The USA has a huge Irish heritage and is connected with Ireland down through the centuries for many reasons, not just immigration. For instance, in 1630, the Lyon ship docked in Nantasket, in Massachusetts Bay from Dublin bearing food for the pilgrims, who were close to starving. After unloading the ship, the first ever Thanksgiving was held, and the most important holiday in the American calendar was born. In the US, there’s thirty-three million people who can trace their roots back to Ireland. Notably too, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one of America’s most iconic presidents, was the first Irish catholic president, a son of two families whose roots were back in Ireland. By the turn of the twentieth century, five out of six NYPD officers were of Irish descent. The same is true for the Fire Services, so we have a long-standing relationship with the great US of A, and that continues to this day. Irish Centres have become part and parcel of life in the States, and one local man is making sure that his centre is the best it can be!
Liam Reidy is a young man from Broadford who moved to the United States in 1997. Since his move, he has made quite an impact on the Irish traditional cultural scene in his adopted city, San Francisco, California. I caught up with Liam during a recent trip back to the old sod to visit family and friends.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty-five years already since I left Broadford. I travelled to San Francisco that summer to play hurling after encouragement from Joe Keane (RIP), formerly of Clouncourivane near Castlemahon. Joe who had moved home to Ireland in 1996 after two decades in the states. He and his brother Liam were heavily involved with the Naomh Padraig GAA club in the Bay area and as is often the case, they were always looking for hurlers and footballers to play for the summer.
I was fortunate to have secured a green card to travel and work in the US in 1995 as part of the green card lottery. My good friend Tommy Mullane (now living in Broadford) sponsored me to travel to New York that year. I have not looked back since I arrived on the west coast.”
Liam was always active in his parish” I helped out a lot as young man in Broadford with grass root organizations like the Community Council, Handball Club, Tidy Towns Association, and the Belle of Broadford Festival Committee who were populated by determined volunteers like Davey O’Keeffe (RIP), Tom O’Brien, Charlie Larkin (RIP), David Sweeney, David Browne, Seamus Suilleabháin and my father Tommy Reidy” His native parish had set a precedence for him to get involved in the community of his new home. He is now President of United Irish Cultural Centre (UICC). “I was appointed to Irish Centre board in early 2019. I became Vice-President in mid-2020 and began my term as President in January of 2021. I sit on a board with fourteen other amazing people that ensure we continue to build out our Irish cultural programming at the Centre on a strong financial footing” he told me.
“The Centre has gone through a major restructuring in the past couple of years. At the end of 2018 the bar, restaurant and banquet facilities were shuttered due to reduced business activity. It was not sustainable to continue normal full-time operations and the difficult decision was made to close down the facility. There was a great outpouring of disappointment and sadness in the community when the Centre shuttered, as it had served the community since it opened in 1975” Liam explained.
“So, in early 2019 we reopened the Centre for community-based events. Using a team of volunteers throughout 2019 we ended the year in a strong financial position. Despite a strong start to 2020, we faced serious challenges during the pandemic but overcame all those with unbelievable support from the community. Having survived the pandemic, we started to think about the future of the institution and recently finished developing plans to rebuild the Irish Centre.
I asked him how the centre operates and the thinking behind the events.
“The mission of the United Irish Cultural Centre of San Francisco is to celebrate and promote the rich culture and heritage of the collective local, regional, and national culture of Ireland for future generations to enjoy and conserve.
We foster cultural awareness through education, arts and social events and chronicle the valued historical contributions of dedicated Irish in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The UICC is a permanently chartered non-profit organization that relies on private, corporate and grant support.
We have a robust Irish arts and culture program and classes that allow our members the opportunity to learn Irish music, language, step dancing, and participate in drama and theatre productions. We have a dedicated library onsite which contains more than 3,000 titles on a number of subjects related to Ireland and Irish America. We recently developed a three-week summer Irish camp which we offer each June. We had fifty-six kids participate this year which culminated in a wonderful Irish variety show produced by the kids. We also started music classes for young kids this past spring and had about forty kids enrolled learning various instruments from fiddle, banjo, bag pipes, keyboards, drumming, guitar, and tin whistle.
There is a very strong Irish American presence in San Francisco. The history of the Irish on the west coast can be traced to the period of time before the 1849 Gold Rush when Mexico ruled this part of Alta California (Northern California). The US annexed the territory from Mexico in 1848, and in 1850 California became part of the United States. The Irish poured into San Francisco after the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills. By the 1870s the Irish made up a third of the San Francisco population. Ever since that time the Irish have been gathering in the city of St. Francis to celebrate and organize events for the Irish like the annual St. Patrick’s Day, which was celebrated for 171st time last March.
