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Identifier
AhyteWallace_2013_CRP
Description
Wally Ahyte begins the interview by explaining his fourth generational standing in the United States and goes on describing the reasons for his ancestry's migration. His great grandfather came from China to the West Coast of the United States, California, to dig for gold in the 1950s. Once the gold died out he moved to San Francisco and had Wally's grandfather. A lot of the Ahyte's fluctuated locations of birth either in San Francisco or Salinas Chinatown. Wally himself was born in San Francisco and his first house was above his grandfather's gambling casino business in Chinatown. For the majority of Wally's childhood, he grew up in this one-bedroom apartment with his brother and parents. This gambling casino was created in 1920s by Wally's grandfather. In the 1930s Wally was born. When explaining his family history Wally seemed very proud of his family’s significance in the community. Wally Ahyte goes into the political business aspect of the gambling casino, Republic Cafe ownership, and the service station. He talks about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how American citizenship was important to land and business owners. Chinatown in the early 1900s, was only one block long, but had an extensive amount of history through their community. The first time Chinatown burnt down Mr. Sherwood gave the residence of Chinatown the opportunity to rebuild. After this rebuilding phase, Wally illustrates the buildings and property's all being built in the 1930s. Throughout the interview it seemed that everything was overlapped. The casinos were also candy and cigarette stores, in addition to the apartments upstairs. The Republic Cafe was somewhat of a residence. In Chinatown on both sides of Soledad St. there were massive Chinese families like the Lees’, Ahytes’, and Chin Boes’, Gins’. Mixed in with the families and laborers there were the Tong gangs fighting for gambling memberships; because of this these building was packed with people at all times, developing the hustle and bustle reputation of Chinatown. Wally gives the history of Chinatown with a nostalgic voice when talking about the families and other Asian cultures. A big historical and personal moment in the interview was when Wally was talking about his connection with the Filipino's. The reason why the Japanese were left out of this memory was because the Japanese internment camps during WW2. Along with this history of Chinatown he also explains the future lay out and possibilities of Chinatown. While describing the organizations that were established in helping Chinatown's revitalization, we gather a lot of Wally Ahyte's personal achievements and positions in these organizations. Wally received a degree in accounting which led him back to Chinatown to help with the family businesses, eventually leading him to take over the service station. When the service station was on a downward slope along with Chinatown itself, Wally left home again to go back to school. In doing so Wally became a software engineer and made a career out of it for twenty or so years. Being one of the few old Chinatown local's that can actually remember what happened during its developing stages, Wally feels compelled to hold onto the towns memory and significance by moving its present population out, and putting in some concrete history and household residence instead. Then ACE museum was explained, along with the SSS, a safety and sanitation committee, and Chinatown Boards and other sub-committees trying to get the homeless out and new residence in. Chinatown throughout its history is seen to always have a community that protects and works on each other’s behalves. Wally doesn't want to lose this embracive memory because of Chinatown’s new reputation. Wally wants to put life into the town he once loved. Throughout this interview it was easy to tell Wally Ahyte's displeasure of where Chinatown is at currently, and because of this displeasure his passion to change it around is ever stronger.
Interview Date
11-1-2013
Interviewer
Guy Galzerano; Cierra Rauch
Geographic Coverage
Salinas (Calif.)
Subjects
Chinatown (Salinas, Calif.); Chinese American families; Chinese restaurants; Gambling; Tongs (Secret societies); Community development, Urban; Chinese American Citizens Alliance
Type
Moving Image
Genre
Oral histories
Digital Format
video/mp4
Language
eng
Digital Collection
Chinatown Renewal Project
Repository
Archives & Special Collections of California State University, Monterey Bay
Disclaimer
These oral histories express the personal views, memories, and opinions of the interviewee. They do not represent the policy or views of California State University, Monterey Bay.
Recommended Citation
Ahyte, Wallace and California State University, Monterey Bay, "Interview with Wallace Ahyte" (2013). Chinatown Renewal Project. 14.
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/ohcma_chinatown/14
Rights Statement
