San Diego, CA
How Dutch Indonesians Found Their Home in San Diego | San Diego Magazine
![How Dutch Indonesians Found Their Home in San Diego | San Diego Magazine](https://sandiegomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Dutch-Indos-kumpulan.jpg)
The savory scents of Indonesian ayam pedis and Dutch bitterballen and the convivial tunes of The Tielman Brothers drift over the Mission Bay as a winding line forms under the bright blue tents that cover the Dutch Indos in San Diego potluck buffet. Kids run around, their parents lounging in lawn chairs, as conversations weave from Dutch to English. A couple in their 90s dances on the grass. It’s a party—or actually, a kumpulan.
Today’s kumpulan (Indonesian for social gathering) is the brainchild of Valley Center native and third generation “Dutch Indo” Andrea Matthies, 51. Matthies founded the social group Dutch Indos in San Diego in 2014 to connect the large—but fragmented—local Dutch Indonesian community. “Most Indos of my generation grew up in English-speaking households, not really knowing much about their background,” Matthies explains. She wanted to get back in touch with her Dutch Indonesian roots and community. As it turns out, others did too.
But what is Dutch Indonesian is not exactly easy to answer. “It usually takes me about 20 minutes to explain it to someone,” Matthies laughs. Her spiel usually goes something like this: Her grandparents, Herman and Paula MacMootry, immigrated to America in October 1960 with their four teenage children, including Matties’ mother, Brenda MacMootry-Gruber. The family departed from the Netherlands, but they all had been born in the Dutch East Indies, a former Dutch colony now known as Indonesia.
The MacMootrys were part of a mixed Eurasian community, known as Dutch Indonesians or “Indos.” When Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945, the Indo community was violently targeted by nationalist soldiers, and many fled to the Netherlands. But the Netherlands was not the most welcoming place for the nearly 350,000 Dutch Indonesians who moved there. Dutch politicians openly questioned their ability to integrate, and many struggled to find work in the midst of a post-war job shortage.
![Historical photo of San Diego's Dutch Recreational Fellowship community group featuring an IIndonesian Refugee Dinner at Clairemont Community Center](https://sandiegomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Robert-Taylor-Weber-3.jpg)
Families who wanted to move to America initially faced strict visa regulations for Asian immigrants. They had to prove that at least 75 percent of their ancestors were of European descent. But when a major flood hit the Netherlands in the 1950s, a special refugee act opened up tens of thousands of American refugee visas. Although the act was meant for displaced Dutch farmers, the Dutch government put thousands of Dutch Indonesians on the list and actively encouraged more to apply.
A government film titled Een Plaatsje In De Zon (meaning “a place in the sun”) promoted California as the place to be: a distant paradise “where the sun almost gives a continuous representation of what you have always imagined your new home to be.” San Diego specifically, with its leisurely lifestyle, proximity to Tijuana, and bustling market scenes with fresh produce that Dutch Indonesians knew from back home, would make a fine home. From the late 1950s to early 1960s, about 35,000 Dutch Indonesians packed their bags and left for the United States.
![Historical photo of San Diego's Dutch Recreational Fellowship community group featuring an IIndonesian Refugee Dinner at Clairemont Community Center](https://sandiegomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Robert-Taylor-Weber.jpg)
Most Dutch Indonesians adapted to their new life as quickly as possible, speaking English and raising their kids as Americans. But in San Diego, the first ever Indo club in America, the DURF, kept a piece of home alive.
“DURF stands for Dutch Recreational Fellowship,” explains Matthies, who is currently making a documentary about the club with her husband. Friends of Matthies’s family, Fred and Edith Attinger, founded the club in 1961. They organized elaborate dinners, dances, and plays and even invited local politicians to their events.
At its height, DURF had more than 100 members and regularly featured in local media. “My grandmother volunteered in the kitchen and my mother and aunt took part in dances and skits,” Matthies says. She still remembers attending the DURF’s Fourth of July celebration as a child. But as her generation lost interest, membership dwindled. The club folded in 1981.
![The Indo Project Dutch Indonesian community group at the Holland Festival in Long Beach](https://sandiegomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/The-Indo-Project.jpeg)
Matthies eventually began researching her family tree and reconnected to family members in the Netherlands. She learned more about Dutch Indonesian history through The Indo Project, which makes information available for English-speaking Indos. At the annual Holland Festival in Long Beach, she met more Dutch Indonesians who had grown up in the US and began hoping to help the Indo community in San Diego celebrate their heritage.
