The International Hotel (I-Hotel) struggle in the late 1960s and 1970s was the historic epicenter of the fight for housing rights and immigrant social justice in San Francisco. Located just blocks from 435 Broadway, the eviction battles brought tenants, students, and community activists together, establishing a permanent precedent for community placekeeping in North Beach.
BRICKS & SWEAT: WHY IT MATTERS
The eviction of elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants from the I-Hotel in August 1977 mobilized over 3,000 people who formed a human barricade around the building. The struggle was not just about physical masonry; it was about the right of working-class immigrants to exist in the city. The defeat of the eviction and the subsequent rebuilding of the hotel stand as a monument to community resistance.
