ABSTRACT
As night fell over San Francisco, the mood was joyous as friends, dressed in their best, gathered together on this Saturday night, December 28, 1929, and greeted one another in the lobby of the Native Sons Auditorium. While hundreds of Filipinos thronged about, above them elegant chandeliers glowed, catching the glints of crystal and marble, and the richness of velvet and evening dress. Suddenly an expectant hush fell over the crowd, and a thousand necks craned to see as a slight, pale young woman-a slip of a girl, resplendent in her tiara and Filipina finery-walked slowly through, then turned to face the crowd. Solemn, yet with face flushed and eyes sparkling, she took her vow, repeating the words uttered by San Francisco Mayor Rolph: “I promise to try to make everyone happy, my subjects and their friends, and to follow the example of her who bore before me this Great Crown. I swear to work for the cause of my country and my people.”2 As the echoes of her words died away, the crowd went wild. To the thunderous sound of applause and shouts and whistles, Estelita de la Peña was crowned “Miss Philippines,” the 1929 Joint Pacific Coast Rizal Day Queen, to reign over the crowd.
