMERICAN communities have been included in California's inaugural state-designated Cultural Districts.

Little Tokyo in Los Angeles and SoMa Pilipinas - Filipino Cultural Heritage District in San Franciso along with 12 other districts throughout the state will serve as Cultural Districts, as outlined by the program, is a well-defined geographic area with a high concentration of cultural resources and activities. Each of the 14 districts will receive the designation for a period of five years, per state legislation. 

"State-level designation of Cultural Districts, with California's diverse geography and regional variety, allowed for an entirely new and comprehensive look at our deeply valued cultural assets," said Donn K. Harris, California Arts Council Chair.

Each of the 14 districts will receive the designation for a period of five years, per state legislation.

Designation, under this pilot launch of the program, includes benefits such as technical assistance, peer-to-peer exchanges, and branding materials and promotional strategy. The Council has partnered with Visit California and Caltrans for strategic statewide marketing and resource support.

Los Angeles' Little Tokyo

"These Cultural Districts showcase California's cultural diversity and vibrant experiences," said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California. "The districts are one more way to highlight the one-of-a-kind places throughout our state that inspire residents and visitors alike."

RELATED: Filipino district proposed for San Francisco

SoMa Pilipinas project manager Raquel Redondiez says that despite this recent recognition by the state, and on the first anniversary of the official recognition of SoMa Pilipinas as a cultural district in San Francisco — there is still much to be done for Filipinos in the city.

“We are facing increase in eviction. We still have a lot of new immigrants being pushed out of our homeland and making their home here. They need services. They need support. They need jobs…and SoMa Pilipinas is part of a stable community — where we can continue to practice our values of bayanihan.”

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