Redevelopment and Resistance
Fillmore clearance, the International Hotel and Mission murals show planning as a contest over who gets to remain visible and housed.
Mid-century officials labeled large districts “blighted” and used redevelopment powers to clear them. New roads, commercial projects and superblocks promised modernization. The cost was concentrated in working-class communities of color—and the opposition created new models of tenant and cultural organizing.
The 1977 International Hotel eviction became a defining struggle over Filipino American community, elder housing and downtown land value.
Nancy Wong, via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 4.0
Fillmore: the “Harlem of the West” cleared
After the war, the Fillmore supported Black-owned clubs, shops, churches and newspapers. Redevelopment’s A-1 and A-2 projects cleared broad areas, displacing thousands and breaking commercial networks that could not be recreated by a relocation payment. Empty lots sometimes remained for years.
Official language emphasized deteriorated buildings and new investment. Residents emphasized lost homes, customers, congregations and political power. Both describe buildings; only one fully counts relationships.
Mission murals turn walls into public archives, linking Latin American politics, neighborhood memory and present-day claims to space.
Fabrice Florin, via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 2.0
The International Hotel
The I-Hotel on Kearny Street housed many elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants and anchored Manilatown. As downtown development pressure grew, tenants and a broad coalition resisted eviction for years. In August 1977, sheriff’s deputies removed the remaining residents while thousands protested outside.
The building was demolished, but the site did not become an easy victory for developers. Decades of organizing led to replacement senior housing and a community center bearing the International Hotel name.
Mission walls remember
The Mission became a center of Latino life through multiple migration waves from Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Murals made political history visible in alleys and on community buildings. They address Indigenous heritage, revolution, labor, migration, gender and neighborhood displacement.
Murals are vulnerable archives: paint fades, buildings change ownership and new work covers old. Community documentation preserves the conversation rather than freezing one “authentic” neighborhood image.
Field assignment
Take the lesson outside
Pick one cleared Fillmore block, the I-Hotel site or a Mission mural. Use one historic image and one current view to write a 150-word “what changed / what remained” caption.