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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Eleanor Dumont walked home alone one night after a successful evening of gambling, her path was suddenly blocked by two men. Holding her at gunpoint, the pair demanded she hand over her purse or suffer the consequences. Dumont nodded, maintaining the trademark cool that local gold rush miners knew her for, and reached into her skirt. Rather than pulling out her winnings, she instead retrieved her derringer pistol. She quickly shot the man with the gun, while her other assailant fled in fear. Then Dumont continued her journey home, without a hair out of place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was life in the Wild West, and Madame Eleanor Dumont had—by then—learned the hard way how to deal with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Frenchwoman—whose real name was Simone Jules—had arrived in San Francisco in 1850, aged 21, and immediately started work as a professional gambler. She was the only woman to deal cards at the Bella Union Hotel (a privilege not afforded to women on the Las Vegas strip until 1971). She was an elegant presence in the Portsmouth Square establishment—always well-dressed and quick to find an easy rapport with the customers. Not only was Dumont enormously skilled with a card deck, she was also an excellent conversationalist. There was never a dull moment at her table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13908397\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13908397\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-800x570.png\" alt=\"A row of Gold Rush era store fronts line a street with sparsely populated hills behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-800x570.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-1020x727.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-160x114.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-768x547.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-1536x1095.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square.png 1692w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Bella Union Hotel, on the north side of Portsmouth Square, as seen in 1855. \u003ccite>(Public domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite her popularity, Dumont lost her job at the hotel after she was accused of hustling players. In all likelihood, this was the result of a disgruntled guest who underestimated Dumont’s skill level and resented losing to a woman. Outside of the Bella Union, Dumont had a lifelong reputation for playing a fair game, and handing over winnings graciously when they were due.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont’s firing may also have been influenced by the stereotypes about French women that were pervasive in San Francisco at the time. William Perkins, a Canadian miner and merchant who \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldcat.org/title/three-years-in-california-william-perkins-journal-of-life-at-sonora-1849-1852/oclc/555460\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documented his travels across the United States between 1849 and 1852\u003c/a>, once wrote: “French women … are one of the peculiar features of California society. They are to be met with every where, and every where they are the same: money making, unscrupulous, [but] outwardly well-behaved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Bella Union, Dumont knew instinctively it was time to strike out on her own. So in 1854, she arrived by stagecoach to Nevada City—a booming mining town where gold nuggets were plentiful, and miners were starved of female company. Though the move would go on to be a winning combination for Dumont, locals greeted her incredulously at first. They simply couldn’t figure out why a young woman, dressed in finery, would be walking up and down Broad Street on her own for hours on end. She was looking for the perfect storefront to open a casino, but one confused woman reportedly commented: “There’s got to be some bad in a girl with all her charms who seems to have nothing to do but strut up and down main street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13902628']Once Dumont had opened what one newspaper ad described as the “best gambling emporium in Northern California,” it all made sense. Dumont called her casino Vingt-et-Un (21 in French) after her favorite card game—a precursor to blackjack. And there was nothing like it in Nevada City, or any other mining town for that matter. The grand, 50 ft.–long room was decorated with luxurious carpets, gas-powered chandeliers and plush furnishings. Rare liquors and wines were served while a small orchestra played. Gamblers were offered free champagne upon arrival. Dumont enforced a dress code (jackets, ties and hats) and strictly prohibited swearing, smoking, spitting and fighting. She was bringing class to the rough-and-tumble mining community—and they absolutely loved it. Not least because it offered the opportunity to play against the mysterious Madame Dumont herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She possessed a peculiar power over the roughest of her customers,” the \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> reported in Oct. 1879. “It became a saying of theirs that there was more satisfaction in playing against the Madame’s game and losing, than in winning at any other game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the course of running Vingt-et-Un\u003cem>,\u003c/em> Dumont met a fellow professional gambler named David Tobin. The two hit it off, became romantically involved, and she soon invited him to co-manage the casino. Partnering with Tobin enabled Dumont to broaden her horizons and open a second venue. Dumont’s Place, as it was called, specialized in games not played at Vingt-et-Un, including keno, roulette, poker, chuck-a-luck (a game of chance played with three dice) and the most popular game of the day, faro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13908457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 440px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13908457\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game.jpg 440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game-160x112.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gold rush gamblers playing a game of Faro in Tombstone, Arizona—where Eleanor Dumont lived, and gambled, for a time. \u003ccite>(Public domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple’s success was short-lived. By 1857, as gold lodes dwindled, so did casino customers. Dumont and Tobin cut their losses, sold the businesses and parted ways. Tobin headed to New York where he died a very wealthy man in 1865. Dumont followed the miners to Columbia, California where a new wealth of gold was being uncovered. Dumont set up a gambling table inside a hotel and, as with Nevada City, she made a good living as long as the miners did. Once gold supplies petered out and prospectors began moving on, Dumont faithfully and fearlessly followed. She would go on to travel extensively in pursuit of mining money, spending the 1860s bouncing between Virginia City and Pioche in Nevada, Fort Benton and Bannack in Montana, Helena and Salmon in Idaho, Colorado City in Arizona, and Corinne and Silver City in Utah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of this was in Dumont’s original life plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont had made an attempt to embrace a quieter life at the end of the 1850s. She had saved enough money by that time to buy herself a ranch in Carson City, Nevada—and she was determined to get off the road and make a go of it. It might just have worked out if she hadn’t fallen in love with a saloon owner named Jack McKnight. McKnight told Dumont he was a cattleman who could turn the ranch into a successful business. Swept up in what seemed like a happy ending, Dumont married McKnight and signed over the ranch to him so he could manage it for her. Within a month, he had sold the property and skipped town with everything Dumont had worked so hard for. She had no choice but to hit the road once more, and she never again attempted to settle down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13874853']Something about the experience with McKnight hardened Dumont. She became a heavy drinker, took less care with her appearance and was outwardly more cynical. She started carrying a gun wherever she went, and when fate crossed her path with McKnight’s once more, she wasted no time in shooting him dead. Dumont was never charged with any crime, however. Some said there simply wasn’t enough evidence to charge her; others claimed the sheriff knew what McKnight had done to Dumont and thought he had it coming. Only many years after the crime did Dumont admit to the murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont’s newfound toughness found its way into her card games. She is said to have horsewhipped one cheating gambler during a game in Colorado City. Rumors were rife that after one of her customers angrily accused her of not really being French, she had him thrown through a door. In Fort Benton, Dumont’s gambling house, the Cosmopolitan, stood right in the middle of what was commonly referred to at the time as “the bloodiest block in the West”—a lawless cluster of bars, brothels and casinos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One night on that chaotic street, word began to spread that trouble was on the horizon—a steamboat said to be carrying many passengers with smallpox was about to dock, bringing the feared disease to Fort Benton. Dumont sprang into action, and raced down to the docks with a pistol in each hand. When the boat arrived, she threatened to shoot the captain if he attempted to dock. Needless to say, he abandoned the plan and turned around. Dumont made her way back to the Cosmopolitan, told her customers the danger had passed and bought everyone drinks on the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]D[/dropcap]espite Dumont’s necessary assimilation into the harshest of environments, she never did lose her charm. Throughout her life, she retained a knack for defusing dangerous situations using only her grace and wit. On one occasion, she is said to have single-handedly prevented a riot that was brewing amongst an angry mob of unemployed miners and Mexican laborers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On another, the \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In Pioche, the room in which she was dealing her game became filled with a noisy, quarreling crowd of miners, maddened with drink and flourishing pistols … The bar keepers and faro dealers were fruitlessly trying to quiet the crowd, when Madame Dumont … quietly approached the noisies and laughingly removing them for ungallant conduct, succeeded in clearing the room and avoiding a bloody row.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>By 1864, while residing in Bannack, Dumont decided to open a brothel to supplement her gambling earnings. It was a far cry from Vingt-et-Un, where women had been banned, lest prostution lure her customers away from the card table. In Bannack, Dumont drummed up brothel business by driving her girls around town in carriages, never missing the construction camps along the route of the Union Pacific Railroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years later, she took a chance on the Kootenai Mines in British Columbia. But as soon as she arrived and started building a new casino, the miners and prospectors found a more promising lode down the line and moved on. Dumont quickly ran out of cash and skipped town by mule train, without telling the contractors who’d been building her new venue. Dumont made her way to central Montana, where she made herself a fast fortune at the mining camps. One year later, she tracked down her old contractors in Reynolds City and paid them back in full, in what \u003cem>The Butte Miner\u003c/em> newspaper later referred to as “bankable gold dust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13894842']It was in middle age that Dumont acquired the cruel nickname that never left her: Madame Mustache. As she aged, the hair on Dumont’s upper lip had darkened and, after an angry customer threw the insult at her one day, the sobriquet stuck and followed her around the country wherever she traveled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost impossible to map Dumont’s exact movements during the 1870s—except to say that she showed up at card tables across the west. Boise City, Oklahoma. Cheyenne, Wyoming. Blackfoot City, Idaho. Eureka, Nevada. Tombstone, Arizona. Deadwood, South Dakota—where Dumont, incidentally, befriended Calamity Jane and taught her how to gamble. No wonder the \u003cem>Bodie Standard\u003c/em> reported in 1878 that, “Probably no woman on the Pacific Coast is better known.” And they were right. In July of that same year, a single week-long visit to Modesto earned Dumont two separate articles in the \u003cem>Modesto Herald \u003c/em>newspaper. She was merely passing through on her way to Bodie—the only town she never left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After arriving in Bodie, Dumont began dealing 21 at the Magnolia saloon on Main Street. She was welcomed warmly. “She appears young as ever and those who knew her ever so many years ago would instantly recognize her now,” the \u003cem>Bodie Standard\u003c/em> cheerfully reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the morning of Sept. 8, 1879, a sheep herder discovered Eleanor Dumont’s lifeless body, head resting on a stone, a mile outside of Bodie. She had killed herself by drinking a combination of morphine and red wine, and left a note addressed to the public administrator. In it, she gave instructions about what to do with her worldly possessions and stated simply that she was “tired of life.” Friends reported that she had borrowed $300 to gamble with the night before (over $8,000 in today’s money), and was bereft after losing it all within a few short hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='news_11640709']The outpouring prompted by the death of Dumont was immense. Local women lovingly prepared her body for burial, while miners raised money to give her an appropriate sendoff. \u003cem>The Bridgeport Chronicle Union\u003c/em> wrote: “It is said that of the hundreds of funerals held in the mining sample, that of Madame Mustache was the largest. The gamblers of the place buried her with all honors and carriages were brought in from Carson City, NV, a distance of 120 miles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont was buried in the section of Bodie’s cemetery reserved for outcasts and sinners. Still, newspapers across the country reported Dumont’s death with reverence and respect. The \u003cem>Bodie Morning News\u003c/em> reported that she “bore a character of virtue possessed by few in her line.” The \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> wrote: “Despite her strange surrounding and unusual mode of living, [Dumont] possessed the respect, as well as the admiration of her rough companions for years.” Montana’s \u003cem>Butte Miner\u003c/em> noted: “Truthful and honest, whatever other faults she might have had, always smiling, never forgetting the politeness of her native France, and her purse ever open at the appeal of sickness or suffering, Madame Mustache leaves friends in almost every class of Western society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after her death, the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> quoted a miner who had known and loved Dumont. He perhaps summed up her life best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Her life was as square a game as was ever dealt. The world played against her with all sorts of combinations but she generally beat it. The turn was called on her at last for a few paltry hundreds … and she passed in her checks, game to the last.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>s Eleanor Dumont walked home alone one night after a successful evening of gambling, her path was suddenly blocked by two men. Holding her at gunpoint, the pair demanded she hand over her purse or suffer the consequences. Dumont nodded, maintaining the trademark cool that local gold rush miners knew her for, and reached into her skirt. Rather than pulling out her winnings, she instead retrieved her derringer pistol. She quickly shot the man with the gun, while her other assailant fled in fear. Then Dumont continued her journey home, without a hair out of place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was life in the Wild West, and Madame Eleanor Dumont had—by then—learned the hard way how to deal with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Frenchwoman—whose real name was Simone Jules—had arrived in San Francisco in 1850, aged 21, and immediately started work as a professional gambler. She was the only woman to deal cards at the Bella Union Hotel (a privilege not afforded to women on the Las Vegas strip until 1971). She was an elegant presence in the Portsmouth Square establishment—always well-dressed and quick to find an easy rapport with the customers. Not only was Dumont enormously skilled with a card deck, she was also an excellent conversationalist. There was never a dull moment at her table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13908397\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13908397\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-800x570.png\" alt=\"A row of Gold Rush era store fronts line a street with sparsely populated hills behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-800x570.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-1020x727.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-160x114.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-768x547.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square-1536x1095.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/The-Bella-Union-Hotel-in-1855-on-the-Northside-of-Portsmouth-Square.png 1692w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Bella Union Hotel, on the north side of Portsmouth Square, as seen in 1855. \u003ccite>(Public domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite her popularity, Dumont lost her job at the hotel after she was accused of hustling players. In all likelihood, this was the result of a disgruntled guest who underestimated Dumont’s skill level and resented losing to a woman. Outside of the Bella Union, Dumont had a lifelong reputation for playing a fair game, and handing over winnings graciously when they were due.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont’s firing may also have been influenced by the stereotypes about French women that were pervasive in San Francisco at the time. William Perkins, a Canadian miner and merchant who \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldcat.org/title/three-years-in-california-william-perkins-journal-of-life-at-sonora-1849-1852/oclc/555460\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documented his travels across the United States between 1849 and 1852\u003c/a>, once wrote: “French women … are one of the peculiar features of California society. They are to be met with every where, and every where they are the same: money making, unscrupulous, [but] outwardly well-behaved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Bella Union, Dumont knew instinctively it was time to strike out on her own. So in 1854, she arrived by stagecoach to Nevada City—a booming mining town where gold nuggets were plentiful, and miners were starved of female company. Though the move would go on to be a winning combination for Dumont, locals greeted her incredulously at first. They simply couldn’t figure out why a young woman, dressed in finery, would be walking up and down Broad Street on her own for hours on end. She was looking for the perfect storefront to open a casino, but one confused woman reportedly commented: “There’s got to be some bad in a girl with all her charms who seems to have nothing to do but strut up and down main street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Once Dumont had opened what one newspaper ad described as the “best gambling emporium in Northern California,” it all made sense. Dumont called her casino Vingt-et-Un (21 in French) after her favorite card game—a precursor to blackjack. And there was nothing like it in Nevada City, or any other mining town for that matter. The grand, 50 ft.–long room was decorated with luxurious carpets, gas-powered chandeliers and plush furnishings. Rare liquors and wines were served while a small orchestra played. Gamblers were offered free champagne upon arrival. Dumont enforced a dress code (jackets, ties and hats) and strictly prohibited swearing, smoking, spitting and fighting. She was bringing class to the rough-and-tumble mining community—and they absolutely loved it. Not least because it offered the opportunity to play against the mysterious Madame Dumont herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She possessed a peculiar power over the roughest of her customers,” the \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> reported in Oct. 1879. “It became a saying of theirs that there was more satisfaction in playing against the Madame’s game and losing, than in winning at any other game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the course of running Vingt-et-Un\u003cem>,\u003c/em> Dumont met a fellow professional gambler named David Tobin. The two hit it off, became romantically involved, and she soon invited him to co-manage the casino. Partnering with Tobin enabled Dumont to broaden her horizons and open a second venue. Dumont’s Place, as it was called, specialized in games not played at Vingt-et-Un, including keno, roulette, poker, chuck-a-luck (a game of chance played with three dice) and the most popular game of the day, faro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13908457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 440px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13908457\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game.jpg 440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/440px-Faro_card_game-160x112.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gold rush gamblers playing a game of Faro in Tombstone, Arizona—where Eleanor Dumont lived, and gambled, for a time. \u003ccite>(Public domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple’s success was short-lived. By 1857, as gold lodes dwindled, so did casino customers. Dumont and Tobin cut their losses, sold the businesses and parted ways. Tobin headed to New York where he died a very wealthy man in 1865. Dumont followed the miners to Columbia, California where a new wealth of gold was being uncovered. Dumont set up a gambling table inside a hotel and, as with Nevada City, she made a good living as long as the miners did. Once gold supplies petered out and prospectors began moving on, Dumont faithfully and fearlessly followed. She would go on to travel extensively in pursuit of mining money, spending the 1860s bouncing between Virginia City and Pioche in Nevada, Fort Benton and Bannack in Montana, Helena and Salmon in Idaho, Colorado City in Arizona, and Corinne and Silver City in Utah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of this was in Dumont’s original life plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont had made an attempt to embrace a quieter life at the end of the 1850s. She had saved enough money by that time to buy herself a ranch in Carson City, Nevada—and she was determined to get off the road and make a go of it. It might just have worked out if she hadn’t fallen in love with a saloon owner named Jack McKnight. McKnight told Dumont he was a cattleman who could turn the ranch into a successful business. Swept up in what seemed like a happy ending, Dumont married McKnight and signed over the ranch to him so he could manage it for her. Within a month, he had sold the property and skipped town with everything Dumont had worked so hard for. She had no choice but to hit the road once more, and she never again attempted to settle down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Something about the experience with McKnight hardened Dumont. She became a heavy drinker, took less care with her appearance and was outwardly more cynical. She started carrying a gun wherever she went, and when fate crossed her path with McKnight’s once more, she wasted no time in shooting him dead. Dumont was never charged with any crime, however. Some said there simply wasn’t enough evidence to charge her; others claimed the sheriff knew what McKnight had done to Dumont and thought he had it coming. Only many years after the crime did Dumont admit to the murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont’s newfound toughness found its way into her card games. She is said to have horsewhipped one cheating gambler during a game in Colorado City. Rumors were rife that after one of her customers angrily accused her of not really being French, she had him thrown through a door. In Fort Benton, Dumont’s gambling house, the Cosmopolitan, stood right in the middle of what was commonly referred to at the time as “the bloodiest block in the West”—a lawless cluster of bars, brothels and casinos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One night on that chaotic street, word began to spread that trouble was on the horizon—a steamboat said to be carrying many passengers with smallpox was about to dock, bringing the feared disease to Fort Benton. Dumont sprang into action, and raced down to the docks with a pistol in each hand. When the boat arrived, she threatened to shoot the captain if he attempted to dock. Needless to say, he abandoned the plan and turned around. Dumont made her way back to the Cosmopolitan, told her customers the danger had passed and bought everyone drinks on the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">D\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>espite Dumont’s necessary assimilation into the harshest of environments, she never did lose her charm. Throughout her life, she retained a knack for defusing dangerous situations using only her grace and wit. On one occasion, she is said to have single-handedly prevented a riot that was brewing amongst an angry mob of unemployed miners and Mexican laborers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On another, the \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In Pioche, the room in which she was dealing her game became filled with a noisy, quarreling crowd of miners, maddened with drink and flourishing pistols … The bar keepers and faro dealers were fruitlessly trying to quiet the crowd, when Madame Dumont … quietly approached the noisies and laughingly removing them for ungallant conduct, succeeded in clearing the room and avoiding a bloody row.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>By 1864, while residing in Bannack, Dumont decided to open a brothel to supplement her gambling earnings. It was a far cry from Vingt-et-Un, where women had been banned, lest prostution lure her customers away from the card table. In Bannack, Dumont drummed up brothel business by driving her girls around town in carriages, never missing the construction camps along the route of the Union Pacific Railroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years later, she took a chance on the Kootenai Mines in British Columbia. But as soon as she arrived and started building a new casino, the miners and prospectors found a more promising lode down the line and moved on. Dumont quickly ran out of cash and skipped town by mule train, without telling the contractors who’d been building her new venue. Dumont made her way to central Montana, where she made herself a fast fortune at the mining camps. One year later, she tracked down her old contractors in Reynolds City and paid them back in full, in what \u003cem>The Butte Miner\u003c/em> newspaper later referred to as “bankable gold dust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It was in middle age that Dumont acquired the cruel nickname that never left her: Madame Mustache. As she aged, the hair on Dumont’s upper lip had darkened and, after an angry customer threw the insult at her one day, the sobriquet stuck and followed her around the country wherever she traveled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost impossible to map Dumont’s exact movements during the 1870s—except to say that she showed up at card tables across the west. Boise City, Oklahoma. Cheyenne, Wyoming. Blackfoot City, Idaho. Eureka, Nevada. Tombstone, Arizona. Deadwood, South Dakota—where Dumont, incidentally, befriended Calamity Jane and taught her how to gamble. No wonder the \u003cem>Bodie Standard\u003c/em> reported in 1878 that, “Probably no woman on the Pacific Coast is better known.” And they were right. In July of that same year, a single week-long visit to Modesto earned Dumont two separate articles in the \u003cem>Modesto Herald \u003c/em>newspaper. She was merely passing through on her way to Bodie—the only town she never left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After arriving in Bodie, Dumont began dealing 21 at the Magnolia saloon on Main Street. She was welcomed warmly. “She appears young as ever and those who knew her ever so many years ago would instantly recognize her now,” the \u003cem>Bodie Standard\u003c/em> cheerfully reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the morning of Sept. 8, 1879, a sheep herder discovered Eleanor Dumont’s lifeless body, head resting on a stone, a mile outside of Bodie. She had killed herself by drinking a combination of morphine and red wine, and left a note addressed to the public administrator. In it, she gave instructions about what to do with her worldly possessions and stated simply that she was “tired of life.” Friends reported that she had borrowed $300 to gamble with the night before (over $8,000 in today’s money), and was bereft after losing it all within a few short hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The outpouring prompted by the death of Dumont was immense. Local women lovingly prepared her body for burial, while miners raised money to give her an appropriate sendoff. \u003cem>The Bridgeport Chronicle Union\u003c/em> wrote: “It is said that of the hundreds of funerals held in the mining sample, that of Madame Mustache was the largest. The gamblers of the place buried her with all honors and carriages were brought in from Carson City, NV, a distance of 120 miles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dumont was buried in the section of Bodie’s cemetery reserved for outcasts and sinners. Still, newspapers across the country reported Dumont’s death with reverence and respect. The \u003cem>Bodie Morning News\u003c/em> reported that she “bore a character of virtue possessed by few in her line.” The \u003cem>Hamilton County Democrat\u003c/em> wrote: “Despite her strange surrounding and unusual mode of living, [Dumont] possessed the respect, as well as the admiration of her rough companions for years.” Montana’s \u003cem>Butte Miner\u003c/em> noted: “Truthful and honest, whatever other faults she might have had, always smiling, never forgetting the politeness of her native France, and her purse ever open at the appeal of sickness or suffering, Madame Mustache leaves friends in almost every class of Western society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after her death, the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> quoted a miner who had known and loved Dumont. He perhaps summed up her life best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Her life was as square a game as was ever dealt. The world played against her with all sorts of combinations but she generally beat it. The turn was called on her at last for a few paltry hundreds … and she passed in her checks, game to the last.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "soylent-green-2022-climate-change-charlton-heston-dystopia-apocalypse",
"title": "What ‘Soylent Green,’ the Sweatiest Dystopia Ever, Tells Us About 2022",
