Pinoytown Rising: San Jose Public Library Exhibit through November 30

When Number Two Son and I were getting coffee in a cafe in San Jose Japantown, we noticed a small flyer on their community bulletin board that talked about Pinoytown Rising, an exhibit in San Jose’s Martin Luther King Library about the history of San Jose’s Pinoytown. Having a few hours to spare and given that the library is not that far from Japantown, we checked it out. Number Two Son knew little about about the history of San Jose’s Pinoytown and found it fascinating. I thought I would share as many of you might also be interested if you happen to be in the Bay Area.

I have talked about San Jose’s Pinoytown before and have been on a history tour there, but I still learned things that I didn’t know before.  Wandering around the exhibition, I noticed the item to the right and discovered that many of the migrants to Pinoytown were Sakadas who made a first stop in Hawaii. For those who don’t know, “talk story” is Hawaiian Pidgin for telling stories.

Another reason to see this is exhibit is the Martin Luther King Library itself.  It is an fascinating combination of a University (San Jose State) and a municipal library. For example, right next to the Pinoytown Rising exhibit is San Jose State’s Center for Steinbeck studies and its Center for Beethoven Studies. I have gone there just to enjoy the views from the top floors. It’s also a good place to study or work – all three of my children studied there during their high school years. Number Two Son went back to the exhibition and brought his older brother.

As mentioned above, the exhibit will be available only through November 30, so you have about two and half weeks left to see it. The San Jose Martin Luther King Library is located at 150 East San Fernando Street in San Jose.