Filipinos invade Westborough

SAN FRANCISCO, California - Daly City may be known as “Little Manila” with a population that is almost 50-percent Filipino, but South San Francisco next door to it, can certainly hold its own as far as Fil-Am presence and activities are concerned.

SAN FRANCISCO, California - Daly City may be known as “Little Manila” with a population that is almost 50-percent Filipino, but South San Francisco next door to it, can certainly hold its own as far as Fil-Am presence and activities are concerned.

On the west side of the city is Westborough, just a small neighborhood between a major freeway and the foggy, seaside city of Pacifica.

Thousands of Fil-Ams live in the beautiful homes and townhouses of Westborough—and support the popular Filipino-owned businesses there.

For one, Yohann and Cherry Yuzon’s Goldilocks is only up the hill. Goldilocks has so flourished that its owners now own the entire shopping plaza!

Located farther downhill in another shopping area are Edna’s Ichiban, a restaurant and entertainment place; Kamemeshi, a Japanese restaurant that is more than 20 years old (and still always crowded); Tia Schey’s Filipino cuisine, Lingnam; Toppings; Sinugba; Manila Star and of course, Ma Mon Luk.

Edna’s Ichiban (forget the name!) offers Filipino food and hosts live performances of singers and stand-up comedians, most of them gay Pinoys like Bernardo Bernardo and Leonard Obal.

Kamemeshi, although serving Japanese cuisine, is Filipino-owned and has retained its excellent service and food all these years.

Speaking of Ma Mon Luk, this siopao-and-mami eatery, like Goldilocks, continues to thrive and attract repeat customers. One weeknight last week, we dropped by for halo-halo and chicken chicharon and who would be there too but Mona Lisa Yuchengco and her childhood friends from Class 1967 of the Assumption! Mona Lisa had organized a weeklong San Francisco reunion with her former classmates and they had just returned from a day at Napa Valley.

“They were all hungry,” she said. “And do you know, they wanted to eat siopao and mami from Ma Mon Luk!”

Last Friday, the Assumptionistas ended their stay with a farewell dinner at a downtown hotel. By the way, Ma Mon Luk is owned by an Assumptionista also, the former Tonette Salonga.

The parish church of Sain Augustine—run mostly by Filipino priests—is also in Westborough. Saint Augustine is probably the most populous—and solvent—parish in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. It’s amazing how many lectors, deacons, choir members and volunteers serve at each Mass!

The huge San Francisco Convention Center is on the other side of South San Francisco. It has hosted big conventions, big parties and big political and social gatherings. Two weeks ago, the hall hosted the biggest reunion of Filipino rock musicians from Manila, Canada and other parts of the States.

The biggest draw, of course, was “Jeproks” himself, Mike Hanopol, closely followed by the Hotdogs (Dennis and Rene Garcia).

Hanopol brought the house down with his memorable “Laki Sa Layaw” song, while the Hotdogs rocked and reminisced with “Manila, Manila,” “Ikaw ang Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko” and other early rock hits.

source : http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=47470