New York City • May 1997. Maligayang Bati, Tony! Throwback to the Empire State Building, May 1997. tony palisoc, empire state building, nyc, hogan spartans, hogan high school, filipino american, birthday tribute, staten island ferry, woodside queens, little manila, kapamilya.

New York City • May 1997

Maligayang Bati, Tony! Throwback to the Empire State Building, May 1997

My birthday tribute to my closest friend since Hogan Spartans '85 — and the NYC crew who made it to the top of the Empire State Building without me.

Tony, Anini, Maritess, and AJ Santos atop the Empire State Building, second week of May 1997.

Happy Birthday to my BFF, Tony Palisoc! 🎂🎉

Throwback to the second week of May 1997 — Tony, Anini, Maritess, and AJ Santos atop the Empire State Building. Somewhere below (and apparently missing from this photo 😂), I was off on my own adventure aboard the Staten Island Ferry.

I may not remember the stranger who took this photo, but 29 years later, I'm glad they did. Happy Birthday, Tony! 🗽🇵🇭🇺🇸

📌 Did You Know?
For Filipinos in NYC and Queens: the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 70th Street in Woodside carries an official "Little Manila Avenue" co-naming, unveiled in June 2022. It anchors the city's largest concentration of Filipino restaurants and businesses — Renee's Kitchen, Phil Am Foodmart, and Ihawan among them.

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🇵🇭 Tagalog Word of the Day
Bati — bah-TEE
A greeting or salutation — the root of "Maligayang Bati," the phrase Filipinos reach for on a birthday instead of a straight translation of "happy birthday."

Three Decades of BFF

Tony's been my closest friend since Springstowne Junior High and Hogan Senior High School, Class of 1985 — a friendship that outlasted Vallejo, outlasted the 707, and by May 1997 had made it all the way to Midtown Manhattan. This wasn't the first time we crossed the country together, and it wouldn't be the last. It's the same crew that shows up again and again in the Hogan Spartans '85 archive — proof that a Class of '85 friendship doesn't need a reunion to stay alive.

A Photo Missing Its Photographer

Every group photo has an edge the camera doesn't reach. On this particular afternoon, that edge was the Staten Island Ferry, where I was taking in my own view of the skyline while Tony, Anini, Maritess, and AJ Santos posed 1,250 feet up. Whoever the stranger was who framed this shot on the observation deck, they gave four friends — and, three decades later, a whole family archive — a moment worth keeping.

Sources: QNS, "Filipinos in Queens Celebrate Unveiling of 'Little Manila Avenue' in Woodside" (June 2022).

← Previous Tony Palisoc Story: Hogan HS Class of 1985 Reunion

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J.F. (Jonjo) left the Philippines at age nine, spending a lifetime bridging the gap between his Marikina roots and his Chicago/Vallejo upbringing. A proud Hogan Spartan from East Vallejo and resident of LA/SF, he founded PinoyBuilt not just as a digital archive, but as a cultural compass for his three children to navigate their heritage, language, and identity with Pinoy Pride.

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