These empty buildings used to
be in the heart of Stockton.
I thought you'd be there forever.
Little remains of what used to be called
Little Manila sisters Lillian Ann
Violets remember Little Manila as children.
The Filipinos lined the streets. After
the US took the Philippines as
a colony in 1902, many came here
searching for an opportunity such
as a job or a college education.
Many took jobs on farms.
Lillian and Violet's father came
to stop him from the Philippines
sometime between 1916 to 1917.
He started working in the field before
becoming a labor contractor and then a
small business owner and Little Manila.
He owned a grocery store,
was a partner at a gambling
house and the keys on hotel.
It was torn down in 1969.
It's now a parking lot.
Underneath the freeway,
you know how many rooms they were.
I don't know at least 82 little Manila
stretches for several blocks off El
Dorado Street in downtown Stockton.
I lived on the fringe of Little Manila,
but we were within walking distance
of two blocks or little Manila and
we did a lot of shopping at the
Chinese delicatessens and of course
any Filipino food that we wanted.
By the 1920s, Stockton became the
hub for Filipino Americans.
Little Manila was a place
Filipinos can be accepted.
It was an unspoken law that if you
were a person of color in the 1930s,
you were not welcome North of Main
Street. Started with one of the
largest cities, the Delta area,
where there were other Filipinos
and work could be found.
There was room for them to stay.
Camps, hotels, lodges, peoples
homes. They let people get their Mail there,
so when they came to back to town
after being in either in the camps,
working in the grapes, working in the
orchards when they came back to Stockton,
they could pick up their Mail here.
Much of the Filipino American
history has been documented by
people like academic Donna Baldwin.
Who was born and raised in Stockton
territories with the Filipino American
National Historical Society has looked to
her books and research for information.
Torres says there were many firsts
for the Stockton area because of
the Filipino community, churches,
shops and clubs were just a few to
name labor leaders like Larry Itliong
fought for equal rights and conditions
in the field based on Terry's research,
there were 45,000 Filipinos in the
US according to 1930 census data,
and 25,000 of them were working in
crops in San Joaquin County.
However, by the 1960s,
redevelopment happened,
Little Manila changed,
and so did the entire
neighborhood surrounding it.
People were forced to move
out. They lost their jobs.
They did not have enough money
to rebuild their businesses.
'cause whatever money that was given
by the government for distroying
or or demolishing their businesses,
it wasn't enough to restart. It's
like coming back to a desert,
you know, coming back with nothing.
You can't remember anything
because it's not there anymore.
It's like someone took an eraser
and clean this board. Lillian
passed away of cancer two
months after this interview.
We went through photos of her family and
her time as an occupational therapist
as well as her life in Little Manila.
A photo of her is up with her
sister at a Filipino American
National Historical Society Museum.
Mama Papa isn't that Mrs Unsoed according
to the most recent census data with
the American Community Survey for 2019,
Filipino Americans make up the
largest Asian American group in
the city at an estimated 28,000
people in the City of Stockton.
However, only a couple of buildings
are left of Little Manila today.
The sounds of people and music have
been replaced by traffic noise and its
history preserved by people who know it.
Its rich past has led to a powerful
and tight knit community today.