How Pinoys abroad are faring

As a reluctant US immigrant – with valid permission from the Immigration and Naturalization Services to overstay here in the Philippines – I have no choice but to keep flying back and forth to America (which I swear is painful to the pocket).

Although I stayed longest in Boston, my base in the US is actually Los Angeles because that is where my family is – actually in Glendale, which is just next-door to L.A.

Whenever I have to go to the States – wherever my destination is – I have to pass by L.A. first to give the family the usual salutations and dump on them a ton of pasalubong. On my way back to Manila, I also have to stop by L.A. first because that is where I pack my balikbayan boxes to bring home here.

But even if I’ve been to L.A. many times over, I hardly know the place. Maybe because when I’m there, I just stay home and catch up on sleep (and basically because I’m a homebody and can go on for days and even weeks without leaving the house).

And maybe because in America, I don’t have a car (I’m a pauper there with nothing to my name) and merely rely on the kindness of family and friends to get around – to the supermarket, the department store, the various US government agencies (to work on my papers) and especially to get to the airport.

Close by to where I live is an area called Historic Filipino Town. A female cousin who had always been kind enough to drive for me had pointed that place out to me on many occasions, but insists that there is nothing Filipino there – no Filipino establishment or anything remotely Pinoy.

She said that she once drove down the street and saw mostly transplanted Mexicans and very few Filipinos. I so badly wanted to check out the place one time to satisfy my curiosity, except that, well, I was just hitching a ride and I didn’t want to ask for one more extra favor. For the longest time, the Historic Filipino Town was a big puzzle to me. Why name an area Historic Filipino Town if there is nothing Filipino there?

Then last Wednesday night, I caught the Los Angeles episode of Pinoy Abroad on GMA 7. Host Rhea Santos (who does the show with Ivan Mayrina) had gone to L.A. and one of the places she featured was the Historic Filipino Town. It turned out that the Historic Filipino Town is a rather big area with quite a number of streets in it – like Temple and Alvarado. Its establishment was also quite recent – in 2002 – which explains why not too many Filipinos (even those living in L.A.) are aware of it or are basically clueless on the significance of the place and this includes my cousin who migrated with her family to Los Angeles as a seven-year-old girl in 1978.

According to the Pinoy Abroad report, the City of Los Angeles approved the resolution to have that area named Historic Filipino Town because that was where the Filipinos first settled – as a group – in L.A.

Apparently, my cousin didn’t bother to explore the area thoroughly enough because she failed to see the different Pinoy eateries and groceries scattered all over the place. But she was right about one thing and this was confirmed by a Pinoy Abroad staff member who went with Rhea Santos to L.A. There are a lot of Mexicans now living there and the Historic Filipino Town is fast turning into a little Mexico.

On a personal note, I was thrilled to watch the L.A. feature of Pinoy Abroad because one of the Pinays there interviewed by Rhea was a long lost friend I hadn’t seen in years – actually decades. I remember I was only 17 doing my practicum for a TV magazine when I met Mila, who was then with the public relations department of Manila Midtown Hotel. I had no idea what became of her until – voila! – I saw her in Pinoy Abroad. She is now Mila Coger and is running a day-care center for the elderly in L.A.

Another successful Pinoy featured in the show was Alfonso Chu, who is a friend to a lot of local entertainment journalists – like Ricky Lo, Ronald Constantino and Aster Amoyo. Al Chu runs several nursing homes, but has also successfully branched out into producing concerts (featuring mostly ABS-CBN talents) for the Filipino immigrants in the West Coast.

I’ve never met Al Chu, but I’ve long wanted to thank him for sending me a bottle of Nyquil cough syrup through Ronald and Aster sometime last year.

When I went to L.A. last summer, I was thinking of calling him up so that we could finally meet, except that he lives in faraway Anaheim (he stays very close to Disneyland) and it’s a long drive to Glendale and I didn’t want to impose on him.

I would have wanted to talk to him if only to ask him what it takes to succeed in America. Thankfully, Pinoy Abroad provided the answer during Rhea’s interview with Al: You will succeed in the US if you are not choosy with the kind of work being offered to you.

I will keep that in mind if and when I have to go. When the time comes and I really have to migrate, I hope Pinoy Abroad does another L.A. feature and from there, I’ll gladly give them an interview.

But only if I’m successful.