The Halo-Halo Bistro

By Zack Chavez Just before enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard in the Philippines in 1959, My barkada (my close friends, all guys) and I got together one evening at the neighborhood basketball court drinking San Miguel beer. It was a farewell get together as I was leaving the next day for Sangley Point. We were having a great time singing Elvis songs at the accompaniment of Carlito’s ukulele. Carlito was good. He had taught me the chords to play Elvis’ “Loving You”. My friends were sad that I was leaving the barkada, and yet they thought it was a great opportunity for me to meet and date American girls, which they could only do in their dreams. Boy Fernandez reminded me to write often and to tell them about my social life in the United States. My first report to Boy Fernandez was about my experience in Los Angeles on my way to St. Petersburg by Greyhound bus. I was invited by a pen-pal, Barbara, to spend a few days with her family. I was introduced to Barbara by her brother, John, ...

By Christine Marie Chavez Once upon a weekend pass, a Filipino sailor and Floridian lass, Who had fallen in love not knowing what’s in store, tried to marry, how outrageous! Different races, youthful ages. But their love was raging, raging too much to ignore. Driving north they fled unjust laws; that’s not what the laws are for; They wanted only each other, and nothing more. Walterboro,SC Courthouse On the tenth of January, the sailor’s race began to vary, The marriage license in South Carolina tells the score. Suddenly, he was Hawaiian; it did not really feel like lyin’. They sought only freedom, freedom to love whom they adore. The couple, Zack and Louise, then bound to the core, Pledged in 1962 to love each other forever more. Back to St. Pete duty station, where their life was no vacation, Though they never really thought of themselves as being poor; Garage apartment, tiny bed; We will just make do, they said, And put the frig on the porch outside the kitchen door, And the dining...