The Carlos Bulosan Book Club (CBBC), established in May 2017, is a project of Friends of Echo Park Branch Library (FOEPL), located in the heart of Historic Filipinotown. The Echo Park Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) houses a dedicated Philippine Heritage Collection consisting of several hundred volumes on Filipino American life and culture.
The CBBC’s mission is to provide a forum to explore and learn about Filipino American and other immigrant experiences through literature and art, utilizing various media, including print, audio, and video formats. This project was born from the spirit of Carlos Bulosan’s America Is In the Heart, a story of perseverance and sacrifice in the face of undaunting hardship to build a better life. Our aim is to preserve our collective memory by collecting the individual stories of our contributions in the building of America.
Many critics interpret the book’s title “America is in the Heart” as Bulosan’s unrelenting optimism and hope in the American dream that he kept alive in his heart throughout his life. He and others in his community endured the devastating impact of racism and discrimination, and his chronicles sear these images in our minds. However, despite living constantly amid harsh tensions and contradictions, he ultimately goes to the side of hope. More importantly, Bulosan frequently reminds us of our shared experiences and common bonds with other peoples of color here in the U.S. and from other lands. While we spotlight our own Filipino American stories, we learn and celebrate other immigrants’ struggles and successes as we all strive to be part of America and participate in making it a more perfect Union.
We welcome the tremendous success the vaccines against COVID19 are achieving that we now meet in-person. The Friends/CBBC meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday of each month. Our “book sales” start at 10 am. At noon, the Friends Board holds its meeting. Then the CBBC start it’s meeting at 1 pm. Please join us at our scheduled monthly meetings.
The PHILIPPINE HERITAGE COLLECTION (PHC) was sponsored by the Friends of the Echo Park Branch Library and opened to the public in 2013. Currently the collection has over 1,000 books in English, Tagalog and other dialects from regions of the Philippines The PHC serves as a special resource to the community-at-large and students in Historic Filipinotown and is accessible to all Angelenos. It is the only collection of its kind within the entire Los Angeles Public Library system of 70 branches.
The PHC’s beginnings were inspired by the Pilipino American Reading Room and Library (PARRAL) established in 1985 in Historic Filipinotown and founded by the late Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown, a former public education schoolteacher and social worker. The collection was later known as the Filipino American Library (FAL) and was housed in various locations throughout Historic Filipinotown through the years.
The FAL collection included more than 6,000 books, articles, ephemera and artifacts reflecting the Filipino experience in the Philippines and United States. USC Libraries acquired the FAL collection following the library’s closing. The Echo Park Branch Library’s special PHC collection aspires to continue the literary tradition established by “Auntie Helen”.
The PHC began and grew from donations of books (examined and approved by the Library Branch Manager) as well as financial contributions used to purchase books. The following are some of the first donations:
- Reme Grefalda, then head of the Asian American Division of the US Library of Congress donated the initial 100 books from her private collection.
- Greg Villanueva donated $1000 in 2014.
- Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions Bookshop Shop donated books with a value close to $2000 in 2014.
- The Builder’s Lions Club donated seven coffee table type books in 2014.
- The Echo Park Neighborhood Council awarded a grant of $2000 for the purchase of books in 2016.
- In December 2016, Dr. and Mrs. Michael Gonzales (Mrs. Patricia Araneta Gonzales) obtained a matching grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in the amount of $1000. The funds were used to purchase books written by NVM Gonzales. A celebration of his Centennial was held at the Library in May 2016.
Currently, the collection has over 1000 books in English, Tagalog and other dialects from regions of the Philippines.
A special collection at the Echo Park Branch, LA Public Library System
