Patricia Justine Tumang

Peeling Back the Layers of Legacy

San Francisco's I-Hotel and Seattle's Wing Luke Asian Museum reincarnate historic sites for new generations.

IN THE EARLY 1900s at the intersection of Jackson and Kearny Streets in San Francisco, Filipino men regularly shot pool at Lucky M and got haircuts at Tino's barbershop. These immigrants were new to California, but they found camaraderie on this foreign terrain, which greeted them more often with hostility and prejudice than with open arms. Because of legislation that forbade them from owning land, many lived in single rooms at the International Hotel (or "!-Hotel"), located in the hub of Manilatown, a place they'd come to know as home for well over 50 years.

Changing the Color of Porn

Videos from Jiz Lee and Syd Blakovich feature feminist, sex-positive images of queer couples, a rarity in the adult industry.

THE FIRST TIME I came across Jiz Lee and Syd Blakovich, they were having sex. They were the stars of The Crash Pad-the first porn video by Pink and White Productions, a San Francisco feminist, queer porn company where Blakovich is a producer. The real life couple had sex just the way they like it, with a lot of sucking, rimming, fisting and squirting. I was amazed. Besides the sex being hot and authentic, it was the first time on film that I'd seen two androgynous, Asian hapas get it on and enjoy it. They looked like people I could identify with-hardly like mainstream (i.e.