Hi Fi - Part 1: Mural "Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana"

I dont' remember the name of this tunnel; these tunnels tend to creep me out. I keep thinking, "Oh shit, Princess Di"!

Near the 101 Freeway  and Beverly Blvd. in LA is an area known as Historic Filipinotown. They even have signs!

According to wikipedia's entry on "Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles"

"Historic Filipinotown, is a newly created district of the City of Los Angeles, California, that makes up the southern portion of Echo Park, Los Angeles, California . Specifically, the district is bounded by the Hollywood Freeway (US 101 Freeway) to the north, Beverly Boulevard to the south, Hoover Street to the west, and Glendale Boulevard to the east, northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. This section of Echo Park has always been a puzzle especially since it was separated from its northern portion by the US 101 Freeway in the 1950s along with the southern section of the Park where the tennis courts and baseball field. Prior to its designation in 2002, this area was also called the Temple-Beaudry corridor.


From a political and community planning standpoint, Historic Filipinotown resides within the City of Los Angeles’s Thirteenth District, represented by Councilmember Eric Garcetti. It lies right in the middle of, and even divided by, the two larger communities of Silver Lake/Echo Park. It was recently created by a resolution proposed by city councilmember Eric Garcetti on August 2, 2002 as an effort to help continue the history of this part of the neighborhood and specifically to promote economic, civic, commercial, cultural, industrial, and educational interests and common wealth of local residents, business owners, and other stakeholders...


Despite the fact that there are other enclaves of Filipinos living outside this district, it was declared Historic Filipinotown since it was one of the few areas where Filipinos first settled during the early part of the 20th century. Many Filipino-American families began purchasing homes and establishing businesses in the area beginning from the 1940s, shifting away from the downtown area now known as the Little Tokyo area in the 1920s and the Bunker Hill area later."

Bert and I had a map of different places to check out in "Hi-Fi" (I'm sure some hipster thought up this nickname, kind of like "SoHo" or "NoHo" or "SoMa", etc). This first site was one we hadn't visited together since early 1996, although I'd gone back again later that year. This particular site, the Filipino American History mural painted by Filipino American artist Eliseo Art Silva was once a community garden. When we first visited in 1996, along with Superman and his future Lois Lane, the mural was just barely one year old. We met the artist, Eliseo Silva ourselves who gave us a personal tour of the mural. He later took us all to lunch at the now defunct Jeepney grill in downtown L.A. That day, I also bought 2 posters of his mural which he signed. One of the posters is framed and hanging in my office at work. The other is matted and is still waiting to be framed 14 years later!

What's significant about this mural is that is is the largest mural depicting Filipino American history by a Filipino American artist. Since he painted this mural, Eliseo has since been commissioned to paint many other multicultural murals (not necessarily Filipino American in nature) all over the United States. Since 1996, I'd see him sporadically at various Filipino American events. He was part of FANHS, LA for awhile. In fact, we last saw him at the FANHS National Conference back in 2002 in L.A.

Now the grounds that house this historical mural is now a community park complete with a playground and benches. It's no longer locked up to outsiders and anyone who wants to use the park can come in, like us! I wish I could find my negatives from our 1996 trip. The mural's colors wiere still quite vibrant unlike now. The mural could really use a good restoration.

The mural's official title is, "Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana"  which means "A Golden History, A Golden Legacy". It's dimensions are quite long, measuring 145' x 25'.  The photo below depicts  the furthermost right portion of the mural...

Mural details:
1) The bearded gentleman is the late Royal Morales (aka "Uncle Roy"), former lecturer on Filipino American studies at UCLA. In fact, when Bert, Supe and I went to visit Eliseo, we also met up with Uncle Roy at the Filipino Christian Church  (founded by Uncle Roy's father). Uncle Roy was wearing a baseball cap that read, "Manong Bagoong"! I remember how welcoming he was along with the congregation at the church. They were hosting a tour of UCLA students in Filipinotown that morning. We just happened to catch them that morning.
2) The image on the far right of a man holding up his right hand is former Governor of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano. When he was sworn in as Governor in 1994, he was the highest ranked Filipino in U.S. government.
3) On the lower right hand portion you can see a couple in front of a jeepney. They are holding a young child. That baby happens to be the artist, Eliseo Art Silva.

One thing about the mural I noticed was that the area below the mural used to be painted white and had important names, dates, and events which was helpful to those who are unaware of whom and what the mural is paying tribute. Now it's been painted over with these swirly designs. I wished they kept the names....

