EXPERIENCE
Ricardo Alvarado arrived in California in 1928 as a 14-year-old in the first wave of Filipino immigrants. Working as a janitor and houseboy, he enlisted in the U.S. Army First Filipino Infantry Regiment in 1942. After serving in combat in the South Pacific during World War II as a medic, he became a civilian cook at San Francisco’s Letterman Army Hospital.
For 20 years he studied the city and nearby rural areas in his free time with his view camera in hand, recording Filipino community life at dances, banquets, baptisms, funerals, and other gatherings. In 1959, Alvarado ended his work in photography and returned to the Philippines to marry Norberta Magallanes. They had two children, Janet and Joseph Alvarado, who currently live in San Francisco.
When he died in 1976, Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado left an archive of nearly 3,000 rare photographs, a vital portrait of early Filipino Americans.

- Candidates for Queen, San Francisco, 1950s Three young ladies—Anita Alfafara, Ethel Canlas, and Luz Incarnacion—vied for the title of queen at this box social. Local queen candidates entered regional contests sponsored by Filipino Americans throughout the West Coast. Like their immigrant parents, second-generation Filipinos felt the racial tensions of the times. But social, athletic, and scholastic clubs upheld and preserved Filipino culture.Candidates for Queen, San Francisco, 1950sThree young ladies—Anita Alfafara, Ethel Canlas, and Luz Incarnacion—vied for the title of queen at this box social. Local queen candidates entered regional contests sponsored by Filipino Americans throughout the West Coast. Like their immigrant parents, second-generation Filipinos felt the racial tensions of the times. But social, athletic, and scholastic clubs upheld and preserved Filipino culture.
- Roy Rose and Uncle at 2982 Pine Street, Interior San Francisco, circa 1950s Roy Rose on the far right, considered Ricardo “Richard” a big brother—they were very close. Roy witnessed much of Alvarado’s photographic activity in and around the city and counties on fishing trips to Pacifica, on the bay. They would visit Cirilo Alvarado, Ricardo’s brother in the San Jose, California farm where Cirilo worked as a migrant farmer.Roy Rose and Uncle at 2982 Pine Street, Interior San Francisco, circa 1950sRoy Rose on the far right, considered Ricardo “Richard” a big brother—they were very close. Roy witnessed much of Alvarado’s photographic activity in and around the city and counties on fishing trips to Pacifica, on the bay. They would visit Cirilo Alvarado, Ricardo’s brother in the San Jose, California farm where Cirilo worked as a migrant farmer.
Past and Future Exhibits
This exhibit was first shown in 1998 at the San Francisco Public Library, Jewett Gallery, at 100 Larkin Street in San Francisco. Currently, the West Sacramento Historical Society, in conjunction with Exhibit Envoy, will present the exhibit at the City of West Sacramento’s Community Center, at 1075 West Capitol Avenue, West Sacramento, California from Monday, Oct. 17, through Friday, Nov. 25, 2022.