Ricardo Alvarado

Cirilo Alvarado immigrated to the United States in 1926 and found work as a farm laborer as many manong did at the time. The term manong in Ilocano, brothers Cirilo and Ricardo’s first language, describes a respected older brother, but in the United States, the term came to refer to the first wave of Filipino bachelors who arrived in the country in the early 1900s. Few Filipino women immigrated during this time, and Cirilo never married. Anti-miscegenation laws prevented marriage between Filipinos and whites. Many manong married decades later in the 1950s when immigration increased following World War II.

Urbanites maintained close ties with family and friends who lived in California’s agricultural communities. Together, they enjoyed lechon, or roasted pig. A quintessential Filipino dish enjoyed at celebrations and gatherings, it also served as a reminder of home. In the Bay Area, where a large concentration of Pinoys or Filipino Americans still lives, this tradition remains today. Pigs are often stuffed with lemongrass, herbs, or rice.

Organized by schools, churches, or community groups, box socials were once commonplace across the country. Young women prepared lunches or suppers that were auctioned to the highest bidders. Participants shared a dance and a dish with the lady whose boxed meal they won. Like their parents, second-generation Filipino Americans faced discrimination, but social, athletic, and scholastic clubs upheld and preserved Filipino culture and pride.

The couple pictured in this photograph operated the Telephone Market, now a laundromat. Many Filipino Americans living in San Francisco ran small businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and barbershops in multiethnic neighborhoods, including Manilatown along Kearny and Jackson Streets near Chinatown, South of Market, Bayview, and in the Fillmore/Western Addition. Racial covenants prohibited Filipinos and other minorities from purchasing property in white neighborhoods.

In the United States, the automobile has long served as a status symbol—part of the American dream. Early immigrant communities shared this aspiration. Ricardo Alvarado captures this in several of his photos, showing Filipino and African Americans standing proudly beside their vehicles. He also appears in several snapshots from the 1930s perched in front of stylish cars.

The postwar baby boom gave Ricardo Alvarado the opportunity to take photographs of children in a variety of settings. His photography from the 1950s reflects how the local Filipino American community evolved from a bachelor society to one integrating women, children, and growing families.