Here'a another view of the same wall.

Mural detail:
1) There is a star shaped lantern, called a 'parol' . Those are traditionally made of bamboo and covered with Japanese tissue paper. They are hung during Christmas time and represents the star that led the Three Kings to Jesus Christ.
2) Along the bottom, there is an image of a young holding out a hand. She is about to perform the "mano po" sign, which is a sign of respect youngsters do to their elders. You take the elder's hand and put it up to your forehead in deference to them. In fact, I just did that the other day to my friend's mom. It's very respectful and very old school. We've taught TC to do that as well. More on that custom here.

"NOW BOW DOWN (son of Jor el) AND

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

Wait a minute, I went off topic! Ha ha. That's a Superman reference for you out there.

3) There is an image of a young girl wearing a white shirt - the word on her shirt read, "Pinay" which is the feminine form of "Pinoy" (a colloquial term) which means "Filipino".

This portion of the mural is the middle part.

Mural details:
1) Far left at the top - Victoria Manolo Draves- the first Filipina American woman, and first American, to win a gold medals in the 1948 Olympics in London. Her events were Platform and Springboard Diving. I had the good fortune of meeting her briefly in 2002 at the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) National Conference held in Los Angeles. She was in her 80's at the time and very charming.
2) To the left of the "Delano Grape Strike of 1965" sign is a famous image of Filipinos doing stoop labor in the fields of California. More on that image later in this post. During the 1920's up the 1950's, Filipinos were the main source of cheap labor all along the fields in the West Coast. They would pick lettuce and strawberries in Watsonville, grapes in Reedley, asparagus in Stockton and so on, for very little pay.
3) The "1965" Delano Strike refers to the Grape Strike in 1965 in which Filipinos are nary given a mention in the U.S. History books for their contribution to the success of that strike. Instead, credit is given to the Mexicans when in fact, Filipino leaders had to convince Chavez to collectively join forces and make their cause stronger.
4) Still on the topic of the Grape Strike, look to the image of the non bearded man with the  glasses. That man is the late Philip Vera Cruz, a Filipino labor leader, activist and farmworker. He was the Leader of the largely Filipino, Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC).  Can see the brown sign that says "Welga"? The acrononym AWOC is beneath that. "Welga" is Filipino (appropriated from Spanish) for "strike". You can also see the red sign with a stylized blocky eagle on it. That was the symbol for the National Farm Workers (NFW), which was largely Mexcan and led by labor leader, Cesar Chavez. He is depicted in this mural as well (look at the bottom).
5) The other gentleman is the one with the glasses and beard. His name was Larry Dulay Itliong, another farmworker, labor activist and union leader in the AWOC. When the AWOC and the NFW later merged, the organization become known as the United Farm Workers (UFW). More on Itliong here.
6) You can see the bust of late Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos at the top right. He was in power from 1965 up to 1986. In 1972, he declared martial law and changed the consitution so he could remain in power.
7) Underneath Marcos is a woman in a yellow dress. She is the late Corazon Aquino  and widow of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., one of Marcos' opponent who was assasinated in 1983. Corazon Aquino succeeded Marcos in the 1986 People Power Revolution which is depicted under Mrs. Aquino (people holding back an army tank).
8) The gentleman in the football jersey on the far right is former NFL player, Roman Gabriel, the first Asian American (and Filipino to boot) to play in the NFL. He was the 1969 MVP of the Year and starred as the QB for the L.A. Rams. He finished his career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977.

Here is the original image that you often seen in history books. That's Larry Itliong (sans glasses) on the left. No one knows about him but they should. Everyone knows about Chavez but little about the contributions of the Filipino Americans farmworkers.

(UAW President Walter Reuther, Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong (at left) in Delano, 1965.

Photo by George Ballis. (from home.earthlink.net/~almas2/

MARCHCOMP.JPG)

Two thirds of the mural...I still get a bit emotional when I look at it.

The way Eliseo designed the mural was meant to be Philippine history on the left which progressed to Filipino American history and contributions as you continued to the right.

