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April 4, 2023 13 mins

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Stepping onto Treasure Island, we were swept up in the vibrancy of the CHamoru culture at Latte Fest 2024. Adorned with the weight of multiple sinahi nechlace and the comfortable shade of a woven hat, Jaybyrd found himself navigating a sea of tradition, taste, and tales. Among the swirl of colors and sounds, I caught up with Chef Shawn Naputi, whose chagi chicken was nothing short of a culinary masterpiece, and the O'Mallon brothers from Guam Style, who passionately shared their vision of clothing steeped in heritage. It wasn't just about the food and fashion, though; community champions like Lenny Indalecio and Cece Lozoya reminded us that the heart of this festival beats with the rhythm of our collective efforts and pride.

The inaugural Latte Fest was a bridge across generations, with the Guam Community Club of Sacramento, the Northern California Chamorro Club, and Inafa'maolek.us laying the foundation for our future. Guided by the inspiring leadership of Delfina Palomo, Victor Pangelinan, and Verna Castro, this event was more than a gathering—it was a proud display of the hafa adai spirit. Through interviews and laughs, Jaybyrd connected with attendees and volunteers. 

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Jaybyrd Castro (00:10):
Hafa adai todu hamyu, i na'an hu si Jay Castro.
Guahu si Jaybyrd.
And this is the Red Rice andFina'denne' podcast.
I'm pulling up to the Lattefest 2024 right now.
It's a celebration of ourvibrant CHamoru/Chamorro culture
held outside the YMCA onTreasure Island in the beautiful
San Francisco Bay Area mybackyard and it's hosted in
collaboration by the GuamanianCommunity Club of Sacramento,
Northern California ChamorroClub and an organization named

(00:31):
Inafa'maolek.
It's been raining all week, butthe Saina has blessed us with

(00:55):
clear blue skies.
But I'm just getting here andI'm riding solo and I want to
stand out in the crowd, so folkswill want to come up and talk
to me.
You know I got my microphoneout.
Maybe they want to get up onthe podcast.
I'm rocking my blue hafa adai,all day t-shirt.
I'm also wearing three sinahisaround my neck and probably
breaking all the rules by doingit.
I'm not tripping, because I gotone for each of my kids and

(01:16):
another one on for my dad.
I'm also wearing this dopewoven hat that Alana Abbey in
Hawaii helped me make last timeI was there in North Oahu.
The hat definitely makes mestand out.
People are already looking atme.
They're right over there.

(01:37):
These folks are looking at me.
Yeah, yeah, oh, she's laughingat me.
She called me a chaud.
You're jealous! Don't bejealous.
Oh man, I haven't been called achaud since the last time I
hung out with my cousin, JenniManibusan.
Cruz's Kitchen is out ofSacramento, they're hustling

(02:03):
behind their tent pumping outsmacking fiesta plates, corn
soup, ube flan, the works.
Ooh, what's that?
Ooh, I'm jealous of that platethat you have, hey.
I didn't know you were out herewhat you making.
Chef Shawn Naputi from Pubechuin San Francisco is here testing

(02:26):
out a new casual concept thatthey call "chagi chicken.
He's serving these kebabs ofchicken and peppers and onions
over a mound of red rice, whichis so red that I can smell the
achiote just by looking at it.
The kebab smells sweet and therice savory.
Oh look, it's Tony from theHoffa Brown Company.
It's cool running into all thefolks here because we follow

(02:58):
each other on Instagram, wesupport each other's work and
then we finally get to see eachother in person at these events.

Lenny Indalecio from Bay C (03:03):
Yeah , yeah, definitely.
Hey, what's going on?
Y'allall, my name is LennyIndalecio, familiar in Kabayu,
uh, going by Wix1 SJ onInstagram.
You know we're here at 2024Latte Fest, you know, supporting
the culture.
You know I'm here as avolunteer, uh, because I want to
show my kids what Chenchulereally is, coming in helping out
.
If you can't help out monetary,you help out with your hands,
and that's what the culture'sabout.

(03:24):
So we're here to spread thatShout out to Jaybyr d and his
family, everybody you know andwhat they're doing, and we look
forward to seeing everybody atthe 50th anniversary of San
Roque.
So again, Lenny Indaleciafamilian, Kabayu, Wix1 on
Instagram.
Holla at your boy.

Jaybyrd Castro (03:39):
Like the O'Mallon brothers who run
Calibus and Guam Style out oftheir shop in Roseville,
California, just outsideSacramento.

