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Historical Context of the I-Hotel Struggle: A Timeline
By Erin Pangilinan
Early History: Center of Manilatown
Late 1800s The International Hotel was built in the late for wealthy travelers.
1907 It was rebuilt after it was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake.
1920-35 Filipino male population was 39,328. Legislation forbade Filipinos from owning land or setting up businesses.
1940s Manilatown filled 10 blocks along Kearny Street housing more than 20,000 Filipino laborers.
1954 Enrico Banduccci, opened his original hungry I nightclub next door to Club Mandalay in the basement of the International Hotel where performing artists got there start, such as Nina Simone and Bill Cosby.
1960s: The Fall of the I-Hotel Gentrification and FIRE!
December 1968 1st eviction notices handed out to tenants from the new owner of the Milton Meyer Company falling under the management of Walter Shorenstein.
March 1969 United Filipino Association (UFA) and Shorenstein reached a new lease agreement, allowing the tenants to stay. No official papers were signed, however. One day later a fire destroyed the north wing of the I-Hotel, killing three tenants. It was never fully investigated as arson.
1970s: Resistance Protest and Eviction Community members fight to save tenants from evictions
Summer 1970 Chinese Progressive Association and Kearny Street Workshop moved into the commercial spaces underneath the hotel.
1973 Faced with protests and continued resistance, Shorenstein sold the building out to the foreign Four Seas Investment Corporation, owned by a Thai investor, Supasit Mahaguna, who wanted to develop the site commercially.
1974 2nd eviction notice is posted by Four Seas' Investment Corporation. The International Hotel Association replaces the UFA. UFA joined forces with other tenants to defend the hotel through a city wide support rally.
1976 Eviction Case Goes to Court
January of 1977 Sheriff Richard Hongisto delays the eviction for several months. As a result, Hongisto is jailed for five days and fined $500 for contempt of court. Several thousand people demonstrate during the final eight months of the hotel's occupancy, where they created the famous large human barricade around the building.
August 4th, 1977 Tenants are evicted despite the efforts of 5,000 demonstrators who tried to keep the 300 police officers and sheriff's deputies from removing the occupants. Sherriff Hongisto returns to supervise the eviction. The Sheriff's 4-hour, 3 A.M. to dawn eviction was aided by police in riot gear.
1978 International Hotel Citizens Advisory Committee is appointed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein.
August 1979 Despite community protests, Four Seas demolishes the building and the site remains a hole in the ground for 22 years. Community members continue their political activism demanding replacement of the demolished units. They succeeded in blocking any new construction on the site that did not include senior housing.
1980s: Replanning
1987 The planning commission approves a conditional use planned unit development, which includes 126 units of senior housing.
1990s 2000s: Rebuilding
May 1994 Four Seas, now known as Pan Magna Group, agrees to sell the land after years of failed development attempts.
September 1994 The Chinatown Community Housing Corporation secures funding from the HUD Section 202 to build and operate 105 residential units.
1994 The Roman Catholic Archdiocese purchased the property to relocate its earthquake-damaged St. Mary's School from Broadway and sold the property management group, Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) the rights to build the I-Hotel at the corner of Kearny and Jackson streets.
December 1995 International Hotel Senior Housing, Inc., the owner corporation of the housing project, is formed by International Hotel Citizens Advisory Committee (IHCAC) and Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC).
May 1996 The International Hotel Citizens Advisory Committee, through their nonprofit organization, Kearny Street Housing Corporation, join Chinatown Community Housing Corporation as a sponsor of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant and lead the advocacy for additional city support of the project.
Fall 2001 Start of construction of the underground garage and podium structure that will support the HUD grant funded housing project.
July 2003 The HUD Section 202 funding is closed and Chinatown CDC is given permission to start construction. Construction on the housing begins.
July 2005 The New International Housing Senior construction is completed.
