Local Filipinos with ties to the historic Philippine Islands Market in downtown Pismo Beach will get to salvage the marquee and any artifacts left behind after its demolition.

Commissioner Deanna Cox-Miranda recommended the salvage as a condition for a demolition permit approved by the Pismo Beach Planning Commission last week for construction of a three-story, four-unit condominium project at 238 Ocean View Ave.

“I was not going to rest at ease until contact was made with the Filipino community,” Cox-Miranda said.

“There's no reason why they shouldn't have been brought into the process.”

She said she felt an obligation to contact the Filipino community before the Planning Commission hearing because it bothered her that Cultural Resource Management Services was unable to contact them for an evaluation of the historical significance of the building.

Rosalee Marquez, president of the Filipino American History Central Coast Chapter and a Santa Maria resident, said she would like to have been contacted for the evaluation but will be on site to monitor the demolition.

“I didn't know about this (meeting) at all until Deanna Cox-Miranda called me Monday night, and then I went to the Planning Commission Tuesday,” she said.

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Proper notice was sent out prior to the Planning Commission meeting, city officials said.

Marquez said she attempted to contact the rest of the local Filipino community before the meeting, and some of them showed up to protest the demolition.

But after realizing the building was planned for demolition, Marquez said, she was content with keeping the artifacts.

Her father, a former amateur boxer, regularly traded and shopped at the P.I. Market, as it was known.

Marquez said she hopes the marquee will be transported to the Filipino Community Center at 885 S. 13th St. in Grover Beach, possibly to hang above the building.

According to a city staff report, because the structure was an “old” art deco building, a historical evaluation was completed and paid for by the developer.

The report, produced by Paso Robles-based Cultural Resource Management Services, states that no Filipinos were able to be contacted for the report. But history outlines colonies of Filipinos dating back to the early 20th century, the report states.

The building has a weak case for historical significance because it had been significantly altered after its original construction in the 1920s, according to the report.

The commission unanimously approved a coastal development permit, conditional use permit, architectural review and tentative parcel map for the project - the Bergantz Condos - to replace the market.

The project conforms to the city's General Plan, Local Coastal Plan and Zoning Code, according to a staff report.

Conditions of the approval will require the developer to pay the costs for relocating artifacts and coordinate, in good faith, with the Filipino American History Central Coast Chapter to document them.

“It was really a tough situation,” Cox-Miranda said. “It breaks my heart to see the entire building demolished,” she said, “I'm going to take a picture of the building myself before they demolish it.”

The market was a gathering place, a community center for the local Filipinos and place to network, said Priscilla Martinez said, who used to frequent the market.

“It's such a shame to see it go,” she said.

Lucille Lor, a former P.I. Market courtesy clerk whose husband, Eulogio Lor, was one of the original partners of the building, according to a 1957 grant deed list of partners, said she would like to see the partners' names etched on the marquee someday.

She'll also be on site to monitor the demolition.

“I'll be there to watch, but I might cry,” she said.

A decision on whether to relocate the marquee will be made at the chapter's July 30 meeting, Marquez said.

Josh Petray can be reached at

489-4206, Ext. 5015, or jpetray@santamariatimes.com.

July 9, 2006