Lenny Indalecio from Bay C (03:46):
Push love baby.
Yes, sir, how are you doing?

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian (03:49):
Good , how are you?

Jaybyrd Castro (03:49):
Doing Good Stuff looks good man.

A.J. O'Mallan from Guam (03:54):
What's up everybody.
This is AJ from Guam Style.
We're out here with the GuamStyle brand and we aim to just
protect, preserve, and unite theculture, make sure everybody's
doing their part to keep ourculture alive and still living.
So glad to be out here, oh, mybrother Tomas.
He's my partner in everything.
So, yeah, we're out here,brothers, nice.

Jaybyrd Castro (04:17):
I respected that because I have my brother
Jeremy, we always out herehustlin' too

A.J. O'Mallan from Guam St (04:23):
He's Chamorro.
Yeah, his name is Ronnie and hehit me up on the email saying
that he's coming with hisCaltrans tow truck and he wants
to get barbecue.
So he's just strolling by.
He's going to come and get it,that's for sure.

Jaybyrd Castro (04:38):
That's cool, and just like a family party or
really any other cultural eventthat you might go to.
You can't go 10 feet withoutseeing someone and saying what's
up?
They're like look, it's yourpar, it's your pari, it's a
che'lu, it's your cousin, maybeit's even your auntie.
Hey, look, there goes the Munozfamily behind Metgot Creations.
They do dope carvings and I gota few in my house.

Byron from Metgot Creation (05:09):
Hafa adai.
This is Byron Metgot Creations.
This is my wife, Gina, Metgo tChamorrita.
Together we are Metg otCreations.
We came out here to the LatteFest to hang out and chill.
We're not vending.
We're out here to say hafa adaito everybody and spread the
love.
Yeah, so what we do is we dowood carvings.
We try to keep the traditionand culture together.
What inspires us actually isnot the money, it's more of when

(05:34):
my kids, family, friends, theygo to other people's houses and
they see my artwork on theirwalls.

Gina from Metgot Creations (05:41):
That goes the same way with me.
I try bring um our culture backto the main land.
It's not about the money, it'sabout the love spreading the
our culture and our heritageforward to our young kids not
only my kids, but the youngergenerations moving forward.
We want to keep our our islandon the map and not be forgotten.

Jaybyrd Castro (06:03):
I can relate to that.
Oh wait, look there goessomeone from the organizing crew
.
Let me go talk to them realquick.

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian C (06:09):
Hi , my name is Cece LaZoya.
I'm the secretary of theGuamanian Community Club of
Sacramento.
I am first generation bornstateside.
My family is from Agat andHagaña and today we are
celebrating the Latte Fest.
We have plenty of Chamorro food, CHamoru dancing, vendors and,
yeah, I'm here just to spreadthe culture such as hafa adai
spirit and, you know, teach theyounger generation about what it

(06:31):
is to be Chamorro.

Jaybyrd Castro (06:33):
What it is to be Chamoru/Chamorro.
That's deep, the way that Ithink about it.
It's not a matter of how muchChamorro I am, although there
have been times when I had toprove my percentage.
It's about how much I live bythe Chamorro values.
It means you learn greatrespect and how to earn it.
It means Latte stones, whichsignify strength, resiliency and

(06:54):
admiration of our women.

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian (08:02):
Give it up for Kutturan Chamorro
Foundation.
Thank you, Heidi, and thank youSaina Eric Reyes si Yu'us
ma'åse.
Wow, what a show so far.
Are you guys enjoyingyourselves?

Jaybyrd Castro (08:18):
I really am enjoying myself.
I'm really having a good timecatching up with folks, but
everyone keeps telling me Igotta go talk to two people, Vic
Pangilinan and Verna Castro.
So I found them and they sharedsome more backstory on this
Latte Fest.

Victor Pangelinan from North (08:35):
So Victor Pangilinan, my parents
are Jesus and Lucille Pangilinan.
My dad's from Palantet grew upin Maina and my mom's from
Hagana Heights.

Jaybyrd Castro (08:46):
This is hella funny, where folks who are from
the islands will give yougeographic and structural
waypoints and features todescribe where they're from.
Where's Palantin?

Victor Pangelinan from No (08:55):
Right Yona, Ah, the backside.
So if you go up the hill andyou go, you'd pick Carabao and
Yona right?

Jaybyrd Castro (09:01):
I have never.
You see, you go up the hill andyou take the Carabao in Yona.
You haven't taken the carabaoin Yona yet?
Shame.
Straight up, mamåhlao.