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"headTitle": "What ‘Soylent Green,’ the Sweatiest Dystopia Ever, Tells Us About 2022 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>THE YEAR: 2022\u003cbr>\nTHE PLACE: NEW YORK CITY\u003cbr>\nTHE POPULATION: 40,000,000\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So begins the sweatiest dystopia in all of movie history, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Soylent Green\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. The 1973 movie starts as it means to go on: IN ALL CAPS AND YELLING AT YOU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13890789']It stars Charlton Heston, an actor you may remember from such apocalypse movies as 1968’s \u003cem>Planet of the Apes\u003c/em> (intelligent primates are coming to get us!) and 1971’s \u003cem>The Omega Man\u003c/em> (germ warfare and vampires are coming to get us!). Heston’s third stab at predicting the apocalypse is probably the most realistic, however, because \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> focuses on a hopeless, relentlessly grim world that’s been ravaged by climate change. Which shouldn’t be a stretch to imagine for any Bay Area residents who lived through \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13886045/people-are-surfing-under-smoky-orange-skies-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2020’s Orange Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on Harry Harrison’s 1966 novel \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/473850.Make_Room_Make_Room_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Make Room! Make Room!\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the movie presents modern day New York as an overpopulated hellscape. Here, a jar of strawberry jam costs $150, and the one percent hides out in penthouses, ignoring the plight of the everyday man. It’s a world in which everyone wears masks, the only people with reliable transport are sanitation workers, and it’s hard to get up to your crappy apartment through all the random people hanging out on your front steps. In short: an incredibly accurate depiction of New York (jk NYC, jk).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907646\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-800x372.png\" alt='A crowd of people, all wearing beige bonnets, gather in front of shop windows painted with the words, \"Tuesday is soylent green day.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-800x372.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-1020x475.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-160x74.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-768x357.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM.png 1384w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If Green Day didn’t get their name from this scene in ‘Soylent Green,’ it is a terribly big coincidence… \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The humans of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> are all in competition for a very limited supply of unappetizing processed food, most of which is made from soybeans. (Ten bucks says Harry Harrison \u003cem>hated\u003c/em> tempeh.) Half the city is unemployed and living in poverty, so most have to make do with yellow soylent, soylent crumbs and soylent buns for sustenance. The thing everyone actually wants to eat is soylent green—a more nutritious product purportedly made from ocean plankton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soylent green comes in smooth flat squares and is distributed in the smogged-up city every Tuesday. When supplies run out, windows are smashed, yellow soylent is trampled underfoot and riots ensue. Police respond to this by scraping screaming people up into bulldozers and carting them away. This is the first thing I’d seen in a while that made those \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weird unmarked minivans\u003c/a> arresting people at the 2020 Portland protests seem slightly less outrageous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13907667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck.jpg\" alt=\"An orange bulldozer scoops up a large group of people while crowds and police officers in helmets fight it out below.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In ‘Soylent Green,’ unruly citizens are removed via ‘scoops’ — bulldozers for humans. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plot hinges on Heston’s grizzled investigator, Detective Thorn, trying to solve the murder of Simonson, an executive for the Soylent Corporation. Simonson was killed at home in “unit 2020” of a fancy building. (Definitive proof that 2020 has been where bad things happen since at least 1973.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In life, Simonson lived with an indentured sex slave named Shirl, whose super-demeaning professional title is “furniture.” Shirl floats around the place in low cut maxi dresses, looking longingly at men who don’t deserve it, talking too softly through pouted lips, and gazing wistfully at walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am 99% certain Shirl is what Lana Del Rey has based her entire personality on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907647\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-800x334.jpg\" alt=\"A fresh-faced woman with long brown hair and a low cut blue tunic dress stands before a glass door.\" width=\"800\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-800x334.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-1020x425.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-768x320.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-1536x640.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirl, played by Leigh Taylor-Young is not, in fact, Lana Del Rey. But, damn. It is close. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shirl and the other “furniture” she’s friends with get to spend their one day off a month lounging around together looking effortlessly hot, drinking cocktails, smoking, and reading each other’s tarot cards. (Fairly accurate Gen Z vibes, if I’m honest.) After Simonson’s murder, Thorn briefly questions Shirl, then demands she have sex with him. Shirl responds to this by falling in love with Thorn—because this movie was made by men in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thorn’s roommate, Sol (Edward G. Robinson) is older, wiser and more depressed than Thorn on account of the fact that he remembers the world as it was before the “greenhouse effect” started “burning up” the planet. Sol eventually opts to get himself euthanized, lured in by the promise of a 20-minute nature video, nice lighting, and some classical music. But it is Sol who first discovers why Simonson was murdered, and it is Sol who first discovers the secret ingredient in soylent green. (Thorn is pretty useless imo…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907669\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-800x414.png\" alt=\"An old man lies on a twin bed under white sheets, watching a movie screen depicting fields of flowers. A younger man watches on from a nearby window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-800x414.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1020x528.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-160x83.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-768x397.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1536x795.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-2048x1060.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1920x993.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thorn finally sees Earth as it used to be, via Sol’s death chamber. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand finale of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> comes as Thorn tries to tell everyone the secret ingredient of their favorite food, before it’s too late. “Soylent green is people!” he yells repeatedly in a very crowded room. “\u003cem>Soylent green is people!\u003c/em>” Unfortunately, that phrase sounds more like a philosophical concept than a warning about cannibalism, so it’s unclear if his message is received before he’s carted away on a stretcher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_86219']Whether or not Thorn’s discovery changes anything in the world of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> is not the point. The point is a warning about the exhaustion of Earth’s resources. The point is about the horrors of climate change. And the point is a 2022 in which 99% of humanity is without hope or help. And while a lot of us, two years into this relentless pandemic, think we can relate to that last point in particular, \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> is actually very good at making you grateful for what we \u003cem>do\u003c/em> have. Like places to hike and food not made of human flesh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Happy 2022, everyone!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Soylent Green’ is available to rent now via YouTube, Amazon Prime, Vudu and Apple TV.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_jGOKYHxaQ&t=102s\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>THE YEAR: 2022\u003cbr>\nTHE PLACE: NEW YORK CITY\u003cbr>\nTHE POPULATION: 40,000,000\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So begins the sweatiest dystopia in all of movie history, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Soylent Green\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. The 1973 movie starts as it means to go on: IN ALL CAPS AND YELLING AT YOU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It stars Charlton Heston, an actor you may remember from such apocalypse movies as 1968’s \u003cem>Planet of the Apes\u003c/em> (intelligent primates are coming to get us!) and 1971’s \u003cem>The Omega Man\u003c/em> (germ warfare and vampires are coming to get us!). Heston’s third stab at predicting the apocalypse is probably the most realistic, however, because \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> focuses on a hopeless, relentlessly grim world that’s been ravaged by climate change. Which shouldn’t be a stretch to imagine for any Bay Area residents who lived through \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13886045/people-are-surfing-under-smoky-orange-skies-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2020’s Orange Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on Harry Harrison’s 1966 novel \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/473850.Make_Room_Make_Room_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Make Room! Make Room!\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the movie presents modern day New York as an overpopulated hellscape. Here, a jar of strawberry jam costs $150, and the one percent hides out in penthouses, ignoring the plight of the everyday man. It’s a world in which everyone wears masks, the only people with reliable transport are sanitation workers, and it’s hard to get up to your crappy apartment through all the random people hanging out on your front steps. In short: an incredibly accurate depiction of New York (jk NYC, jk).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907646\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-800x372.png\" alt='A crowd of people, all wearing beige bonnets, gather in front of shop windows painted with the words, \"Tuesday is soylent green day.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-800x372.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-1020x475.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-160x74.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM-768x357.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-03-at-2.05.57-PM.png 1384w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If Green Day didn’t get their name from this scene in ‘Soylent Green,’ it is a terribly big coincidence… \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The humans of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> are all in competition for a very limited supply of unappetizing processed food, most of which is made from soybeans. (Ten bucks says Harry Harrison \u003cem>hated\u003c/em> tempeh.) Half the city is unemployed and living in poverty, so most have to make do with yellow soylent, soylent crumbs and soylent buns for sustenance. The thing everyone actually wants to eat is soylent green—a more nutritious product purportedly made from ocean plankton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soylent green comes in smooth flat squares and is distributed in the smogged-up city every Tuesday. When supplies run out, windows are smashed, yellow soylent is trampled underfoot and riots ensue. Police respond to this by scraping screaming people up into bulldozers and carting them away. This is the first thing I’d seen in a while that made those \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weird unmarked minivans\u003c/a> arresting people at the 2020 Portland protests seem slightly less outrageous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13907667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck.jpg\" alt=\"An orange bulldozer scoops up a large group of people while crowds and police officers in helmets fight it out below.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/soylent-green-riot-truck-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In ‘Soylent Green,’ unruly citizens are removed via ‘scoops’ — bulldozers for humans. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plot hinges on Heston’s grizzled investigator, Detective Thorn, trying to solve the murder of Simonson, an executive for the Soylent Corporation. Simonson was killed at home in “unit 2020” of a fancy building. (Definitive proof that 2020 has been where bad things happen since at least 1973.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In life, Simonson lived with an indentured sex slave named Shirl, whose super-demeaning professional title is “furniture.” Shirl floats around the place in low cut maxi dresses, looking longingly at men who don’t deserve it, talking too softly through pouted lips, and gazing wistfully at walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am 99% certain Shirl is what Lana Del Rey has based her entire personality on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907647\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-800x334.jpg\" alt=\"A fresh-faced woman with long brown hair and a low cut blue tunic dress stands before a glass door.\" width=\"800\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-800x334.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-1020x425.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-768x320.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14-1536x640.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Soylent-Green-14.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirl, played by Leigh Taylor-Young is not, in fact, Lana Del Rey. But, damn. It is close. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shirl and the other “furniture” she’s friends with get to spend their one day off a month lounging around together looking effortlessly hot, drinking cocktails, smoking, and reading each other’s tarot cards. (Fairly accurate Gen Z vibes, if I’m honest.) After Simonson’s murder, Thorn briefly questions Shirl, then demands she have sex with him. Shirl responds to this by falling in love with Thorn—because this movie was made by men in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thorn’s roommate, Sol (Edward G. Robinson) is older, wiser and more depressed than Thorn on account of the fact that he remembers the world as it was before the “greenhouse effect” started “burning up” the planet. Sol eventually opts to get himself euthanized, lured in by the promise of a 20-minute nature video, nice lighting, and some classical music. But it is Sol who first discovers why Simonson was murdered, and it is Sol who first discovers the secret ingredient in soylent green. (Thorn is pretty useless imo…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13907669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13907669\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-800x414.png\" alt=\"An old man lies on a twin bed under white sheets, watching a movie screen depicting fields of flowers. A younger man watches on from a nearby window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-800x414.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1020x528.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-160x83.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-768x397.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1536x795.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-2048x1060.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-04-at-10.52.54-AM-1920x993.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thorn finally sees Earth as it used to be, via Sol’s death chamber. \u003ccite>('Soylent Green')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand finale of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> comes as Thorn tries to tell everyone the secret ingredient of their favorite food, before it’s too late. “Soylent green is people!” he yells repeatedly in a very crowded room. “\u003cem>Soylent green is people!\u003c/em>” Unfortunately, that phrase sounds more like a philosophical concept than a warning about cannibalism, so it’s unclear if his message is received before he’s carted away on a stretcher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Whether or not Thorn’s discovery changes anything in the world of \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> is not the point. The point is a warning about the exhaustion of Earth’s resources. The point is about the horrors of climate change. And the point is a 2022 in which 99% of humanity is without hope or help. And while a lot of us, two years into this relentless pandemic, think we can relate to that last point in particular, \u003cem>Soylent Green\u003c/em> is actually very good at making you grateful for what we \u003cem>do\u003c/em> have. Like places to hike and food not made of human flesh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Happy 2022, everyone!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Soylent Green’ is available to rent now via YouTube, Amazon Prime, Vudu and Apple TV.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/N_jGOKYHxaQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/N_jGOKYHxaQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Bay Area Man’s 1953 ‘Prophecy’ Predicted Smartphones, Video Calls and Apple Watches",
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"content": "\u003cp>When people want to know who first predicted the age of the smartphone, a few names regularly pop up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, there’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.geekwire.com/2015/nikola-tesla-predicted-smartphones-in-1926-like-a-boss/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Tesla\u003c/a>, who in 1926 foretold that, “through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face-to-face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles. And the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13883118']Then there’s sci-fi author Isaac Asimov, who’s remembered for his \u003ca href=\"https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/lifetimes/asi-v-fair.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1964 op-ed\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> in which he claimed communication devices would one day enable people to “see as well as hear the person you telephone.” He also predicted that “the screen [would] be used not only to see the people you call, but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a name that almost never comes up is Mark R. Sullivan, whose astute predictions came more than a decade before Asimov’s. In the 1950s, Sullivan was acting president and director of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. He was born in Oakland in 1896, lived in San Francisco with his wife and daughter, and worked his way to the top of his company, starting as a lowly traffic clerk at age 16. He also sat on the board of directors of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.firstamtrust.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Trust Company\u003c/a>. As such, he was well respected and regularly asked to impart his professional wisdom at business conferences and forums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 656px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13906662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950.png\" alt=\"A bald white man with a round face wearing a suit and tie appears in newsprint.\" width=\"656\" height=\"1154\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950.png 656w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950-160x281.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 656px) 100vw, 656px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark R. Sullivan, telephone prophet, as seen in the ‘San Francisco Examiner’ on July 14, 1950. \u003ccite>(The San Francisco Examiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was at one of these conferences in Pasadena, California on April 9, 1953, that Sullivan relayed his eerily accurate vision of the future of phones. Tacoma’s \u003cem>News Tribune\u003c/em> reported on the speech two days later in an article titled, “There’ll Be No Escape in Future From Telephones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sullivan was quoted as saying:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Just what form the future telephone will take is, of course, pure speculation. Here is my prophecy: In its final development, the telephone will be carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today. It probably will require no dial or equivalent and I think the users will be able to see each other, if they want, as they talk. Who knows but it may actually translate from one language to another?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>To put into context just how extraordinary Sullivan’s vision was for the period, three years earlier he appeared in the \u003cem>San Francisco Examiner\u003c/em> talking about the latest innovations in telephone technology. The advancement he was most proud of was a new device about the size of a small typewriter that automatically calculated how long people’s phone calls were. This eliminated the need for an operator to “record the call for accounting purposes.” The amount of column inches the \u003ci>Examiner\u003c/i> dedicated to the story is an indication this was Really Exciting Stuff in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13878154']That Sullivan was able—even while working with such rudimentary equipment—to envisage watch phones, video calls, and a system similar to today’s Google Translate, is fairly extraordinary. It speaks to his ability to see well beyond the technological constraints of his own lifetime. That he did so here in the Bay Area, more than two decades before the first Silicon Valley boom, only serves to make his foresight even more eerie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sullivan died, aged 89, just two years after the first commercially available cell phone hit the market. Granted, the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Motorola DynaTAC 8000X\u003c/a> was definitely not watch-sized and cost a whopping $3,995 in 1983 (about $11,000 today), but Sullivan might have seen this development as a step towards his long-ago vision—a sign that every one of his 1953 predictions would eventually come to fruition.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When people want to know who first predicted the age of the smartphone, a few names regularly pop up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, there’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.geekwire.com/2015/nikola-tesla-predicted-smartphones-in-1926-like-a-boss/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Tesla\u003c/a>, who in 1926 foretold that, “through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face-to-face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles. And the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Then there’s sci-fi author Isaac Asimov, who’s remembered for his \u003ca href=\"https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/lifetimes/asi-v-fair.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1964 op-ed\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> in which he claimed communication devices would one day enable people to “see as well as hear the person you telephone.” He also predicted that “the screen [would] be used not only to see the people you call, but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a name that almost never comes up is Mark R. Sullivan, whose astute predictions came more than a decade before Asimov’s. In the 1950s, Sullivan was acting president and director of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. He was born in Oakland in 1896, lived in San Francisco with his wife and daughter, and worked his way to the top of his company, starting as a lowly traffic clerk at age 16. He also sat on the board of directors of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.firstamtrust.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Trust Company\u003c/a>. As such, he was well respected and regularly asked to impart his professional wisdom at business conferences and forums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 656px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13906662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950.png\" alt=\"A bald white man with a round face wearing a suit and tie appears in newsprint.\" width=\"656\" height=\"1154\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950.png 656w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Examiner-July-14-1950-160x281.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 656px) 100vw, 656px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark R. Sullivan, telephone prophet, as seen in the ‘San Francisco Examiner’ on July 14, 1950. \u003ccite>(The San Francisco Examiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was at one of these conferences in Pasadena, California on April 9, 1953, that Sullivan relayed his eerily accurate vision of the future of phones. Tacoma’s \u003cem>News Tribune\u003c/em> reported on the speech two days later in an article titled, “There’ll Be No Escape in Future From Telephones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sullivan was quoted as saying:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Just what form the future telephone will take is, of course, pure speculation. Here is my prophecy: In its final development, the telephone will be carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today. It probably will require no dial or equivalent and I think the users will be able to see each other, if they want, as they talk. Who knows but it may actually translate from one language to another?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>To put into context just how extraordinary Sullivan’s vision was for the period, three years earlier he appeared in the \u003cem>San Francisco Examiner\u003c/em> talking about the latest innovations in telephone technology. The advancement he was most proud of was a new device about the size of a small typewriter that automatically calculated how long people’s phone calls were. This eliminated the need for an operator to “record the call for accounting purposes.” The amount of column inches the \u003ci>Examiner\u003c/i> dedicated to the story is an indication this was Really Exciting Stuff in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That Sullivan was able—even while working with such rudimentary equipment—to envisage watch phones, video calls, and a system similar to today’s Google Translate, is fairly extraordinary. It speaks to his ability to see well beyond the technological constraints of his own lifetime. That he did so here in the Bay Area, more than two decades before the first Silicon Valley boom, only serves to make his foresight even more eerie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sullivan died, aged 89, just two years after the first commercially available cell phone hit the market. Granted, the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Motorola DynaTAC 8000X\u003c/a> was definitely not watch-sized and cost a whopping $3,995 in 1983 (about $11,000 today), but Sullivan might have seen this development as a step towards his long-ago vision—a sign that every one of his 1953 predictions would eventually come to fruition.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "These Kids Have Written the History of an Overlooked Black Female Composer",
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"content": "\u003cp>For decades, it was almost impossible to hear a piece of music written by \u003ca href=\"https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4938/Florence-Price/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Florence Price\u003c/a>. Price was a Black, female composer who died in 1953. But a group of New York City middle school students had the opportunity to quite literally write Florence Price’s history. Their book, titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/florence-price-book-launch-concert/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Who Is Florence Price?\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, is now out and available in stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906807\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13906807\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-800x1084.png\" alt=\"Book cover featuring an illustration of a Black woman wearing a green dress playing the piano.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1084\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-800x1084.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-160x217.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-768x1041.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM.png 986w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Who Is Florence Price?,’ by students of the Special Music School at Kaufman Music Center, New York..\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The kids attend \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/sms/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Special Music School\u003c/a>, a K-12 public school in Manhattan that teaches high-level music instruction alongside academics. Shannon Potts is an English teacher there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our children are musicians, so whether or not we intentionally draw it together, they bring music into the classroom every day in the most delightful ways,” Potts says. “So if you’re talking about themes and poetry, immediately a child will qualify it with the way that a theme repeats in music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts assigned her sixth, seventh and eighth grade students to study Florence Price—a composer born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887. She was the first Black woman to have her music played by a major American orchestra: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony No. 1 in 1933 and her Piano Concerto in One Movement the next year. In 1939, at her \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/30/748757267/lift-every-voice-marian-anderson-florence-b-price-and-the-sound-of-black-sisterh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">famed Lincoln Memorial concert\u003c/a>, the contralto Marian Anderson included Price’s arrangement of the spiritual “My Soul is Anchored in the Lord.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite Price’s talent and drive, most classical music performers and gatekeepers put her aside, and her work failed to gain traction with the large, almost exclusively white institutions that could have catapulted her to mainstream renown. As she herself wrote in a letter to famed conductor Serge Koussevitzky, “I have two handicaps—those of sex and race.” She was not wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5nMxqxTO4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, though, there’s been a blossoming of interest in Price’s work. A recording of her symphonies by the Philadelphia Orchestra was just \u003ca href=\"https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2022-grammys-complete-winners-nominees-nominations-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nominated\u003c/a> for a Grammy. In the months ahead, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2021-22/MORGAN-CONDUCTS-PRICE-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">her music will be performed by the San Francisco Symphony\u003c/a>, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the students began researching Price, however, they realized that although there were a \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">few materials\u003c/a> written about her life for grown-ups, there was nothing aimed at kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That gave Potts had an idea: She would have her students write and illustrate their own book about Florence Price, and about how her music was rediscovered. As the kids’ book begins:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“In 2009, a couple bought an old house outside of Chicago. In the attic, they found boxes filled with yellowed sheets of music. Every piece was written by the same woman, Florence Price. ‘Who is Florence Price?’ they wondered…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Florence’s mind was filled with music, but she had a big question. She was a girl and her skin was a different color than so many of the composers she knew about. Could she grow up to be a famous composer, too? When Florence was only 11, her first piece was published. Was it possible that Florence’s music could change things?”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Special Music School is a partnership between the New York City Board of Education and a performing arts center called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kaufman Music Center\u003c/a>, whose executive director is Kate Sheeran. Sheeran was extremely enthusiastic about the students’ work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This beautiful book emerged that they wrote together, 45 of them together,” Sheeran recalls. “I found out about it when they brought it down to my office, and I was just floored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheeran was so impressed that she ordered a small, self-published print run of their work. She sent it around to various people in the classical music community—including Robert Thompson, the president of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4938/Florence-Price/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">G. Schirmer, the company that publishes Florence Price’s music\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13881675,arts_13892514,arts_13874853']“I think it’s one of the few moments in my job where I had to cancel the next meeting and I was just kind of filled with tears,” Thompson recalls. “It was just an incredibly beautiful moment.” Thompson agreed to publish the book; all royalties will go to Kaufman Music Center, which is a non-profit organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iYxGHhCuqg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebecca Beato\u003c/a> is a 14-year-old violinist from Queens. She was also one of the lead illustrators of \u003cem>Who Is Florence Price?\u003c/em> and she says that Price has been a personal inspiration. “Her music has been out there, performed by major orchestras,” Beato says, “and she’s a woman of color, which even now—it’s like difficult to get your music shown to the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing the book was a process of discovery, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUudUD2Vkk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cobie Buckmire\u003c/a>, a 13-year-old pianist from Brooklyn. “I didn’t even know who she was before I started this,” he notes. “All the other famous composers are white men like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazel Peebles, a 13-year-old violist from Harlem, says that you can hear Price’s personal history in her music. “It really is beautiful,” Peebles observes. “She worked in some of her history, some of her Black background into the music. I really just love that and appreciate that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the students learned in creating this book goes far beyond music, Kate Sheeran says. “They’re also seeing that they can have a voice in shaping who writes history and who tells stories,” she says, “and that we don’t have to just accept the way music is presented to us or the way music history is presented to us—that they too can shape that. And that, to me, is the most exciting thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSmTa8hvd5U&t=1s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We talk about representation in literature all the time,” Potts observes. “For kids to be able to become authors and activists in a way, to disrupt the story of the way that classical music is being told. They no longer, as a diverse population, become victims of a largely white society. They control the narrative. They can rewrite it. And this project, in the way it’s been received, really shows them that when they speak up, the world is ready to hear them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts says that the very last lines of her students’ book have already come true, thanks to their hard work and creativity. “Today, Florence’s music can be heard all around the world just like she dreamed of when she was young,” Potts reads. “If someone asks, ‘Who is Florence Price?’, you can tell them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=These+NYC+kids+have+written+the+history+of+an+overlooked+Black+female+composer&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Florence Price, born in Little Rock in 1887, was a brilliant composer who was marginalized because of her race and gender. