Description
The decade(s) long struggle to save the International Hotel (I-Hotel) focused on resisting a looming eviction that would have
displaced its mostly elderly and low income Chinese and Filipino residents from the Manilatown neighborhood in San Francisco.
This collection contains comprehensive news articles and periodicals documenting the struggle to save the I-Hotel as well
as anti-eviction informational materials, flyers, posters produced by residents of the hotel and supporters.
Background
The International Hotel (I-Hotel) was a low-income residential hotel that housed mostly elderly Chinese and Filipino men located
in Manilatown, San Francisco. Beginning in 1968, the tenants faced the possibility of displacement when the owner, Milton
Meyer & Co., issued the first eviction notice with a plan to demolish the hotel for a parking lot. In 1973, an international
investment corporation called Four Seas purchased I-Hotel with plans of commercial development. In between those years, the
tenants alongside the community maintained constant pressure on the city of San Francisco with protests and mass mobilizations
in order to not only save the tenants from eviction but to protect low-income housing from Financial District encroachment.
The movement to save the I-Hotel was a broad coalition of students, tenants, and community organizers as well as larger organizations
such as the United Filipino Association (UFA), Asian Community Center, and the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA). Its
base further expanded with the support and participation from college students and activists who were heavily involved in
the Third World Liberation Front strikes of San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley. During this time period, the I-Hotel
became the epicenter of Asian-American community organizing serving as a community center as well as site of a street level
bookstore. In the spring of 1972, the International Hotel Tenants Association (IHTA) formed.
The nine-year struggle came to an end in August 4, 1977 when, following a court order, the tenants were forcible evicted early
in the morning by 400 police dressed in riot gar. Despite being forced from the building, the tenants and their supporters
who had formed a human barricade around the site received widespread local and national news coverage and attention. Some
of the images captured that evening forever memorialized the struggle to save low cost housing in San Francisco.
In 1979, the Four Seas Corporation demolished the I-Hotel and began negotiations on the development plan for now empty site.
Former tenants and community members formed the I Hotel Citizens Advisory Committee (IHCAC) with the goal of advocating for
the development plan to include input and direction from the local community. One of their primary tactics was to put continuous
pressure on Mayor Dianne Feinstein to secure additional funds for senior subsidized housing. After multiple failed negotiations,
Four Seas and other developers withdrew, leaving the IHCAC to advocate for a new I-Hotel which opened its doors in 2005 after
26 years of tenant and community organizing. Today, the Manilatown Heritage Foundation continues to preserve the cultural
and historic significance of the site.
Extent
1.71 linear feet (One Box and One Oversize Folder)
Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively
with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in
writing to the curator, Ethnic Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-2360.
Availability
Collection is open for research.