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Showing posts with the label mare island

40 Years of Pista sa Nayon: How Vallejo's Filipinos Turned a Naval Base Into a Cultural Homecoming

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Vallejo, California • June 2026. 40th Anniversary Vallejo Pista sa Nayon 2026. vallejo pista sa nayon, fil-am festival, bay area filipino, mare island, kwentuhan, pista pilsner, VST and Company, Jocelyn Enriquez. Vallejo, California • June 2026 40 Years of Pista sa Nayon: How Vallejo's Filipinos Turned a Naval Base Into a Cultural Homecoming More than 10,000 festival-goers converged on the historic Mare Island waterfront on June 6, 2026, for the 40th anniversary of the Bay Area's largest and most enduring Filipino cultural celebration — and PinoyBuilt was there. The Mare Island waterfront transformed into the heart of Bay Area Filipino-American culture for one extraordinary Saturday. Photo: J.F.R. Perseveranda / PinoyBuilt I have been in Vallejo since 1979. I have watched this city absorb wave after wave of Filipino families — Navy veterans, nurses, caregivers, engineers — and build something that no municipal government decreed and ...
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Location: Vallejo, CA, USA
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Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo

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Vallejo, California • March 2026. Mel Orpilla: Historian, Martial Artist, and Keeper of Vallejo's Filipino Memory. mel orpilla, vallejo filipino history, filipinos in vallejo, balintawak arnis, island warrior fighting sticks, manong generation, mare island naval shipyard, fil-am history, ifugao, ilocano heritage, pamana, filipino american history month. Vallejo, CA • Filipino American History Month 2026 Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo Historian, martial artist, and cultural keeper Mel Orpilla has spent decades ensuring that the Filipino presence in Vallejo—one of the oldest in Northern California—is documented, honored, and passed on. Mel Orpilla — historian, Balintawak Arnis master, and keeper of Vallejo's Filipino memory. 📍 Vallejo, California In the city of Vallejo, history lives in unexpected places. It lives in faded photographs tucked into family albums, in stor...
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Early Fourth of July Celebration at Coal Shed Brewery, Mare Island Brewing Co. 🍻

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Happy Fourth of July! July 3, 2023. Mare Island Brewing Co. - Coal Shed Brewery. Vallejo, CA. Ron Stainer and I were texting about the planning of our next Hogan High School reunion, when he suggested a meetup. Jim Abad and Glenn Pingol agreed to meet up. Ron and I started Springstowne Jr. High School in seventh grade. I believe Jim and Glenn joined in eighth grade. As usual, there was the usual great conversations and laughter. The notorious Hogan Class of 1985 "Tenth Reunion" came up again. 👀😂  L to R: Glenn Pingol, Jim Abad, Ron Stainer & J.F. Perseveranda Join us & help build a Fil-Am online community. Please leave a comment, and  click to follow our website  www.pinoybuilt.com. Join one of our sites in California: Los Angeles , Sacramento ,  San Diego , San Francisco ,  San Jose  or Vallejo . Click on a tag below to browse.
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Vallejo Pista Sa Nayon: Mare Island Coal Sheds, Vallejo,CA June 1, 2024 #SaveTheDate

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Let's all go to Vallejo's Pista Sa Nayon on June 1, 2024 We had an impromptu high school reunion last year, in 2023. Let's plan a reunion there this year. Join us & help build a Fil-Am online community. Please leave a comment, and  click to follow our website  www.pinoybuilt.com. Join one of our sites in California: Los Angeles , Sacramento ,  San Diego , San Francisco ,  San Jose  or Vallejo . Click on a tag below to browse.
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Location: Mare Island, Vallejo, CA 94592, USA
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Happy Birthday Rudy Jandoc

