Loren Cawaling interviewed by Dr. Steven McKay Part 1 of 2

In part one of the interviews, originally recorded in person, Loren Cawaling speaks with Dr. Steve McKay, a member of the Watsonville is in the Heart team. Throughout the interview, Loren and Steve discuss various photographs from the Cawaling Family Collection. In these conversations, Loren shares memories of various members of his family’s extended kinship network, including many manong. Loren emphasizes the close, familial relationships he and his family had with many manong. In the interview, Loren also discusses his father and mother, Florencio and Aladina Cawaling’s migration from the Philippines as well as their agricultural and cannery labor. He also speaks about his father’s and other Filipino men’s hobbies including purchasing cars, fishing, cockfighting, cooking, and gardening as well as his family’s leisure activities such as going to local beaches, visiting the labor camps, and attending family and social organization gatherings. At the end of the interview, the recording abruptly ends. It begins again in the second interview “Loren Cawaling interviewed by Dr. Steve McKay Part 2 of 2.”

Loren Cawaling and Dr. Steven McKay

January 13, 2022

Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-driven public history initiative to preserve and uplift stories of Filipino migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and the greater Pajaro Valley. Images were donated and digitally reproduced from private collections of individuals and families. Copyright remains with the original owners. All images included herein are intended for personal or educational use only. Any reproduction, redistribution, publication, or other use, by any means, without prior written permission is prohibited. Please note that the images on this website are not included at their full resolution. For permission to publish or reproduce and for higher resolution files, please contact the project director at wiith@ucsc.edu. If you are the rightful copyright holder of this item and its use online constitutes an infringement of your copyright, please contact the project director to discuss its removal from the archive.

English

Oral History

Dr. Steven McKay

Loren Cawaling

Watsonville

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1:33:05

[2:52] Biographical information for Loren Cawaling and his parents’ Florencio Toraneva Cawaling and Aladina Torres Garcia
[4:44] Florencio’s migration to the US in 1929 with close friend, Eliseo Taytayon
[5:03] Discussion of Eliseo Taytayon’s relation to the Cawaling family
[6:34] Florencio’s agricultural work
[7:46] Cawaling siblings—George, Larry, and Isedro
[8:20] Florencio’s agricultural work in Watsonville
[8:39] Loren’s memories of learning to drive a tractor at a labor camp on San Andreas Road and in the agricultural fields
[9:14] Manong’s leisure activities including cockfighting
[10:01] Discussion of manong uncles as members of the Cawaling family
[11:39] Cawaling family’s move from Calabasas Road to Doering Lane
[12:22] Florencio returned to Philippines where he met Aladina
[14:21] Memories of visiting manong at labor camps
[17:58] Cockfights and raising chickens for food
[18:16] Fishing and Palm Beach
[19:19] Family activities including visiting manong, meetings of the Aklanon Association and Filipino Visayan Association, and picnics at Sunset Beach
[23:20] Family parties and food
[27:38] Discussion of the photograph titled “Florencio Cawaling and Three Manong Posed In Front of Cars” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[29:12] Discussion of the photograph titled “Group Photo In Front of the Cawaling Family Car” from the Cawaling Family Collection and Loren’s passion for working on cars
[33:11] Discussion of the manong who left their cars on the Cawaling property on Calabasas Road and Doering Lane
[34:43] Loren’s first car was inherited from a manong uncle named Simeon Tanala
[38:23] Discussion of the photograph titled “Aladina Cawaling Standing Around Flowers” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[39:54] Challenges faced by Aladina as a mother of four boys and her love of gardening
[41:40] Aladina’s work at Green Giant cannery during the 1960s
[43:27] The Cawaling family’s home garden and produce shared with neighbors
[44:50] Aladina’s, Florencio’s, and Eliseo Taytayon’s cooking
[46:40] Discussion of the photograph titled “Group Photo in front of Estelita Tabios' Car” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[48:09] Discussion of the photograph titled “Aladina Cawaling Gardening” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[48:34] Discussion of the photograph titled “Group Photo in front of Estelita Tabios' Car” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[50:50] Discussion of Estelita Tabios’ car
[51:50] Florencio’s return to the Philippines after Aladina’s death and his second marriage
[56:18] Memories of the Cawaling family homes on Calabasas Road
[58:17] Discussion of a manong called “Lolo Albert”
[1:00:11] Discussion of the photograph titled “Large Group Standing In Front of Farm House” from the Cawaling Family Collection
[1:00:49] Memories of visiting Lolo Albert and other manong at the labor camps
[1:03:26] Memories of various manong uncles and how they were seen as family members
[1:09:21] Stories of Salvador Maagma known as “Manong Badung”
[1:15:52] Florencio’s and Loren’s labor at Green Giant Cannery
[1:17:46] Manong as members of the Cawaling family
[1:19:42] Catholicism and St. Patrick’s Church
[1:22:01] Description of a typical Sunday after church
[1:23:44] Challenges of growing-up in a working class family
[1:25:17] Friends and family who lived in the neighborhood on Doering Lane
[1:27:24] Challenges the family faced after Aladina’s stroke