SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Tom Hom’s vision and energy has transformed the once ragged and deteriorated downtown San Diego into today’s vibrant Gaslamp Quarter landmark, that attracts locals and tourists from around the world.
During a fifty-year real estate development career, he built shopping malls and single occupancy apartments in the home city and outside the state. He and his family members own more than 1000 apartments, including 500 in San Diego.
He has been and still is the president and chairman of many business entities. He has served and is still serving on the boards of many organizations, ranging from the arts, education, health and business. He owns or is partnered with over a dozen enterprises.
He also created a legacy for political involvement during 1963-1969 when he was elected to the City Council of San Diego and California State Assembly. His re-election to the Council at that time reflected his popularity with a landslide 87% vote. He remains as the only Asian American elected to the City Council in San Diego’s 160 years of history.
Hom lives a humble and modest life despite his fortune and success. He donates frequently to charities, among them his beloved Chinese Community Church and Diabetes Association. He says, “When you receive, you always remember to give back.” That is what he had learned from his parents when he was a child.
In a recent interview with The Epoch Times staff, honoring Asian Heritage month, the now 84-years-old Tom Hom recounted a few events that changed his life.
Hom was born a second generation Chinese-American in 1927, a time when Chinese immigrants were assumed to work either in a Chinese restaurant, or in a dry cleaning shop. He is the third oldest son of a family of 12 children. His father, David Hom, came to America in 1909 at the age of 15. Ten years later, the family opened the David Produce Company.
Hom’s father was one of the people who had the biggest influence on his life. Once, when Hom was about 12, his father’s truck broke down across the street from City Hall while they were delivering produce. Hom recalled, “My dad pointed to City Hall and told me in his broken English: ‘Tom, in America, the kind of laws that come out of there is dependent upon the kind of people they put in there.’”
Hom’s father died at the early age of 47. At that time, the oldest son in his family was in the U.S. Air Force, fighting in World War II, so Tom and his second brother had to work hard to support their family on their own. After the war, they saved up some money, and wanted to buy their mother a nicer house.
They found a house in North Park that was big enough for the family. But when they were ready to buy, the realtor told them that only Caucasians could buy, and for non-Caucasians, the only way they could live there was if they were house servants. However, being tipped that if there were no objections from the residents, there were no problems, Tom’s mother took his 2-year-old brother and went door-to-door, saying, “I am Mrs. Hom, and we want to buy that house. I have nice children, no trouble. I hope you have no objections.” By doing this, they eventually got the house.
Hom encountered a similar scenario when he had hoped to go to college and become an art teacher, because he had loved painting since he was a child. However, he was kindly but frankly advised that there was no place for a Chinese person in the teaching profession.
“Those were the times when Chinese were discriminated against,” Hom said, which brought back memories of what his junior high school teacher, another person he considers having the most influence on him, Mr. William J. Oaks, had said to him.
The school had had a lot of immigrant children. He remembered Mr. Oaks had told these students, “Boys and girls, I want you to know that you’re Americans. I want you to know that you have all the rights of Americans, all the opportunities that are out there, and I want you to get your education, and learn it, and go out there and be involved.”
That was when Hom thought about what his dad had told him about City Hall, and decided to get involved, and to try to make a difference. He started out by campaigning with political candidates.
Once in a while, Hom visited his older brother at the naval station. One time, he discussed with a naval medical doctor his plan of getting involved. The doctor said to him, “Tom, I want you to meet a man that might be able to help you.”
Next: Running for public office