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For decades, it was almost impossible to hear a piece of music written by \u003ca href=\"https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4938/Florence-Price/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Florence Price\u003c/a>. Price was a Black, female composer who died in 1953. But a group of New York City middle school students had the opportunity to quite literally write Florence Price’s history. Their book, titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/florence-price-book-launch-concert/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Who Is Florence Price?\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, is now out and available in stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906807\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13906807\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-800x1084.png\" alt=\"Book cover featuring an illustration of a Black woman wearing a green dress playing the piano.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1084\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-800x1084.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-160x217.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM-768x1041.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-03-at-12.04.27-PM.png 986w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Who Is Florence Price?,’ by students of the Special Music School at Kaufman Music Center, New York..\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The kids attend \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/sms/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Special Music School\u003c/a>, a K-12 public school in Manhattan that teaches high-level music instruction alongside academics. Shannon Potts is an English teacher there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our children are musicians, so whether or not we intentionally draw it together, they bring music into the classroom every day in the most delightful ways,” Potts says. “So if you’re talking about themes and poetry, immediately a child will qualify it with the way that a theme repeats in music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts assigned her sixth, seventh and eighth grade students to study Florence Price—a composer born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887. She was the first Black woman to have her music played by a major American orchestra: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony No. 1 in 1933 and her Piano Concerto in One Movement the next year. In 1939, at her \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/30/748757267/lift-every-voice-marian-anderson-florence-b-price-and-the-sound-of-black-sisterh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">famed Lincoln Memorial concert\u003c/a>, the contralto Marian Anderson included Price’s arrangement of the spiritual “My Soul is Anchored in the Lord.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite Price’s talent and drive, most classical music performers and gatekeepers put her aside, and her work failed to gain traction with the large, almost exclusively white institutions that could have catapulted her to mainstream renown. As she herself wrote in a letter to famed conductor Serge Koussevitzky, “I have two handicaps—those of sex and race.” She was not wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/5t5nMxqxTO4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/5t5nMxqxTO4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Recently, though, there’s been a blossoming of interest in Price’s work. A recording of her symphonies by the Philadelphia Orchestra was just \u003ca href=\"https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2022-grammys-complete-winners-nominees-nominations-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nominated\u003c/a> for a Grammy. In the months ahead, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2021-22/MORGAN-CONDUCTS-PRICE-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">her music will be performed by the San Francisco Symphony\u003c/a>, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the students began researching Price, however, they realized that although there were a \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">few materials\u003c/a> written about her life for grown-ups, there was nothing aimed at kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That gave Potts had an idea: She would have her students write and illustrate their own book about Florence Price, and about how her music was rediscovered. As the kids’ book begins:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“In 2009, a couple bought an old house outside of Chicago. In the attic, they found boxes filled with yellowed sheets of music. Every piece was written by the same woman, Florence Price. ‘Who is Florence Price?’ they wondered…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Florence’s mind was filled with music, but she had a big question. She was a girl and her skin was a different color than so many of the composers she knew about. Could she grow up to be a famous composer, too? When Florence was only 11, her first piece was published. Was it possible that Florence’s music could change things?”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Special Music School is a partnership between the New York City Board of Education and a performing arts center called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kaufman Music Center\u003c/a>, whose executive director is Kate Sheeran. Sheeran was extremely enthusiastic about the students’ work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This beautiful book emerged that they wrote together, 45 of them together,” Sheeran recalls. “I found out about it when they brought it down to my office, and I was just floored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheeran was so impressed that she ordered a small, self-published print run of their work. She sent it around to various people in the classical music community—including Robert Thompson, the president of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4938/Florence-Price/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">G. Schirmer, the company that publishes Florence Price’s music\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I think it’s one of the few moments in my job where I had to cancel the next meeting and I was just kind of filled with tears,” Thompson recalls. “It was just an incredibly beautiful moment.” Thompson agreed to publish the book; all royalties will go to Kaufman Music Center, which is a non-profit organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iYxGHhCuqg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebecca Beato\u003c/a> is a 14-year-old violinist from Queens. She was also one of the lead illustrators of \u003cem>Who Is Florence Price?\u003c/em> and she says that Price has been a personal inspiration. “Her music has been out there, performed by major orchestras,” Beato says, “and she’s a woman of color, which even now—it’s like difficult to get your music shown to the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing the book was a process of discovery, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUudUD2Vkk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cobie Buckmire\u003c/a>, a 13-year-old pianist from Brooklyn. “I didn’t even know who she was before I started this,” he notes. “All the other famous composers are white men like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazel Peebles, a 13-year-old violist from Harlem, says that you can hear Price’s personal history in her music. “It really is beautiful,” Peebles observes. “She worked in some of her history, some of her Black background into the music. I really just love that and appreciate that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the students learned in creating this book goes far beyond music, Kate Sheeran says. “They’re also seeing that they can have a voice in shaping who writes history and who tells stories,” she says, “and that we don’t have to just accept the way music is presented to us or the way music history is presented to us—that they too can shape that. And that, to me, is the most exciting thing.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pSmTa8hvd5U'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pSmTa8hvd5U'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“We talk about representation in literature all the time,” Potts observes. “For kids to be able to become authors and activists in a way, to disrupt the story of the way that classical music is being told. They no longer, as a diverse population, become victims of a largely white society. They control the narrative. They can rewrite it. And this project, in the way it’s been received, really shows them that when they speak up, the world is ready to hear them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts says that the very last lines of her students’ book have already come true, thanks to their hard work and creativity. “Today, Florence’s music can be heard all around the world just like she dreamed of when she was young,” Potts reads. “If someone asks, ‘Who is Florence Price?’, you can tell them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=These+NYC+kids+have+written+the+history+of+an+overlooked+Black+female+composer&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "kala-bagai-mother-india-south-asian-immigrants-san-francisco-history",
"title": "The Woman Who Became ‘Mother India’ to Generations of South Asian Immigrants",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n September of 1915, Kala Bagai stepped off the steamship Korea onto Angel Island and entered a whole new world. Kala, who had journeyed to America from Peshawar, India (today part of Pakistan), was 21, already a mother of three, and did not speak a word of English. Her husband Vaishno was determined to seek a better life for his family, far away from the British colonial rule of their home country. Unbeknownst to the young couple at the time, their lives in America would go on to exemplify the struggles of many South Asian immigrants during the first half of the 20th century. But it was Kala alone who defined how best to survive them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kala was born in Amritsar, Punjab, and married Vaishno when she was 11 and he was 12. Child marriage had long been the norm in India—1892’s Age of Consent Bill only went so far as to raise the age a child could be married from 10 to 12. \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Marriage_Restraint_Act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It would take until 1929\u003c/a> for India’s marital ages to be set at 14 for girls and 18 for boys. Despite the earliness of their pairing, the Bagais proved to be a good match—a fact demonstrated by Vaishno’s insistence on bringing his family to America with him. Most immigrants at the time left their wives and families back home. Bringing the whole family was a luxury afforded to Vaishno because of his status as a member of Peshawar’s educated upper classes. (He brought $25,000 in gold to America with him.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13904183']The Bagais’ decision to move to San Francisco was inspired by one of Vaishno’s childhood friends, Ram Chandra Bharadwaj. Bharadwaj had immigrated to the city and co-founded the Gadar Party—a political organization focused on removing British colonizers from India. The Gadar Party’s location in the Bay Area did not prevent its articles from reaching the Indian people. In July 1911, for example, party co-founder Har Dayal wrote in Calcutta’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.saada.org/item/20101216-153\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Modern Review\u003c/em>\u003c/a> about why America offered better living conditions than India under British rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under the Union Jack, [Indians] have no status, as they are servants in the house. An Englishman never forgets that a Hindu is his ‘fellow-subject,’” Dayal wrote. “Very few [Indians] possess an adequate notion of the good that is being done to the cause of their country by the few Hindus who live scattered on this vast continent in small groups … America is perhaps the only country in the world from which a solitary wandering Hindu can send a message of hope and encouragement to his countrymen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving such communications, the Bagais’ hopes must have been high about their new home. And while Kala almost immediately found joy in San Francisco’s beaches, the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, and the wonders of the post-earthquake rebuild, she later described her first impressions of California as “strange.” And it’s no wonder. On the Bagais’ arrival, the family was initially split up and held in detention over a weekend while Angel Island’s immigration station was closed. Vaishno was held with their eldest son Brij, and handled all communication with the immigration officials. Kala was held with their two youngest sons, Madan and Ram. In a 1982 interview with her grandson, Kala noted that the first word she understood during her two-day detention was American slang for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the eating time came,” she said, “they said ‘Chow, chow, chow,’ so I understood that means to eat … I didn’t like the food at all. But I saw that they were selling some fruits, so I bought some fruits. But I did not know how much money to give. So I took the money and put it in my hand … and let him take whatever he wants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Bagai family were released the following Monday, the sight of Kala was enthralling not just to San Franciscans, but to the whole country. As one of the first Indian women to move to California, her appearance was deemed worthy of coverage in the \u003cem>San Francisco Call-Post\u003c/em> and even East Coast publications. On Oct. 3, 1915, \u003cem>The Washington Post\u003c/em> reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Mrs. Hander Kala Bagai, coming all the way from northwestern India, has introduced San Francisco to the latest thing in jewelry—the nose diamond. “Have your surgeon,” says Mrs. Bagai, “pierce your nose horizontally above the nostrils and just under the bridge; then order from your jeweler a little, straight gold bar with a diamond set in one end; run it through the perforation and you’re right up to the minute in fashions.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>On Christmas Eve that year, Oklahoma’s \u003cem>Leader-Tribune\u003c/em> newspaper also wrote about Kala’s nose stud, in a report that was smattered with a heavy dose of racism:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nose gems as desirable ornaments have just been introduced into this country. It is the latest effort of man—or woman—to achieve good looks. The fad came from northwestern India. That is the country, you know, where people starve themselves to make it rain or change their luck. Mrs. Mander Kala Bagai brought it from that country to San Francisco, and they do say that some San Franciscans are wearing the nose diamond this very minute.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>This kind of prejudice would be a constant source of disruption and upset for the Bagais during their earliest years in California. After living in a single furnished room and then a rented apartment, Vaishno’s successful general store on Fillmore Street let the family to buy a home in Berkeley—a house they would never actually live in. On move-in day, arriving with all of their belongings in tow, the Bagais found themselves barred from their own home. Racist neighbors had locked them out. In 1982, Kala explained why they left and never returned. “I told Mr. Bagai, ‘I don’t want to live in this neighborhood. I don’t want to live in this house because they might hurt my children.’” Instead, the family settled back in San Francisco, in an apartment above their shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13906420\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-800x574.png\" alt=\"An Indian man wearing smart slacks, vest, white shirt and bow tie stands before the counter in a shop.\" width=\"800\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-800x574.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-1020x731.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-160x115.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-768x551.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM.png 1194w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vaishno Bagai standing at the counter of his general store in 1923. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the South Asian American Digital Archive)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]K[/dropcap]ala always made sure to leave her door open to other immigrants moving to Northern California. Personally facing down hostilities like the confrontation in Berkeley only compounded her dedication to her community. In 2020, one of her grandchildren, Rani Bagai, wrote about Kala for \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2020/03/12/opinion-berkeley-might-name-a-street-after-kala-bagai-this-is-her-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. She noted that her grandmother started her “tradition of welcoming other new Indian immigrants and visitors with a home-cooked vegetarian meal and instant friendship,” because of her own pangs of “feeling lonely in a strange land.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the Bagais were a little more comfortable and Vaishno had established an import-export business, the family donated money to the Gadar Party and were regulars at the organization’s headquarters, which also housed its official newspaper, the \u003cem>Hindustan Gadar\u003c/em>. In 1917, the headquarters moved to 5 Wood St. in San Francisco, where the Gadar Memorial building still stands today. Those offices were, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cgisf.gov.in/page/gadar-memorial-hall/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the Consulate General of India\u003c/a>, “an environment for thinkers, activists and volunteers who came to live, work, organize and help run a printing press that sent their messages around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13897608']In March 1921, Vaishno Bagai gave up his Indian citizenship to become an American citizen. At the time, wives of immigrants, like Kala, automatically became naturalized when their husbands did without filing an application of their own. Sadly, the Bagais’ American dream was short-lived. In February 1923, the Supreme Court reached a decision in the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Bhagat_Singh_Thind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind case\u003c/a> that no person of Indian origin was eligible to become an American citizen. This not only affected new immigrants, but retroactively revoked citizenship for the Bagais and other families just like them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court’s decision plunged the Bagais into financial difficulties. They lost their right to own property, they lost their general store, and they lost the ability to return to India. Within five years, Vaishno could see no way out. Kala saved him from a suicide attempt on Feb. 1, 1928. The \u003cem>Petaluma Argus-Courier\u003c/em> reported: “He had gone to Land’s End with the intention of jumping from one of the high cliffs to the jagged rocks below. He had been restrained, he said, by his wife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just six weeks later, Vaishno’s lifeless body was found in a gas-filled San Jose apartment, alongside a letter detailing why he felt he had no choice but to take his own life. The \u003cem>San Francisco Examiner\u003c/em> later published the suicide note that bid farewell to his “nice and lovely wife” and “extra good children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I came to America thinking, dreaming and hoping to make this land my home,” Vaishno wrote. “In the last 12 or 13 years we all made ourselves as much Americanized as possible. But they now come to me and say I am no longer an American citizen … Now what am I? What have I made of myself and my children? We cannot exercise our rights, we cannot leave this country … Is life worth living in a gilded cage? Obstacles this way, blockades that way, and the bridges burnt behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaishno’s death caused an uproar. On April 27, 1928, a friend named J.S. Hundal wrote a letter to the editor of Oregon’s \u003cem>Corvallis Gazette-Times\u003c/em>. Hundal described Vaishno’s suicide as an act of “protest.” He declared: “By what law of humanity and nature can you justify such a policy of accepting a man as citizen today, and make him an outlaw tomorrow … Think of the tragedy, the deception, of embittered life and blighted hopes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1982, looking back, Kala recalled being devastated by her husband’s death, as well as “lonesome” and “lost” without him. Now, she was without a country or her partner. But she wasn’t ready to give up. Using money from life insurance policies taken out by Vaishno, Kala invested wisely and figured out how to start again on her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='news_11840927'][dropcap]D[/dropcap]etermined to succeed, Kala honed her English skills, attended night school, stayed in touch with the members of the Gadar Party, and sent each and every one of her boys off to college. (Madan graduated from both Stanford and M.I.T. The engineer was eulogized in a 1941 issue of \u003cem>Stanford Illustrated Review\u003c/em> after his tragic death, aged 33, of pneumonia while seeking work in India.) But what Kala did best of all was make new South Asian immigrants feel welcome in a new country. She acted as the guide to living in America that she’d never had, and she brought countless people together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em> article, Rani Bagai wrote: “As a little girl, I recall meeting South Asians from every walk of life—filmmakers, politicians, classical dancers, yoga teachers, authors, priests and lecturers—as well as from every origin—Gujaratis, Bengalis, Punjabis, Tamils, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and Parsis. All were her friends, and frequently, at her dining room table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once she had raised her children, Kala married another member of the Gadar Party, Mahesh Chandra. In 1946, she and her surviving children were finally granted American citizenship after Harry Truman signed the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luce%E2%80%93Celler_Act_of_1946\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luce-Celler Act\u003c/a> into law. A year later, India gained its independence from the U.K. and together with Mahesh, Kala moved to Los Angeles. It was there, as more and more Indian and Pakistani immigrants made their way to the U.S., that Kala’s tireless community-building earned her the nickname she’s remembered by today: “Mother India.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rani noted in \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>She had many close American friends and never went on a social visit without a gift box of See’s candy. Working with both American and South Asian immigrant women like herself, she went on in the 1950s and 1960s to become an active community builder in Southern California, hosting Indian American cultural events, receptions, and benefits at community halls, theaters, and homes. She built bridges wherever she could between her adopted American culture and the great diversity of Indian culture.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>By the age of 90, Kala Bagai Chandra’s list of achievements was both impressive and joyful. She helped fight for the freedom of her homeland with the Gadar Party. She was an example of resilience to her children and a wider community of immigrants. And she helped forge a path, and act as an indefatigable example, for those who followed in her footsteps. Most impressive of all, she almost single-handedly built one of the first Indian American communities in the U.S., providing all those newcomers with safe spaces, cultural connections and a place to keep traditions alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After she died in 1983, an obituary printed in \u003cem>India West\u003c/em> described exactly what had made Kala so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Armed with her personal philosophy expressed in the saying ‘If you are good … the whole world will love you,’ Mrs. Chandra radiated warmth, kindness, and good will to everyone. Her home became a ‘little India’ to the community, and she became the symbol of Mother India.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n September of 1915, Kala Bagai stepped off the steamship Korea onto Angel Island and entered a whole new world. Kala, who had journeyed to America from Peshawar, India (today part of Pakistan), was 21, already a mother of three, and did not speak a word of English. Her husband Vaishno was determined to seek a better life for his family, far away from the British colonial rule of their home country. Unbeknownst to the young couple at the time, their lives in America would go on to exemplify the struggles of many South Asian immigrants during the first half of the 20th century. But it was Kala alone who defined how best to survive them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kala was born in Amritsar, Punjab, and married Vaishno when she was 11 and he was 12. Child marriage had long been the norm in India—1892’s Age of Consent Bill only went so far as to raise the age a child could be married from 10 to 12. \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Marriage_Restraint_Act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It would take until 1929\u003c/a> for India’s marital ages to be set at 14 for girls and 18 for boys. Despite the earliness of their pairing, the Bagais proved to be a good match—a fact demonstrated by Vaishno’s insistence on bringing his family to America with him. Most immigrants at the time left their wives and families back home. Bringing the whole family was a luxury afforded to Vaishno because of his status as a member of Peshawar’s educated upper classes. (He brought $25,000 in gold to America with him.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Bagais’ decision to move to San Francisco was inspired by one of Vaishno’s childhood friends, Ram Chandra Bharadwaj. Bharadwaj had immigrated to the city and co-founded the Gadar Party—a political organization focused on removing British colonizers from India. The Gadar Party’s location in the Bay Area did not prevent its articles from reaching the Indian people. In July 1911, for example, party co-founder Har Dayal wrote in Calcutta’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.saada.org/item/20101216-153\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Modern Review\u003c/em>\u003c/a> about why America offered better living conditions than India under British rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under the Union Jack, [Indians] have no status, as they are servants in the house. An Englishman never forgets that a Hindu is his ‘fellow-subject,’” Dayal wrote. “Very few [Indians] possess an adequate notion of the good that is being done to the cause of their country by the few Hindus who live scattered on this vast continent in small groups … America is perhaps the only country in the world from which a solitary wandering Hindu can send a message of hope and encouragement to his countrymen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving such communications, the Bagais’ hopes must have been high about their new home. And while Kala almost immediately found joy in San Francisco’s beaches, the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, and the wonders of the post-earthquake rebuild, she later described her first impressions of California as “strange.” And it’s no wonder. On the Bagais’ arrival, the family was initially split up and held in detention over a weekend while Angel Island’s immigration station was closed. Vaishno was held with their eldest son Brij, and handled all communication with the immigration officials. Kala was held with their two youngest sons, Madan and Ram. In a 1982 interview with her grandson, Kala noted that the first word she understood during her two-day detention was American slang for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the eating time came,” she said, “they said ‘Chow, chow, chow,’ so I understood that means to eat … I didn’t like the food at all. But I saw that they were selling some fruits, so I bought some fruits. But I did not know how much money to give. So I took the money and put it in my hand … and let him take whatever he wants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Bagai family were released the following Monday, the sight of Kala was enthralling not just to San Franciscans, but to the whole country. As one of the first Indian women to move to California, her appearance was deemed worthy of coverage in the \u003cem>San Francisco Call-Post\u003c/em> and even East Coast publications. On Oct. 3, 1915, \u003cem>The Washington Post\u003c/em> reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Mrs. Hander Kala Bagai, coming all the way from northwestern India, has introduced San Francisco to the latest thing in jewelry—the nose diamond. “Have your surgeon,” says Mrs. Bagai, “pierce your nose horizontally above the nostrils and just under the bridge; then order from your jeweler a little, straight gold bar with a diamond set in one end; run it through the perforation and you’re right up to the minute in fashions.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>On Christmas Eve that year, Oklahoma’s \u003cem>Leader-Tribune\u003c/em> newspaper also wrote about Kala’s nose stud, in a report that was smattered with a heavy dose of racism:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nose gems as desirable ornaments have just been introduced into this country. It is the latest effort of man—or woman—to achieve good looks. The fad came from northwestern India. That is the country, you know, where people starve themselves to make it rain or change their luck. Mrs. Mander Kala Bagai brought it from that country to San Francisco, and they do say that some San Franciscans are wearing the nose diamond this very minute.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>This kind of prejudice would be a constant source of disruption and upset for the Bagais during their earliest years in California. After living in a single furnished room and then a rented apartment, Vaishno’s successful general store on Fillmore Street let the family to buy a home in Berkeley—a house they would never actually live in. On move-in day, arriving with all of their belongings in tow, the Bagais found themselves barred from their own home. Racist neighbors had locked them out. In 1982, Kala explained why they left and never returned. “I told Mr. Bagai, ‘I don’t want to live in this neighborhood. I don’t want to live in this house because they might hurt my children.’” Instead, the family settled back in San Francisco, in an apartment above their shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13906420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13906420\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-800x574.png\" alt=\"An Indian man wearing smart slacks, vest, white shirt and bow tie stands before the counter in a shop.\" width=\"800\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-800x574.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-1020x731.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-160x115.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM-768x551.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-10.53.06-PM.png 1194w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vaishno Bagai standing at the counter of his general store in 1923. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the South Asian American Digital Archive)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">K\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ala always made sure to leave her door open to other immigrants moving to Northern California. Personally facing down hostilities like the confrontation in Berkeley only compounded her dedication to her community. In 2020, one of her grandchildren, Rani Bagai, wrote about Kala for \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2020/03/12/opinion-berkeley-might-name-a-street-after-kala-bagai-this-is-her-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. She noted that her grandmother started her “tradition of welcoming other new Indian immigrants and visitors with a home-cooked vegetarian meal and instant friendship,” because of her own pangs of “feeling lonely in a strange land.