How Filipinos reshaped ‘America’s suburb’ in the San Fernando Valley

How do Filipino Americans make sense of the American Dream?

The question is one of several at the heart of author Dr. Joseph Bernardo’s book, “Filipinos in the San Fernando Valley,” released Aug. 12 and out now from Arcadia Publishing for its “Images of America History” book series.

Bernardo, 45, is a Valley native, historian and the DEI director at Loyola Marymount University. Bernardo also co-hosts “This Filipino American Life” — a podcast he started in 2016 with close friends and other Valleyites.

For “Filipinos in the San Fernando Valley,” the now-author curated a visual documentary of how Filipino immigrants helped reshape the cultural, social and physical landscape of the Valley.

“My angle for the book was how did Filipinos internalize suburbia?” Bernardo said. “I think Filipinos were able to internalize and create their own version of suburbia. And in essence, they kind of helped to remake suburbia, along with other ethnic communities.”

Starting in the 1960s, the Filipino immigrant population grew rapidly, in part a result of the 1965 Immigration Act’s removal of national-origin quotas. Many came to the San Fernando Valley, seeking affordable homeownership and a suburban quality of life.

Today, Filipinos comprise the largest Asian American community in the 260-square-mile valley deemed “America’s Suburb,” by Journalist Kevin Roderick in one of his books.

What was once a “White, middle-class space” transformed into bought into and adjusted to the suburban ideal, Bernardo said.

Pulling from community archives and photographs from family and friends, Bernardo curated 223 images depicting the lives of Filipino Americans in the Valley. Bolstered by research, the images provide a visual chronology of an ever-evolving community and suburb.

“I have pictures of Filipino families in front of their newly purchased homes and in front of their newly purchased vans. This was kind of a status symbol, right?” Bernardo said. “And the way they tried to make it their own was, for example, living in multi generational households as opposed to the nuclear family. I have pictures of Filipinos remaking their backyards to grow native Filipino vegetables and tropical fruit trees. It’s kind of changing a little bit of what suburbia is.”

Bernardo, like many of the subjects of his book, was born in America and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He grew up in Northridge, where his parents settled in the 1970s.

Bernardo dedicates a chapter in his book to second-generation Filipino Americans and youth culture — a topic informed by his lived experience. Fashion, cars and political activism are among the trademarks of Filipino youth culture in the 90s, Bernardo says.

“For me, the chapter is very nostalgic but it’s also documenting this time in the 1990s when second generation Filipino Americans grew into their own youth culture which continues to resonate today,” Bernardo explained.

Bernardo says the origins of “Filipinos in the San Fernando Valley” came to him during the pandemic, when he was quarantined in the Valley. Trained as a historian, Bernardo noticed a gap in the research.

“There’s a lot of Asian American history around Chinatowns and ethnic enclaves. Only recently have people started talking about suburbia,” Bernardo said.

“And so that’s why I was really thinking about Filipinos in suburbia, where a majority of Filipinos actually live, and I don’t think the literature is actually reflective of that. So it’s time to actually historicize that story.”

To discuss his book, Bernardo is set to appear at several events across Southern California, including a book talk at 5 p.m. Oct. 9 at PROSPECT Bookstore in South Pasadena.