ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION: Poetry on the Walls

View of Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from the Tiburon Ferry.

Angel Island sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay, not far from the much smaller island of Alcatraz. It can be reached by ferry from San Francisco, Oakland, or Tiburon (in Marin County). In 2013, when I visited Angel Island, I took a tram tour and heard about the island's long history, including the story of lighthouse keeper, Juliet Nichols, and how she kept the fog bell ringing by hand on an extremely foggy night and day in the summer of 1906. That became the inspiration for my children's picture book, Keeper of the Light: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog (Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2022).

Arriving at the dock in Ayala Cove on Angel Island, August 2024.

A few weeks ago I visited Angel Island for the first time since Keeper of the Light was published. It was a beautiful day and the ferry from Tiburon was crowded with people going to Angel Island for a day of hiking, biking and enjoying the out of doors in the state park.

Map of Angel Island. We followed the blue perimeter road to the Immigration Station on the north side of the island.

On all my previous visits to the island I had focused my attention on the southwest side of the island where Juliet’s lighthouse had been located (marked with a yellow X on the map) and where the story of my book takes place. But this time I wanted to visit the former Immigration Station on the other side of the island, where thousands of immigrants, mostly from China, had been detained between 1910, when it was built, and 1940, when it was closed after the main administration building burned down. So, after disembarking at Ayala Cove, Art and I followed the path past the Visitor Center and up the hill to the perimeter road, for a half-hour walk to the entrance of the Immigration Station.

View of Tiburon from the perimeter road. Can you find us in the reflection?

At 12 square miles, Angel Island is the largest island in San Francisco Bay. When Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza, the first European to visit the island arrived in 1775, he encountered the indigenous Miwoks, who had been coming there to hunt, fish and gather acorns and other wild plants for thousands of years. Over the next half century, the regional Miwok population was decimated due to resettlement and introduced diseases, and their use of the island as a hunting ground ended. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, California became part of the United States. Two years later the Federal Government became the official owner of Angel Island.

Dormitory in the Detention Barracks as it might have looked while immigrants waited for decisions on their cases. They slept in bunk beds, six between each set of poles.

The Immigration Station on Angel Island opened in 1910. It was the West Coast’s primary immigration facility, where immigrants, mostly from China and Japan, but other countries as well, were brought to be interrogated, often being detained for weeks, months or even years, and in many cases deported. The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1882, prohibited most Chinese from immigrating to the U.S. (It was repealed in 1942.)

Detention Barracks are in the upper left of the photo. In the lower left is the large water tank which provided fresh water for cooking and bathing. Both the Detention Barracks and Hospital Monument are now museums.

In 1962, the military left Angel Island and soon after it became a California State Park. The former Immigration Station is now open to the public. In the Detention Barracks Museum you can see rows of narrow bunk beds in the large room where detainees slept, examples of some of the clothing and items they had brought with them, games they played, the guards' office, and more. While most of the detainees at the Immigration Station were men, there were also women and children, who were kept separately. (Note that there is a $5 fee to see the Detention Barracks Museum. It is well worth it!)

Examples of the writing on the wall.

What is most unique about the Detention Barracks Museum is the writing on the wall. Many detainees wrote or carved their thoughts into the wooden walls of the barracks. These inscriptions, many written as poems, form a personal record of their experience and have become a unique and valuable record of the immigrant experience. Over the years, the walls were painted, obscuring the writing. When we first walked into the room we said—but where is the writing?—until the docent showed us by shining her phone light onto the wall to catch the shadows of the engraved characters. Poems were everywhere!

Island of Sadness. You can press the button to hear the poem read aloud.

Signboards provide information about different kinds of Chinese poetry and give examples. And one display allows you to listen to a poem being read aloud in both English and Chinese. When you listen to the Chinese, even if you don't understand the words, you can hear the rhythm and rhyme.

Fog Bell at the Immigration Station Memorial. 

The Immigration Station also had a giant fog bell, much like the one Juliet Nichols rang on that foggy night in 1906. Unlike Juliet’s bell, which is inaccessible, but still in place on the rock where the bell house once stood, the Immigration Station bell is part of a memorial to the immigrants who once came to the island. It has a clapper, which you can swing to make the bell ring. We ate our picnic lunch on a shaded bench next to the bell.

The Immigration Station on Angel Island was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

During my visit I finally got to meet Park Interpreter Casey Dexter Lee in person, who had been so helpful with my research for my book. It was a pleasure to talk with her and learn more about Angel Island’s history.

Keeper of the Light is for sale at the kiosk gift shop.

Before we caught the ferry back to Tiburon, I visited the kiosk gift shop near the dock, where I was pleased to see Keeper of the Light displayed. All profits from sales in the gift shop go to support the Angel Island Conservancy.

Ferry landing, Tiburon.

For our visit to Angel Island we had bought our ferry tickets ahead of time online, showing the QR code as we boarded in Tiburon in the morning and where we were given a ticket for the return trip. We made sure to be on time for the 3:20 ferry back to Tiburon, the last trip of the day. If you miss the last ferry you are stuck on the island! And unless you brought camping gear, there is no place to stay. There is a small café in Ayala Cove, but services are limited on the island.

For more information about Angel Island and the Immigration Station check online.

View from inside the Detention Barracks.

For my post about my visit to Angel Island in 2017, click HERE.

THE ANNUAL ASIAN CELEBRATION IN EUGENE, OREGON: Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Taiko drum performance at the Oregon Asian Celebration, Eugene, Oregon.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, went to this event, where she took these photos and video in July 2024.

Thunder rumbled across the park in the heart of Eugene. But skies were clear, the evening air balmy on this mid-summer Saturday. What could be booming so loud?

