San Francisco has been the historic port of entry for immigrants from Asia. North of Market Street and next to Chinatown was a community that came to be known as Manilatown, and it was made up mostly of single men often working as migrant laborers and residing in low cost hotels. Urban renewal in the 1950’s and 60’s moved these residents, many of them WWII veterans, to the South of Market area, or SOMA. Manilatown was devastated: Ten full blocks of low-cost housing, restaurants, barber shops, markets, clubs and other businesses that benefited a Filipino community that numbered around 10,000 people were destroyed.

More recent development, including the Moscone Convention Complex and Yerba Buena Center in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, once again displaced these older Filipinos as well as younger immigrant families. Even so, there is still a considerable Filipino presence in SOMA. Murals depicting Philippine history and community decorate the SOMA neighborhood walls. Also, nearby streets are named after Filipino heroes – including a street I have walked by many times, called Lapu Lapu, named after a Pilipino warrior that killed Portuguese colonialist Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

A few blocks away from StoryCorps’ home in San Francisco’s South of Market Neighborhood is the Bayanihan Community Center. Bayanihan is a valued element in Filipino culture that means mutual assistance and mutual caring. The Center exists to strengthen the social, physical, and economic well being of the Filipino American community and the South of Market community with special attention to the underserved segments of the community.
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The San Francisco StoryBooth has been at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) for the past two and a half years. I began as a volunteer soon after the opening of the booth – a StoryCorps greeter, but without the orange vest.  Four months later, I was offered the opportunity to become a StoryCorps facilitator.

I have particularly enjoyed the fact that our booth is located here at the CJM. It’s the first time a StoryBooth has been housed in a museum, and because of it, we have many benefits not available to other locations: we are sheltered from inclement weather, restrooms are nearby and the building that houses the CJM is remarkable architecturally. But by far, one of the greatest benefits is the variety of people coming to our booth and to the CJM. They reflect the great diversity of San Francisco and the Bay Area, and through them I encounter a cross section of our society that I otherwise would never have a chance to meet.

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I love jump roping. It’s one of those things that can, in a heartbeat, take me back to childhood and make me burst with pure joy – like jumping on the bed or eating a giant ice cream sundae. That’s why I mostly think of jump roping as a recreational activity, at most a way to get a little exercise or train for other sports. Until I met Ho Ting Lam, that is.  He came to the San Francisco StoryBooth with his teacher at San Francisco International High School, Elizabeth de Rham, aka “Ms. Elizabeth.” Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this year, we were delighted when Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who represents California’s 12th District, was able to take time out of her undoubtedly hectic schedule to come to the San Francisco StoryBooth to record a conversation with her longtime friend and advisor, Brian Perkins. The two talked candidly about her life, career, and harrowing near-death experience as a young aide to the late Congressman Leo Ryan, who was killed in 1978 on an investigative Congressional trip to look into allegations of people being held against their will at the Jonestown colony in Guyana. Congresswoman Speier, who was also shot in the attack that killed Ryan, was 28 years old when she accompanied him on the fateful trip.

Though she’s now talked publicly many times about the trip and the horrific attack that almost took her life, the images are still vivid in her mind. She recounted having a bad premonition about the trip, but deciding it was worth the risk; investigating the allegations of wrongdoing at Jim Jones’ now infamous colony was of utmost importance to Ryan. In addition, Rep. Speier saw few women at the time in positions of power undertaking such important roles in international affairs. She felt a sense of responsibility to be part of the fact-finding group. What they found at Jonestown was at first “impressive,” she told Mr. Perkins, describing the infrastructure they’d built. Soon, however, the uglier sides of the situation became clear. They were slipped notes from people wanting to escape back to the U.S. She mentioned that Jim Jones was clearly high on speed and other drugs during their meetings with him. Read the rest of this entry »

The San Francisco StoryCorps team has now had the privilege of doing two recording days with families at the Mission Asset Fund (MAF), an innovative nonprofit financial services organization in San Francisco’s Mission District. They are committed to the local community’s economic vitality and self-sufficiency. Known by its primarily Spanish-speaking client base as El Fondo Popular de la Misión, their mission is to “expand access to financial services, savings and investment opportunities for work-poor families,” so that low-income and immigrant families are able to build credit, and remain and thrive in the ever-gentrifying area. Read the rest of this entry »

To celebrate the 2010 National Day of Listening on Thanksgiving weekend, the San Francisco StoryBooth and the Contemporary Jewish Museum collaborated to put on a fun-filled afternoon of family activities.