“I wanted to revive DURF’s spirit with Dutch Indos in San Diego,” Matthies says. What started as a Facebook group where local Indos could connect and exchange stories is now a thriving community with biannual and well-attended kumpulans. Looking at the people gathered in Mission Bay, Matthies feels proud seeing so many honoring their ancestors’ food, music, stories, and love for socializing.
“Who knows how long all these generations are going to be together in one spot?” she asks. “Now is the time to enjoy it.”
The next Dutch Indos in San Diego kumpulan takes place Sunday, June 9, at Playa II in Mission Bay. For more information, see their Facebook page.
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San Diego, CA
UCSD Summer League: Rancho Buena Vista 59, Cathedral Catholic 51
![UCSD Summer League: Rancho Buena Vista 59, Cathedral Catholic 51](https://fox5sandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2024/06/UCSD-Summer-League-Rancho-Buena-Vista-Cathedral-Catholic.00_00_41_01.Still001.jpg?w=1280)
LA JOLLA (KUSI) – The Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns take down the Cathedral Catholic Dons at UCSD Summer League Basketball, 59-51.
The standout player in the game for the Longhorns was Junior Guard CJ Aldrich, while the leader for the Dons was Steven Evans-Glynn.
San Diego, CA
New Ziggi’s Coffee shop to open in San Diego County
![New Ziggi’s Coffee shop to open in San Diego County](https://fox5sandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2024/06/Credit-Ziggis-Coffee.jpg?w=1280)
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A specialty coffee concept is expanding its presence in California with a new shop slated to open in San Diego County this coming week.
Ziggi’s Coffee, a Colorado-born brand, will debut in Valley Center on Tuesday, June 25, marking the second location in the Golden State. The other shop is operating in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of Hawthorne.
San Diegans will soon be able to sip on “uniquely handcrafted drinks and wide variety of eats and treats,” a spokesperson for the shop announced.
Originally launched by husband and wife Brandon and Camrin Knudsen about 20 years ago, the pair’s goal for Ziggi’s Coffee was “to create space where people could gather and feel right at home.”
As for the new Valley Center location, it’s owned by the San Pasqual Economic Development Corporation, an organization authorized to pursue the economic development and sustainability activities on behalf of the San Pasqual tribal government and its members.
“We are excited to open our first Ziggi’s Coffee location within the San Pasqual Tribe,” said Brandon, who’s also the coffee brand’s CEO. “We look forward to bringing our uniquely positive customer experience and diverse menu to the area, supporting the tribe’s economic development and serving the residents of Valley Center.”
The shop will be located on the property of the Horizon Fuel Center. The 642-square-foot space will include a drive-thru design to meet the needs of customers on the go.
When it comes to the menu, there will be specialty coffees, chai and teas, energy infusions, smoothies, Italian sodas, boba and more. Ziggi’s Coffee will also serve a variety of food items such as breakfast sandwiches, burritos, paninis, as well as baked goods like breads, cinnamon rolls, scones, cookies and cake pops.
Located at 31269 Valley Center Rd., Ziggi’s Coffee will be open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
San Diego, CA
Russian strikes continue to target Ukrainian energy facilities
![Russian strikes continue to target Ukrainian energy facilities](https://fox5sandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2024/01/cropped-Android-App-FOX5-512X512-v3-1-1.png?strip=1)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said Saturday morning, damaging energy facilities in the country’s southeast and west and injuring at least two energy workers.
In its eighth major attack on Ukrainian power plants since Moscow intensified energy infrastructure attacks three months ago, Russia fired 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 12 of the 16 missiles and all 13 drones launched by Russia, the air force said.
State-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said the strikes damaged equipment at facilities in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and western Lviv region.
Two energy workers were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region when a fire broke out at an energy facility, according to regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov.
With no major changes reported along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, where a recent push by the Kremlin’s forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine has made only incremental gains, both sides have taken aim at infrastructure targets, seeking to curb each other’s ability to fight in a war that is now in its third year.
Moscow’s overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia and Lviv follows Ukrainian military strikes on three oil refineries in southern Russia overnight into Friday.
Ukraine is struggling to cope with a new wave of rolling blackouts after relentless Russian attacks took out half the country’s power generation capacity.
In other developments, the governor of eastern Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk region said Saturday that Russian attacks had killed five people and wounded a further seven the previous day.
A policeman was killed in the partly occupied region of Kherson as a result of a Russian drone attack on a checkpoint, the Ukrainian National Police said.
In Russia, air defense systems overnight destroyed five drones over the Sea of Azov and the country’s western Bryansk and Smolensk regions, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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