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the Bagais were a little more comfortable and Vaishno had established an import-export business, the family donated money to the Gadar Party and were regulars at the organization’s headquarters, which also housed its official newspaper, the \u003cem>Hindustan Gadar\u003c/em>. In 1917, the headquarters moved to 5 Wood St. in San Francisco, where the Gadar Memorial building still stands today. Those offices were, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cgisf.gov.in/page/gadar-memorial-hall/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the Consulate General of India\u003c/a>, “an environment for thinkers, activists and volunteers who came to live, work, organize and help run a printing press that sent their messages around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In March 1921, Vaishno Bagai gave up his Indian citizenship to become an American citizen. At the time, wives of immigrants, like Kala, automatically became naturalized when their husbands did without filing an application of their own. Sadly, the Bagais’ American dream was short-lived. In February 1923, the Supreme Court reached a decision in the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Bhagat_Singh_Thind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind case\u003c/a> that no person of Indian origin was eligible to become an American citizen. This not only affected new immigrants, but retroactively revoked citizenship for the Bagais and other families just like them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court’s decision plunged the Bagais into financial difficulties. They lost their right to own property, they lost their general store, and they lost the ability to return to India. Within five years, Vaishno could see no way out. Kala saved him from a suicide attempt on Feb. 1, 1928. The \u003cem>Petaluma Argus-Courier\u003c/em> reported: “He had gone to Land’s End with the intention of jumping from one of the high cliffs to the jagged rocks below. He had been restrained, he said, by his wife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just six weeks later, Vaishno’s lifeless body was found in a gas-filled San Jose apartment, alongside a letter detailing why he felt he had no choice but to take his own life. The \u003cem>San Francisco Examiner\u003c/em> later published the suicide note that bid farewell to his “nice and lovely wife” and “extra good children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I came to America thinking, dreaming and hoping to make this land my home,” Vaishno wrote. “In the last 12 or 13 years we all made ourselves as much Americanized as possible. But they now come to me and say I am no longer an American citizen … Now what am I? What have I made of myself and my children? We cannot exercise our rights, we cannot leave this country … Is life worth living in a gilded cage? Obstacles this way, blockades that way, and the bridges burnt behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaishno’s death caused an uproar. On April 27, 1928, a friend named J.S. Hundal wrote a letter to the editor of Oregon’s \u003cem>Corvallis Gazette-Times\u003c/em>. Hundal described Vaishno’s suicide as an act of “protest.” He declared: “By what law of humanity and nature can you justify such a policy of accepting a man as citizen today, and make him an outlaw tomorrow … Think of the tragedy, the deception, of embittered life and blighted hopes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1982, looking back, Kala recalled being devastated by her husband’s death, as well as “lonesome” and “lost” without him. Now, she was without a country or her partner. But she wasn’t ready to give up. Using money from life insurance policies taken out by Vaishno, Kala invested wisely and figured out how to start again on her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">D\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>etermined to succeed, Kala honed her English skills, attended night school, stayed in touch with the members of the Gadar Party, and sent each and every one of her boys off to college. (Madan graduated from both Stanford and M.I.T. The engineer was eulogized in a 1941 issue of \u003cem>Stanford Illustrated Review\u003c/em> after his tragic death, aged 33, of pneumonia while seeking work in India.) But what Kala did best of all was make new South Asian immigrants feel welcome in a new country. She acted as the guide to living in America that she’d never had, and she brought countless people together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em> article, Rani Bagai wrote: “As a little girl, I recall meeting South Asians from every walk of life—filmmakers, politicians, classical dancers, yoga teachers, authors, priests and lecturers—as well as from every origin—Gujaratis, Bengalis, Punjabis, Tamils, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and Parsis. All were her friends, and frequently, at her dining room table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once she had raised her children, Kala married another member of the Gadar Party, Mahesh Chandra. In 1946, she and her surviving children were finally granted American citizenship after Harry Truman signed the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luce%E2%80%93Celler_Act_of_1946\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luce-Celler Act\u003c/a> into law. A year later, India gained its independence from the U.K. and together with Mahesh, Kala moved to Los Angeles. It was there, as more and more Indian and Pakistani immigrants made their way to the U.S., that Kala’s tireless community-building earned her the nickname she’s remembered by today: “Mother India.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rani noted in \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>She had many close American friends and never went on a social visit without a gift box of See’s candy. Working with both American and South Asian immigrant women like herself, she went on in the 1950s and 1960s to become an active community builder in Southern California, hosting Indian American cultural events, receptions, and benefits at community halls, theaters, and homes. She built bridges wherever she could between her adopted American culture and the great diversity of Indian culture.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>By the age of 90, Kala Bagai Chandra’s list of achievements was both impressive and joyful. She helped fight for the freedom of her homeland with the Gadar Party. She was an example of resilience to her children and a wider community of immigrants. And she helped forge a path, and act as an indefatigable example, for those who followed in her footsteps. Most impressive of all, she almost single-handedly built one of the first Indian American communities in the U.S., providing all those newcomers with safe spaces, cultural connections and a place to keep traditions alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After she died in 1983, an obituary printed in \u003cem>India West\u003c/em> described exactly what had made Kala so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Armed with her personal philosophy expressed in the saying ‘If you are good … the whole world will love you,’ Mrs. Chandra radiated warmth, kindness, and good will to everyone. Her home became a ‘little India’ to the community, and she became the symbol of Mother India.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Hipolita Orendain de Medina first arrived in San Francisco as a young child, it was the result of a bold move by her mother, Francisca Tejada de Orendain. Francisca made the decision to leave Mexico and head to San Francisco in the 1850s, after the death of her husband. The widow and her two children, Hipolita and Virginia, would be among the first wave of Mexican families to emigrate to California following the Mexican-American War, a conflict that ended when Mexico City fell to U.S. troops on Sept. 14, 1847—the same year Hipolita was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13892514']Though tensions remained between the two countries at the time of the Orendains’ move, Francisca had inherited a fortune from her late husband Jesús Orendain’s silver mine, and sought new opportunities in the United States. Though she was moving to still-unruly Gold Rush country, Francisca was determined to raise her young daughters as respected and virtuous women of society. She succeeded. After investing in Oakland waterfront properties and some land on what is now Broadway, Francisca went about making sure Virginia and Hipolita received excellent educations. By adulthood, Hipolita was fluent in at least three languages—English, Spanish and German—and had developed a passion for all things literary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was her unbridled enthusiasm for the written word that led Hipolita to start keeping meticulous records of her poems, journals and musings. She also filed and stored her “recuerdos de amistad” (tokens of friendship)—the essays, letters, well wishes, portraits and business cards she received from friends and family. Without archival intentions, throughout the course of her life, Hipolita’s personal effects were quietly preserving a vibrant snapshot of Mexican American society in Northern California during the second half of the 1800s and into the early 1900s. One album alone spanned the years between 1865 and 1908.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904798\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) The cover of Hipolita’s album of remembrance, full of notes, art, tokens of good luck, songs, poems and letters written by friends and family. It also contains pressed flowers. (R) A “God’s Eye” – or Ojo de Dios – gifted to Hipolita by a friend. The spiritual tokens are woven out of yarn upon a wooden cross and are believed to provide their owners with protection. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of the letters Hipolita collected offer a glimpse into the hardships and political turmoil felt by the loved ones she left behind in Mexico. One, from M. Travesi, details the chaos and bloodshed of the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_French_intervention_in_Mexico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Second French Intervention in Mexico\u003c/a>, a war fought between 1861 and 1867. The note, dated July 14, 1865 begins: “Standing before the arrogance of an infamous and brutal soldiery made up of the vile slaves of the traitor France might offer them liberty? Cowardly executioners! In order to defeat, they raise scaffolding where they assassinate forced martyrs and pure patriots whose noble blood is worn on their faces.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 12, 1867, Hipolita’s cousin Felicio Orendain wrote from Mexico: “Today, we experience much fear while we wait for the result of the battle that at any moment will occur in Querétaro. All the resources of the Republicans against those of Maximiliano [the Archduke of Austria, installed in Mexico by the French government] are meant to create a federal army along with the help of the towns’ resources. In this context, it is very difficult for us (to live here) and, if this commotion persists, our general ruin will be a certain fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Hipolita and her mother were actively contributing to the war effort from San Francisco. Hipolita was a member of San Francisco’s junta patriótica (patriotic assembly). She was also active in recruiting men in California to go and fight for their home country. (Words she jotted down in her private notebook show her to be quite persuasive in this regard. “If we have the courage to sacrifice everything to duty,” she wrote, “this sacrifice makes room for the most pleasant satisfaction one can taste.”) Francisca used her wealth to outfit the new soldiers and finance their travel to the Mexican frontlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13893514']When \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Ju%C3%A1rez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">President Benito Juárez\u003c/a> finally regained control of the country, the joy and relief was palpable in letters sent to Hipolita. But much of the correspondence she received is best described as declarations of adoration. Many men seem to have been quite besotted with her. On Sept. 27, 1865, José Montesinol wrote, “What is it about your look, what is it about your smile, that attracts so many hearts? What magic and enchanting qualities does your breath have that awakens soldiers, wounded by deception and their abandonment of love for glory?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just three weeks prior to Montesinol’s letter, another suitor named Lozano wrote to her: “Polita, you are the ideal woman, because you are just as virtuous as you are beautiful.” Hipolita no doubt would have seen this as a high compliment, given that in her personal musings she once wrote, “Perfect happiness derives only from virtue.” On another occasion, she noted, “Every time one does not fulfill one’s moral duty, one does not fulfill [one’s] other [duties] either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904796\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904796\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) “May every blessing this wreath contains be yours.” Addressed to Hipolita and signed by a Mrs. E. Smith on April 15, 1883. (R) A song written for Hipolita by her husband, Emilio Medina. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October 1868, Hipolita married Emigdio “Emilio” Medina at Old St. Mary’s Church, on the corner of California and Grant in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Joseph_Alemany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Archbishop Joseph Alemany\u003c/a> performed the Roman Catholic ceremony, while Virginia acted as a witness. Once married, the couple settled into a family home at 707½ McAllister St. As with her other suitors, Medina was spellbound by Hipolita. In her album of remembrance, she saved the love notes and songs he wrote for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_102633']Despite promising beginnings, theirs was not a relationship that would last. Medina was a diplomat who traveled across Europe and South America on behalf of President Juárez to shore up Mexico’s relations overseas. And together, Hipolita and Medina brought four daughters into the world: Josefina in 1869, Virginia in 1871, Czarina in 1873, and Mercedes (nicknamed Mercy) in 1876. By the 1880 census, however, Medina was no longer listed as a resident in Hipolita’s home despite the fact that he was still an active member of San Francisco society. (In 1881, he co-founded and became editor for \u003cem>La Republica\u003c/em>, a weekly Spanish-language newspaper in San Francisco.) Hipolita started referring to herself as a widow long before Medina moved to Los Angeles to edit \u003cem>El Estandarte Mexicano\u003c/em>, a publication that was, according to one of his business cards, “Devoted to the interests of the resident Mexican population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1893, Hipolita and Medina came together once more to grieve the loss of their daughter Czarina, who died just three months after her 20th birthday. Hipolita lovingly taped details of her daughter’s memorial from both English and Spanish language newspapers under a passage written by Czarina for her mother. That poem ended with the line, “Wherever I am, I remember you yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904827\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904827\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) A poem written by Czarina surrounded by pressed ferns and her obituaries. (R) A poem written by Hipolita’s daughter Virginia, dated Jan. 10, 1883. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a single mother, Hipolita worked—alongside her sister—as a dressmaker. And she cultivated very close relationships with each and every one of her daughters. In 1894, one friend named Aurora wrote to Hipolita, “You have known with your love and your talent how to form the souls of your daughters with pieces of your heart so that they are the treasure and grace of their home. They have been nurtured by your example in their virtues; virtues that make a woman more esteemed and strong when faced with the trials of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of Hipolita’s strength may have been inspired by learning from her own mother’s mistakes. Francisca lost most of her Oakland property investments to squatters, administrators, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. As Francisca prepared to fight the latter in court, threats were made on Hipolita and Virginia’s lives; Francisca retreated and dropped the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hipolita died in 1922. But her voice, and the voices of her loved ones, live on through her beautifully preserved books and correspondence. Her collection continues to present a vivid snapshot of 19th century life in both the Bay Area and Mexico. That Hipolita understood the value of these kinds of personal papers speaks to an impressive fortitude and degree of self-belief, qualities that continue to inspire new generations—including her own descendents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, Hipolita’s great-granddaughter, award-winning author Laurel Anne Hill, dedicated her second novel, 2016’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/32802993-the-engine-woman-s-light\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Engine Woman’s Light\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, to her great-grandmother. Hill was also responsible, in 2009, for organizing and funding the translation of Hipolita’s letters and journals into English. Those papers now live alongside Hipolita’s original documents at the California Historical Society. Hipolita’s youngest daughter Mercedes (Hill’s grandmother) may have put it best in a sweet verse she wrote to her mother on Aug. 12, 1883:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>You are good as you are fair,\u003cbr>\nNone, none on Earth above you,\u003cbr>\nAs pure in thought as angels are,\u003cbr>\nTo know you is to love you.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Hipolita Orendain de Medina first arrived in San Francisco as a young child, it was the result of a bold move by her mother, Francisca Tejada de Orendain. Francisca made the decision to leave Mexico and head to San Francisco in the 1850s, after the death of her husband. The widow and her two children, Hipolita and Virginia, would be among the first wave of Mexican families to emigrate to California following the Mexican-American War, a conflict that ended when Mexico City fell to U.S. troops on Sept. 14, 1847—the same year Hipolita was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Though tensions remained between the two countries at the time of the Orendains’ move, Francisca had inherited a fortune from her late husband Jesús Orendain’s silver mine, and sought new opportunities in the United States. Though she was moving to still-unruly Gold Rush country, Francisca was determined to raise her young daughters as respected and virtuous women of society. She succeeded. After investing in Oakland waterfront properties and some land on what is now Broadway, Francisca went about making sure Virginia and Hipolita received excellent educations. By adulthood, Hipolita was fluent in at least three languages—English, Spanish and German—and had developed a passion for all things literary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was her unbridled enthusiasm for the written word that led Hipolita to start keeping meticulous records of her poems, journals and musings. She also filed and stored her “recuerdos de amistad” (tokens of friendship)—the essays, letters, well wishes, portraits and business cards she received from friends and family. Without archival intentions, throughout the course of her life, Hipolita’s personal effects were quietly preserving a vibrant snapshot of Mexican American society in Northern California during the second half of the 1800s and into the early 1900s. One album alone spanned the years between 1865 and 1908.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904798\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-album-Gods-Eye-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) The cover of Hipolita’s album of remembrance, full of notes, art, tokens of good luck, songs, poems and letters written by friends and family. It also contains pressed flowers. (R) A “God’s Eye” – or Ojo de Dios – gifted to Hipolita by a friend. The spiritual tokens are woven out of yarn upon a wooden cross and are believed to provide their owners with protection. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of the letters Hipolita collected offer a glimpse into the hardships and political turmoil felt by the loved ones she left behind in Mexico. One, from M. Travesi, details the chaos and bloodshed of the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_French_intervention_in_Mexico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Second French Intervention in Mexico\u003c/a>, a war fought between 1861 and 1867. The note, dated July 14, 1865 begins: “Standing before the arrogance of an infamous and brutal soldiery made up of the vile slaves of the traitor France might offer them liberty? Cowardly executioners! In order to defeat, they raise scaffolding where they assassinate forced martyrs and pure patriots whose noble blood is worn on their faces.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 12, 1867, Hipolita’s cousin Felicio Orendain wrote from Mexico: “Today, we experience much fear while we wait for the result of the battle that at any moment will occur in Querétaro. All the resources of the Republicans against those of Maximiliano [the Archduke of Austria, installed in Mexico by the French government] are meant to create a federal army along with the help of the towns’ resources. In this context, it is very difficult for us (to live here) and, if this commotion persists, our general ruin will be a certain fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Hipolita and her mother were actively contributing to the war effort from San Francisco. Hipolita was a member of San Francisco’s junta patriótica (patriotic assembly). She was also active in recruiting men in California to go and fight for their home country. (Words she jotted down in her private notebook show her to be quite persuasive in this regard. “If we have the courage to sacrifice everything to duty,” she wrote, “this sacrifice makes room for the most pleasant satisfaction one can taste.”) Francisca used her wealth to outfit the new soldiers and finance their travel to the Mexican frontlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Ju%C3%A1rez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">President Benito Juárez\u003c/a> finally regained control of the country, the joy and relief was palpable in letters sent to Hipolita. But much of the correspondence she received is best described as declarations of adoration. Many men seem to have been quite besotted with her. On Sept. 27, 1865, José Montesinol wrote, “What is it about your look, what is it about your smile, that attracts so many hearts? What magic and enchanting qualities does your breath have that awakens soldiers, wounded by deception and their abandonment of love for glory?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just three weeks prior to Montesinol’s letter, another suitor named Lozano wrote to her: “Polita, you are the ideal woman, because you are just as virtuous as you are beautiful.” Hipolita no doubt would have seen this as a high compliment, given that in her personal musings she once wrote, “Perfect happiness derives only from virtue.” On another occasion, she noted, “Every time one does not fulfill one’s moral duty, one does not fulfill [one’s] other [duties] either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904796\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904796\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Hipolita-luck-and-music-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) “May every blessing this wreath contains be yours.” Addressed to Hipolita and signed by a Mrs. E. Smith on April 15, 1883. (R) A song written for Hipolita by her husband, Emilio Medina. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October 1868, Hipolita married Emigdio “Emilio” Medina at Old St. Mary’s Church, on the corner of California and Grant in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Joseph_Alemany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Archbishop Joseph Alemany\u003c/a> performed the Roman Catholic ceremony, while Virginia acted as a witness. Once married, the couple settled into a family home at 707½ McAllister St. As with her other suitors, Medina was spellbound by Hipolita. In her album of remembrance, she saved the love notes and songs he wrote for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite promising beginnings, theirs was not a relationship that would last. Medina was a diplomat who traveled across Europe and South America on behalf of President Juárez to shore up Mexico’s relations overseas. And together, Hipolita and Medina brought four daughters into the world: Josefina in 1869, Virginia in 1871, Czarina in 1873, and Mercedes (nicknamed Mercy) in 1876. By the 1880 census, however, Medina was no longer listed as a resident in Hipolita’s home despite the fact that he was still an active member of San Francisco society. (In 1881, he co-founded and became editor for \u003cem>La Republica\u003c/em>, a weekly Spanish-language newspaper in San Francisco.) Hipolita started referring to herself as a widow long before Medina moved to Los Angeles to edit \u003cem>El Estandarte Mexicano\u003c/em>, a publication that was, according to one of his business cards, “Devoted to the interests of the resident Mexican population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1893, Hipolita and Medina came together once more to grieve the loss of their daughter Czarina, who died just three months after her 20th birthday. Hipolita lovingly taped details of her daughter’s memorial from both English and Spanish language newspapers under a passage written by Czarina for her mother. That poem ended with the line, “Wherever I am, I remember you yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904827\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904827\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-2048x1267.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Czarina-1920x1188.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) A poem written by Czarina surrounded by pressed ferns and her obituaries. (R) A poem written by Hipolita’s daughter Virginia, dated Jan. 10, 1883. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/ Courtesy of the California Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a single mother, Hipolita worked—alongside her sister—as a dressmaker. And she cultivated very close relationships with each and every one of her daughters. In 1894, one friend named Aurora wrote to Hipolita, “You have known with your love and your talent how to form the souls of your daughters with pieces of your heart so that they are the treasure and grace of their home. They have been nurtured by your example in their virtues; virtues that make a woman more esteemed and strong when faced with the trials of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of Hipolita’s strength may have been inspired by learning from her own mother’s mistakes. Francisca lost most of her Oakland property investments to squatters, administrators, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. As Francisca prepared to fight the latter in court, threats were made on Hipolita and Virginia’s lives; Francisca retreated and dropped the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hipolita died in 1922. But her voice, and the voices of her loved ones, live on through her beautifully preserved books and correspondence. Her collection continues to present a vivid snapshot of 19th century life in both the Bay Area and Mexico. That Hipolita understood the value of these kinds of personal papers speaks to an impressive fortitude and degree of self-belief, qualities that continue to inspire new generations—including her own descendents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, Hipolita’s great-granddaughter, award-winning author Laurel Anne Hill, dedicated her second novel, 2016’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/32802993-the-engine-woman-s-light\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Engine Woman’s Light\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, to her great-grandmother. Hill was also responsible, in 2009, for organizing and funding the translation of Hipolita’s letters and journals into English. Those papers now live alongside Hipolita’s original documents at the California Historical Society. Hipolita’s youngest daughter Mercedes (Hill’s grandmother) may have put it best in a sweet verse she wrote to her mother on Aug. 12, 1883:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>You are good as you are fair,\u003cbr>\nNone, none on Earth above you,\u003cbr>\nAs pure in thought as angels are,\u003cbr>\nTo know you is to love you.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-new-generation-of-filipino-hip-hop-builds-on-a-deep-bay-area-legacy",
"title": "A New Generation of Filipino Hip-Hop Builds On a Deep Bay Area Legacy",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guapdad 4000 isn’t your prototypical rapper. For starters, the West Oakland artist is part of the Marvel Universe’s \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> soundtrack, something he’s proud about as a comic head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m a huge Marvel fan and it was the first Asian American movie. I knew they was finna go crazy,” he says. “I was juiced. Especially to champion my Filipino side as a part of that. And it takes place in the Bay? Not even Thanos could snap me out of that.” [aside postid='arts_13902470']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you don’t know Guap, he’s an essential player in the Bay Area’s latest wave of Filipino American artists who’ve taken over the scene with their eclectically unparalleled vibrancy. You can’t talk about Bay Area music in 2021 without mentioning him or the “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SeZHOqSsZA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">same squad, same squad\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” of Fil Ams from here, including H.E.R, Ruby Ibarra, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924828/rocky-rivera-ruckus-magazine-hyphy-movement-hip-hop\">Rocky Rivera\u003c/a>, P-Lo, Kuya Beats and Saweetie, to name a a few. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saweetie has \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9446648/saweetie-tap-in-top-10-rb-hip-hop-songs-chart\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two chart-topping singles\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and a McDonald’s meal with her name on it. P-Lo \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13899945/how-the-bay-area-reshaped-a-classic-soundtrack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">produced “About That Time,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the most-streamed song from this summer’s \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Space Jam: A New Legacy\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> soundtrack, featuring verses from NBA All Star Damian Lillard, G-Eazy and White Dave. H.E.R won four Grammys and launched the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13903394/photos-h-e-r-erykah-badu-and-other-rb-stars-shine-at-lights-on-festival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lights On Festival\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with nearly 6 million followers on Instagram. Rivera added “author” to her resume with the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894648/rapper-and-activist-rocky-rivera-embraces-growth-in-her-first-book-snakeskin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">publication of her debut book\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Ibarra is literally \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13887169/whats-on-your-ballot-ruby-ibarra-rapper-and-scientist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a scientist\u003c/a> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/community/asian-pacific-america/scientist-and-rapper-ruby-ibarra-on-asian-pacific-america/2580781/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">co-founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship Program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And that’s just in the past few months.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This list doesn’t even include the unquantifiable amount of genuine community work, activism and representation each artist has provided throughout Northern California and beyond over their careers and lifetimes. It also doesn’t even touch on the OG Pinoys and Pinays who certainly paved the path for this ascendance to happen.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903463\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903463\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">H.E.R. performs at Lights On Festival at Concord Pavilion on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A-Side: Chicken Adobo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My mother’s side is Filipino. My grandma is a short, 5’3” lady from Zambales in the Philippines. My grandfather is Black and was a merchant marine out there on a military base. They met and decided to move to Oakland and that’s how my roots started in the Bay,” Guap says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a relatable truth for many Bay Area locals, who’ve grown up here with mixed backgrounds and a fluid sense of self across the generations. Alongside his Fil Am peers, Guap is voicing his multi-ethnic experience in an idiosyncratic, hyphy-melodic way, narrating where he’s from and his journey navigating the world as a Black Pinoy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/1DaovaJgytE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With his popular single “Chicken Adobo” (a love song inspired by his lola’s cooking) and his feature on Thundercat’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/T2bcUZj6LAc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dragonball Durag\u003c/a>” (a tribute to the classic anime), Guap is constantly dropping hints about his Asian American upbringing and identity—though, most people admittedly don’t perceive him as Filipino upon initially seeing him.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My direct portion is one-fourth Filipino,” he says. “I don’t use that mindstate though. I’m equal Black and Filipino. My lola raised me in a biracial household, cooking and speaking both languages. I went to an all-Filipino church for 15 years. I was immersed in the culture. Hella [stuff] in my upbringing comes straight from my Filipino side.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guap’s style and albums are reflective of his modern Filipino upbringing in the Bay Area—which is to say, it’s not singularly limited. It’s multidimensional and authentic, an unapologetic fusion. And it’s helping to put Filipino Americans back on the map. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s not alone. He just happens to be one \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQuajCfNBA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alpha\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in this group of trendsetters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13867199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13867199\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Saweetie performs at Rolling Loud 2018 in Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saweetie performs at Rolling Loud 2018 in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you look at every pillar in hip-hop that exists, all of ’em, it’s gonna be at least one Filipino in there that’s a legend,” Guapdad says. “Chad Hugo [from The Neptunes]. H.E.R. Qbert. Jabbawockeez. Over the years Filipinos have found ways to integrate themselves seamlessly. It’s global but it’s also bringing that back to a local scale.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, they got roots.