The program featured a ”listening stick”  art-making project, which was a big hit for all ages! In line with the event’s theme, kids and parents sat at tables hanging out together, telling stories, and adorning their crafty cardboard tubes with ears, collaged images, and even some written messages about the importance of listening in their lives.

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Andrea Gomez, (Laguna/Pueblo), left, with her former mentor and now friend Arlene F. Nededog

Our world is pieced together by a million stories, memories that flow into a pool of words and images that often carry us through our lives as little bright lights of inspiration. When you sit in on a conversation between two people you are given the gift of being transported into that slice of life, that place and time that made such a difference in their lives.

In October, StoryCorps traveled to Anaheim, CA, for the SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science) conference. There, StoryCorps was witness to the encouragement and support that was a common thread through many of the 18 conversations recorded – mostly between students and their mentors.

Many of the students are now in graduate school, but had warm memories of the people who supported them the most during their undergrad years. There were a lot of tears and frequent gales of laughter during these conversations.

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Jerry McLilly aka "Mr. Smiley"

When I first saw Jerry McLilly approach the San Francisco StoryBooth, I felt that I recognized him from someplace in the past.  As he began to tell his story, it finally hit me:  He was that remarkable and unforgettable crooner in the dapper suit that I had heard so many times over the years in downtown San Francisco, singing his signature numbers, “When You’re Smiling” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

Also known as Mr. Smiley, Jerry sang for most of two decades in front of the old Emporium store, before and after it closed (the facade still stands as the entrance to Bloomingdales).  We were fortunate that this day in August he brought some songs, his engaging smile and his story to share with us.

While at high school in Detroit, Jerry met Jackie Wilson, who later went on to become a major rhythm and blues star with “Lonely Teardrops” and “Reet Petite.”  Jerry was hired for $175 a week as Wilson’s valet and chauffeur when they began a tour of the “Chitlin Circuit” -  D.C, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, and the Apollo in Harlem.  Jerry rehearsed with his mentor and role model and began his professional singing career.  After some years on the road with Wilson, he performed with a later version of The Ink Spots vocal group in venues around the world.

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Chris and Olga Galvez

A bilingual, bicultural home could present challenges for both parents and their children.  What will be the dominant language?  How do you balance the two heritages?

In July, Olga Galvez brought her mother, Chris Ettlin Galvez, to our San Francisco booth to tell the story of their family for an Historias recording.   Chris grew up in a white middle class family in East Oakland.  During the 1960′s Chris was hitchhiking in Central California with a friend and they were given a ride by a family of Latino farmworkers.  Chris’ friend, fluent in Spanish, was able to converse easily with the family.  That day turned out to be a transformative one for Chris.  She was introduced to an entirely new language and culture.  She went on to became a Spanish major at San Francisco State College where she also earned a teaching credential.

Having been active in the civil rights movement during this period, and with her newly developed language skills, Chris found a place in the United Farm Workers organization.  Soon, Chris met her future husband, a Salvadoran immigrant.  After a whirlwind courtship, they got married and began a family in San Francisco.  In Chris’ words, having her children was “the best thing that ever happened to me.”  Chris felt that it was important for her daughters to be fluent in Spanish and it became the dominant language spoken in the home.  English could easily be picked up from Chris’s side of the family and in the larger culture.

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Mickey Stewart remembers old Fillmore district.

Mickey Stewart came to the San Francisco StoryCorps booth on August 15, as part of a community partnership with Friends of Negro Spirituals, an Oakland-based group that continues and holds the tradition and heritage of spiritual songs.

Mickey came with stories rich with culture and history. He talked about San Francisco’s North Beach during its heyday of the “Beat” era and also when the Fillmore District, once known as “Harlem of the West,” was a lively and thriving black-owned jazz mecca before the city’s redevelopment plan targeted some 60 square blocks and forced the removal of 200 black-owned businesses. The plan affected more than 13,000 Fillmore residents, mostly African American. After redevelopment, block after block had nothing but large empty lots where buildings had been razed.

Mickey recalled some of the happiest times of his youth spent near old Fillmore, street like the Chicago Barbershop, Red Shoe shop, and Kansas City Bar-be-cue.
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