Choose Calle Itliong

A renewed push is underway in Santa Barbara to honor Filipino-American labor leader Larry Itliong, weeks before the City Council is expected to revisit a contentious question: what to do with Calle Cesar Chavez, the small downtown street whose current name has drawn objections from some residents.

In a letter published by the Santa Barbara Independent, Lompoc resident Bing Aradanas — who has previously written on the topic in the same pages — called on Mayor Randy Rowse and the council to choose Itliong as the street's new namesake, tying the request to the approach of Filipino-American History Month in October.

"October is Filipino-American History Month," Aradanas wrote, noting that the council's September 29 meeting could include the renaming of Calle Cesar Chavez as an agenda item. In the letter, Aradanas said he continues "to hope enough Santa Barbarans — including Mayor Rowse and members of the council — agree Larry Itliong would be an appropriate choice."

Who Was Larry Itliong?

Larry Itliong occupies a foundational — and long underrecognized — place in California labor history. According to Aradanas's letter, Itliong initiated the historic Delano grape strike in 1965, the campaign that ultimately grew into the United Farm Workers movement. While Cesar Chavez became the most recognizable face of that movement, Itliong led Filipino farmworkers — members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee — who were the first to walk off the fields, prompting Mexican-American workers under Chavez's National Farm Workers Association to join the strike in solidarity.

The renaming proposal would place Itliong's name on a street in a city whose economy and culture have deep agricultural roots, and where farmworker history remains visible in the surrounding region.

Why October Matters

The timing of the appeal is deliberate. Filipino-American History Month traces its origins to October 18, 1587, when — as Aradanas recounts — men of indigenous Philippine ancestry, serving as scouts for Spanish expeditions, first set foot on what is now the U.S. mainland at Morro Bay on California's Central Coast.

The Filipino-American National Historical Society chose October both for that anniversary and because it is the birth month of Itliong, Aradanas wrote. Some U.S. cities began officially proclaiming the month in 1992, Congress first did so in 2009, and President Barack Obama issued the first-ever White House proclamation of the observance in 2015, according to the letter.

Closer to home, the 805 region has already embraced the commemoration. Oxnard and Ventura have both officially proclaimed Filipino-American History Month, and in 2022 Ventura sponsored a mural in the Montalvo neighborhood prominently featuring the former Montalvo branch of the Philippine Islands Market — known locally as "the P.I." — a Filipino-owned grocery chain founded in Pismo Beach in 1945. As Aradanas notes, that founding year was the first in which Filipinos were allowed to own property in California, despite having been U.S. colonial subjects since 1900.

The Calle Cesar Chavez Question

The street at the center of the debate is a short stretch near downtown Santa Barbara whose name has generated ongoing discussion. Aradanas's letter indicates the council's September 29 meeting may take up the renaming issue, though residents should consult the city's official agenda to confirm whether the item will be heard and in what form.

The proposal to name the street for Itliong is not new — Aradanas penned an earlier opinion piece in the Independent two months before the September letter making the same case. But the arrival of Filipino-American History Month gives the suggestion added symbolic weight, and supporters hope the council will act while the observance frames the contribution of Filipino-Americans to California history.

Santa Barbara residents who wish to weigh in can typically do so by attending the council meeting or submitting written comment through the city's website.

A Region Rich in Filipino-American History

The Itliong proposal lands in a region with an unusually deep Filipino-American story to tell. The 1587 landing at Morro Bay is often cited as the first documented arrival of Filipinos on the U.S. mainland — an event that occurred on the Central Coast itself, just up Highway 1 from Santa Barbara.

The P.I. Market chain, memorialized in the Montalvo mural, reflects a later chapter: the mid-century Filipino-American communities that took root in Ventura County and along the coast, building businesses and institutions even as they navigated discriminatory property laws that barred Filipino ownership in California until 1945.

Larry Itliong himself has gained broader recognition in recent years, with schools, buildings, and days of recognition established in his name elsewhere in California. Supporters of the Santa Barbara renaming argue the city — situated between the farmworker-history hubs of Ventura County and the Salinas Valley — is a natural place to honor the man who set the Delano strike in motion.

What happens next rests with the City Council. If the renaming advances, Santa Barbara would join a growing list of California communities that have formally recognized Filipino-American contributions — and residents of the street itself would face the practical realities of any renaming: updated addresses, identification, and mail.

For now, advocates like Aradanas are asking Santa Barbarans to see October not just as a month on the calendar, but as an opportunity to make local history visible — one street sign at a time.