Via Annabelle Udo of AsianWeek comes that piece on the nurturing of the Filipino diaspora —

The intersection of Sixth and Mission streets straddles San Francisco’s battle with time and architecture. To the east, a mayhem of bars and grills, the Sony Metreon and the Westfield Mall.

To the west, a mish-mash of parking lots, old brick buildings and empty metered-parking spaces.
Amidst this transitioning neighborhood is Arkipelago Books, a literary diamond in the dust, at home in an area where the city’s first Filipino immigrants resided in the early 1900s.

Previously located in the Mint Mall, once a bustling cultural haven for the Filipino community, but now a block away at 1010 Mission Street in the Bayanihan Community Center, it stands as the only bookshop and small-press publisher in San Francisco that offers an extensive collection of works by authors and artists of the Filipino diaspora.

Currently in its 14th year, Arkipelago Books’ presence is a strong statement for a small business that survived the dot-com boom/bust of the 1990s—a challenging time that also displaced many Filipinos who immigrated to the South of Market area many years ago.

“It was a very unsettling experience, going through that era and with the rivalry of the dot-coms. There were several mom-and-pop operations in the Mint Mall that did have to close down,” said Marie Romero, owner of Arkipelago Books. “But having been in business as long as I have and going through that time, I am a testimony of the wealth of Filipinos who continue to enjoy literature. 

To read the rest of the article, please visit AsianWeek.

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