Victoria Manalo Draves Park
Story + Photos by Jaison Cabebe
Between outstretched limbs of SOMA youth and young hoopers polishing their jump- shot, my 5th grade self saw Victoria Manalo Draves Park as a green watering hole in SOMA’s grey concrete jungle; an epicenter of activity tucked between Folsom and Harrison st. VMD was the scene of a hot-blooded childhood traced in sweat, from middle school track practices organized by United Playaz to awkward tweenage romances.
Now, when I think about the two acre park named after the Olympic diver who grew up in the SOMA before going on to win two gold medals in the 1948 Olympics, one who was forced to conceal her identity as Filipino-American, I think about the building blocks of a healthy neighborhood along the axes of race and class struggle— In my mind, Victoria Manalo Draves park is the ever-evolving physical record of 96 years of communal effort to validate Filipino existence in San Francisco— a story sprawled over three city blocks.
Before VMD park’s existence, it was the site of the former Bessie Carmichael campus, and before that, it was the site of Columbia Square park. The old Bessie Carmichael school occupied the site of the former park and was never intended to be permanent. There had been a longstanding land-swap agreement between SFUSD and SF Park and Rec to return the space into a park once the new Bessie Carmichael elementary project was completed. Naming the new park after Vicki Draves was a tangential agreement that folded into the park’s development, and was tied to the SOMA Recreational Center on nearby 6th street.
In 1999, Victoria Manalo Draves was once slated to be the name for the at-the-time new recreational center along SOMA’s 6th street. SOMA’s Filipino community saw it fitting to name a recreational and sports facility in tribute to Vicki Draves. A lack of funding in the development of SOMA Rec Center ensued where philanthropist Eugene Friend intervened, and the SOMA Recreational Center took on his namesake. In keeping peace, the San Francisco Parks and Recreational department promised the SOMA Filipino community to give the VMD name to the new park once Bessie Carmichael elementary had completed its transition into its new location on 7th and Folsom streets.
VMD park’s development completed in 2006; its official ribbon cutting in October preceded with a celebration of Draves’ life and achievements, culminating in her return to the city to tour her old neighborhood and school of Bessie Carmichael (then Franklin Elementary) and again to celebrate with SOMA on the opening of the park. “She was a beautiful lady,” recalls SOMA historian MC Canlas,”even as she grew older she was still amazing. She was in her eighties when the park was named after her, and she was grateful to the community.”
Since it’s completion, VMD park has integrated itself into the lives of the SOMA youth; a stomping grounds of sorts for Bessie Carmichael / FEC students. The elementary school and Galing Bata allot time and space for the kids to play there a few days out of the week. It’s not without its challenges. Galing Bata faculty often have to scout out the space beforehand and green-light the park for the kids’ safety and security for play. “What we would do before is that before we bring the kids out there we would have like a staffer to do a safety sweep first,”explains Ate Shari,” if we determine that it's not safe already, we have to stay at the yard [at FEC].”
From 2015 to 2019, developers attempted to develop mid-rise housing adjacent to the park, threatening to overshadow nearly half of the park. There was a fight behind closed doors to stop development in a hearing filed with the SF Recreation and Park Commission. SOMA’s residents are used to fighting for their neighborhood, and this fight collated the likes of United Playaz, West bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), and the Galing Bata youth, who testified that in a neighborhood like the SOMA, Victoria Manalo Draves park is their backyard. Ultimately, there was a unanimous decision by the Board of Supervisors to save the park from being overshadowed. “The kids need at least like a big patch of greenery and a space in which they can freely express themselves and freely go,”says Kuya Mark, another member of Galing Bata faculty. “VMD is another blessing to the community. It's an extension of why we became the Filipino heritage district. We need those spaces to also be aware of our roots.”
The resilience of SOMA’s Filipino residents is the lifeblood of the community, and that’s seen throughout history. It was seen when Vicki Draves brought home two gold medals despite receiving discrimination in her own city, seen when we fought for schooling central to the SOMA, and seen when preserving the park’s access to sun and sky. To the SOMA youth, including myself, the idea of an open space park at VMD’s scale played a role in transforming the SOMA from what had been an industrial sector into a thriving community— a place where one can comfortably grow up. Beyond that, I see the park and its naming after Vicki Draves as a gesture of physically and figuratively carving out space— a testament to the SOMA Filipino people’s will to assert their existence onto the South of Market as if to say ”We’re still here, and always have been”.
In 2006, a 2-acre park was welcomed the SOMA neighborhood, next to Bessie Carmichael School. With a softball field, basketball court, dual-level playground, picnic area, community garden and large, grassy field, there’s enough space for everyone to come out and play.
The park is named for local diving champion Vicki Manalo Draves, the first Filipina-American to compete in the Olympic games. In 1948, she won two gold medals, in springboard and platform diving.