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Believe it or not, Rudy had a late growth spurt and is now taller than me! 😜 🤣 Flashback to Vallejo Pista Sa Nayon 2023 . We hadn't planned the meeting. Rudy said he had planned on bringing his son to the event, and Alex Jose had texted him the day before to let him know our old friend, Admiral Butch Dollaga, was the featured speaker. I also had planned on attending Pista Sa Nayon to check out the Filipino Martial Arts Tournament. My sister had also texted me that Admiral Butch would be at Mare Island. So it was an impromptu Hogan High School reunion . I've just confirmed that the mobile version of the site and the desktop version show different comments.  That's because the the two sites technically have different URL's. Therefore, you will not see desktop comments if you're browsing the site with your smartphone and vice versa. The workaround is to view the desktop site on your smartphone. You can also go to https://disqus.com/home/forum/pinoybuilt-com/ to view...
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Location: 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo, CA 94590, USA
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Rear Admiral Leonard 'Butch' Dollaga at Vallejo Pista Sa Nayon

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Photo with my old neighbor and high school buddy before he spoke onstage at Vallejo Pista Sa Nayon.  Butch's family and mine lived two houses away before we moved to a new house. The admiral and my sister were in the same year at Springstowne Junior & Hogan Senior High School. Way to rep Vallejo.  Great to see you Butch! Please drop us a comment below. Help us grow Pinoybuilt to be the number one Filipino-American online community in California, if not the USA. 🇺🇸 Please click this to follow www.pinoybuilt.com . Thank you! Maraming salamat po kabayan. 🇵🇭 
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Reunion: Salie Pangelinan & Ron Stainer.

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Who remembers Salie Pangelinan? She's Salie Winkelmann now. Happily married with three adult sons, and two grandkids. How awesome!  I wanted to invite all of our class since Salie moved to St. Louis, Missouri right after high school graduation. But she said she didn't think folks would remember her, as she would also have trouble remembering folks. Thanks for meeting up with Ron and me, Salie. By the way, Salie and I were neighbors at Toni Ct from seventh grade until October of ninth grade when we moved to another house, my parents' current house. It was great catching up with you and Ron. I'll edit the other photos, add it to the short videos I shot, then upload to my YouTube channel. Please subscribe. Thanks for the beer again! Go #HoganSpartans #HoganHighSchool 🇵🇭 Thanks for stopping by. Please drop us a comment below in the comment box at the bottom. If you can't login automatically in the Disqus box with your Facebook, Twitter or Google account, please crea...
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Location: 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo, CA 94590, USA
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Happy Veterans Day with Rear Admiral Leonard C. “Butch” Dollaga

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Vallejo, CA • November 2022. Rear Admiral Leonard "Butch" Dollaga — Vallejo native, Hogan High School Class of 1986, U.S. Naval Academy graduate, two-star admiral, submariner. One of the highest-ranking Filipino Americans in U.S. Navy history. Veterans Day speech in Vallejo, California. PinoyBuilt coverage. The Vallejo Kid Who Commanded Submarines: Rear Admiral Butch Dollaga Comes Home Hogan Class of '86. U.S. Naval Academy '90. Two-star admiral. Thirty-four years in the silent service. And on Veterans Day, he came back to the city that made him — two houses from where the PinoyBuilt editor grew up. By J.F.R. Perseveranda · PinoyBuilt · November 11, 2022 · Updated March 2026 [INSERT HERO IMAGE: RADM Dollaga at Vallejo Veterans Day ceremony · 1200×675 · compressed] ★★ Two-Star Rear Admiral 34 Years of Navy Service 1986 Hogan High School, Vallejo 1990 ...
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Location: Vallejo, CA, USA
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Happy Birthday Glenn! @HoganSpartans @MareIslandBrew #Reunion

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Flashback to our Hogan Spartans reunion at Mare Island Brewing Co Btw, you still have Author rights to Pinoybuilt.com. 😉
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Happy Birthday Josh Adea!

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Basketball Never Stops Josh Adea had his birthday party at Mare Island. Vallejo, CA. June 1, 2014 FIL-AM. FILIPINO/FILIPINA-AMERICAN.  Please drop us a comment below. 🤙🏽 Help us grow Pinoybuilt to be the number one  Filipino-American  online community in California, if not the USA. 🇺🇸  Please click  this to follow www.pinoybuilt.com . Thank you! 👊🏽 Maraming salamat po kabayan. 🇵🇭 ✌🏽 
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Location: Mare Island, Vallejo, CA 94592, USA
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