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>B-Side: Origins and Migrations\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With over 310,000 Filipino residents, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.asianjournal.com/usa/dateline-usa/pew-research-over-4-2m-filipino-americans-in-the-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the San Francisco Bay Area boasts the second-largest population of the diaspora in the United States\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Per capita, it’s among the most densely populated Filipino areas outside of the Philippines. It’s no surprise then that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21172993/filipino-neighborhood-san-francisco-destroyed-i-hotel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">there was once a Manilatown in San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which blossomed from the 1920s through the 1970s until it was systematically dismantled and cannibalized as part of the “Manhattanization” of downtown’s Financial District. Starting in the 1950s, low-income Filipinos were evicted to make room for “a Wall Street of the West.” The story is just one chapter of the ongoing battle to maintain affordable housing in one of the world’s most expensive cities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/tcsdglJFT0M\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, Filipinos have thrived along the Bay Area’s shorelines, allowing for many artists, activists and changemakers to emerge and collaboratively grow here—especially through the rebellion of hip-hop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We were raised by brown immigrants in America, but immigrants who were educated in American colonial systems,” says \u003ca href=\"https://barbarajanereyes.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barbara Jane Reyes\u003c/a>, a Manila-born poet and professor at the University of San Francisco. “Our parents’ aesthetic preferences were rooted in colonial whiteness. So seeing brown kids having a good time while listening to what we were told was the music of Black people seemed scary to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By adopting hip-hop as a form of self expression, many Filipinos during the 1980s were able to create a sense of selfhood that might’ve otherwise felt trampled on or neglected by previous generations and institutional ideologies. [aside postid='arts_13812554']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But how exactly did so many Filipinos like Reyes, who grew up in the East Bay, and her family end up migrating to the San Francisco Bay Area—where they’ve been able to directly participate in hip-hop’s growth—to begin with? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story spans centuries, but Reyes tells me there was a turning point in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/us-immigration-since-1965\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Immigration and Nationality Act\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In an effort to attract skilled labor, the law abolished discriminatory quotas that once prevented Asians and Pacific Islanders from entering the country after World War II. The decision might’ve been the most influential factor in allowing Filipino families to spread across California, forever changing the demographics of coastal North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We had migrant laborers who came to the territory of Hawai’i in 1905. Then laborers who came to the continental West Coast in the ’20s and ’30s,” says Professor Reyes. “Then World War II happened and there’s another wave of migration with [Filipino] Americans who enlist in the military, go to the Philippines to fight, and come back with war brides to the States and raise their families here. It wasn’t until ’65 til that all opened up more. And we’ve been here ever since.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Importantly, the 1965 Act was largely a result of monumental liberation efforts made during the Civil Rights, Chicano and United Farmworkers Movements. That unity among multi-ethnic, working-class communities foreshadowed an allyship that would eventually coalesce organically into hip-hop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It wasn’t about popular entertainment but had something to do with making cultural and political statements,” says Reyes. “Listening to hip-hop, I realized something else was happening that made me have to look at my parents’ colonial education and love for whiteness. Going to rap was part of that exploration of asking, ‘Why do you love whiteness so much and why is Blackness so scary to you?’ How do we find kinship in those communities?” [aside postid=\"arts_13895462']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the late 1980s, Filipinos had fully integrated themselves into Bay Area shipyards and city centers as military personnel and blue-collar workers. They also moved into suburbs and middle-class areas with access to college and professional careers in health, education and other fields. Their proliferation led to more intersectional involvement in Americanized cultures, such as\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.undiscoveredsf.com/blog/2019/7/13/a-look-back-at-filipino-american-rampb-music-of-the-1990s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> freestyle and R&B of the ’90s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With a visible community already established, and clearly growing, conditions led to the formation of tightly-connected enclaves in places like Fremont, Vallejo and, most famously, Daly City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>C-Side: Spinning Records, Breaking Barriers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipinos have always been present in Bay Area hip-hop. Ever since the artform emerged as a vehicle for social justice and cultural empowerment, they’ve been among the most active participants in DJing, breakdancing, graffiti and MCing—from Daly City to Vallejo and back down to San Jose. Like many diverse immigrant diasporas who serendipitously arrive in the Golden State, Fil Ams have been a true staple in our neighborhoods, and their role in hip-hop is a reflection of that shared, liberating transcendence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My aunt, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hopclear.com/filipino-amerian-mom-goes-viral-for-being-an-awesome-dj/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">DJ Lady Ames\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, was one of the first Pinay DJs to come out of San Francisco. She went to Balboa High \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbnDXp4lYuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">during the ’80s while the mobile DJing scene was happening\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and she started a crew with her friends,” says Delrokz.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13905237\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13905237\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz.jpg 512w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Delrokz in his Hayward record shop, The Stacks. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is a DJ and b-boy who has lived all over the “Yay Area,” but is currently posted up in downtown Hayward, where he owns his new record shop, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestacksrecordshop.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Stacks\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To be Filipina and have a whole crew of DJs, that was revolutionary at its time in the early ’80s,” he says. “They were an all Pinay group, The GoGos. There really weren’t that many women DJs getting attention back then. But I grew up around her and my uncles and that whole culture. It’s part of who I am.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the founder and organizer of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breakthebay/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Break the Bay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an annual five-on-five breakdance competition that spins on principles of community, fun and “healthy competition.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s yet another manifestation of how the Filipino homies have not only been a part of the culture, but have pioneered spaces for others to be a part of the culture, too—regardless of gender or age.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del emphasizes that he is a second-generation Fil Am, whose mom immigrated from the islands at a very early age, and whose dad was born here. It’s an important detail to distinguish.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My parents listened to hip-hop,” he explains. “I had a different experience than someone who’s parents immigrated here directly. Hip-hop culture is so deep within the Filipino Bay Area because it’s been passed for so long. We also just have a lot of parties, so having good DJs makes a lot of sense for us.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://vimeo.com/239151243\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To say Bay Area Filipinos have become good DJs is an understatement. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Widely credited as the most innovative turntablists in modern hip-hop history, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz symbolize everything that Bay Area Filipinos have meant to the world of DJing. Their members—DJ QBert, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Apollo, Shortkut and D-Styles, to name some—have been dominant in global competitions such as the International Turntablist Federation battles since the ’80s. At one point, they received so many awards that other crews didn’t even show up to compete. By the late 90s, their members were frequently asked to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.mtv.com/news/tmaa3x/infamous-scratches-out-victory-in-us-dj-competition\">judges for the nation’s best DJ competitions\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.factmag.com/2016/09/08/invisibl-skratch-piklz-the-13th-floor/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Underground hip-hip historian Laurent Fintoni\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—the author of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bedroom Beats & B-Sides: Instrumental Hip-Hop and Electronic Music at the Turn of the Century\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—lauded the Piklz as the original group who “invented the concept of a DJ band, elevated the turntablist art form to new technical and creative heights and helped drive technological innovation.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Connecting five turntables to scratch, mix and fade all at once, live on stage? Yup. These Filipino DJs are known for popularizing that. Their craft went on to birth future groups in the genre of turntablism, such as The X-Ecutioners from New York City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Between the Piklz, DJ Lady Ames, Delrokz and so many other Filipino Americans from this time and place, DJing went from inside the garages of Daly City’s battling crews to a globally revolutionized way of life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10345320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10345320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ QBert. \u003ccite>(Thud Rumble)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>D-Side: Underground Legends\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’ve ever noticed “TDK” tagged on any Bay Area surface, then you’ve likely seen the work of Vogue and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13863999/dream-day-2019-celebrating-mike-dream-franciscos-50th-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the late Mike Dream Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They are—in the opinion of every Bay Area graffiti artist I know—two of the most iconic dudes to ever wield cans of aerosol. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’re Filipinos. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here are a few more Pinoy names you may or may not have heard about who have helped to shape, or are currently shaping, Bay Area culture: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reyresurreccion/?hl=en\">Rey Resurrection\u003c/a>, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10445851/from-gangs-to-glory-bambus-political-hip-hop-for-the-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bambu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Celskiii, Deeandroid, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dj_bitesize/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">DJ Bitesize\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dothebay.com/artists/knuckle-neck-tribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Knuckle Neck Tribe\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And who can forget one of the most influential sound architects of the entire hyphy movement?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dustin “Nump” Perfetto is a 707 product who has been inside studios with everyone’s favorite musicians, from E-40 to Green Day. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924042/nump-hyphy-i-gott-grapes-interview\">He operated as the recording engineer\u003c/a> on countless albums from that glorious era in Bay Area music history, including \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rick Rock Presents Federation: The Album\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which features the timeless anthem, “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/oe7ohnlZhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hyphy\u003c/a>.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Filipinos play a major part behind the scenes but it hasn’t always been as popular for us to be mainstream,” Perfetto says. “I won’t stop ’til we get that respect.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13887463\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13887463\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_.jpg\" alt=\"Ruby Ibarra in an East Bay park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruby Ibarra. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By promoting his pride in launching his own clothing line, Gorillapino, and collaborating with former and current Fil Am artists (including Ruby Ibarra on her incisive 2017 album, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pinoyhiphopsuperstar.com/ruby-ibarra-circa-91-album-review/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CIRCA91\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which includes extensive verses in Tagalog) Perfetto personifies the undying grit and collective strength of the Fil Am hip hop community that has always been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccm73eJo2_U\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Going Off”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“\u003ca href=\"https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/the-story-of-lapu-lapu-the-legendary-filipino-hero/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lapulapu\u003c/a> is the original Filipino warrior who cut off Magellan’s head when they tried to conquer us,” Perfetto says. “That’s the energy I move with. That’s who we are.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Translation: Filipinos stand united for anything they believe in. And local history underscores how they’ve always utilized the powers of music and community for good.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/xOrYbSM1ArI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfetto and the rest of these artists making waves out here can definitely wreck microphones, but they can just as easily build across communities to reach audiences of any background. More than anything, they represent how the Bay is a soil of innovation and solidarity—how we’re all building towards communal celebration.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have a lot of similarities with other cultures,” Guapdad reminds me. “It’s just something we need to celebrate more.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Guapdad, Saweetie and some of today's best-known Bay Area artists rep their Filipino heritage, continuing a tradition going back to the '80s.",
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"title": "A New Generation of Filipino Hip-Hop Builds On a Deep Bay Area Legacy | KQED",
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"headline": "A New Generation of Filipino Hip-Hop Builds On a Deep Bay Area Legacy",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guapdad 4000 isn’t your prototypical rapper. For starters, the West Oakland artist is part of the Marvel Universe’s \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> soundtrack, something he’s proud about as a comic head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m a huge Marvel fan and it was the first Asian American movie. I knew they was finna go crazy,” he says. “I was juiced. Especially to champion my Filipino side as a part of that. And it takes place in the Bay? Not even Thanos could snap me out of that.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you don’t know Guap, he’s an essential player in the Bay Area’s latest wave of Filipino American artists who’ve taken over the scene with their eclectically unparalleled vibrancy. You can’t talk about Bay Area music in 2021 without mentioning him or the “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SeZHOqSsZA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">same squad, same squad\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” of Fil Ams from here, including H.E.R, Ruby Ibarra, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924828/rocky-rivera-ruckus-magazine-hyphy-movement-hip-hop\">Rocky Rivera\u003c/a>, P-Lo, Kuya Beats and Saweetie, to name a a few. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saweetie has \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9446648/saweetie-tap-in-top-10-rb-hip-hop-songs-chart\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two chart-topping singles\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and a McDonald’s meal with her name on it. P-Lo \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13899945/how-the-bay-area-reshaped-a-classic-soundtrack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">produced “About That Time,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the most-streamed song from this summer’s \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Space Jam: A New Legacy\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> soundtrack, featuring verses from NBA All Star Damian Lillard, G-Eazy and White Dave. H.E.R won four Grammys and launched the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13903394/photos-h-e-r-erykah-badu-and-other-rb-stars-shine-at-lights-on-festival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lights On Festival\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with nearly 6 million followers on Instagram. Rivera added “author” to her resume with the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894648/rapper-and-activist-rocky-rivera-embraces-growth-in-her-first-book-snakeskin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">publication of her debut book\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Ibarra is literally \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13887169/whats-on-your-ballot-ruby-ibarra-rapper-and-scientist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a scientist\u003c/a> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/community/asian-pacific-america/scientist-and-rapper-ruby-ibarra-on-asian-pacific-america/2580781/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">co-founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship Program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And that’s just in the past few months.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This list doesn’t even include the unquantifiable amount of genuine community work, activism and representation each artist has provided throughout Northern California and beyond over their careers and lifetimes. It also doesn’t even touch on the OG Pinoys and Pinays who certainly paved the path for this ascendance to happen.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903463\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903463\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/D7A5910-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">H.E.R. performs at Lights On Festival at Concord Pavilion on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A-Side: Chicken Adobo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My mother’s side is Filipino. My grandma is a short, 5’3” lady from Zambales in the Philippines. My grandfather is Black and was a merchant marine out there on a military base. They met and decided to move to Oakland and that’s how my roots started in the Bay,” Guap says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a relatable truth for many Bay Area locals, who’ve grown up here with mixed backgrounds and a fluid sense of self across the generations. Alongside his Fil Am peers, Guap is voicing his multi-ethnic experience in an idiosyncratic, hyphy-melodic way, narrating where he’s from and his journey navigating the world as a Black Pinoy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/1DaovaJgytE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/1DaovaJgytE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With his popular single “Chicken Adobo” (a love song inspired by his lola’s cooking) and his feature on Thundercat’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/T2bcUZj6LAc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dragonball Durag\u003c/a>” (a tribute to the classic anime), Guap is constantly dropping hints about his Asian American upbringing and identity—though, most people admittedly don’t perceive him as Filipino upon initially seeing him.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My direct portion is one-fourth Filipino,” he says. “I don’t use that mindstate though. I’m equal Black and Filipino. My lola raised me in a biracial household, cooking and speaking both languages. I went to an all-Filipino church for 15 years. I was immersed in the culture. Hella [stuff] in my upbringing comes straight from my Filipino side.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guap’s style and albums are reflective of his modern Filipino upbringing in the Bay Area—which is to say, it’s not singularly limited. It’s multidimensional and authentic, an unapologetic fusion. And it’s helping to put Filipino Americans back on the map. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s not alone. He just happens to be one \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQuajCfNBA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alpha\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in this group of trendsetters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13867199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13867199\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Saweetie performs at Rolling Loud 2018 in Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/Saweetie-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saweetie performs at Rolling Loud 2018 in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you look at every pillar in hip-hop that exists, all of ’em, it’s gonna be at least one Filipino in there that’s a legend,” Guapdad says. “Chad Hugo [from The Neptunes]. H.E.R. Qbert. Jabbawockeez. Over the years Filipinos have found ways to integrate themselves seamlessly. It’s global but it’s also bringing that back to a local scale.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, they got roots.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>B-Side: Origins and Migrations\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With over 310,000 Filipino residents, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.asianjournal.com/usa/dateline-usa/pew-research-over-4-2m-filipino-americans-in-the-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the San Francisco Bay Area boasts the second-largest population of the diaspora in the United States\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Per capita, it’s among the most densely populated Filipino areas outside of the Philippines. It’s no surprise then that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21172993/filipino-neighborhood-san-francisco-destroyed-i-hotel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">there was once a Manilatown in San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which blossomed from the 1920s through the 1970s until it was systematically dismantled and cannibalized as part of the “Manhattanization” of downtown’s Financial District. Starting in the 1950s, low-income Filipinos were evicted to make room for “a Wall Street of the West.” The story is just one chapter of the ongoing battle to maintain affordable housing in one of the world’s most expensive cities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/tcsdglJFT0M'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/tcsdglJFT0M'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, Filipinos have thrived along the Bay Area’s shorelines, allowing for many artists, activists and changemakers to emerge and collaboratively grow here—especially through the rebellion of hip-hop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We were raised by brown immigrants in America, but immigrants who were educated in American colonial systems,” says \u003ca href=\"https://barbarajanereyes.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barbara Jane Reyes\u003c/a>, a Manila-born poet and professor at the University of San Francisco. “Our parents’ aesthetic preferences were rooted in colonial whiteness. So seeing brown kids having a good time while listening to what we were told was the music of Black people seemed scary to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By adopting hip-hop as a form of self expression, many Filipinos during the 1980s were able to create a sense of selfhood that might’ve otherwise felt trampled on or neglected by previous generations and institutional ideologies. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But how exactly did so many Filipinos like Reyes, who grew up in the East Bay, and her family end up migrating to the San Francisco Bay Area—where they’ve been able to directly participate in hip-hop’s growth—to begin with? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story spans centuries, but Reyes tells me there was a turning point in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/us-immigration-since-1965\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Immigration and Nationality Act\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In an effort to attract skilled labor, the law abolished discriminatory quotas that once prevented Asians and Pacific Islanders from entering the country after World War II. The decision might’ve been the most influential factor in allowing Filipino families to spread across California, forever changing the demographics of coastal North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We had migrant laborers who came to the territory of Hawai’i in 1905. Then laborers who came to the continental West Coast in the ’20s and ’30s,” says Professor Reyes. “Then World War II happened and there’s another wave of migration with [Filipino] Americans who enlist in the military, go to the Philippines to fight, and come back with war brides to the States and raise their families here. It wasn’t until ’65 til that all opened up more. And we’ve been here ever since.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Importantly, the 1965 Act was largely a result of monumental liberation efforts made during the Civil Rights, Chicano and United Farmworkers Movements. That unity among multi-ethnic, working-class communities foreshadowed an allyship that would eventually coalesce organically into hip-hop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It wasn’t about popular entertainment but had something to do with making cultural and political statements,” says Reyes. “Listening to hip-hop, I realized something else was happening that made me have to look at my parents’ colonial education and love for whiteness. Going to rap was part of that exploration of asking, ‘Why do you love whiteness so much and why is Blackness so scary to you?’ How do we find kinship in those communities?” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the late 1980s, Filipinos had fully integrated themselves into Bay Area shipyards and city centers as military personnel and blue-collar workers. They also moved into suburbs and middle-class areas with access to college and professional careers in health, education and other fields. Their proliferation led to more intersectional involvement in Americanized cultures, such as\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.undiscoveredsf.com/blog/2019/7/13/a-look-back-at-filipino-american-rampb-music-of-the-1990s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> freestyle and R&B of the ’90s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With a visible community already established, and clearly growing, conditions led to the formation of tightly-connected enclaves in places like Fremont, Vallejo and, most famously, Daly City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>C-Side: Spinning Records, Breaking Barriers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipinos have always been present in Bay Area hip-hop. Ever since the artform emerged as a vehicle for social justice and cultural empowerment, they’ve been among the most active participants in DJing, breakdancing, graffiti and MCing—from Daly City to Vallejo and back down to San Jose. Like many diverse immigrant diasporas who serendipitously arrive in the Golden State, Fil Ams have been a true staple in our neighborhoods, and their role in hip-hop is a reflection of that shared, liberating transcendence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My aunt, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hopclear.com/filipino-amerian-mom-goes-viral-for-being-an-awesome-dj/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">DJ Lady Ames\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, was one of the first Pinay DJs to come out of San Francisco. She went to Balboa High \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbnDXp4lYuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">during the ’80s while the mobile DJing scene was happening\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and she started a crew with her friends,” says Delrokz.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13905237\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13905237\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz.jpg 512w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/delrokz-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Delrokz in his Hayward record shop, The Stacks. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is a DJ and b-boy who has lived all over the “Yay Area,” but is currently posted up in downtown Hayward, where he owns his new record shop, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestacksrecordshop.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Stacks\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To be Filipina and have a whole crew of DJs, that was revolutionary at its time in the early ’80s,” he says. “They were an all Pinay group, The GoGos. There really weren’t that many women DJs getting attention back then. But I grew up around her and my uncles and that whole culture. It’s part of who I am.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the founder and organizer of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breakthebay/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Break the Bay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an annual five-on-five breakdance competition that spins on principles of community, fun and “healthy competition.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s yet another manifestation of how the Filipino homies have not only been a part of the culture, but have pioneered spaces for others to be a part of the culture, too—regardless of gender or age.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del emphasizes that he is a second-generation Fil Am, whose mom immigrated from the islands at a very early age, and whose dad was born here. It’s an important detail to distinguish.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My parents listened to hip-hop,” he explains. “I had a different experience than someone who’s parents immigrated here directly. Hip-hop culture is so deep within the Filipino Bay Area because it’s been passed for so long. We also just have a lot of parties, so having good DJs makes a lot of sense for us.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To say Bay Area Filipinos have become good DJs is an understatement. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Widely credited as the most innovative turntablists in modern hip-hop history, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz symbolize everything that Bay Area Filipinos have meant to the world of DJing. Their members—DJ QBert, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Apollo, Shortkut and D-Styles, to name some—have been dominant in global competitions such as the International Turntablist Federation battles since the ’80s. At one point, they received so many awards that other crews didn’t even show up to compete. By the late 90s, their members were frequently asked to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.mtv.com/news/tmaa3x/infamous-scratches-out-victory-in-us-dj-competition\">judges for the nation’s best DJ competitions\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.factmag.com/2016/09/08/invisibl-skratch-piklz-the-13th-floor/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Underground hip-hip historian Laurent Fintoni\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—the author of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bedroom Beats & B-Sides: Instrumental Hip-Hop and Electronic Music at the Turn of the Century\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—lauded the Piklz as the original group who “invented the concept of a DJ band, elevated the turntablist art form to new technical and creative heights and helped drive technological innovation.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Connecting five turntables to scratch, mix and fade all at once, live on stage? Yup. These Filipino DJs are known for popularizing that. Their craft went on to birth future groups in the genre of turntablism, such as The X-Ecutioners from New York City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Between the Piklz, DJ Lady Ames, Delrokz and so many other Filipino Americans from this time and place, DJing went from inside the garages of Daly City’s battling crews to a globally revolutionized way of life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10345320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10345320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/QBertMain-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ QBert. \u003ccite>(Thud Rumble)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>D-Side: Underground Legends\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’ve ever noticed “TDK” tagged on any Bay Area surface, then you’ve likely seen the work of Vogue and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13863999/dream-day-2019-celebrating-mike-dream-franciscos-50th-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the late Mike Dream Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They are—in the opinion of every Bay Area graffiti artist I know—two of the most iconic dudes to ever wield cans of aerosol. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’re Filipinos. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here are a few more Pinoy names you may or may not have heard about who have helped to shape, or are currently shaping, Bay Area culture: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reyresurreccion/?hl=en\">Rey Resurrection\u003c/a>, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10445851/from-gangs-to-glory-bambus-political-hip-hop-for-the-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bambu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Celskiii, Deeandroid, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dj_bitesize/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">DJ Bitesize\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dothebay.com/artists/knuckle-neck-tribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Knuckle Neck Tribe\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And who can forget one of the most influential sound architects of the entire hyphy movement?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dustin “Nump” Perfetto is a 707 product who has been inside studios with everyone’s favorite musicians, from E-40 to Green Day. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924042/nump-hyphy-i-gott-grapes-interview\">He operated as the recording engineer\u003c/a> on countless albums from that glorious era in Bay Area music history, including \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rick Rock Presents Federation: The Album\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which features the timeless anthem, “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/oe7ohnlZhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hyphy\u003c/a>.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Filipinos play a major part behind the scenes but it hasn’t always been as popular for us to be mainstream,” Perfetto says. “I won’t stop ’til we get that respect.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13887463\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13887463\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_.jpg\" alt=\"Ruby Ibarra in an East Bay park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/RubyIbarra.MAIN_-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruby Ibarra. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By promoting his pride in launching his own clothing line, Gorillapino, and collaborating with former and current Fil Am artists (including Ruby Ibarra on her incisive 2017 album, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pinoyhiphopsuperstar.com/ruby-ibarra-circa-91-album-review/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CIRCA91\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which includes extensive verses in Tagalog) Perfetto personifies the undying grit and collective strength of the Fil Am hip hop community that has always been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccm73eJo2_U\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Going Off”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“\u003ca href=\"https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/the-story-of-lapu-lapu-the-legendary-filipino-hero/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lapulapu\u003c/a> is the original Filipino warrior who cut off Magellan’s head when they tried to conquer us,” Perfetto says. “That’s the energy I move with. That’s who we are.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Translation: Filipinos stand united for anything they believe in. And local history underscores how they’ve always utilized the powers of music and community for good.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/xOrYbSM1ArI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/xOrYbSM1ArI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfetto and the rest of these artists making waves out here can definitely wreck microphones, but they can just as easily build across communities to reach audiences of any background. More than anything, they represent how the Bay is a soil of innovation and solidarity—how we’re all building towards communal celebration.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have a lot of similarities with other cultures,” Guapdad reminds me. “It’s just something we need to celebrate more.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'The Last Duel' is a 'Rashomon'-Style #MeToo Story—and a Messy Medieval Epic",