The answer: Japanese “Taiko” drums during an energetic stage performance by members of Eugene Taiko, a community-based ensemble, on the day of the 39^th (!) annual Oregon Asian Celebration.*

Oregon Asian Celebration audience and craft market tents.

This was one of many summer cultural events in and around Eugene, another free, family-oriented offering, with themed foods, music and dance, craft and artworks, exhibits on heritage, volunteer opportunities, and services, and fun for young ones. The festival was presented by the Asian American Council of Oregon and supported by the University of Oregon (both located in Eugene), the City of Eugene, local radio and TV stations, and more major community partners.

Other performances featured more types of Japanese drums, Indonesian or Korean percussion, and Balinese, Filipino or Punjabi dancing. A second stage was set up to demonstrate martial arts: aikido, karate, kung  fu, and taekwondo.

Opportunities for audience participation included some of the martial arts and tai chi, a chance to play a taiko drum or to learn the Chinese lion dance, and culminated in hourly Dragon Boat Races with prizes for young shipbuilders.

Asian food trucks.

Food to please even picky Sasquatch.

The event had started at 10 a.m. but my husband and I went at sundown to avoid the midday heat. First, we examined the long line of food trucks: Afghan, Filipino, Hawaiian--including a shaved ice truck, Indian, Japanese variations including one truck selling sushi burritos (?!), Sasquatch (?!), Thai, Vietnamese, in alphabetical order, and more, plus several rather popular ice cream trucks. 

Only Afghan food would be new to us, so that’s what we chose. Alas, at the Manti Food Truck, the Uzbek qably palov (steamed rice with corn oil, beef, onion, raisins and carrots) was sold out. Of the chicken sukhari (deep fried), Afghan bolani (flatbread filled with potato, green onion and cilantro), beef or spinach manti (dumplings), and Afghan beef rolls, the latter looked like finger food easy to share, for a small enough serving to save room to sample other cuisines. I rarely eat meat, but I’ll consider it to try ethnic foods.

Delicious Afghan beef roll.

The Afghan beef rolls were exceptionally delicious! Wrapped in a thin layer of piping hot, crunchy bread, was a hint of ground beef mixed with cabbage and carrot, exquisitely flavored with onion and cilantro. The rolls came with a green, pickly, brightly seasoned dipping sauce that dazzled our taste buds. Two small rolls each were such a satisfying new experience that we didn’t need to eat anything more for dinner.

The Eugene Bonsai Club tent.

After “dinner” and the Taiko drum concert, I enjoyed walking past the Eugene Bonsai Club tent and craft market tents, which made me wish I needed more earrings or ethnic outfits. Maybe next year… Until then, next on my to-do list is to try more Afghan food at the Manti Food Truck in town.

*At the event website, the photo gallery shows the posters used to advertise the event in past years, with Asian zodiac animals and other stunning designs, forming a veritable art exhibit. On that webpage, scroll down miles of photos of all aspects of the event. And when you feel like maybe you don’t need to go, remember that you can’t taste all the delicious foods except on site.

 

CLOSE-UP WITH WILDLIFE IN NAIROBI, KENYA: Part 3, Giraffe Center, Guest Post by Humberto Gutierrez Rivas

Reticulated giraffe feeding on bushes at the Giraffe Center, Nairobi, Kenya.

With many thanks to Humberto Gutierrez Rivas for his report and terrific photos of his family's trip to Kenya last January. His post about their wildlife experiences near Nairobi is in three parts, the first appearing two weeks ago, Part 3 today, and Part 2 last week.

This past January our family had the trip of a lifetime to Kenya for 12 days to visit friends in Nairobi, go on safari, and visit the island of Lamu.  There were many highlights of this trip, and one that got it started happened right there in the city of Nairobi.  

Less than 8 hours after our arrival, we were met at the front door of our friends’ house by Amos, our guide, and his safari van.  Our friends had coordinated a day expedition for us to Nairobi’s National Park, the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage center, and Giraffe Center.

Amos drove us from the north to the south part of the city to get us to the park, so we also got to see the early morning activities of people walking to bus stops, walking to work, and opening shops along the road. 

Giraffe Center

Petting and feeding food pellets to a Rothschild giraffe.

Our last stop for the first day, after visiting the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and Nairobi National Park, was the Giraffe Center.  Although the Giraffe Center is not located right at the national park, as is the elephant orphanage center, it is near it. It’s a very popular place to visit. To enter the center you go through some stations where you are asked to wash your shoes and your hands because you will be in very close contact with the giraffes when you feed them. The center has a tall walkway that curves around the main building. 

Petting a giraffe.

All visitors get a handful of giraffe food in the form of pellets in a half coconut shell. Some giraffes come to the walkway to meet the visitor and get easy food--others feed on leaves in the nearby trees. There are signs that warn you to be careful so that the giraffe doesn’t bump you with its head. 

Masai giraffe.

We learned from other signs that in the area we are likely to see three species of giraffes. We can tell them apart by the skin pattern: the Reticulated (tile like marks), the Masai (maple leaf like marks), and the Rothschild (darker patches with white spaces between patches). My wife and daughter stopped to feed the giraffes. You put some small amount of pellets in your fingers and drop it into the giraffe’s tongue, but if you are not careful, a long tongue goes for the coconut shell instead of your hand. Giraffes have a grayish and slimy tongue. 

Warthogs and giraffe. A warthog family feeding from fallen pellets.

We also saw a family of adult and young warthogs resting and running between the legs of the giraffes to feed on pellets that fall to the ground.  We spent close to an hour at the center, and at 5:30 in the afternoon we were ready to go back to our friend's house. The next day would start very early with a six hour drive for a three day visit to the Masai Mara National Park