Mural details:
1) Dr.Jose Rizal- Philippine national hero and martyr (figure on the left)
2) Banaue Rice Terraces - One of the modern wonders of the world, far left
3) Children wearing different tribal costumes
4) Philippine Eagle, also known as the "monkey eating eagle"(which was later proved to be inaccurate). It is also called Haring Ibon ("Bird King")in Tagalog. Pictured next to the Philippine eagle is the Carabao, a type of water buffalo used for farm labor. They are known to be very strong creatures.
5) Textile pattern beneath the animals is from Mindanao, the southernmost portion of the Philippines which is largely Muslim. One of the few areas of the Philippines that was never conquered by the Spaniards.

Mural details:
1) Andres Bonifacio- Philippine national hero and leader of the Katipunan during the Philippine Revolution in 1896 against Spain. Yeah! Down with the colonizers!!!
2) Red flag with 8-rayed sun and the Baybayin symbol ("ka" for "Katipunan", the secret society whose aim was to overthrow the Spanish colonizers). It is the flag of the Magdalo Katipunan faction of Cavite. See more Revolutionary Flags here.
3) General Emilio Aguinaldo, First President of the Philippine Republic, holding the Philippine flag. Indepdendence from Spain was granted on June 12, 1898.

More of the mural below:

Details:
1) Spanish galleon - Spaniards used Filipinos to build the galleons (ships) during the Manila Galleon Trade (also known as the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade
2) Manila Village - Located in Barataria Bay, Lousiana, this the first known settlement of Filipinos who jumped ship from the galleons and ended up in Louisiana. The village was on stilts and later destroyed by a hurricane.
3) Carlos Bulosan - author of Asian American literature classic, "America is in the Heart", as well as poet, labor union organizer.
4) Philippine boxer Franciso "Pancho Villa" Guilledo who earned the World Flyweight boxing championship in 1923.
5) Sign on Hotel door in Stockton, CA - "Positively No Filipinos Allowed", found on doorways in the West Coast circa 1930's and 40's. More info can be found here on this excellent informational site by Eloisa Gomez Borah, librarian at UCLA and fellow FANHS member (former FANHS National trustee).
Her research below detailing the origins of the photo which has since been reprinted (without permission) as posters (I have one myself!):

"The photo used in this poster is credited to Sprague Talbott, Look magazine photographer, in the book, One Nation by Wallace Stegner (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1945). This photo appears on page 43 of this now out-of-print book, as part of its Chapter 2 titled, "Legally-Undesireable Heroes: The Filipino in America". This photograph may be easier to locate and seen in the currently in-print book titled, Filipinos, Forgotten Asian Americans by Fred Cordova (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1983), where it appears on page 114. "

"Origin of poster: Positively No Filipinos Allowed ?",

in Americans of Filipino Descent - FAQs by Eloisa Gomez Borah

http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/eloisa.borah/filfaqs.htm#poster

6) I've already discussed Victoria Manolo Draves and the farmworkers/labor activists.
7) The sun  also depicts Filipinos doing stoop labor, cutting lettuce in Salinas. This was a famous image by Depression era photographer Dorothea Lange:

Here is the original picture here. You can also see this photo in person at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA):

(image taken from "Filipinos cutting lettuce for Japanese owners" Salinas, 1935

Migrant Workers - Dorothea Lange, Photographer

Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress

View of the playground...

Another view from the playground...

Closeup of Manila Village, Carlos Bulosan, boxer Pancho Villa, "Positively No Filipinos Allowed" sign, Dorothea Lange photo, Vicky Draves...

Back to the end of the mural...another detail I see is the woman sitting down reading a book is respected former educator, Helen Brown, a Filipina Mestiza (one of the few Filipinas who graduated from UCLA in the 1930's). She is in her 90s now and is the founder of  PARRAL, the Philippine American Reading Room and Library, the first Filipino American library in the U.S. Another thing to note is that she is reading the book, "Philip VeraCruz - A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement" by Craig Scharlin and Lilia Villanueva, originally published in the mid 1990's (I'll have to look at my personal copy to check the exact year.). That's the original orange book cover; subsequent reprints have a different photo and cover entirely.

To see the mural in its entirety - click here and here!

Location of the mural:
1660 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

This is a public park/playground. Street parking.

For more on the artist, Eliseo Silva, click here! I'd love to see his other murals all over the U.S.! I've already seen one large painting with a Filipino American history theme at the Carlos Bulosan Memorial Exhibit in the Eastern Hotel in Seattle's International District (this will be a future post).

Stay tuned for more posts on our mini tour of Hi-Fi...

*(will hyper link the other references soon!).  UPDATE  - DONE!!!!! I'm so anal!