"headTitle": "‘The Last Duel’ is a ‘Rashomon’-Style #MeToo Story—and a Messy Medieval Epic | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>The Last Duel \u003c/em>is a sprawling, often ungainly movie—a talky, three-part \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqoyl2p8_lw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Rashomon\u003c/em>\u003c/a>-style drama that mixes past and present-day politics—but there’s a bracing intelligence to its messiness. It opens the way a lot of Ridley Scott period epics do, on a gloomy day with two sides preparing for battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13894842']We’re in Paris in the year 1386, and the combatants are the dashing squire Jacques Le Gris—that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2015/08/26/434868775/former-marine-adam-driver-on-what-acting-and-the-military-have-in-common\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Driver\u003c/a>—and the sullen knight Sir Jean de Carrouges—that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/96702/even-when-matt-damon-is-apologizing-he-gets-it-wrong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Damon\u003c/a>. Jean’s wife, Marguerite, played by Jodie Comer, watches anxiously from her seat. Just as the two men are about to clash lances, the movie cuts away and rewinds several years to show what brought these three characters to this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot more rewinding to come. \u003cem>The Last Duel\u003c/em> is based on a true story that it tells no fewer than three times, each time from a different character’s perspective. The script, adapted from Eric Jager’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4245183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nonfiction book\u003c/a>, emerged from a unique collaboration among three writers. Damon and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/10/04/352772313/affleck-gone-girl-was-freeing-and-batman-will-be-no-daredevil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Affleck\u003c/a> wrote the first two chapters focusing on the men, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/696961097/oscar-nominated-filmmaker-nicole-holofcener\">Nicole Holofcener\u003c/a> wrote the third chapter centering on Marguerite. It’s an ingenious approach to what plays like a medieval #MeToo story, tackling the dynamics of power, class and gender in an era when women were regarded as little more than male property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgygUwPJvYk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening chapter focuses on Carrouges, played by Damon with a righteous scowl and a mullet so hideous it almost immediately turns you against him. Carrouges is a brave warrior from a long line of brave warriors, but also a proud, petty man with a chip on his shoulder. We first see him and Le Gris in 1370, fighting valiantly against the English and becoming close friends. But Carrouges begins to feel resentful when their superior—Count Pierre d’Alençon, a saucy libertine played hilariously by Affleck—takes Le Gris under his wing. The count even gives Le Gris a coveted piece of land that was originally intended for Carrouges as part of his wife Marguerite’s dowry, leading to years of legal struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then one evening, Marguerite comes forward and tells her husband that while he was away, Le Gris came to their castle in Normandy and raped her. Carrouges takes the accusation public, setting in motion a duel between himself and Le Gris, which would become the last trial by combat officially recognized in France.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, the first chapter ends and the movie returns to the beginning, this time replaying events from Le Gris’ perspective. As one of the count’s closest allies, Le Gris has come to enjoy a life of privilege and debauchery, and Driver basically plays him as God’s gift to women. That stokes his tensions with Carrouges, who eventually is made a knight and demands that Le Gris show him respect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around this time, Le Gris falls madly in love with Marguerite and becomes certain that she reciprocates his feelings. That brings us to their fateful encounter, in which Le Gris convinces himself that Marguerite’s protests are merely the signs of a guilty conscience. But even though the movie is showing us his version of events, it rejects his delusion completely: What we see is unmistakably a sexual assault, in which Marguerite repeatedly says no and tries to push him away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13903966']The third chapter, which unfolds from Marguerite’s perspective, revisits the rape scene, and for some viewers—fair warning—it may seem like one grueling replay too many, especially since Marguerite’s trauma is now even more apparent. But this is also the chapter in which the moral arc of the story snaps into focus. After so much boorish male behavior, fully embodied by Damon and Driver, the fierce intelligence and humanity of Comer’s performance is like a balm. Marguerite emerges as by far the most honest and clear-eyed of the movie’s three leads, heroic in her refusal to stay silent about what she endured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Near the end of the film, Marguerite finds herself on trial, forced to defend her rape allegation in a court full of men trying to discredit her. The sequence plays like dark satire, suggesting how much has changed and also how much hasn’t. And then there’s the duel, which feels almost subversively anticlimactic: It delivers all the gory virtuosity you’d expect from Ridley Scott, but something about it rings deliberately hollow. It hardly matters which man wins, the movie seems to be saying, in a world where women are destined to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27The+Last+Duel%27+is+a+%27Rashomon%27-style+%23MeToo+story+%E2%80%94+and+a+messy+medieval+epic&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>We’re in Paris in the year 1386, and the combatants are the dashing squire Jacques Le Gris—that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2015/08/26/434868775/former-marine-adam-driver-on-what-acting-and-the-military-have-in-common\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Driver\u003c/a>—and the sullen knight Sir Jean de Carrouges—that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/96702/even-when-matt-damon-is-apologizing-he-gets-it-wrong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Damon\u003c/a>. Jean’s wife, Marguerite, played by Jodie Comer, watches anxiously from her seat. Just as the two men are about to clash lances, the movie cuts away and rewinds several years to show what brought these three characters to this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot more rewinding to come. \u003cem>The Last Duel\u003c/em> is based on a true story that it tells no fewer than three times, each time from a different character’s perspective. The script, adapted from Eric Jager’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4245183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nonfiction book\u003c/a>, emerged from a unique collaboration among three writers. Damon and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/10/04/352772313/affleck-gone-girl-was-freeing-and-batman-will-be-no-daredevil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Affleck\u003c/a> wrote the first two chapters focusing on the men, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/696961097/oscar-nominated-filmmaker-nicole-holofcener\">Nicole Holofcener\u003c/a> wrote the third chapter centering on Marguerite. It’s an ingenious approach to what plays like a medieval #MeToo story, tackling the dynamics of power, class and gender in an era when women were regarded as little more than male property.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/mgygUwPJvYk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/mgygUwPJvYk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The opening chapter focuses on Carrouges, played by Damon with a righteous scowl and a mullet so hideous it almost immediately turns you against him. Carrouges is a brave warrior from a long line of brave warriors, but also a proud, petty man with a chip on his shoulder. We first see him and Le Gris in 1370, fighting valiantly against the English and becoming close friends. But Carrouges begins to feel resentful when their superior—Count Pierre d’Alençon, a saucy libertine played hilariously by Affleck—takes Le Gris under his wing. The count even gives Le Gris a coveted piece of land that was originally intended for Carrouges as part of his wife Marguerite’s dowry, leading to years of legal struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then one evening, Marguerite comes forward and tells her husband that while he was away, Le Gris came to their castle in Normandy and raped her. Carrouges takes the accusation public, setting in motion a duel between himself and Le Gris, which would become the last trial by combat officially recognized in France.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, the first chapter ends and the movie returns to the beginning, this time replaying events from Le Gris’ perspective. As one of the count’s closest allies, Le Gris has come to enjoy a life of privilege and debauchery, and Driver basically plays him as God’s gift to women. That stokes his tensions with Carrouges, who eventually is made a knight and demands that Le Gris show him respect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around this time, Le Gris falls madly in love with Marguerite and becomes certain that she reciprocates his feelings. That brings us to their fateful encounter, in which Le Gris convinces himself that Marguerite’s protests are merely the signs of a guilty conscience. But even though the movie is showing us his version of events, it rejects his delusion completely: What we see is unmistakably a sexual assault, in which Marguerite repeatedly says no and tries to push him away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The third chapter, which unfolds from Marguerite’s perspective, revisits the rape scene, and for some viewers—fair warning—it may seem like one grueling replay too many, especially since Marguerite’s trauma is now even more apparent. But this is also the chapter in which the moral arc of the story snaps into focus. After so much boorish male behavior, fully embodied by Damon and Driver, the fierce intelligence and humanity of Comer’s performance is like a balm. Marguerite emerges as by far the most honest and clear-eyed of the movie’s three leads, heroic in her refusal to stay silent about what she endured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Near the end of the film, Marguerite finds herself on trial, forced to defend her rape allegation in a court full of men trying to discredit her. The sequence plays like dark satire, suggesting how much has changed and also how much hasn’t. And then there’s the duel, which feels almost subversively anticlimactic: It delivers all the gory virtuosity you’d expect from Ridley Scott, but something about it rings deliberately hollow. It hardly matters which man wins, the movie seems to be saying, in a world where women are destined to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27The+Last+Duel%27+is+a+%27Rashomon%27-style+%23MeToo+story+%E2%80%94+and+a+messy+medieval+epic&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "40 Years Ago, San Francisco Lowriders Organized to Fight Police Harassment—and Won",
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"content": "\u003cp>Growing up in San Francisco’s Mission District, Roberto Hernandez loved zoot suits. He loved art, too. It was only a matter of time before he started lowriding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was in my DNA,” Hernandez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as he could, he bought his neighbor’s 1964 Chevy Impala and began to cruise “low and slow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez was drawn to the elaborate paintings on the hoods and trunks of other lowriders, which had lowered bodies that hovered just above the street, and the hydraulic systems that made them bounce a few feet off the ground. He remembers the “joy of being able to cruise with a couple other lowriders and then just have people whistle at you or wave at you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the late 1970s, as lowriding was rising in popularity among Latinos in Southern California, lowriders were also becoming the targets of police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-800x598.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-800x598.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-768x574.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c.jpg 1158w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Y. Hernandez, founder and president of the San Francisco Lowrider Council, stands at the entrance to an exhibit about the council at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Roberto Y. Hernandez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At one point it was bumper to bumper for 20 blocks. It was like a parade every Friday and Saturday night,” Hernandez said. “It was something that the police just weren’t able to manage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police issued citations, made arrests and even shut down Mission Street, the neighborhood’s main drag where the lowriders went to cruise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But enforcement of the local laws wasn’t always equal. The lowriders were mostly Latino, and Hernandez said that explains the ferocity of the police crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='news_11885160']“It was racial profiling at its worst, and it was discrimination,” he said. “Across the city, on the west side of the city, they had white kids racing for pink slips. And they never messed with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually Hernandez, who said he was arrested 113 times and beaten up by the police more than once, had had it. He and several other lowriders filed a lawsuit against then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and the police, alleging violations of their civil rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1981, Hernandez united a group of car clubs to form the San Francisco Lowrider Council, an advocacy organization that helped lowriders stand up to police brutality then — and which just marked its 40th year in operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How lowriding has evolved over the years\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The exact origin of lowriding is a matter of debate, but generally, it was a Chicano invention in and around Southern California after World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It begins in the Mexican-American southwestern experience of the United States, in the barrios,” said John Ulloa, a professor of history and anthropology at Skyline College and a lowrider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started as a blue-collar pastime. Gas was cheap, so lowriding was an inexpensive way to have fun with friends. It also united the Chicano communities in the Southwest and became a vehicle for local community organizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles examine the Gypsy Rose, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and one of the most famous lowriders in history, in this 2008 file photo.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles examine the Gypsy Rose, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and one of the most famous lowriders in history, in this 2008 file photo. \u003ccite>(Ric Francis/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For many years it was a Latino subculture, but lowriding grew in popularity in 1979 when the film \u003cem>Boulevard Nights \u003c/em>was released, plastering the low-slung cruisers across the silver screen. The movie brought renewed attention to lowriding, but it also reinforced a stereotype that lowriding was associated with gangs and crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_11670552']“You had a lot of cops who just didn’t like lowriders, and they exercised their authority to write any ticket or any violation or make up anything that they wanted,” Don Alonzo, vice president of Low Creations Car Club, said of the tensions between lowriders and police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But lowriding only continued to bounce higher in the public consciousness. Rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg cruised through music videos in lowriders to promote Dr. Dre’s 1992 hit album, \u003cem>The Chronic\u003c/em>. Ramone, a character in the Disney movie \u003cem>Cars\u003c/em>, is a lowrider. Just this year, there were lowriders in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-2350526/Video-Mister-Cartoon-stars-Super-Bowl-2021-Modelo-spot.html\">Model commercial\u003c/a> featuring the artist Mister Cartoon that aired during the Super Bowl, TV’s most coveted ad space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904554\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-800x521.jpg\" alt=\"Lowriders bounce as high as possible during a car hopping contest at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1996.\" width=\"800\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-800x521.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1020x665.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1536x1001.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-2048x1335.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1920x1251.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowriders bounce as high as possible during a car hopping contest at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1996. \u003ccite>(Stewart Cook/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was mapping for my forthcoming publication on the global diffusion of lowriding, the globalization of lowriding, [and] I started to map where lowriding is, and I think the more accurate map is … where it isn’t,” Ulloa said. “Where is lowriding now? It’s everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowriding has moved from a local custom to a worldwide phenomenon, from Japan to Germany to Brazil.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cruising was taboo—now it’s treasured\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The city settled the lawsuit filed by Hernandez and other lowriders several years after it was filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez said he refused the city’s offer of a monetary payout, and that the final settlement guaranteed the lowriders’ right to cruise, led to a park and a gym being built and saw several police officers leave the force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t about money,” Hernandez said. “It was about the whole discrimination and blatant selective racism and use of excessive force by the police department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904558\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904558\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-800x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-800x573.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-1020x731.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-160x115.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-768x550.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM.png 1228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Lowrider Council plaque on display at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. \u003ccite>(Roberto Y. Hernandez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Lowrider Council’s 40-year trajectory was just memorialized in \u003ca href=\"https://missionculturalcenter.org/event/40th-anniversary-san-francisco-lowrider-councill-exhibit/\">an exhibit\u003c/a> at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. San Francisco city officials even \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/09/18/san-francisco-celebrates-lowrider-rise/\">proclaimed\u003c/a> a recent Saturday as “Lowrider Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Alonzo, who is also a member of the council, lowriders are viewed much differently now than they were in decades past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got pulled over a couple times by some cops, and it wasn’t because I was riding dirty or anything like that or I had any violations or anything like that or my registration was invalid or anything like that,” Alonzo said. “They pulled me over because they wanted to see my hydraulic setup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13899992']Ulloa, who hosted a virtual \u003ca href=\"https://savethekidsgroup.org/jan-29-2021-1st-annual-international-lowrider-studies-conference/\">academic conference on lowrider culture\u003c/a> this year, said that growing popularity has come with a catch: the cost to participate in the once blue-collar hobby has jumped. “It’s redefining who can get in, where and under what circumstances people are quote unquote buying into the culture,” he said. “That is causing some dissonance from within the culture as well, because people are getting priced out of the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, the San Francisco Lowrider Council remains a diverse organization, Hernandez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were stereotyped by the media and by a lot of people as being drug dealers and gangbangers and whatnot,” said Hernandez, who is also a community organizer and \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/roberto-hernandez-mission-food-hub-district-sf-cana/11044799/\">launched \u003c/a>the Mission Food Hub during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of that stereotype went like, ‘Well, how could they afford these kinds of cars and put all that money into cars?'” he added. “Well, we work!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the council include university professors, teachers, lawyers, construction workers, dishwashers and a sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=40+years+ago%2C+San+Francisco+lowriders+organized+to+fight+police+harassment+%E2%80%94+and+won&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Growing up in San Francisco’s Mission District, Roberto Hernandez loved zoot suits. He loved art, too. It was only a matter of time before he started lowriding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was in my DNA,” Hernandez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as he could, he bought his neighbor’s 1964 Chevy Impala and began to cruise “low and slow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez was drawn to the elaborate paintings on the hoods and trunks of other lowriders, which had lowered bodies that hovered just above the street, and the hydraulic systems that made them bounce a few feet off the ground. He remembers the “joy of being able to cruise with a couple other lowriders and then just have people whistle at you or wave at you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the late 1970s, as lowriding was rising in popularity among Latinos in Southern California, lowriders were also becoming the targets of police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-800x598.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-800x598.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c-768x574.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/sflc-2_custom-75b5405a247ca2484e4cc0260762e95f785ab24c.jpg 1158w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Y. Hernandez, founder and president of the San Francisco Lowrider Council, stands at the entrance to an exhibit about the council at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Roberto Y. Hernandez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At one point it was bumper to bumper for 20 blocks. It was like a parade every Friday and Saturday night,” Hernandez said. “It was something that the police just weren’t able to manage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It was racial profiling at its worst, and it was discrimination,” he said. “Across the city, on the west side of the city, they had white kids racing for pink slips. And they never messed with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually Hernandez, who said he was arrested 113 times and beaten up by the police more than once, had had it. He and several other lowriders filed a lawsuit against then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and the police, alleging violations of their civil rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1981, Hernandez united a group of car clubs to form the San Francisco Lowrider Council, an advocacy organization that helped lowriders stand up to police brutality then — and which just marked its 40th year in operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How lowriding has evolved over the years\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The exact origin of lowriding is a matter of debate, but generally, it was a Chicano invention in and around Southern California after World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It begins in the Mexican-American southwestern experience of the United States, in the barrios,” said John Ulloa, a professor of history and anthropology at Skyline College and a lowrider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started as a blue-collar pastime. Gas was cheap, so lowriding was an inexpensive way to have fun with friends. It also united the Chicano communities in the Southwest and became a vehicle for local community organizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Visitors to the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles examine the Gypsy Rose, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and one of the most famous lowriders in history, in this 2008 file photo.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/ap080210181535_custom-1e6159db1f7d7ac8ac4affcae09c3eaac9270bdd-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visitors to the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles examine the Gypsy Rose, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and one of the most famous lowriders in history, in this 2008 file photo. \u003ccite>(Ric Francis/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For many years it was a Latino subculture, but lowriding grew in popularity in 1979 when the film \u003cem>Boulevard Nights \u003c/em>was released, plastering the low-slung cruisers across the silver screen. The movie brought renewed attention to lowriding, but it also reinforced a stereotype that lowriding was associated with gangs and crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“You had a lot of cops who just didn’t like lowriders, and they exercised their authority to write any ticket or any violation or make up anything that they wanted,” Don Alonzo, vice president of Low Creations Car Club, said of the tensions between lowriders and police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But lowriding only continued to bounce higher in the public consciousness. Rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg cruised through music videos in lowriders to promote Dr. Dre’s 1992 hit album, \u003cem>The Chronic\u003c/em>. Ramone, a character in the Disney movie \u003cem>Cars\u003c/em>, is a lowrider. Just this year, there were lowriders in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-2350526/Video-Mister-Cartoon-stars-Super-Bowl-2021-Modelo-spot.html\">Model commercial\u003c/a> featuring the artist Mister Cartoon that aired during the Super Bowl, TV’s most coveted ad space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904554\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-800x521.jpg\" alt=\"Lowriders bounce as high as possible during a car hopping contest at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1996.\" width=\"800\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-800x521.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1020x665.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1536x1001.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-2048x1335.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/gettyimages-1143236_custom-b8a858e1f6d24826f95d6d41830752e92db0f2c7-1920x1251.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowriders bounce as high as possible during a car hopping contest at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1996. \u003ccite>(Stewart Cook/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was mapping for my forthcoming publication on the global diffusion of lowriding, the globalization of lowriding, [and] I started to map where lowriding is, and I think the more accurate map is … where it isn’t,” Ulloa said. “Where is lowriding now? It’s everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowriding has moved from a local custom to a worldwide phenomenon, from Japan to Germany to Brazil.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cruising was taboo—now it’s treasured\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The city settled the lawsuit filed by Hernandez and other lowriders several years after it was filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez said he refused the city’s offer of a monetary payout, and that the final settlement guaranteed the lowriders’ right to cruise, led to a park and a gym being built and saw several police officers leave the force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t about money,” Hernandez said. “It was about the whole discrimination and blatant selective racism and use of excessive force by the police department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904558\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904558\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-800x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-800x573.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-1020x731.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-160x115.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM-768x550.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-13-at-9.14.57-AM.png 1228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Lowrider Council plaque on display at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. \u003ccite>(Roberto Y. Hernandez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Lowrider Council’s 40-year trajectory was just memorialized in \u003ca href=\"https://missionculturalcenter.org/event/40th-anniversary-san-francisco-lowrider-councill-exhibit/\">an exhibit\u003c/a> at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. San Francisco city officials even \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/09/18/san-francisco-celebrates-lowrider-rise/\">proclaimed\u003c/a> a recent Saturday as “Lowrider Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Alonzo, who is also a member of the council, lowriders are viewed much differently now than they were in decades past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got pulled over a couple times by some cops, and it wasn’t because I was riding dirty or anything like that or I had any violations or anything like that or my registration was invalid or anything like that,” Alonzo said. “They pulled me over because they wanted to see my hydraulic setup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ulloa, who hosted a virtual \u003ca href=\"https://savethekidsgroup.org/jan-29-2021-1st-annual-international-lowrider-studies-conference/\">academic conference on lowrider culture\u003c/a> this year, said that growing popularity has come with a catch: the cost to participate in the once blue-collar hobby has jumped. “It’s redefining who can get in, where and under what circumstances people are quote unquote buying into the culture,” he said. “That is causing some dissonance from within the culture as well, because people are getting priced out of the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, the San Francisco Lowrider Council remains a diverse organization, Hernandez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were stereotyped by the media and by a lot of people as being drug dealers and gangbangers and whatnot,” said Hernandez, who is also a community organizer and \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/roberto-hernandez-mission-food-hub-district-sf-cana/11044799/\">launched \u003c/a>the Mission Food Hub during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of that stereotype went like, ‘Well, how could they afford these kinds of cars and put all that money into cars?'” he added. “Well, we work!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the council include university professors, teachers, lawyers, construction workers, dishwashers and a sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=40+years+ago%2C+San+Francisco+lowriders+organized+to+fight+police+harassment+%E2%80%94+and+won&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "alternative-voices-1980s-san-francisco-punk-jeanne-hansen-photography-jonah-raskin",
