At first glance, the exhibit inside Casa de la Guerra feels like a family album left open with portraits, personal artifacts, and decades-old documents to tell stories that have long gone overlooked in textbooks and museums. But for many Filipino Americans in California, these aren’t just artifacts.
The exhibit, “Manongs on the Central Coast: Forming Communities Across Generations,” marks the first major historical display in Santa Barbara County centered on Filipino American immigration. After a 10-month run, it will close to the public on Sunday, June 22. However the stories told inside its walls, and the people behind them, have made it clear that this isn’t an ending. It’s a beginning.
The exhibit explores two major waves of Filipino immigration to the Central Coast. The first, between 1924 and 1934, and the second, following World War II during the baby boom era. Both generations faced unique challenges but played significant roles in shaping the cultural and economic foundation of communities across Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties…