In the current world, California consistently remains one of the top cities for Americans with Filipino blood. Sunny Los Angeles, in particular, is said to have the largest population of Filipinos in the state at about 506,000, based on a 2022 survey.
So it's no surprise that Filipino markers can be found scattered across the city. Just last year, the new 30-foot-tall Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway was erected to celebrate Filipinotown, as well as the contributions of the Filipino-American community to the City of Angels.
California and the Philippines actually have a long history of association that predates the era of the American protectorate (or before Spain sold the country to the U.S.). The first recorded visit of Filipinos to what would later be known as the United States happened in 1587, when our kababayans landed in Morro Bay. Filipinos were among the first migrants who supplemented farm labor, after all. Two-thirds of Filipinos who emigrated during this early period in American history ended up in the agriculture sector. The other third found themselves in other cities.
One of the founders of Los Angeles was apparently a Filipino, as well. In 1781, 50-year-old Filipino migrant Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador arrived in California with his daughter, Juana Maria. Together with the los pobladores (the settlers), he would help build the L.A. we know today.
To put things in context, it was only in 1777 that Alta California Governor Felipe de Neve went with San Jose and Los Angeles as the first two pueblos in Alta California. The Los Angeles settlement was named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula).
This same year, the governor would travel to Alamos in Sonora, New Spain (present-day Mexico) to recruit 11 families, whose patriarchs would wound up becoming the heads of L.A. With them were 11 men, 11 women, and 22 kids.
The heads were Antonio Clemente Villavicencio, Antonio Mesa, Jose Fernando Lara, Jose Vanegas, Pablo Rodriquez, Manuel Camero, Jose Antonio Navarro, Jose Moreno, Basillio Rosas, Alejandro Rosas, and Luis Quintero. All of them had been farmers who came from poor families, each possessing Indigenous, European, and African roots.
Then there was Antonio Miranda Rodríguez, who was of Filipino heritage. He would join the pack in Sinaloa, New Spain. Together with the rest, they would arrive at the San Gabriel Mission along El Rio de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula, where their new homes would be found. On September 4, 1781, Spanish soldiers would take the families down the trail toward the river, thereby establishing El Pueblo de Los Angeles.
Who Is Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador, the Filipino Who Co-Founded Los Angeles?
Not much is known about him, except for a few records that show his presence and labor. A widower likely born in Manila, he arrived in the United States as a 50-year-old man, with one or possibly two daughters (depending on the account, one of them was said to have passed away before he went to Alta California).
His 11-year-old daughter, Juana Maria, would unfortunately fall ill due to a case of smallpox. This forced him to remain in Loreto while he awaited her full recovery. This is where the details get a little murky. Some say that she died there while others say she survived. Whatever the reason, Rodriguez would stay in Loreto for two years, working as a local gunsmith.
By 1783, Rodriguez would be reassigned elsewhere. He was said to have settled at a military fort in Santa Barbara at this time. Researchers have speculated that he might have served as a soldier or armorer. He was said to have been the newly built defense installation built by Spain the year prior. The post was meant as a mechanism to fortify the Second Military District in California.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez's name wasn't always part of the list of Los Angeles co-founders. He seems to somehow be forgotten in that regard because his tenure was cut short. The Los Angeles Almanac, however, has added his name next to the 11 original settlers assigned by the governor.
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