"title": "A Portal to San Francisco’s Punk Rock Past",
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"headTitle": "A Portal to San Francisco’s Punk Rock Past | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A topless bride entering a nightclub, bouquet in one hand, cigarette in the other. Performance art presented in a literal pit on Valencia Street. A band meeting held in the sliver of space between two houses. All are moments from \u003cem>Alternative Voices—\u003c/em>an exhibit featuring black-and-white photos by \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeanne Hansen\u003c/a>, taken in and around San Francisco’s underground 1980s punk scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Displayed on the lower level of the San Francisco Public Library and accompanied by interviews by \u003ca href=\"http://jonahraskinwriter.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonah Raskin\u003c/a> with 16 scene regulars from the era, \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> offers snippets from \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/books/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hansen and Raskin’s new book\u003c/a> of the same name, alongside zines, flyers and other ephemera. The exhibit works as a time machine back to a San Francisco long since vanished, and a window into the shows, protests, punk houses and venues of the period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-800x532.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-800x532.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-1020x678.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-768x510.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-1536x1021.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM.png 1890w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A protest incorporating street theater by The Urban Rats, Valencia and 16th, 1983. \u003ccite>(Jeanne Hansen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13871151']The venues, in particular, offer vivid context for where all the action used to be. Before The Stud became a beloved landmark, it was Club Nine, punk rock venue. Where Amado’s now stands at 998 Valencia, there was The Offensive—a venue perfectly in line with its next-door neighbor, the (still standing) \u003ca href=\"http://www.atasite.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artists’ Television Access\u003c/a> performance space. There was Club Foot in the Bayview, which spawned a house band called the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Foot_Orchestra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Club Foot Orchestra\u003c/a> that still performs today. What was once The Sound of Music at 162 Turk Street is now just another \u003ca href=\"https://www.loopnet.com/property/162-Turk-St-San-Francisco-CA-94102/06075-0339%20009/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nondescript building\u003c/a> in the Tenderloin. And one has to wonder which apartment block on 15th and Ramona once housed a club named Attitude.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most fascinating of all was The Deaf Club, upstairs at 530 Valencia (now \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/los-amigos-s-f-cuisine-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Amigos\u003c/a> restaurant). By day, the venue was a community center for the deaf. By night, Daphne Hanrahan, then-manager of The Offs, would rent the club to put on punk shows. Deaf patrons quickly discovered that they loved the genre, and became regular attendees. \u003ca href=\"https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_roots_of_san_francisco_punk_the_deaf_club_1978-1980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Penelope Houston of The Avengers\u003c/a> (not featured in \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em>) once said of the club: “It was kind of amazing. I think they were dancing to the vibrations. The deaf people were amused that all these punks wanted to come in and rent their room and have these shows.” \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> features footage of a 1979 show at the club, borrowed from BAMPFA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuteRr0eq5s&t=65s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where this exhibit gets stymied, however, is in its presentation of the interviews from the book. The photos lose some of their immediacy and impact because of the sheer length—and number—of interview texts also on the walls. \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> would have greatly benefited by using select quotes from these conversations under each of the photos to contextualize them. Instead, attendees are met with scores of paragraphs from people they’ve likely never heard of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue is exacerbated by the narrow demographics of the interview pool. Eleven of the subjects are men, five are women (two of whom come from the same band, Frightwig), and all of them appear to be white, undercutting many of their mid-interview assertions about diversity within the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13902959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13902959\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-800x526.png\" alt=\"A woman with very short, cropped hair sits behind a radio mic and audio equipment, including an old fashioned switchboard telephone. Two men stand in front of her, also with radio microphones.\" width=\"800\" height=\"526\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-1020x671.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-160x105.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-768x505.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-1536x1010.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM.png 1894w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maximumrocknroll on KPFA. (L–R) Ruth Schwartz, Jeff Bale and Tim Yohannan in Berkeley, 1983. Yohannan founded the now legendary punk fanzine in 1982. MRR Radio still puts out weekly episodes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of San Francisco Public Library/ Jeanne M. Hansen )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When the punk scene first started, it meant everything from three-chord hardcore bands to the most experimental performance art and everything in between,” says Robin Balliger from The Appliances in her displayed interview. “There was a lot of crossover with Black music and hip-hop. That’s missing from the history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also missing from this exhibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his interview, Matt Callahan from \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1MGqznwjA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Looters\u003c/a> says, “We did our best to break the music industry’s rules and undermine white supremacy, which Reagan helped to boost.” It would have been significantly more meaningful to hear more about this—and about operating in a white-dominated scene—from one of Callahan’s Black bandmates. Drummer Ahaguna Sun, for example, who currently resides in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904478\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-800x546.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-800x546.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-1020x696.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-768x524.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-1536x1049.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM.png 1778w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stannous Flouride attracts attention on a BART escalator, sometime in the early 1980s. \u003ccite>(Jeanne Hansen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you’re patient enough to wade through information about people’s hometowns and schools—details best left in the book—some of the stories in \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em>‘ interviews are very entertaining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Labat, a local artist, shares a tale about one of the most terrifying nights of his life. “When Club Nine was about to open, I decided to do a kind of stunt, and bring attention to the event,” he says. “I climbed a flagpole about twelve feet high with the help of a ladder, and sat on a little platform for about six hours. I’m super afraid of heights and was shaking the whole time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Hansen’s photos captures Labat perched precariously on the top of the flagpole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13894169']\u003cem>Damage\u003c/em> writer and Deaf Club door guy Stannous Flouride offers some colorful notes about squatting. “I was part of the Suicide Club,” Flouride explains, “an early expression of urban spelunkers, who went on outings at the abandoned National Guard Armory at 15th and Mission and at the Hamm’s Brewery on 16th and Potrero. Someone got a hold of a jackhammer, which we used to take out the doors and open holes in the giant tanks, and make living spaces. Punks moved in and squatted. It became known as The Vats.” \u003cem>[Editor’s note: Punk rock memories are famously fallible. The Hamm’s brewery, and The Vats squat, was not at 16th and Potrero; it was at 1550 Bryant. The Armory was not 15th and Mission, but was and still stands at 14th and Mission.] \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> does do a very good job at encapsulating a very specific underground moment in San Francisco history—and it benefits from staying focused on the periphery. Though Dead Kennedys and Flipper get passing mentions, the better-known San Francisco punk artists of the era are decidedly not the focus here. Hansen’s lens was, instead, trained on the scrappers and rabble-rousers at the back of the room. Because of that, the scene she presents here still feels fresh, even after 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Alternative Voices’ is on display at the Central Library’s Jewett Gallery through Jan. 23, 2022. \u003ca href=\"https://sfpl.org/exhibits/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Exhibition details here\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/books/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">‘Alternative Voices’ book\u003c/a> is out now.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Punk Rock Photos from 1980s San Francisco on View | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A topless bride entering a nightclub, bouquet in one hand, cigarette in the other. Performance art presented in a literal pit on Valencia Street. A band meeting held in the sliver of space between two houses. All are moments from \u003cem>Alternative Voices—\u003c/em>an exhibit featuring black-and-white photos by \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeanne Hansen\u003c/a>, taken in and around San Francisco’s underground 1980s punk scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Displayed on the lower level of the San Francisco Public Library and accompanied by interviews by \u003ca href=\"http://jonahraskinwriter.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonah Raskin\u003c/a> with 16 scene regulars from the era, \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> offers snippets from \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/books/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hansen and Raskin’s new book\u003c/a> of the same name, alongside zines, flyers and other ephemera. The exhibit works as a time machine back to a San Francisco long since vanished, and a window into the shows, protests, punk houses and venues of the period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-800x532.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-800x532.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-1020x678.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-768x510.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM-1536x1021.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-11.59.30-AM.png 1890w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A protest incorporating street theater by The Urban Rats, Valencia and 16th, 1983. \u003ccite>(Jeanne Hansen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The venues, in particular, offer vivid context for where all the action used to be. Before The Stud became a beloved landmark, it was Club Nine, punk rock venue. Where Amado’s now stands at 998 Valencia, there was The Offensive—a venue perfectly in line with its next-door neighbor, the (still standing) \u003ca href=\"http://www.atasite.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artists’ Television Access\u003c/a> performance space. There was Club Foot in the Bayview, which spawned a house band called the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Foot_Orchestra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Club Foot Orchestra\u003c/a> that still performs today. What was once The Sound of Music at 162 Turk Street is now just another \u003ca href=\"https://www.loopnet.com/property/162-Turk-St-San-Francisco-CA-94102/06075-0339%20009/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nondescript building\u003c/a> in the Tenderloin. And one has to wonder which apartment block on 15th and Ramona once housed a club named Attitude.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most fascinating of all was The Deaf Club, upstairs at 530 Valencia (now \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/los-amigos-s-f-cuisine-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Amigos\u003c/a> restaurant). By day, the venue was a community center for the deaf. By night, Daphne Hanrahan, then-manager of The Offs, would rent the club to put on punk shows. Deaf patrons quickly discovered that they loved the genre, and became regular attendees. \u003ca href=\"https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_roots_of_san_francisco_punk_the_deaf_club_1978-1980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Penelope Houston of The Avengers\u003c/a> (not featured in \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em>) once said of the club: “It was kind of amazing. I think they were dancing to the vibrations. The deaf people were amused that all these punks wanted to come in and rent their room and have these shows.” \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> features footage of a 1979 show at the club, borrowed from BAMPFA.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/cuteRr0eq5s'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/cuteRr0eq5s'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where this exhibit gets stymied, however, is in its presentation of the interviews from the book. The photos lose some of their immediacy and impact because of the sheer length—and number—of interview texts also on the walls. \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> would have greatly benefited by using select quotes from these conversations under each of the photos to contextualize them. Instead, attendees are met with scores of paragraphs from people they’ve likely never heard of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue is exacerbated by the narrow demographics of the interview pool. Eleven of the subjects are men, five are women (two of whom come from the same band, Frightwig), and all of them appear to be white, undercutting many of their mid-interview assertions about diversity within the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13902959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13902959\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-800x526.png\" alt=\"A woman with very short, cropped hair sits behind a radio mic and audio equipment, including an old fashioned switchboard telephone. Two men stand in front of her, also with radio microphones.\" width=\"800\" height=\"526\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-1020x671.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-160x105.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-768x505.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM-1536x1010.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-13-at-2.47.13-PM.png 1894w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maximumrocknroll on KPFA. (L–R) Ruth Schwartz, Jeff Bale and Tim Yohannan in Berkeley, 1983. Yohannan founded the now legendary punk fanzine in 1982. MRR Radio still puts out weekly episodes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of San Francisco Public Library/ Jeanne M. Hansen )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When the punk scene first started, it meant everything from three-chord hardcore bands to the most experimental performance art and everything in between,” says Robin Balliger from The Appliances in her displayed interview. “There was a lot of crossover with Black music and hip-hop. That’s missing from the history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also missing from this exhibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his interview, Matt Callahan from \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1MGqznwjA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Looters\u003c/a> says, “We did our best to break the music industry’s rules and undermine white supremacy, which Reagan helped to boost.” It would have been significantly more meaningful to hear more about this—and about operating in a white-dominated scene—from one of Callahan’s Black bandmates. Drummer Ahaguna Sun, for example, who currently resides in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904478\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-800x546.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-800x546.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-1020x696.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-768x524.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM-1536x1049.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-11-at-4.50.37-PM.png 1778w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stannous Flouride attracts attention on a BART escalator, sometime in the early 1980s. \u003ccite>(Jeanne Hansen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you’re patient enough to wade through information about people’s hometowns and schools—details best left in the book—some of the stories in \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em>‘ interviews are very entertaining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Labat, a local artist, shares a tale about one of the most terrifying nights of his life. “When Club Nine was about to open, I decided to do a kind of stunt, and bring attention to the event,” he says. “I climbed a flagpole about twelve feet high with the help of a ladder, and sat on a little platform for about six hours. I’m super afraid of heights and was shaking the whole time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Hansen’s photos captures Labat perched precariously on the top of the flagpole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cem>Damage\u003c/em> writer and Deaf Club door guy Stannous Flouride offers some colorful notes about squatting. “I was part of the Suicide Club,” Flouride explains, “an early expression of urban spelunkers, who went on outings at the abandoned National Guard Armory at 15th and Mission and at the Hamm’s Brewery on 16th and Potrero. Someone got a hold of a jackhammer, which we used to take out the doors and open holes in the giant tanks, and make living spaces. Punks moved in and squatted. It became known as The Vats.” \u003cem>[Editor’s note: Punk rock memories are famously fallible. The Hamm’s brewery, and The Vats squat, was not at 16th and Potrero; it was at 1550 Bryant. The Armory was not 15th and Mission, but was and still stands at 14th and Mission.] \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, \u003cem>Alternative Voices\u003c/em> does do a very good job at encapsulating a very specific underground moment in San Francisco history—and it benefits from staying focused on the periphery. Though Dead Kennedys and Flipper get passing mentions, the better-known San Francisco punk artists of the era are decidedly not the focus here. Hansen’s lens was, instead, trained on the scrappers and rabble-rousers at the back of the room. Because of that, the scene she presents here still feels fresh, even after 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Alternative Voices’ is on display at the Central Library’s Jewett Gallery through Jan. 23, 2022. \u003ca href=\"https://sfpl.org/exhibits/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Exhibition details here\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jeannemhansen.com/books/alternative-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">‘Alternative Voices’ book\u003c/a> is out now.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "chinatown-nightclubs-showgirl-magic-museum",
"title": "Former Chorus Girls Recall Chinatown's Storied Nightlife Scene",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/showgirl-magic-museum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Showgirl Magic Museum\u003c/a> occupies the basement of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clarion Performing Arts Center\u003c/a>, located down a back alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In the corner of the unassuming space, crammed with costumes, hats, jewelry and other memorabilia dedicated to the neighborhood’s nightclub history, there’s a photo of Pat Chin posing with Frank Sinatra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That picture was taken after he filmed \u003cem>Pal Joey\u003c/em> here in San Francisco,” says Chin, who worked as a chorus girl at Chinese Sky Room, one of around eight local nightspots, in the 1950s. “Sinatra rushed over to help me off the stage, lit my cigarette and did a lot of small talk. He was a complete gentleman.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Nightlife Destination\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the 1930s to the 1960s, San Francisco’s Chinatown was a nightlife destination, where celebrity sightings, if not full-on flirting opportunities, were commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sidewalks bustled at 3 a.m. Busloads of tourists came through, and the neighborhood thrived with an array of glitzy supper clubs like \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City_(nightclub)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbidden City\u003c/a>, Chinese Sky Room and Club Mandalay, where you might run into the likes of Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recently opened Showgirl Magic Museum aims to memorialize this glamorous past, with the support and from the viewpoint of the Asian American entertainers who put Chinatown on the international nightlife map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a dancer during the ’60s,” says museum founder and Clarion Performing Arts Center vice president Cynthia Yee. “And so it only made sense to me that I would try to bring back the history of Chinatown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904476\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the Showgirl Magic Museum in San Francisco’s Chinatown. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asian Discrimination Abounds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yee says discrimination against Asian residents in San Francisco was rampant during the days when the clubs flourished. Remnants of the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chinese Exclusion Act\u003c/a>, which barred many Chinese people from living and working in the U.S., were still in effect. Even the bands that played the Chinese nightclubs were predominantly white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In those days, the musicians union was very strong,” Yee says. “Chinese musicians were not allowed to join the union.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were especially few professional opportunities for women, Yee adds. The burgeoning Chinatown club scene gave some measure of financial independence to the young Asian American women who worked in these nightspots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904480\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51844_cynthia-yee-ms-chinatown-1967-qut-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"772\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cynthia Yee as ‘Miss Chinatown,’ in 1967. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cynthia Yee)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yee found herself hitting the road with famous dancer \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dorothy-toy-dazzling-dancer-known-as-the-asian-ginger-rogers-dies-at-102/2019/07/27/73722096-b08b-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorothy Toy\u003c/a> (a.k.a “The Asian Ginger Rogers”) as a teenager, after Toy—whose family owned the building in Chinatown where Yee lived as a child—needed to hire a replacement dancer for her troupe at short notice. Yee had been inspired by Toy to take dancing classes as a girl, and jumped at the tantalizing offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We traveled throughout the United States, to the Caribbean, and Europe,” Yee says. “We used to run around in a checker limousine and it would hold 12 of us with all of our luggage and all of our wardrobe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Chin got her start as a dancer after quitting a low-rung job at the stock exchange and facing few prospects except cafe or restaurant work. Chin says the clubs were clamoring for talent, and soon found herself treading the boards at Chinese Sky Room after responding to an ad she saw one day in a local paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hired me immediately because they couldn’t find too many Chinese girls who would be willing to reveal their legs in public,” Chin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904474\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-800x568.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-800x568.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-1020x724.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-768x545.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-1536x1090.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Advertising for ‘Toy and Wing’s Oriental Playgirl Revue’ at Chinese Sky Room, circa 1960s. Dorothy Toy and Paul Wing were famous dancers on San Francisco’s Chinese nightclub scene, which flourished from the 1930s to 60s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Showgirl Magic Museum)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like many other Chinatown chorus girls, who performed three shows a night in skimpy sequined outfits before predominantly white audiences, Chin didn’t tell her family about her line of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kept it a secret for a long time,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin says her parents eventually found out when they saw her picture in the paper, by which time they didn’t have the will to do anything about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By then it’s too late,” Chin says. “Because here I am earning a living and sending money home. And there’s no complaints there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yee’s family, meanwhile, took a more benign view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most families would shun at the idea of joining the show,” she says. “But I was lucky because Dorothy Toy had promised my mom that she would take care of me. And she did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Scene in Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1960s, the elegant showgirls and big bands of Chinatown’s nightclubs started to fall out of fashion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin and Yee blame the topless venues that started to proliferate in nearby North Beach, like the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Club\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Condor Club\u003c/a>, which became notorious after a cocktail waitress named \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Doda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carol Doda\u003c/a> first danced in a topless swimsuit in 1964.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904481\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pat Chin chats with KQED at the Showgirl Magic Museum. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I guess people would rather go see the topless performers and go-go dancers who danced inside of cages on Broadway,” says Chin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It killed a lot of the business,” adds Yee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toughening zoning laws in the neighborhood also played a role in the dwindling of the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13914487']“The community leaders changed the zoning to protect Chinatown,” says \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/entertainment/entertainment-representative-steven-lee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Lee\u003c/a>, a member of \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/departments/city-administrator/entertainment-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco’s Entertainment Commission\u003c/a> and the owner of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lionsdenbarandlounge.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge\u003c/a>, one of very few new nightclubs to have opened in Chinatown in the last few years. “There was a lot of bars in Chinatown at the time and they didn’t want them to become strip clubs. They wanted to keep Chinatown historic. So after a while, the entertainment scene in Chinatown was near nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, according to the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, entertainment could only be offered in the neighborhood in conjunction with an existing restaurant permit. That requirement was lifted as part of Chinatown’s zoning reorganization legislation in 2019, and Lee says he’s eager to see Chinatown’s nightlife scene spring back to life. Lion’s Den, which offers food as well as live music and DJs, opened its doors in March of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And that’s why I wanted to open Lion’s Den,” Lee says. “It’s trying to show that we can maybe help Chinatown a different way than just having a store selling back scratchers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13904482 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51845_lions-den-qut-e1633997514794-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"772\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outside the Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge, one of very few new nightspots to have opened in Chinatown in recent years. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chinatown’s Nightlife Prospects\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Running a nightclub today is different than it was in the 1950s. There are parking issues, and car break-ins are on the rise. The yo-yoing COVID-19 restrictions of the past 18 months have added a further layer of challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were starting to come out,” Lee says. But as soon as the Delta variant caused new restrictions, “tables were canceling and bands were canceling, because we’re requiring vaccine cards now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the recent spate of racially motivated attacks against the local Asian population to contend with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former showgirl Chin, who’s now in her 80s and lives in the Richmond but spends a lot of time in her old neighborhood, says she misses the Chinatown of her youth—not just because of the bustle, but also because of its safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so lovely then. I would go out at midnight just to pick up the \u003cem>Examiner\u003c/em> for my mother. So here I am, a little girl, about 9 or 10 years old, still walking the streets and it’s safe.” Chin says. “We didn’t have to worry about people hitting us over the head or robbing us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that this former chorus girl plans to stay home anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2004, Chin and Yee have been members of the \u003ca href=\"http://grantavenuefollies.