Difference between revisions of "Ow, George Jr."

Latest revision as of 14:15, 24 May 2024

George Ow, Jr. (b.1943)

From a 2024 conversation with UC Santa Cruz University Library Community Archivist Rebecca Hernandez:

Ow was born in Santa Cruz in 1943, in the city’s Chinatown that was located just across the San Lorenzo River, near the county office building off of Ocean and Water streets. This location was the city’s fourth iteration of Chinatown, established in 1894 and dismantled in 1955. But, for the first 12 years of Ow’s life, he ingratiated himself in the community, and found a great deal of joy from his upbringing in Santa Cruz.

His father, George Ow Sr., had arrived in Santa Cruz to live with his uncle, who owned and operated the Canton Market supermarket at the corner of Cathcart Street and Pacific Avenue. That was the process for many members of the Ow family to arrive in Santa Cruz, Ow shared, with one person offering another a business opportunity and housing. It led to a large swath of Chinese immigrants arriving to the city, and raising first- and second-generation children and grandchildren to carry on in the family’s name.

“Santa Cruz was a ghetto, but I didn’t know it. I thought it was the greatest place because my aunts and my uncles, and my grandparents, were here,” Ow said. “I thought it was just a place full of love — this was a great area to grow up.” Ow was one of seven children . . . his parents graduated from Santa Cruz High School in 1940 and 1942, respectively."

Ow gave a special shout-out to two Santa Cruz based historians who have helped to further uncover much of his family’s history, Geoffrey Dunn and Sandy Lydon, and released books such as Santa Cruz Is In The Heart, Chinatown Dreams, and Chinese Gold to elaborate on those histories.

One of his continued favorite aspects of Santa Cruz is returning to the San Lorenzo Riverbed in the summers, and seeing all of the mosaic tiles that local artist and retired teacher Kathleen Crocetti and her Mission High Middle School students have installed throughout the area. Crocetti was also the primary artist behind the 21-foot dragon above the Chinatown Memorial Archway back in 2020. 

Gail Michaelis-Ow, Ow’s wife of nearly 45 years, shared that one of her husband’s top passions is history and the history of his own family: “He’s spoken in different places and in front of a lot of different classes, including at Cabrillo and UCSC, but this was certainly the largest venue that I remember.”