Lydia Zaverukha REMEMBERS
Our exploration of Chinese immigration to the Richmond District in partnership with the Chinese Historical Society of America piqued our interest in the Russian undercurrents that help make this western neighborhood so cosmopolitan. You can’t live in the Richmond District without noticing the Russian accent of its buildings, its businesses, and the people passing by you. Just look at Geary Street, which alone boasts too many Russian markets, delis, and restaurants to list, as well as the prominent Holy Virgin Cathedral, whose golden domes are visible for miles around.
This is why we were thrilled when WNP member Olga Mandrussow introduced our Executive Director to her childhood friend, Lydia Zaverukha. Lydia’s history personalizes the second wave of Russian immigration to San Francisco. (By the way, there were four separate waves.) The daughter of Russian immigrants who came to the city in the shadow of revolution and world war, this self-described “very local” girl took two degrees – one in Business and one in Russian Language and Literature – from San Francisco State University all the way back to the USSR. In the process, she found a career path, a husband, and a cathartic connection to her paternal grandmother, who also happens to be her namesake.
ORIGINS
Lydia Zaverukha on the steps of the 12th Avenue and Balboa apartment building where her family lived. (Courtesy of Lydia Zaverukha)
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JAN-MAR 2021
Let’s start this story on another continent. On her maternal side, Lydia’s family escaped revolution in Russia, traveling through the Russian Far East to China where her mother, Katherine, was born in Beijing. The family then moved to Shanghai, where her father worked for 20th Century Fox, distributing American films throughout China, but they were soon on the move again. They came to the United States to escape revolution for the second time, landing on Ellis Island only to be told that the Russian quota had been reached; they were diverted to Cuba, where they lived for six months. Lydia recalled pictures of her mother in a swimming suit and likened the experienced to “some-
