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    Los Angeles's Little Tokyo
    Los Angeles's Little Tokyo
    Los Angeles's Little Tokyo
    Ebook209 pages47 minutes

    Los Angeles's Little Tokyo

    By Little Tokyo Historical Society

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    In 1884, a Japanese sailor named Hamanosuke Shigeta made his way to the eastern section of downtown Los Angeles and opened Little Tokyo’s first business, an American-style café. By the early 20th century, this neighborhood on the banks of the Los Angeles River had developed into a vibrant community serving the burgeoning Japanese American population of Southern California. When Japanese Americans were forcibly removed to internment camps in 1942 following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entrance into World War II, Little Tokyo was rechristened “Bronzeville” as a newly established African American enclave popular for its jazz clubs and churches. Despite the War Relocation Authority’s opposition to re-establishing Little Tokyo following the war, Japanese Americans gradually restored the strong ties evident today in 21st-century Little Tokyo—a multicultural, multigenerational community that is the largest Nihonmachi (Japantown) in the United States.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439640456
    Los Angeles's Little Tokyo
    Author

    Little Tokyo Historical Society

    The Little Tokyo Historical Society is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Little Tokyo Service Center. Showcasing many newly discovered images, this tribute to Little Tokyo culls photographs from the renowned Toyo Miyatake Studios, the Japanese American National Museum, the Los Angeles Public Library, and the Little Tokyo Historical Society archives.

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      Los Angeles's Little Tokyo - Little Tokyo Historical Society

      Watanabe.

      INTRODUCTION

      In 1884, a sailor named Hamanosuke Shigeta made his way to the eastern section of downtown Los Angeles and opened Little Tokyo’s first business, an American-style café. The area grew to be a vibrant enclave of Japanese Americans in the pre–World War II period, a home to African Americans during the war, and a diverse and ever-changing district in the decades that followed. Over the years, Little Tokyo has remained the cultural and symbolic home of Southern California’s Japanese American community and the country’s largest Japantown.

      Little Tokyo’s origins are full of contradictions. It developed, in part, because of discriminatory laws against Japanese Americans that limited where they could live and work. Yet the neighborhood became a dynamic economic and cultural hub. Japanese immigrants, known as the issei, established a myriad of professional services and businesses to serve fellow Japanese. At the same time, they made pioneering strides in agricultural and fishing industries that benefited the greater Los Angeles region. As immigrants set down roots, they founded churches, temples, and cultural and community associations that carried on traditions from their homeland. They also created new ones. The American-born children of immigrants, known as the nisei, established the annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival in 1934, which continues today. Sporting and cultural activities served as bridges to the greater Los Angeles area.

      World War II halted Little Tokyo’s rise. The unjust removal and swift incarceration of all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast left Little Tokyo an empty shell as Japanese Americans found themselves in desolate concentration camps. African Americans, who were recruited from the South to work in the wartime defense industry, settled in the neighborhood and it was rechristened Bronzeville.

      After the war, the community remained resilient and Little Tokyo revived as the hub of Japanese American life. The restrictive housing covenants were lifted, enabling Japanese Americans to live and work in areas previously off limits. Little Tokyo evolved into a multicultural community, one where diverse peoples live, work, and socialize. The rich history of the enclave and its cultural legacy continue to enrich the many thriving communities who consider Little Tokyo home.

      Waroku Yokota sits amidst the lettuce and daikon radishes he transported with his enterprise, Yokota Transfer Company, around 1908. Waroku and his wife, Shige, had previously operated a pig and poultry farm near Exposition Park. They later managed hotels, social dance schools, and one of the largest sewing schools in Little Tokyo. (Courtesy of Kimiko Yokota.)

      One

      ENTERPRISE

      The establishment of Little Tokyo may have been due to a pervading anti-Asian sentiment in the broader society, but in turn it nurtured the bonding of people who shared a common language and culture. Throughout the enclave’s history, enterprising individuals made an impact on both the local and greater community.

      Japanese immigrants pioneered and introduced to Southern California a myriad of industries and technologies, from vegetable and flower farming to deep-sea tuna fishing (which thrived along the West coast). Wholesale produce and floral markets served greater Los Angeles, while Japanese American importers introduced new products to market. Large brigades of Japanese men worked as seasonal and migrant farmworkers, toiling in harsh conditions. For these and others, Little Tokyo was a welcome respite and a familiar sense of home.

      The necessities of daily life were provided by enterprising businesspeople who served the growing Japanese population. Individuals and families regularly made the trek from outlying areas to visit the growing enclave. All manner of shops, restaurants, churches, factories, health providers, entertainment centers, and other aspects of community life came into being to serve their diverse needs.

      Now, 125 years after the opening of the first business, the community continues to thrive, full of history and a rich past, but also full of potential for progress and change. Some family businesses have operated for more than a century while others have changed and evolved. New businesses continue to be established; yogurt shops and Starbucks now mingle with sushi bars and ramen establishments.

      The types of establishments are not the only difference. There are varying opinions about the exact boundaries, but everyone can agree that they have changed over time and are geographically smaller than in its heyday. Even the streets themselves have changed. Turner Street became Temple Street. Weller Street is now Onizuka Street. Jackson Street, formerly between Temple and First Streets, no longer exists. Little Tokyo’s heart was razed in the late 1940s when the city acquired the land between Los Angeles and San Pedro Streets and between First and Market Streets to build the Police Administration Building (Parker Center). Despite the many changes, the spirit of Little Tokyo endures.

      In 1885, the Santa Fe Railroad extended to the Los Angeles depot by the Los Angeles River between First and Second Streets. By 1899, both the Santa Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had reached Los Angeles by 1876, were hiring Japanese workers to maintain tracks and clean boxcars. In this undated photograph, Kyukichi Inouye is shown, second from the left, with other unidentified workers. (Courtesy of Harry Honda.)

      In 1898, Sanjuro Mizuno opened the Santa Fe Hotel boardinghouse at 112 South Rose Street, catering to railroad workers and seasonal laborers. The hotel’s name was later changed to the Rose Hotel around 1920. By 1908, the Japanese ran more than 90 boarding houses in Los Angeles. Mizuno later ran the Mizuno Employment Agency. (Courtesy of the Rafu Shimpo.)

      Sataro Shigaki, seated with the baby, opened S. Shigaki Seed Company at 142 South San Pedro Street in 1915. The store sold seeds, fertilizer, and plants to farmers in

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