Background:

Filipino Americans are now the second largest Asian group in San Francisco, yet little is known about when and how they first settled in the city. The earliest Filipino community was believed to be that of young single men, mostly farm and cannery workers finding temporary housing in residential hotels along Kearny Street near Chinatown.  A hostile society prevented them from marrying white women and limited their company with women in dance halls, so these transients found recreation in pool halls and gambling dens.

Teresa Ojeda re-examines this long-standing narrative and provides a fuller picture revealed through Census records, land use and fire insurance maps, and contemporaneous accounts that show the actual settlement patterns where Filipino immigrants established households, institutions, and businesses. The emerging community – which included women – actively engaged in San Francisco’s civic, cultural, and political activities.

Teresa Ojeda

Teresa is a volunteer with San Francisco City Guides and leads neighborhood walking tours. After over two decades as a housing data and policy wonk, she retired and can now indulge her passion for history and geography.  Teresa is currently working on interactive maps highlighting spaces where pioneering Filipino Americans shaped their community. Her articles on Filipino American history have appeared in Positively Filipino, an online magazine and resource for overseas Filipinos.