Posted by azian on August 29, 2000 at 23:23:34:
Please forward widely. Thank you!
Dear Friends,
We need your support letters to designate our old Little Manila area in
Stockton as a city historical site. Last May, the Redevelopment Commission
demolished a block of downtown Stockton at the intersection of El Dorado and
Lafayette streets to make way for a gas station and fast food restaurant. As
the buildings came down, few realized that the block had incredible
significance in the history of Stockton and the history of Filipina/o
Americans. The block was part of a four-block area of downtown that has been
known as 'Little Manila' to generations of Filipina/o Americans and Stockton
residents.
So that all of Stockton can learn our heritage in this city and so that
future generations of Filipino Americans nationwide will never forget, we at
the Filipino American National Historical Society, Stockton, California
chapter, have proposed that the four block intersection of Little Manila be
designated as a city historical site and that a marker be placed at the
site. We need the entire community's support in order to make this happen.
Our proposal has been approved by the Cultural Heritage Board but needs to
be approved by the Planning Commission and City Council this fall.
You, your family members, relatives, or friends may have known the
intersection of Lafayette and El Dorado Streets, and the blocks surrounding
that intersection, as 'Little Manila.' From the 1920s to the 1970s, that
neighborhood had the largest concentration of Filipino American businesses,
organizations, and families in the nation. Businesses and organizations such
as the Los Filipinos Tailoring Shop, Quezon Hotel, Supnet Garage, Lafayette
Lunch Counter, Legionarios del Trabajo, Filipino Federation of America, the
United Farm Workers, and Caballeros de Dimas Alang thrived from the 1920s
on, until most of the community was torn down for the Crosstown Freeway in
the late 1960s. Writers and scholars such as Carlos Bulosan, Drs. Dorothy
and Fred Cordova, Tim Cordova, and Dr. Joan May Cordova have immortalized
the neighborhood in their books, poems and articles. Students around the
nation who take Filipina/o American and Asian American history classes at
universities and colleges learn how EI Dorado Street was so important to
early Pinoys and Pinays. Unfortunately, few Stocktonians -- Pinays and
Pinoys and non-Filipinos -- know of our history in downtown.
We need your support. Please write a letter of support by September 8 for
the proposal to designate Little Manila as a historic site in Stockton. A
sample letter of support follows this letter, but please feel free to write
creative and personal letters that include your own memories, experiences
and knowledge. Please either send your letter via email to me
(dmabalon@mindspring.com) or write snail-mail and address your letters to:
Dianne Smith
Stockton Cultural Heritage Board
Stockton City Planning
345 N. El Dorado Street
Stockton, CA 95202-1997
If you'd like to join the project, or if you have further questions, please
email me.
Thank you so much,
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon
Little Manila Project Chair
'I asked the hoboes where...I would be sure to find my countrymen. 'El
Dorado Street,' they said. It was like a song...I saw many Filipinos in
magnificent suits standing in front of poolrooms and gambling houses. There
must have been hundreds in the street somewhere, waiting for the night. I
walked eagerly among them, looking into every face and hoping to see a
familiar one.' Carlos Bulosan, 'America Is In The Heart'
Sample Letter of Support for the
Little Manila Landmark Project
Dianne Smith
Secretary, Stockton Cultural Heritage Board
City of Stockton Planning Commission
345 N. El Dorado St.
Stockton, California 95202-1997