Victor Pangelinan from North (09:11):
Go past the big carabao and you
follow the trail in the back ofPalantas, so you start entering
that way.

Jaybyrd Castro (09:17):
You live here now I take it right?

Victor Pangelinan from North (09:19):
We moved.
Dad was in the Navy, so wetraveled around and ended up,
say, in American Canyon in 1975.
And grew up out here, fromelementary all the way to high
school in the Napa area.
My Dad was a machinistsubmarine.

Jaybyrd Castro (09:36):
And so, as we got talking, he started to tell
me a bit about the organizationthat he's from and how the Latte
fest came about.

Victor Pangelinan from North (09:42):
So the mission of the Northern
California Chamorro Club isbringing our people back home,
showing them the culture, havingthe kids come up and understand
the culture, cause you know,right now, as they grow up, no
one's really a hundred percentChamorro right, we're, we're,
you know, we're out in, out inthe States, so it's a little
mix-match.
So we bring them the culture.
We have our kids event, we haveour Easter event and we have

(10:03):
our dinner dance for us toprovide to the community.
So you know, we're all aboutbringing the community, the
Chamorros, all together andenjoy themselves.
I love it.
Actually, our parents my dad andmom was involved with the
Vallejo Chamorro Club and someof our members are from
Fairfield, Vacaville ChamorroClub, so as kids we would meet

(10:25):
together.
So, as you know, the go.
We kind of talked because theykind of went away, the clubs
went away, the scenes went away.
We wanted to bring that back.
So everybody from the FairfieldChamorro Club and the Vallejo
Chamorro Club, the kids, we hada meeting.
We brought it back In 2016,.
We created the NorthernCalifornia Chamorro Club and

(10:47):
we've been going strong as ofthat, having our community
together, showing them theculture, show them the food,
show them what it takes, put theroots in the ground of where we
come from.
I love that props to that.

Jaybyrd Castro (10:58):
Yes, my grandparents.
They also, when they moved here, started the, well, I don't
know if they started, but weremain contributors to the Alameda
Guam Club.
Okay, and so, and so that's howI met the Duenas family.
It's how I met all the Tenoriofamily and how we just started
spreading in the east bay, youknow, not as far east as y'all.
But so that means that, likeyour parents and all of them,
they knew of my grandparents forsure.
Yes, and I bet that you and mydad at some point were running

(11:21):
around the same hall or the samechurch at one point in life.

Victor Pangelinan from Nort (11:24):
Yes , because they would travel.
You know, the kids came up, theycleaned up you know, pick up
all the trash, the um, two,three clubs that we have.
We talked, we got in a meetingand we were like talking about
putting in a M tomorrow, youknow, for the month of march and

(11:46):
uh, 30 days this whole thinggot put together and, you know,
od is good.
We thought it was gonna rain.
The sun's been out all day,everybody's having a great time.
I've got no complaints oranything like that, you know.
So I think it's just showingour roots, our respect to the
culture.

Verna Castro from Inafamao (12:07):
Hafa Adai Toto hamchoo.
Hello to everybody.
This is Verna Castro, theExecutive Director of
anafamalikus, a Chamorro-basedBay Area organization.
My family is Castro, from Chala.
It's my father.
My mother is Nandes.
Jantan agwan, from Agatna.
Anafamalik means to restoreharmony, to make good for self,

(12:28):
for community and for theenvironment.
What a beautiful centralconcept.
The Latte Fest began with aconversation with Delfina Palomo
, the president of the GuamCommunity Club of Sacramento.
We brought in Vic P, North CalChamorro Club president, out of
Vacaville.
Together, we brought in ourteam.
We decided what better way tocelebrate Mez Chamorro than to

(12:52):
have this in Northern California?
Southern California has lots offestivals and clubs, so we
wanted to start it in thismanner, Also to bring the
Monunkuls, our elders, our wiseelders and our young people.
We're real good with socialmedia and other things like that
, so we did that.
What a great event.
We had four to 500 peopleattend for our first go around

(13:14):
at Treasure Island, the YMCA.
Everybody had a good time.
It was free vendors,entertainment, et cetera.
Some key players are Tina Tomas, AJ, Shana Mary Lane.

Jaybyrd Castro (13:25):
Shout out to everyone who was there, to
everyone who contributed, to allthose people that I got
interviews from Latfest 2024.
It was dope.
I'll see you next year onTreasure Island.
No-transcript.
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