Filipinos Bring a New, Exotic Touch to Eagle Rock

Where can you find the latest movie from Manila, canned banana blossoms or relyenong manok-- Tagalog for sweet and sour stuffed chicken?

Drive through Eagle Rock these days and you’ll see small shops selling such wares from the Philippines. They sit tucked among purveyors of more traditional Americana--the 60-year-old hardware stores, the neighborhood barber shops.

With its ethnic grocery stores, small restaurants and musical dialects, the Filipino community is changing the landscape of Eagle Rock, splashing daubs of exotic color on the staid main streets and homes with white picket fences that characterize the area.

Eagle Rock, once a bastion of working-class whites and conservative values, today attracts an increasing number of Asians and Latinos. The Filipinos, who are among the largest and most visible of the new settlers, say they are drawn by the area’s reasonably priced housing, low crime and good schools.

“Eagle Rock . . . that is where Filipinos move after they have climbed up the economic ladder to where they can buy their own homes,” said Gilroy Gorre, editor of the Philippine American News in Los Angeles.

Shirley Minser, an aide to Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alatorre, whose 14th District includes Eagle Rock, said the Filipinos are helping to create a “completely different mix” in Eagle Rock, which is sandwiched between Pasadena and Glendale just south of the Ventura Freeway.

Fast-Growing Group

There are no current statistics on how many of the community’s estimated 22,000 residents are Filipino. The federal census recorded that about 1,000 Filipinos lived in Eagle Rock in 1980, and community leaders estimate that figure has at least tripled since then. Some Filipinos say it may be as high as 5,000, or nearly 25% of the population.

The Filipino presence is especially strong in the community’s churches. Most Filipinos are passionately Roman Catholic and, for many, social life revolves around weekly or daily Mass, elaborate celebrations on religious feast days and family groups that meet weekly to recite the rosary. Religious services are held in English, which a large number of Filipinos are taught to speak in addition to their native languages.

Several Catholic pastors say their Filipino congregations have increased tremendously.

Ten years ago, his parish had only a handful of Filipino families, says Father Vincent Serpa, pastor of St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church on Merton Avenue. Today, they constitute a third of the congregation and play an active role in church and school affairs, he says.

“Filipinos are pretty religious,” said Danny Cases, who helps his nephew run the Little Manila market on Eagle Rock Boulevard. “When we move, the first thing we look for is, is there a Catholic church in the area,” Cases said.

Not all Filipinos are Catholic; they also make up 25% of the Eagle Rock Seventh-day Adventist Church’s congregation, according to Pastor Jim Brown.

In recent months, events that culminated in the ouster in late February of former Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos have made politics rival religion as a popular topic, although most residents maintain they are apolitical.

“We don’t talk about politics that often; it’s something that doesn’t involve our lives directly,” said Rufina Mallari, who owns Ping’s, a Filipino fast-food restaurant on Fletcher Drive.

Politics Shunned

The Pilipino-American Community of Eagle Rock, also known as PACER, a social and philanthropic organization, steers clear of politics, according to president Ray Gonzalves.The club was formed in 1982 and has about 150 active members, Gonzalves estimates.

When pressed, most Eagle Rock Filipinos say they support the new President, Corazon Aquino, and are watching their homeland cautiously for signs of economic revival. A number said they opposed Marcos but failed to speak out while he was in power because they feared reprisals.

Although some think they may eventually return to the Philippines if conditions there improve, most Filipinos in Eagle Rock, who emigrated to the United States for jobs rather than political reasons, say they are here to stay.

“We’re just trying to do whatever America wants us to,” Cases said. “With the poor economy in the Philippines, it’s hard to go home.”

In Filipino businesses as well as homes, reminders of the country left behind are widespread.

At Filipiana Restaurant on Eagle Rock Boulevard, savory Filipino dishes--the food blends elements of Malaysian, Chinese and Spanish cuisine--are served in a smorgasbord-style setting while a television set blares overhead. Below the TV, however, is a small religious shrine. A votive candle flickers on a small table next to a statue of the Virgin Mary. A rosary drapes over a statue of the Christ child, next to an offering of fresh flowers.

Why do Filipinos flock to Eagle Rock?

A number of professionals, such as attorney Nestor Domingo, say they find it a pleasant and safe place to raise a family while remaining convenient to jobs in downtown Los Angeles.

Eligio (Junie) Tavanlar, who like many Filipinos goes by the pet name bestowed in childhood, says he moved to Eagle Rock after he had two cars stolen in one year from his downtown Los Angeles neighborhood.

After three years in Eagle Rock, he has no complaints. “There’s peace and quiet here, and the community is tight,” he said. Tavanlar and his family own and operate Narra Filipino Oriental Market on Eagle Rock Boulevard.

