Locus arrives in Japantown
By Joseph Hong
Mobilized to action last April by the displacement of many Asian American art and community centers suffering from San Francisco’s skyrocketing rent, an all-volunteer group of mostly 20- and 30-something API artists and activists have formed a nonprofit organization dedicated to opening a flexible, multipurpose performance art space/resource center/café in the heart of Japantown. Called Locus, the organization and venue hope to literally be the physical point of convergence of performing, literary, musical, and visual arts for San Francisco’s API community.
Located across the street from the Miyako Hotel at 1640 Post Street, Locus also hopes that by attracting the public to the arts, they’ll be able revitalize Japantown as a home base for Asian Americans as it once was.
“It was very apparent even last April that there was going to be a severe space crises for art spaces and nonprofits in general, so we were really looking to the possibility of taking this space in Japantown — a place that is struggling with its own coming to age, generational shift, and loss of community centers — and transform it into a community hub and also a place where the artist and the community can converge …” says Locus board member Jane Kim.
San Francisco, with an API population of 37 percent, does not currently offer an institution dedicated to showcasing works from Asian American artists — there are only administrative offices and rented performance spaces.
Asian American art spaces such as the Asian American Theater Company recently lost its lease on Arguello Street in 1994 due to rent increases and costs incurred from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damage; the Filipino American performance space Bindlestiff Studio lease will expire in spring; and Japantown Bowl, a much heralded community hangout for the youth and elderly, recently shut its doors after a buyout.
“Locus can meet the need for a central clearinghouse and homebase for the Asian Pacific American artists and community members to use as a resource,” says Julia Kim.
“As an artist at a Latino community art organization noted, ‘Physical institutions are where a community consolidates its power,’ ” Kim adds.
The venue plans to offer a flexible performance space to accommodate the city’s diverse art scene: experimental theater, jazz, hip hop, and political discussions are just some of the events which Locus hopes to showcase. A gallery will also exhibit the work of artists while a café in the works would generate revenue to keep the nonprofit financially self-supporting. Additionally, plans for an Asian American library and resource center, which will include Asian American and ethnic studies texts, novels, poetry chapbooks, and magazines by Asian American writers, are being mapped out.
“It’s going to be place for not only performances but for people just to come and hang out, and with the resource library, it’s also a place where ideas can be cultivated and where minds can come together and where people can talk and develop ideas — it’s a space for performance and creativity,” says Locus member Chi Hyi Xang, who is also director of National Asian American Telecommunication Association (NAATA), which produces the Asian American Film Festival in San Francisco each year.
According to Julia Kim, Locus is not only for Asian American artists. There will be an “open door” where Latino, black, and white artists are encouraged to join and work along side with API artists.
“The Asian American community is an extremely diverse population that spans dozens of ethnicities, generations, and historical traditions. Nevertheless, in mainstream America, Asian Americans are often lumped together in one stereotypical ‘Oriental’ or ‘foreign’ whole-stereotypes. Misunderstandings that can lead to discrimination and hate crimes,” says Kim. “We believe in the nurturing of many different artists and many forms of arts is essential to the empowerment of the API community and to building bridges with other communities.”
According to Locus board members, the most daunting hurdle for organization, at this point, is raising the $50,000 needed for obligatory renovations and constructions to meet city compliance codes. The first Locus fundraiser, a silent day auction and an open night auction, raised around $5,000. Aside from the dollars, Locus needs “a lot of help” with developing a business strategy and hiring a CPA, according to Jane Kim.
The fundraiser was, however, successful in other ways. The event attracted over 300 people who had filled the center to capacity, with even more folks waiting outside the door. Even a host of artists in San Francisco as well as throughout the nation were on hand to donate their artwork for the auction. “Someone had heard of the fundraiser on an FM station, and he just showed up with a piece of art to help, so I think there is a real recognition in the community, not just in the Asian American community, but just across the board that any new art space is vital. People are ready to support art in whatever way they can,” says Annie Koh, a Locus board member.
The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors (18MMW), a crazy, no-holds-bar Asian American comedy group, hosted the auction in which anything was up for bid: from a multi-course Chinese banquet to be cooked in a winner’s home to a dinner date with actor and slam poet Beau Sia.
To invoke the audience’s generosity the phrase “Don’t be Chinese. Don’t be cheap” became almost a mantra of the 18MMW during the auction. About $100 were the average winning bids for most of the items.
Though not officially opened yet, community use of Locus has already begun. There are monthly dinners for professionals of non- profit organizations. There has also been Asian American issues forum such as a panel discussion on hate crimes in the community and also on how the Asian American community fare in Election 2000.
But early as last spring, Locus was just a nascent idea, and the 1,700 square foot space where it sits today was part of the Korea House restaurant, which had not been in regular use for 20 years.
Julia Kim, 24, whose family has owned the property for 30 years, became increasingly concerned with the future of Japantown as a community. Many small business owners in neighborhood were reaching retirement age and it seemed unlikely that the next generation, whose career options are greater than their parents, would take over their businesses. Japantown Bowl, an important community center for where the young and old could congregate, was also closing at this time. There were also fears that the Kubuki 8 cinema would be next. Kim was fully aware that Japantown population was aging and there were no incoming immigrant populations to sustain the community as an Asian American ethnic enclave as it once was. She prepared to do something about what she and others had perceived as the deterioration of Japantown’s social and economic infrastructures. Kim asked her father if the unused ground level space could be utilized to help maintain the identity of the community. With the approval of her father, Kim, as a volunteer at NAATA Asian American Film Festival, told the organizers of her available space.
“Word just spread from there and things just happen quickly,” she says. Nonprofits, art organizations, and people just rallied around the idea to where Locus is anticipating an official March 2001 opening.
“On a personal level, I would like to be able to help preserve the history of Korea House, which has been a family-run business over 30 years,” Kim says of her reasons for sharing her family space with the rest of the community.
“It was actually where my parents first met,” Kim says. “The people that have come through both as customers and employees have always been like family.” During the 1989 earthquake when the city lost power, her family kept their doors opened, and served people by candlelight hot soup with heated portable gas stoves.
“The restaurant has only closed its doors twice in my lifetime, for my grandfather’s funeral, and for my sister’s wedding,” Kim remembers. “In a way, by laying down a foundation for the future generation through Locus, we are recording a history of a community of mostly immigrants, who very rarely get to be in the spotlight.”