Several Irish halls were established over the years to cater for Irish immigrants. The Knights of the Red Branch at Seventh and Mission Streets downtown was one such hall that served the Irish community for much of the twentieth century until it closed in the late 1960’s. The present Irish Centre was developed on the west side of the city in the Sunset district near the Pacific Ocean where many Irish families moved to from the inner city after World War II. A team of energetic community leaders, mostly from Co. Kerry and Cork (with support from all counties of Ireland) came together to fundraise and build the present 20,000 square foot facility in the early 1970’s. It opened in 1975 and has served the premier meet up location for the Irish American community for the last five decades”
He estimates that nearly all members are Irish or of Irish ancestry. It serves newly arrived immigrants and those that can trace their Irish roots back 4-5 generations in the city. Over forty million American citizens claim Irish heritage and about three million Californian’s claim Irish ancestry. There is a large Asian American population in the Sunset district around the Centre and it provides event space for that community as well.
There are Irish Centres are all over the US. The larger centres are in Boston, New York, and Chicago but there are sizable Irish centres in places like Kansas City, Phoenix, Minnesota, Iowa, and Milwaukee.
Irish America has a love of all things Irish. There is no doubt that Irish Americans love their Irish music, step dancing, and songs, but they also have a great appreciation for poetry, artists, authors, and photographers. Our cultural programming is varied and robust throughout the year as Irish artists are traveling the US on tour.
We are a hub for the entire community locally around the Sunset district and throughout San Francisco. Like in most urban areas there is a lack of event space for clubs, organizations, and other non-profit groups. We fill that event space gap where we are located and host Filipino, Chinese, and Latino events many times throughout the year.”
I asked Liam how the pandemic effected the running of the Centre.
“Like most cultural institutions which rely on in person programming and events to survive we were shut down by the San Francisco Dept. of Public Health on March 12th, 2020. This was just a few days before we were to kick off our 2020 St. Patrick’s Day season. It was devastating to say the least to our bottom line. Each year the St. Patrick’s Day festivities are a boon to our financial health. We were essentially forced out of our building. We ended up getting very creative and opened an outdoor dining experience in our back parking lot called: Wawona Gates. It helped us through the pandemic – as we were one of the few establishments that could open once restrictions eased around gathering again. We also kickstarted out cultural programming outside during the pandemic with Irish music and step dancing on a small special stage we built in the parking lot.
While in person events are back many of our older members are still hesitant to venture out where there are crowds of people. However, we are getting close to being back to pre- pandemic levels of activity again. Masks are not required indoors anymore or evidence for being vaccinated is no longer required to enter the Irish Centre.”
“What about the Monkeypox emergency, just declared in San Fran? Do you foresee other problems because of this?” I asked him.
“I hope not. It’s interesting that the San Francisco Dept. Of Public Health has declared another public health emergency over the Monkeypox virus. We have had 2,000 deaths from Fentanyl (synthetic heroin) overdoses in the past 3 years in the city and there was somehow no emergency about this. Fingers crossed that we don’t face a repeat of Covid-19”.
Liam and his board have a major task ahead of them. During the past year they developed plans to rebuild the Irish Centre, it’s called the 2025 Project. They plan to transform the current two-story facility into a new six story building dedicated to Irish arts and culture reflective of a contemporary modern Ireland. The new building will house a library, museum, office space, swimming pool, music and dance room, event, and hospitality spaces. It will be a wonderful resource for the community. There is great excitement around the rebuild which is going to cost about $68 million.
The Irish American community has been very generous with donations and support to help develop the plans and move forward with the SF Planning Dept. The Irish government is also very supportive of the plans, and they have provided early seed capital to help us on our way. The Centre hosts many of the visiting politicians from Ireland and members recently met with Minsters Catherine Martin and Michael McGrath to let them know about their ambitious plans.” Liam explained.
Finally, I asked if he enjoyed his trip back home “I have thoroughly enjoyed the trip home this summer. The weather was fantastic, and the highlight was that I was able to see Limerick win the All-Ireland hurling final in Croke Park. Something that had been on my bucket list for many years!
It’s been four years since I was home last, and it was great to meet a lot of old friends around west Limerick and north Cork over the last three weeks. Looking forward to returning next summer!”
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave” Dakota.