Earlier this year, however, shock waves reverberated throughout the Filipino community when a 17-year-old Filipino youth was arrested on suspicion of killing his father, prominent anti-Marcos newspaper executive Oscar Salvatierra of Glendale.

At first, Filipinos throughout Los Angeles suspected the slaying might have been politically motivated. When they learned of the son’s arrest, “it was a shock, really, to everybody,” Gonzalves said.

Filipino communities in Azusa, Carson and Cerritos are older and larger than that of Eagle Rock, but their popularity has driven up real estate prices and led to crowding, says Gonzalves, a branch manager for a mortgage banking firm.

Problems of Growth

Gonzalves says he fears the same problems may one day overtake Eagle Rock. His office processes at least 10 loans a month for Filipinos who want to buy homes in Eagle Rock, Gonzalves says, and the area’s growing popularity is already forcing some Filipinos to move to less expensive communities such as neighboring Highland Park.

Schools have the influx as well. The Filipino student body at Eagle Rock High School has doubled in the past six years and now makes up 7.5% of the enrollment, according to Principal Gloria Webster. Last year the school started a Filipino Club, which immediately drew 115 members, says faculty moderator Alicia Nocum, herself a Filipina.

The transition to American life has apparently been relatively smooth for most Filipinos, according to school officials and community leaders.

Police in Northeast Los Angeles report few troubles with the Filipino community other than a gang-related murder that took place about four years ago when a Filipino gang from the Rampart area of Los Angeles clashed with a rival Latino gang in Eagle Rock.

Los Angeles has several Filipino gangs, but they seldom venture into Eagle Rock, said Detective Dave Rico, who works with CRASH, an acronym for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums.

Few Cultural Barriers

Despite the occasional problems, Filipino immigrants assimilate more easily than other Asians because they speak English and are comfortable with Western traditions because of years as a U. S. colony, says Marshall Nunn, a professor of Filipino history and contemporary Asian-American culture at Glendale Community College.

Said newspaper editor Gorre, “Ethnic enclaves exist because of necessity. That does not happen with the Filipino, who is an American creature, the product of an American educational program. He probably watches Clint Eastwood and reads Playboy magazine.”

But native culture still flourishes in Eagle Rock, where Filipinos can choose from at least least five native grocery stores along Colorado and Eagle Rock boulevards. All have opened within the past three years, two in the last several months.

“We figured the other stores couldn’t handle all the Filipinos here, so we decided to open our own,” said Ceferino Cases of Little Manila on Eagle Rock Boulevard. Inside the store, the pungent smells of dried fish mix with musky spices. Packets of salted, dried watermelon seeds--which are eaten like sunflower seeds--cans of mango juice and bagoong, a salty sauce made from fermented shrimp and fish in brine, line the shelves.

Like many immigrants, Cases works long hours, usually 12 or more a day, stocking inventory, mopping floors and ringing up purchases.

At Manila Price on Colorado, owner Teresa Villavicencio says she hopes to attract customers from the Eagle Rock Plaza across the street by offering free delivery and potted plants along with more traditional Filipino delicacies such as pirorutong-- violet rice and tropical jackfruit.

Filipinos who want a dose of their native celluloid travel from as far away as Simi Valley and Pomona to patronize Julio Vergara’s Manila Video on Eagle Rock Boulevard. Vergara, who runs the store with his brother-in-law, stocks 700 Filipino movies plus 900 American titles and gets shipments each week from Manila.

Inside the small store, lurid posters in exaggerated colors advertise the latest in drama and romance. One of his biggest sellers, Vergara says, is “Kailan Sasabihing Mahal Kata?” which translates roughly from Tagalog to “When Will I Say I Love You?”

The movie stars two of the Philippines’ most popular actors, Christopher DeLeon and Sharon Cuneta.

Nostalgia for their homeland draws some expatriate Filipinos to his store, Vergara says. In other cases, youngsters steeped in traditional lore but reared in America are curious to see their native land on film.

One who remembers the Philippines firsthand is Jenina Perlado, 18, who attends Eagle Rock High School and is a Filipino Club member. Perlado came to the United States five years ago with her parents, grandmother and brother and lived temporarily in Hollywood. By 1985, the family had saved enough money to buy a house in Eagle Rock, Jenina says.

Like the Perlados, a number of newly arrived Filipinos settle temporarily in Hollywood or near the original Filipino settlement at Beverly Boulevard and Temple Street in Los Angeles until they can afford to move elsewhere.

Perlado says she wants to impart the same heritage of filial obedience to her children that her parents stressed with her.

“I don’t want them to grow up and not have any manners. They will learn Filipino customs and language,” she said.