LASA LA

[Retroactive post - 6/26/20, heh heh]

We made it to our hotel in Burbank to unpack and freshen up....

LA's Chinatown looked so close on the map, but traffic was going to make this "fun"...

Day after highlights...

Here are some highlights from the Day After My Birthday...

at a coffee stop in Eagle Rock...

Karangalan Scholarship Fundraiser dinner at Tidal (Spring 2017)

Although this is dated March 8, this was supposed to be posted back in Spring 2017.

Yes, more than 2 years ago.

I am going through my drafts and realized I never posted on this Filipino fusion dinner, so here goes.

The occasion was for a Filipino American scholarship fundraiser for my district...

Paradise Hills Night Market 2017 recap

Talk about procrastination...

(not us, but some other folks we were following as we headed to Penn Athletic Field)
This is a post for last year's Paradise Hills Night Market...

which debuted last year and will be returning....

Cesar Solis Community Park

I was out solo this particular morning.

A new park had opened up in the South Bay the previous week and I had to check it out...

House of Black (HOB) Coffee

Sam of Mostra Coffee had recommended a new coffee shop that opened two weeks ago...

Bert had asked if Mostra carried any more of their coffee from the Philippines...

Mostra Coffee, grand opening

Yesterday Bert and I got up pretty damn early

so we could drive up for Mostra's grand opening...

San Pedro Road Trip Day 2 - Breakfast + the Sports Walk to the Waterfront

We would be leaving San Pedro this morning...

but first, the in-house breakfast at our hotel...

The former Rizal Social Club, Little Manila

While on our way to the Little Manila Historic Site, we passed by this building, home of Iloilo Circle. I wasn't previously aware of its existence and snapped the shot only because I suspected it was a Filipino organization.

(Iloilo is a city on the island of Panay (Visayas region of the Philippines)

Iloilo Circle turned out to one of the last three remaining structures along with Daguhoy Lodge and the Dimasalang House all of which were Filipino fraternal societies founded by pioneer bachelor Philippine immigrants who ventured to the U.S. and toiled the agricultural fields in the 1920's and 30's.

The Little Manila Historic Site recognizes the last remaining few buildings in what was once a thriving Filipino community in Stockton, California....

Papa Urb's Grill, Stockton

I was hoping to visit a couple of nearby coffee places and have us check out historic Little Manila afterwards...but first, LUNCH!

And as luck would have it, the perfect place was right next door to the FANHS National Museum...

The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) National Museum

A few blocks from where we parked was our destinaton...

located in the historic Newberry Building in downtown Stockton.

Founded as an All American five and dime store in the 1911, Newberry's was a retail giant in past years nationwide. The Stockton location was shuttered in 1997 but recently reopened two decades later with various tenants...

Mostra Coffee's "Super Saturday" @ The Cork & Craft + a peek at their upcoming store

When I saw this...

I knew we had to go...

It wasn't quite 9 am yet but there was a small line...

Return to SFSU - the Filipino student mural + a college track meet

In keeping with our usual MO whenever we visit a city, we  made a stop at a local university...

It had been about sixe years since our last visit...

The Woodman Bridge renamed as the Itliong Veracruz Memorial Bridge

Last week was the week for awesome storm clouds...

This was what we saw as we headed east on the 54 from the 5...

I know I had this photo in a previous post, but I'm putting it in again...

Return to Unidad Park and the Filipino American History mural

After our Tustin trio of treats, we made our way to LA...

specifically to this part of town...

where we last visited last President's Day Weekend (2015).

We were back again for our family's holiday card photo shoot...

Return to Mostra and Champagne French Bakery

With TC volunteering at  at event at her school,  Bert and I were on our own...

We decided to head up north so that Bert could try out Mostra Coffee...

Unidad Park - return to the Filipino American history mural

[*The return of this year's Presidents' Day LA roadtrip]

After checking out the famed Music Box Steps in Silver Lake, we headed over to Historic Filipino Town (Hi-Fi)...passing by Bert's former college fave, Tommy's on Rampart...

which was a few short minutes away from a mural we last visited back in 2010 (post linked at the end)...

located in Unidad Park...

Mostra Coffee

Our crawl was still going strong as we traveled eastward...

past Manila Mesa and on towards the Carmel Mountain Ranch Area. For a South Bay chick like me, this is like going to the moon (just kidding).

In an industrial business complex is a coffee company I'd always wanted to visit. Today was that very fortunate day...

Snoice (Snow & Ice)

Yesterday TC got a message from one of her classmates to check out her auntie's new dessert place...

It's diagonally across the street from Leocynn's Lumpia where we just had some Filipino grub...

and housed in Kababayan Bakery (new there since Fall 2013 when they relocated from the Nestor area)...

They offer two types of desserts here...

Highlights from the Balboa Park Centennial 2015 Philippine American Celebration Part 2 - The Sights & Food

Here are some of the highlights from the BPC2015PAC for the first two days...

Over in the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages were  educational exhibits as well as artists selling their works...

I really liked this painting by local artist Izzy Inocenio; the word "Balboa" is in the shape of a bangus, or milkfish. For every event he is a part of, he creates a specific painting for it (saw it on his IG). Although the artists wasn't there at his booth, I did meet his brother and bought a couple of postcards of his artwork of fighting roosters and the Coronado bridge...