When Manilatown Swung: The Manila Serenaders
Club mandalay: Music, memory & manilatown
What did Manilatown sound like when Kearny Street was alive with music?
Step into the sounds and stories of historic Manilatown for an afternoon of live jazz, archival photographs, family memories, and community Talk Story at the International Hotel Manilatown Center.
When Manilatown Swung: The Manila Serenaders launches a new chapter of Club Mandalay: Music, Memory & Manilatown, a gathering where live performance, archival history, and community storytelling come together to bring the many eras of Manilatown to life.
For this special program, we travel back to the musical and social world surrounding the I-Hotel through the story of Canuto Salaver, a drummer with the Manila Serenaders whose life was deeply connected to historic Manilatown.
MUSIC, MEMORY & FAMILY STORY
Members of the Salaver Family join guest interviewer Sabrina Oliveros for an informal Talk Story, sharing family memories passed down about Canuto—the musician, family man, and Manilatown community member.
Through their stories, we'll explore Canuto's life around Kearny Street and the I-Hotel, his connection to the Bataan Cafe and Poolhall, and the musical world he inhabited as a member of the Manila Serenaders.
We'll also remember Estrella Echavez Salaver and family stories of the ways she assisted members of the I-Hotel community with papers and legal matters—another glimpse into the everyday relationships and networks of care that sustained Manilatown.
Historic photographs and materials from the Manilatown Archives and family collections will help place these memories within the larger story of the neighborhood.
THE MUSICAL LINEAGE CONTINUES
Canuto's story is not the only family connection to the Manila Serenaders that will be heard that afternoon.
Raymond Bambao, bassist with today's Manilatown Jazz Ensemble, will share the story of his own grandfather and grand-uncles, who were also musicians with the Manila Serenaders.
Throughout the gathering, the Manilatown Jazz Ensemble will bring these histories back into sound with live musical interludes inspired by the era—including “Cheek to Cheek,” a song the Salaver family remembers the Manila Serenaders performing.
Past and present meet in the same place: descendants carrying musical memory forward at the I-Hotel generations later.
LIVE MUSIC · MANILATOWN ARCHIVES · COMMUNITY TALK STORY
This is not a lecture.
It's an invitation to listen, remember, look, and share.
Audience members will also be invited into the Talk Story. Perhaps a photograph, a song, or something shared by one of our guests will awaken a memory of Manilatown, the I-Hotel, Filipino music, a neighborhood gathering place—or a musician or storyteller from your own family.
These community memories are part of how history lives.
A NEW CHAPTER FOR CLUB MANDALAY
Club Mandalay is Manilatown’s ongoing live music gathering at the International Hotel Manilatown Center, celebrating music, community, and the I-Hotel's living cultural life.
Throughout the year, special Music, Memory & Manilatown editions bring live performance together with archival history and community Talk Story, exploring different chapters of Manilatown’s past and present through the music that shaped them—and through the voices of those who lived it, inherited it, and continue to carry it forward.
When Manilatown Swung launches this new special edition of Club Mandalay.
FEELING FESTIVE?
Come dressed in your 1930s–40s finest!
Period-inspired attire is completely optional—but we'd love to fill the I-Hotel with a little vintage Manilatown style for the afternoon.
Come ready to listen. Come ready to remember. And maybe come ready to swing.
EVENT DETAILS
When Manilatown Swung: The Manila Serenaders
Saturday, October 24, 2026
2:00–3:30 PM
International Hotel Manilatown Center
868 Kearny Street
San Francisco, CA
Admission is FREE and everyone is welcome.
Community-support ticket options with Manilatown thank-you gifts are available for those who would like to help sustain our arts, archives, music, and cultural programs.
Reserve Your Seat
Come for the music. Come for the memories. Come for the Talk Story.
Come as you are. Stay for the music. Leave a little more connected.
Our Manilatown Arts program is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. Manilatown Arts is also made possible by the generous support of the Asian Pacific Fund and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
For more information about Club Mandalay, the Manilatown Jazz Ensemble, the Manilatown Archives, or the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, please visit us at www.manilatown.org or contact us at mhf@manilatown.org.