This story aired in the February 2, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.
The Bay Area is home to one of the most concentrated Filipino communities in the nation.
Their history in the Bay Area goes back more than 100 years, but many of the neighborhoods they established, like San Francisco’s “Manila Town” have since been torn down and replaced - the result of urban renewal and property development in the late 1970’s.
But their legacy and cultural impact lives on today. The South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco was formally recognized as a historically Filipino district back in 2016. It’s home to many Filipino businesses.
And a new shop is now bringing a long time Filipino tradition to the neighborhood. One of the artists there, is using ink and needles to make a mark on people’s bodies, and in the neighborhood.
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Story Transcript:
Sound of a door opening into the shop
JEROME NOVERAS: Hey Ronzel. Jerome. Good to meet you.
REPORTER: Jerome Noveras is so in demand, his waitlist is more than six months long. Today’s client, Ronzel De Leon, has been waiting two years to get this tattoo.
Sound of tattoo gun noise
JEROME: What sort of ideas did you have going in here? Like, was there anything you wanted to talk about?
RONZEL DE LEON: It's kind of more just like, motifs from where I come from as a whole. I think I come from the Mindanao area.
REPORTER: Jerome pulls out his phone and opens up a map of the Philippines. Each island in the Philippines has its own symbols that represent its physical geography. Jerome begins by researching the client’s ancestral ties to the land in order to shape the tattoo.
Then he sketches a rough draft onto the client’s forearm.
JEROME: Well, all right, dude, we're finished with the drawing. Let me show you –– let me tell you what we've got going on.
REPORTER: Jerome has drawn a mix of waves, stars, hourglass shapes, and triangle lines in a pattern that works together to tell a story. Every motif is intentional.
JEROME: Let's start at the bottom, actually. So these represent crocodile's teeth, right?
REPORTER: The teeth represent ancestral protection and power. Moving up the arm, there are diamonds that represent the eyes of spirits that’ll watch over him. At the top are waves representing the spiritual journey his client will have to take.
Jerome hasn’t even pulled out his tattoo gun yet. He does this with every client.
JEROME: Everybody gets about a 30-minute rant from me.
REPORTER: Talking through the meaning of his sketches is crucial. Because each motif is helping his client reconnect with their Filipino lineage.
JEROME: My number one goal is to make sure the tattoos look good. But a very close second is making sure that we tell the story. We honor the roots where it comes from.
REPORTER: Finally, Jerome starts tracing his sketch with the tattoo gun.
Sounds of the tattoo gun buzzing
REPORTER: When Jerome first started his art journey, tribal tattooing was something he knew of, but didn’t really understand.
Everything changed when he visited a friend’s tattoo shop in Chicago. He met guest artist Thomas Clark, a Maori tattooist from New Zealand, known for his Maori tribal inspired designs.
JEROME: He said that these markings are some of the last things that we could truly share with our ancestors. And once we lose that, one of the last few connections are gone forever. And he wants to do his part to keep it alive, you know?
REPORTER: Jerome felt something shift. He wondered what that could look like for him as a Filipino American.
Before tattooing, Jerome was just a Daly City teenager who knew he liked to draw whenever he could. He and his friends would do stick and poke tattoos on each other and then started using DIY equipment.
JEROME: There was something very just visceral about it. Just giving ourselves indelible marks that would piss off our parents. There was something so punk rock about it, you know?
REPORTER: Over the span of 20 years, Jerome continued tattooing. In 2024, he was able to open Bituin Studio with fellow tattoo artists Jenn Bann and Saint.
They received support from organizations that work to bring more Filipino-owned businesses to SOMA.
Music
REPORTER: Filipinos first came to California in the 1920’s and 30’s after the Spanish-American War, when the U.S acquired the Philippines as a territory. Many of these early arrivals were known as the Manong generation, men recruited to work in agriculture on the West Coast. In the summer, they worked in canneries and farms, and in the off-season, they came back to the cities to work service jobs. Tens of thousands of Filipino Americans lived in Manilatown, near SF’s Chinatown, in places like the famous I-Hotel, and in the South of Market neighborhood.
Sounds of Manilatown
REPORTER: But in the 70s, as San Francisco developers sought to “Manhattan-ize” downtown, the city tore down the I-Hotel and more Filipino Americans moved into SOMA. Filipino-owned businesses have since fought to maintain a presence in this neighborhood.
Jerome has early memories of these businesses in SOMA.
JEROME: I actually used to get my haircuts here in the SOMA district, like Sixth and Mission. There was a barbershop run by a couple of old Filipino dudes and I would always get flat tops over there.
REPORTER: Today, new spaces like Bituin are helping reconnect the past and present, by joining the Filipino-owned businesses that have managed to stay.
For Jerome, this shop is a manifestation of his dreams.
Bituin operates as a tattoo studio, fine art gallery, and community event center.
JEROME: We're just happy to be able to provide a place for individuals, not just Fil-Ams, but for other individuals too, to showcase their work, to be able to get their voice out into the world.
REPORTER: The studio’s name, Bituin – that’s B-I-T-U-I-N - means “star” in Tagalog — but also speaks to the feeling of being “between.” Jerome and his partners, all children of Filipino immigrants, know what it means to navigate two worlds at once. So in this space, tattooing becomes more than art; it becomes a way of connecting both worlds.
Sounds of tattoo gun
JEROME: All right, dude. Yeah, I think we're done, man. Go ahead and check it out.
REPORTER: Two years of anticipation and six hours later, the client finally gets the chance to take in his full tattoo.
RONZEL: Dang. It's beautiful work, Jerome. I really appreciate it, man.
JEROME: For me, creating something tangible, something you can see, something you can feel, is one of the most amazing feelings.
REPORTER: As SOMA continues to evolve, the shop itself, along with Jerome’s tattoos, serve as a living embodiment of Filipino culture and history –– physical reminders that the identity endures.
