We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown 1st Anniversary

I don't know recall exactly what day I began this group "We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown" group on Facebook but I recall it was somewhere around the end of October sometimes around 5am. After posting several posts at the "We Grew Up In San Francisco" group about Chinatown and getting minimal response, I decided to start a group for people who grew up in San Francisco Chinatown.

Right after I began the "We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown" group. I messaged all my Chinatown buddies on my friends list...one person told another person and then another person and the group grew from there. Today the group is close to having 800 members...not counting the many lurkers who just read our stuff.

The timing was right for a group like this to form since most people who grew up in Chinatown are now close to retirement, retired, their kids have grown up, their houses are mostly paid for or paid for, many have moved out of Chinatown and now it is a time to look back, reflect on their childhood, reconnect with people whom they grew up with and talk about our unique experiences growing up in Chinatown.

There are thousands of groups on Facebook but very few are real live breathing groups like ours. We have lively discussions, postings, photos, etc. We have had regular gatherings in restaurants in Chinatown.
I can say starting this group has really changed my life. As I walk around, total strangers would come up to me to thank me for starting this group. They find our photos and discussion topics very interesting. I have met many great people. It has gotten me doing more things and speaking for the Chinatown community. [lw_posters22] For this I am producing a limited edition of 1st anniversary WGUISFCT commemoration t-shirts. They are available on November 21, 2010 at our WGUISFCT event at New Lun Ting Cafe (Pork Chop House) 7pm. For $15 it includes a dinner and a t-shirt...how cool is that? It's like buy a t-shirt from me and I'll buy you dinner.

Because this is a small restaurant, we have a limited seating capacity for 45 guests only. If you would like to attend, you must RSVP at the events page. We plan to begin selling this shirt at the event. We may have some leftover.

The design is originally from a poster I did in 1974 for the opening of the Jackson Street Gallery. This poster became a part of a bicentenial poster exhibit called "Images of An Era; The American Poster 1925-1975 and was featured with the likes of Andy Warhol and Peter Max. It was organized by the Smithsonian Museum and exhibited internationally.

I was going to print this t-shirt as a part of this exhibition I had about three years ago at the Chinese Culture Center called "Icons of Presence" but didn't get my c-fut going on this. Which explains why my signature is so big in this design.

So with a box full of blank shirts sitting in the basement for a couple of years, design all separated on films, I decided to finally print this shirt to especially celebrate our WGUISFCT first anniversary by just adding the text on the top and bottom.

The design is of a frustrated student standing in front of the iron gates of my old high school, Galileo. The red image is of a courtyard scene at the school I photographed while in my senior year. Four years after I graduated from Galileo I guess still had an axe to grind about my bittersweet experience there. So I designed this for the Jackson Street Gallery grand opening poster.

I plan to only print 72 pcs and do not plan to print anymore afterwards.

Ten Updates

1. Blog Wow..it's been since December of 2009 that I entered anything on this blog. Do you know how many blogs I have out there? I don't know neither! Everytime I log onto to something and if they have a blog available...so I just start another blog. My main blog is http://www.xanga.com/lelandwong

2. 100 Happy Chinatown Children Mural The most recent biggie for me has been the 100 Happy Chinatown Children mural I did as a part of the SF Art Commission's Art In Storefronts program. It's located at 840 Washington Street, the old Nam Yuen restaurant. It measures over 40' wide and about 12' high...taking the whole exterior of the storefront. It involved painting a background scene, photographing over a hundred Chinatown children, digitizing the images and sticking the images onto the wall. The stipend was only $500. I was raise funds to make it all happen. A special thanks to the WGUISFCT group on Facebook. 90% of the donations came from there. See the above photo.

3. United State Postal Service Is the postal service getting unreliable or is it my imagination. I made a payment by check, sent it via postal service and now the recipient say that never received the payment and I owe a fat penalty. I've been receiving other people's mail for another address. I've been receiving mail and packages with a note to send it to the right address. Is it because they have cut their staff and now they got workers doing the job of other workers as well? Is this the decline of the postal service in face of online payments, email, everthing moving to the internet?

4. Eight Tigers I've been the growls of the eight tigers. They are lurking in the brush...amongst the tall grasses. Just waiting....just waiting for the right moment to pounce.

5. I-Hotel I did fourteen illustrations for Karen Tei Yamashita's book, I-Hotel. I think I finished about mid-January. I used sumi ink and wash technique for the first time as finished illustrations.

6. We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown WGUISFCT is a group I casually began as a Facebook group. Ever since I started that group, I have connected with a lot of people. Many other members have connected with friends whom they have lost contact with. If you're a Facebook member and Chinatown has played a role or left a big impression in your mind...Please JOIN! ...and if you want an official WGUISFCT t-shirt or hoodie...let me know! atowngraphics@yahoo.com

7. Wedding Photography This has been a zero wedding photography year for me. The wedding photography business has really disappeared for me. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm still a wedding photographer. Do I blame it on the sucky economy? The proliferation of cheaper digital cameras? Newbies entering the business and charging very little since it's just a hobby and they have a regular job? Consumers thinking that anyone holding a camera can get good photos?

8. Angel Island Immigration Station The immigration station at Angel Island just celebrated their 100 years. I first visited that immigration station about 1985. The place was dilapidated and was planned for demolition. On the walls are carvings of Chinese poems by detainees in the barracks while they waited for their determination as to whether they can enter the US or be deported. Records were very sketchy in those days when there was a very weak central government in China.

My father spent three months at Angel Island, waiting for his fate to be determined at the age of twelve. This was in the shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. While many immigrants went through there, the Chinese bore the brunt of the interrogations and detainment. My father was always bitter when Angel Island was mentioned. He blamed it on the weak Chinese government and American discriminaton.

Thanks to historians and preservationists, the station has been restored as a historical site. It was heavy thinking about what my father went through as a child there...what he did, what he saw, talking to fellow detainees...

9. Frozen Chubs of Ground Chicken The MIL has been giving me these chubs of frozen ground chicken which she gets from those free food giveaways. I have to get creative as to what to do with them. So far I've used it to make spaghetti sauce, chili con ground chicken and taco filling. I want to make Gai Krapow, but the slugs have eaten all my spearmint leaves in the back.

10. Ice Age Is this one of the coldest summers in San Francisco or what?