In the 1920's and 1930's the Pilipino immigrants who settled in San Francisco were mostly single men who formed a bachelor community called Manilatown, in a three block radius around Kearny and Jackson Streets, next to Chinatown. A migrant labor community, they lived in several low-cost residential hotels such as International Hotel, the Palm Hotel the Temple Hotel, the San Joaquin, the Stanford, and the Columbia Hotel. After World War II, San Francisco made plans to expand its downtown business sector, particularly the area around the Financial district. High-rises went up during the building boom of the late 1950's and 1960s, many small businesses and residential hotels were torn down. This was "urban renewal", now known as "gentrification".

Larry Solomon, author of "Roots of Justice" describes how the San Francisco Pilipino community was effected by urban renewal during this time:

The city's spreading "urban renewal" project had already torn through the heart of the Fillmore District, west of downtown, decimating hundreds of homes and displacing thousands of residents in the city's largest Black community. But is was the Financial Disttrict redevelopment that became top priority for the city's expansion, as the opening of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in the mid-1970's made it easier for white-collar workers to commute from the outlying areas into downtown to work in the major banks, trading companies and other corporate entities moving into the area.

The effect, of course, was to change the landscape of the community. 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.

By the end of the expansion, thousands of people had been displaced. More than 4,000 low-income units were torn down in favor of high-rise buildings (including the famous Tansamerica Pyramid and the Bank of America's world headquarters) and parking lots. Four out of every five low-cost residential hotels in the area were gone by the end of the 1970's.

The last hotel filled with Pilipino residents, the International Hotel, was slated for demolition and evictions were issued. The community in Manilatown together with Pilipino professors and students from SF State University protested the evictions and their battle cry was to "fight and save the I-Hotel". The Pilipino students of ethnic studies at the university were in search of their cultural roots. They learned about the injustices in their community and it was fitting for them to participate in the injustices to their own Pilipinos in Manilatown. They were told to "go study your community and look for justice where there isn't any".

Pilipinos moved on into the South of Market neighborhood, just a few blocks away from the Financial district to establish their new homes. As a result of the removal of Manilatown, self-etermined Pilipino activists worked hard to organize themselves to not only resist urban renewal in South of Market, but to take a big step toward Pilipino community empowerment.

One activist group headed by Tony Grafilo, the Executive Director of the Pilipino Organizing Committee (POC) in the 1970's made significant strides in organizing the community in SOMA. The Pilipino community banded together to try to achieve political and economic empowerment in San Francisco. The self-determination of several Pilipino leaders who felt the bruises of discrimination in Manilatown were driven to establish business relationships with large corporations in San Francisco including Crocker National Bank, Pacific Telephone, and Del Monte to gain economic support for the Pilipinos. These leaders also saw the need to establish relationships with San Francisco's political leaders including Assemblyman Art Agnos and Mayor Moscone so they may impress upon them the needs of their neighborhood community.

The struggles for the Pilipinos back then continue into this new generation. The POC members have moved on and leave to their successors the challenge of continuing this struggle for Pilipino empowerment. The United Pilipino Organizing Network (UPON) was established in 1999 by Pilipino community individuals and service providers to collaborate and organize the Pilipinos to access economic and political resources to benefit the Pilipino community.

The struggles for the Pilipinos back then continue into this new generation. The POC members have moved on and leave to their successors the challenge of continuing this struggle for Pilipino empowerment. The United Pilipino Organizing Network (UPON) was established in 1999 by Pilipino community individuals and service providers to collaborate and organize the Pilipinos to access economic and political resources to benefit the Pilipino community.

The students from San Francisco State University today who are in search of their cultural roots are now studying Pilipino studies and they continue to search for the injustices in their community with the support and encouragement of their professors, Dan Gonzles and Dan Begonia . Consequently, they are in the forefront in providing support for the growing population of elderly, low-income Pilipino-American veterans living in the South of Market, the Pilipino injustice that continues after 50 years in our nation today. They partnered in with SOMA Pilipino community organizers to establish programs and activities such as the "Mano Po Lolo" program to provide many isolated, unrecognized Pilipino war heroes the respect and care they deserve.

The face of the Pilipino community has changed over the decades, but it is still ever present and the same challenges remain. Housing, employment, safety, identity are the issues that were identified in community block meetings in the 70's. The Pilipino community continues the struggle for these same issues that were identified in the SOMA Pilipino Town Hall Meeting in 1999.Lessons can be learned from the Pilipino organizers from decades past to help achieve the recognition and empowerment that the Pilipino community still longs to grasp.