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Grant Avenue Follies\u003c/a>, a performance group that focuses on vintage tap dance routines. It’s a way of bringing back the glory days of the Chinatown nightclub scene, along with preserving its artifacts at the Showgirl Magic Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gzk0fQhV9I\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year the group made an artistic departure. They got political, creating a rap in response to racist attacks against Asian elders with impassioned lyrics like, \u003cem>“The elders are your teachers, the elders are your guides / When you mess with them, you’re committing suicide.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high-energy video for the “Gai Mou Sou Rap” racked up over 80,000 views on YouTube and made the evening news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to show people that you can’t bully us,” Chin says. “Because we will fight back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Learn \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/showgirl-magic-museum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more about the Showgirl Magic Museum here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/showgirl-magic-museum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Showgirl Magic Museum\u003c/a> occupies the basement of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clarion Performing Arts Center\u003c/a>, located down a back alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In the corner of the unassuming space, crammed with costumes, hats, jewelry and other memorabilia dedicated to the neighborhood’s nightclub history, there’s a photo of Pat Chin posing with Frank Sinatra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That picture was taken after he filmed \u003cem>Pal Joey\u003c/em> here in San Francisco,” says Chin, who worked as a chorus girl at Chinese Sky Room, one of around eight local nightspots, in the 1950s. “Sinatra rushed over to help me off the stage, lit my cigarette and did a lot of small talk. He was a complete gentleman.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Nightlife Destination\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the 1930s to the 1960s, San Francisco’s Chinatown was a nightlife destination, where celebrity sightings, if not full-on flirting opportunities, were commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sidewalks bustled at 3 a.m. Busloads of tourists came through, and the neighborhood thrived with an array of glitzy supper clubs like \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City_(nightclub)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbidden City\u003c/a>, Chinese Sky Room and Club Mandalay, where you might run into the likes of Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recently opened Showgirl Magic Museum aims to memorialize this glamorous past, with the support and from the viewpoint of the Asian American entertainers who put Chinatown on the international nightlife map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a dancer during the ’60s,” says museum founder and Clarion Performing Arts Center vice president Cynthia Yee. “And so it only made sense to me that I would try to bring back the history of Chinatown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904476\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51835_IMG_5744-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the Showgirl Magic Museum in San Francisco’s Chinatown. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asian Discrimination Abounds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yee says discrimination against Asian residents in San Francisco was rampant during the days when the clubs flourished. Remnants of the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chinese Exclusion Act\u003c/a>, which barred many Chinese people from living and working in the U.S., were still in effect. Even the bands that played the Chinese nightclubs were predominantly white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In those days, the musicians union was very strong,” Yee says. “Chinese musicians were not allowed to join the union.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were especially few professional opportunities for women, Yee adds. The burgeoning Chinatown club scene gave some measure of financial independence to the young Asian American women who worked in these nightspots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904480\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51844_cynthia-yee-ms-chinatown-1967-qut-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"772\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cynthia Yee as ‘Miss Chinatown,’ in 1967. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cynthia Yee)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yee found herself hitting the road with famous dancer \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dorothy-toy-dazzling-dancer-known-as-the-asian-ginger-rogers-dies-at-102/2019/07/27/73722096-b08b-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorothy Toy\u003c/a> (a.k.a “The Asian Ginger Rogers”) as a teenager, after Toy—whose family owned the building in Chinatown where Yee lived as a child—needed to hire a replacement dancer for her troupe at short notice. Yee had been inspired by Toy to take dancing classes as a girl, and jumped at the tantalizing offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We traveled throughout the United States, to the Caribbean, and Europe,” Yee says. “We used to run around in a checker limousine and it would hold 12 of us with all of our luggage and all of our wardrobe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Chin got her start as a dancer after quitting a low-rung job at the stock exchange and facing few prospects except cafe or restaurant work. Chin says the clubs were clamoring for talent, and soon found herself treading the boards at Chinese Sky Room after responding to an ad she saw one day in a local paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hired me immediately because they couldn’t find too many Chinese girls who would be willing to reveal their legs in public,” Chin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904474\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-800x568.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-800x568.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-1020x724.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-768x545.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut-1536x1090.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51840_Toy-and-Wings-Oriental-Playgirl-Revue-publicity-for-Chinese-Skyroom-Nightclub-circa-early-1960s-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Advertising for ‘Toy and Wing’s Oriental Playgirl Revue’ at Chinese Sky Room, circa 1960s. Dorothy Toy and Paul Wing were famous dancers on San Francisco’s Chinese nightclub scene, which flourished from the 1930s to 60s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Showgirl Magic Museum)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like many other Chinatown chorus girls, who performed three shows a night in skimpy sequined outfits before predominantly white audiences, Chin didn’t tell her family about her line of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I kept it a secret for a long time,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin says her parents eventually found out when they saw her picture in the paper, by which time they didn’t have the will to do anything about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By then it’s too late,” Chin says. “Because here I am earning a living and sending money home. And there’s no complaints there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yee’s family, meanwhile, took a more benign view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most families would shun at the idea of joining the show,” she says. “But I was lucky because Dorothy Toy had promised my mom that she would take care of me. And she did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Scene in Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1960s, the elegant showgirls and big bands of Chinatown’s nightclubs started to fall out of fashion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin and Yee blame the topless venues that started to proliferate in nearby North Beach, like the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Club\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Condor Club\u003c/a>, which became notorious after a cocktail waitress named \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Doda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carol Doda\u003c/a> first danced in a topless swimsuit in 1964.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904481\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51838_pat-chin-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pat Chin chats with KQED at the Showgirl Magic Museum. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I guess people would rather go see the topless performers and go-go dancers who danced inside of cages on Broadway,” says Chin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It killed a lot of the business,” adds Yee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toughening zoning laws in the neighborhood also played a role in the dwindling of the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The community leaders changed the zoning to protect Chinatown,” says \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/entertainment/entertainment-representative-steven-lee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Lee\u003c/a>, a member of \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/departments/city-administrator/entertainment-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco’s Entertainment Commission\u003c/a> and the owner of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lionsdenbarandlounge.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge\u003c/a>, one of very few new nightclubs to have opened in Chinatown in the last few years. “There was a lot of bars in Chinatown at the time and they didn’t want them to become strip clubs. They wanted to keep Chinatown historic. So after a while, the entertainment scene in Chinatown was near nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, according to the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, entertainment could only be offered in the neighborhood in conjunction with an existing restaurant permit. That requirement was lifted as part of Chinatown’s zoning reorganization legislation in 2019, and Lee says he’s eager to see Chinatown’s nightlife scene spring back to life. Lion’s Den, which offers food as well as live music and DJs, opened its doors in March of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And that’s why I wanted to open Lion’s Den,” Lee says. “It’s trying to show that we can maybe help Chinatown a different way than just having a store selling back scratchers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13904482 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/RS51845_lions-den-qut-e1633997514794-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"772\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outside the Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge, one of very few new nightspots to have opened in Chinatown in recent years. \u003ccite>(Chloe Veltman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chinatown’s Nightlife Prospects\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Running a nightclub today is different than it was in the 1950s. There are parking issues, and car break-ins are on the rise. The yo-yoing COVID-19 restrictions of the past 18 months have added a further layer of challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were starting to come out,” Lee says. But as soon as the Delta variant caused new restrictions, “tables were canceling and bands were canceling, because we’re requiring vaccine cards now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the recent spate of racially motivated attacks against the local Asian population to contend with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former showgirl Chin, who’s now in her 80s and lives in the Richmond but spends a lot of time in her old neighborhood, says she misses the Chinatown of her youth—not just because of the bustle, but also because of its safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so lovely then. I would go out at midnight just to pick up the \u003cem>Examiner\u003c/em> for my mother. So here I am, a little girl, about 9 or 10 years old, still walking the streets and it’s safe.” Chin says. “We didn’t have to worry about people hitting us over the head or robbing us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that this former chorus girl plans to stay home anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2004, Chin and Yee have been members of the \u003ca href=\"http://grantavenuefollies.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Grant Avenue Follies\u003c/a>, a performance group that focuses on vintage tap dance routines. It’s a way of bringing back the glory days of the Chinatown nightclub scene, along with preserving its artifacts at the Showgirl Magic Museum.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/_gzk0fQhV9I'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/_gzk0fQhV9I'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Earlier this year the group made an artistic departure. They got political, creating a rap in response to racist attacks against Asian elders with impassioned lyrics like, \u003cem>“The elders are your teachers, the elders are your guides / When you mess with them, you’re committing suicide.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high-energy video for the “Gai Mou Sou Rap” racked up over 80,000 views on YouTube and made the evening news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to show people that you can’t bully us,” Chin says. “Because we will fight back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Learn \u003ca href=\"https://clarionmusic.com/showgirl-magic-museum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more about the Showgirl Magic Museum here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "5 Other Times We Learned the Zodiac Killer's 'True' Identity",
"headTitle": "5 Other Times We Learned the Zodiac Killer’s ‘True’ Identity | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In October 2021, an investigative group calling themselves the Case Breakers announced that they’d found the true identity of the Zodiac Killer. The group, comprised of of 40 former police officers, journalists, and military intelligence personnel, assert that the notorious Bay Area serial killer was, in fact, a man named Gary Francis Poste. Poste apparently shared certain identifying marks with the Zodiac—forehead scars and a shoe size—and one witness that spoke to the team said that he saw Poste burying weapons in the woods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Case Breakers also report that one former neighbor of Poste’s is now convinced that he was the serial killer, and recalls him being controlling and abusive to his wife. “He lived a double life,” the neighbor said. “As I’m an adult thinking back, it all kind of makes sense now. At the time when I was a teenager, I didn’t put two and two together until I got older. It hit me full-blown that Gary’s the Zodiac.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13891998']Much of the investigative team’s claims hinge on DNA found at the site of Cheri Jo Bates’ 1966 murder, in Riverside. The Case Breakers say that the DNA matches Poste’s, but police maintain that \u003ca href=\"https://fox4kc.com/news/police-in-california-refute-investigators-claims-they-found-zodiac-killer/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bates wasn’t a victim of the Zodiac\u003c/a>. Only five murders are considered confirmed Zodiac slayings—those of David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, Cecelia Ann Shepard, Paul Lee Stine, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Announcements like yesterday’s are not new. Due to ongoing public fascination with the true identity of the Zodiac, home sleuths, family members of suspects, and investigative groups have been coming forward with pointed fingers for years. The \u003ca href=\"https://zodiackiller.fandom.com/wiki/Suspects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zodiac Killer Wiki page\u003c/a> alone lists 21 potential suspects (not including \u003ca href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ted-cruz-zodiac-killer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ted Cruz\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, then, are five men who were accused of being the Zodiac Killer before Gary Francis Poste, and who in many ways make even more convincing Zodiac Killers than he does.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jack Tarrance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904271\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904271\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-800x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-2048x1024.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A side-by-side of the famous Zodiac Killer police sketch and Jack Tarrance.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2007, a man named Dennis Kaufman accused his stepfather, Jack Tarrance, of being the Zodiac Killer. He handed over several of his stepdad’s belongings to the FBI, including writing samples, a bloody knife, a black hood with the Zodiac’s symbol on it, and camera rolls. Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsCdanT8-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CBS 13 featured a news report\u003c/a> at the time that described the images from one of the rolls as “gruesome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaufman asserted that Tarrance had also killed his wife, Kaufman’s mother. He also shared a phone conversation he’d recorded, in which he said to Tarrance, “If I wrote a book and said ‘I think my stepdad is the Zodiac Killer,’ they wouldn’t fucking believe me anyway.” In response, Tarrance laughed and replied, “Why would you put that ‘I think’ on there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_97277']Tarrance, who died in 2006, had served in the Air Force and Navy and was trained in the kinds of cryptograms and codes used by the Zodiac in his letters to the press. One forensic expert, Nanette Barto, believed Tarrance and the Zodiac’s handwriting to be a match.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the FBI compared Tarrance’s DNA with that of the Zodiac Killer, but results were inconclusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Guy Ward Hendrickson\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Hendrickson’s daughter Deborah Perez claimed that she had assisted her stepfather in writing the Zodiac’s infamous letters, including cypher letters to the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>. She also said she sewed one of the masks the killer wore. Perez’s assertions were backed by a lawyer named Kevin McLean, who’d investigated her claims about her dad. Hendrickson, McLean concluded, “was a Jekyll and Hyde. He was nuts. He set out to kill people. Some of these killings were not random.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez’s sister \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dad-was-not-the-Zodiac-second-daughter-insists-3163166.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Janice Hendrickson strongly refuted the allegations\u003c/a>, telling the \u003cem>Chronicle\u003c/em>, “My father was real bullheaded, and he did have a temper, and he did hit me… slapped the crap out of me. But did he kill people? I don’t believe he did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Arthur Leigh Allen\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSuUJ-Scbeg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most famously implicated in David Fincher’s 2007 movie \u003cem>Zodiac\u003c/em>, and in Robert Graysmith’s 1986 book of the same name, Allen is perhaps the best known of all Zodiac Killer suspects. Allen was a problem child who, relatives say, killed animals for fun, and who grew up to be a convicted child molester. He was dishonorably discharged from the Navy in 1958. Not only was Allen positively identified by Mike Mageau, who survived an attack by the Zodiac, he had a voice and appearance that another survivor, Bryan Hartnell, said were similar to the killer. Allen also shared the same glove and shoe size as the murderer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13833330']Allen was in the vicinity of several of the murders when they took place, and the only day off from work he took in 1966 was the day after Cheri Jo Bates had been killed. Allen also owned a typewriter of the same brand that the Zodiac used, and a car he regularly drove was similar to one spotted at the scene of the Darlene Ferrin murder. An associate of Allen’s, Ralph Spinelli, claimed Allen had admitted being the Zodiac. Another friend, Donald Cheney, told police that Allen had spoken of a desire to kill people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was interviewed by police, but ultimately cleared as a suspect through a combination of DNA samples and other forensic evidence. His fingerprints, palm prints, and handwriting did not match the Zodiac’s. Despite this, some of the police officers working the case remained convinced Allen was their man. Allen died in 1992 of a heart attack at home in Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Earl Van Best Jr.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoOEWv3FZIw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, a man named Gary Stewart released a book—co-written by Susan D. Mustafa—titled \u003cem>The Most Dangerous Animal of All\u003c/em>. It asserted that his biological father, Earl Van Best Jr., was the Zodiac Killer. Stewart, who was raised by adoptive parents, reached his conclusion after being contacted by his birth mother and researching his birth father. In addition to having similar handwriting and facial scars, Van Best bore a resemblance to the police sketch of the Zodiac. Stewart also resolutely believes he’s successfully cracked the Zodiac’s cypher, and that Earl Van Best’s name is hidden within it. Stewart further claims that a DNA test comparing the Zodiac to Van Best was unable to exclude Van Best as a suspect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, FX adapted the book into a four-part documentary series of the same name. In it, Stewart’s mother details getting involved with Van Best when she was 14 and he was 27. She says Van Best was abusive. Stewart initially makes some convincing arguments about his father, but by the end of the series, there are holes quite thoroughly poked in all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Joseph “Giuseppe” Bevilacqua\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13832568']Bevilacqua is alleged to have confessed to a journalist to being both the Zodiac Killer and the Monster of Florence, who murdered 14 people in Italy between 1974 and 1985, targeting couples in particular. However, Bevilacqua quickly recanted those statements. Bevilacqua was born in New Jersey, spent 20 years in the Army, and is said to have worked as a CID agent in San Francisco in the late 1960s. He moved to Florence in 1974—the same year that the Zodiac sent his final letter to the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>, and the same year the first Monster of Florence killing occurred in Italy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bevilacqua’s handwriting is said to bear a resemblance to that of the Zodiac’s, and one translation of the Zodiac’s cypher found the word “Bevilacqua” within it. Some true crime sleuths have also taken the Zodiac’s reference to water in his final letter to the \u003cem>Chronicle\u003c/em>—the “billowy wave”—as a nod to the “acqua” in Bevilacqua’s last name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Florence Public Prosecutor’s Office acquired Bevilacqua’s DNA in late 2020—meaning that there may be yet another “Zodiac Killer” named soon.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In October 2021, an investigative group calling themselves the Case Breakers announced that they’d found the true identity of the Zodiac Killer. The group, comprised of of 40 former police officers, journalists, and military intelligence personnel, assert that the notorious Bay Area serial killer was, in fact, a man named Gary Francis Poste. Poste apparently shared certain identifying marks with the Zodiac—forehead scars and a shoe size—and one witness that spoke to the team said that he saw Poste burying weapons in the woods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Case Breakers also report that one former neighbor of Poste’s is now convinced that he was the serial killer, and recalls him being controlling and abusive to his wife. “He lived a double life,” the neighbor said. “As I’m an adult thinking back, it all kind of makes sense now. At the time when I was a teenager, I didn’t put two and two together until I got older. It hit me full-blown that Gary’s the Zodiac.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Much of the investigative team’s claims hinge on DNA found at the site of Cheri Jo Bates’ 1966 murder, in Riverside. The Case Breakers say that the DNA matches Poste’s, but police maintain that \u003ca href=\"https://fox4kc.com/news/police-in-california-refute-investigators-claims-they-found-zodiac-killer/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bates wasn’t a victim of the Zodiac\u003c/a>. Only five murders are considered confirmed Zodiac slayings—those of David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, Cecelia Ann Shepard, Paul Lee Stine, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Announcements like yesterday’s are not new. Due to ongoing public fascination with the true identity of the Zodiac, home sleuths, family members of suspects, and investigative groups have been coming forward with pointed fingers for years. The \u003ca href=\"https://zodiackiller.fandom.com/wiki/Suspects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zodiac Killer Wiki page\u003c/a> alone lists 21 potential suspects (not including \u003ca href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ted-cruz-zodiac-killer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ted Cruz\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, then, are five men who were accused of being the Zodiac Killer before Gary Francis Poste, and who in many ways make even more convincing Zodiac Killers than he does.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jack Tarrance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904271\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13904271\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-800x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-2048x1024.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/Jack-Tarrance-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A side-by-side of the famous Zodiac Killer police sketch and Jack Tarrance.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2007, a man named Dennis Kaufman accused his stepfather, Jack Tarrance, of being the Zodiac Killer. He handed over several of his stepdad’s belongings to the FBI, including writing samples, a bloody knife, a black hood with the Zodiac’s symbol on it, and camera rolls. Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsCdanT8-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CBS 13 featured a news report\u003c/a> at the time that described the images from one of the rolls as “gruesome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaufman asserted that Tarrance had also killed his wife, Kaufman’s mother. He also shared a phone conversation he’d recorded, in which he said to Tarrance, “If I wrote a book and said ‘I think my stepdad is the Zodiac Killer,’ they wouldn’t fucking believe me anyway.” In response, Tarrance laughed and replied, “Why would you put that ‘I think’ on there?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Tarrance, who died in 2006, had served in the Air Force and Navy and was trained in the kinds of cryptograms and codes used by the Zodiac in his letters to the press. One forensic expert, Nanette Barto, believed Tarrance and the Zodiac’s handwriting to be a match.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the FBI compared Tarrance’s DNA with that of the Zodiac Killer, but results were inconclusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Guy Ward Hendrickson\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Hendrickson’s daughter Deborah Perez claimed that she had assisted her stepfather in writing the Zodiac’s infamous letters, including cypher letters to the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>. She also said she sewed one of the masks the killer wore. Perez’s assertions were backed by a lawyer named Kevin McLean, who’d investigated her claims about her dad. Hendrickson, McLean concluded, “was a Jekyll and Hyde. He was nuts. He set out to kill people. Some of these killings were not random.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez’s sister \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dad-was-not-the-Zodiac-second-daughter-insists-3163166.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Janice Hendrickson strongly refuted the allegations\u003c/a>, telling the \u003cem>Chronicle\u003c/em>, “My father was real bullheaded, and he did have a temper, and he did hit me… slapped the crap out of me. But did he kill people? I don’t believe he did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Arthur Leigh Allen\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/DSuUJ-Scbeg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/DSuUJ-Scbeg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Most famously implicated in David Fincher’s 2007 movie \u003cem>Zodiac\u003c/em>, and in Robert Graysmith’s 1986 book of the same name, Allen is perhaps the best known of all Zodiac Killer suspects. Allen was a problem child who, relatives say, killed animals for fun, and who grew up to be a convicted child molester. He was dishonorably discharged from the Navy in 1958. Not only was Allen positively identified by Mike Mageau, who survived an attack by the Zodiac, he had a voice and appearance that another survivor, Bryan Hartnell, said were similar to the killer. Allen also shared the same glove and shoe size as the murderer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Allen was in the vicinity of several of the murders when they took place, and the only day off from work he took in 1966 was the day after Cheri Jo Bates had been killed. Allen also owned a typewriter of the same brand that the Zodiac used, and a car he regularly drove was similar to one spotted at the scene of the Darlene Ferrin murder. An associate of Allen’s, Ralph Spinelli, claimed Allen had admitted being the Zodiac. Another friend, Donald Cheney, told police that Allen had spoken of a desire to kill people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was interviewed by police, but ultimately cleared as a suspect through a combination of DNA samples and other forensic evidence. His fingerprints, palm prints, and handwriting did not match the Zodiac’s. Despite this, some of the police officers working the case remained convinced Allen was their man. Allen died in 1992 of a heart attack at home in Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Earl Van Best Jr.\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/aoOEWv3FZIw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/aoOEWv3FZIw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In 2014, a man named Gary Stewart released a book—co-written by Susan D. Mustafa—titled \u003cem>The Most Dangerous Animal of All\u003c/em>. It asserted that his biological father, Earl Van Best Jr., was the Zodiac Killer. Stewart, who was raised by adoptive parents, reached his conclusion after being contacted by his birth mother and researching his birth father. In addition to having similar handwriting and facial scars, Van Best bore a resemblance to the police sketch of the Zodiac. Stewart also resolutely believes he’s successfully cracked the Zodiac’s cypher, and that Earl Van Best’s name is hidden within it. Stewart further claims that a DNA test comparing the Zodiac to Van Best was unable to exclude Van Best as a suspect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, FX adapted the book into a four-part documentary series of the same name. In it, Stewart’s mother details getting involved with Van Best when she was 14 and he was 27. She says Van Best was abusive. Stewart initially makes some convincing arguments about his father, but by the end of the series, there are holes quite thoroughly poked in all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Joseph “Giuseppe” Bevilacqua\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Bevilacqua is alleged to have confessed to a journalist to being both the Zodiac Killer and the Monster of Florence, who murdered 14 people in Italy between 1974 and 1985, targeting couples in particular. However, Bevilacqua quickly recanted those statements. Bevilacqua was born in New Jersey, spent 20 years in the Army, and is said to have worked as a CID agent in San Francisco in the late 1960s. He moved to Florence in 1974—the same year that the Zodiac sent his final letter to the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>, and the same year the first Monster of Florence killing occurred in Italy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bevilacqua’s handwriting is said to bear a resemblance to that of the Zodiac’s, and one translation of the Zodiac’s cypher found the word “Bevilacqua” within it. Some true crime sleuths have also taken the Zodiac’s reference to water in his final letter to the \u003cem>Chronicle\u003c/em>—the “billowy wave”—as a nod to the “acqua” in Bevilacqua’s last name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Florence Public Prosecutor’s Office acquired Bevilacqua’s DNA in late 2020—meaning that there may be yet another “Zodiac Killer” named soon.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
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