The International Hotel

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Anyone can schedule a tour of the resurrected International Hotel, known as the I-Hotel, the retirement home that doubles as a monument to a historic single-room occupancy building that once stood at the same spot. The stories of the elderly Asian residents who were forcibly evicted in 1977 are told through old photographs etched on the glass windows of the new building. ASHLEY HARRELL

Manilatown

The original International Hotel was built in 1854, and moved to its current location at Jackson and Kearny Streets in 1873. Rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake, the three-story unit was part of a 10-block stretch known as Manilatown.

The Single Life

The hotel’s 184 rooms were occupied mainly by low-income Filipino and Chinese men. Tens of thousands of Filipino men came to work in this country’s fields and canneries after the Spanish-American War when Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Because of a scarcity of the Filipina women and American laws that prevented interracial marriage, most of the men were lifelong bachelors.

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We Won’t Go

When San Francisco’s downtown began to expand in the 1960s, developers singled out the I-Hotel for demolition; they dreamed of converting the space into a parking lot. The first eviction notices were issued in 1968, but public outcry — from labor unions, community organizers and prominent figures, including the infamous Rev. Jim Jones — managed to delay the evictions until late 1977.

Home Sweet Home

On eviction day, Aug. 7, 1977, more than 3,000 protesters created a human barricade around the hotel. Inside, the elderly residents sat on the floor and linked their arms in peaceful protest. The police carried them out one by one. Nearly four years later, the owner demolished the hotel, the last vestige of Manilatown.

A Growing Presence

While Manilatown may be long gone, the area’s Filipino population continues to grow: the census identified Filipinos as the second-largest group of Asian-Americans in the country. There are sizable enclaves of Filipinos in SoMa, the Excelsior, Daly City and the East Bay.

Coveted Dwelling

The I-Hotel was reborn as a retirement home in 2005, when 158 residents moved in. About a dozen of the newcomers had been occupants of the original I-Hotel; the rest were chosen by lottery from among 7,500 applicants.