It is often difficult to fathom the collective identity of Los Angeles. Comprised of the variegated voices that represent each of its communities, our attempt to make sense of this multi-faceted identity, is almost as though attempting to isolate a single voice within the cacophony of many voices, the echoes of which, often conflict with one another, as they are projected variably across the halls of time. Nevertheless, it is by listening to one single voice precisely that we sometimes gain invaluable insight into a more collective one. In Los Angeles, just east of downtown, within an area that is roughly the size of four large city blocks, in a corner of the city known as Little Tokyo, such a voice can fortunately still be heard. And, such is the degree of what is captured by this voice, with its remaining infrastructure and long-time residents, that the experience here, of Japanese America, offers us a unique window to understanding what has ultimately defined, or still defines, the complete character of Los Angeles, or better yet, America itself.

For millions of daily commuters, the freeway signs that lead to Little Tokyo are often easily blurred by the parade of freeway signs that strike their eyes. It is an area generally bordered by First St., Los Angeles St., Third St., and Central Avenue. And yet, while these streets provide the framing of an area that seems proportionately insignificant within the entire city’s geography, it provides significant wealth of history that includes the following: the first Buddhist temple constructed in Los Angeles, the oldest Japanese newspaper being published in the United States (The Rafu Shimpo, 1903), and the first museum in the United States dedicated to the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry (Japanese American National Museum, JANM). Also, while perhaps the best Japanese garden in Los Angeles can be found at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, two of the best Japanese gardens in Los Angeles can be found here; one currently being remodeled at the Japanese Cultural & Community Center (JACC) and another found on the third floor of the Kyoto Grand Hotel (formerly known as the New Otani Hotel).

Little Tokyo also features, across from the JANM, a noteworthy pair of museums; an affiliate of the JANM called the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and the Geffen Contemporary Museum. Also, there are sculptures and memorials honoring the following: the significant and positive history between Japanese foreign investors and the original Japanese-American community (symbolized by the Friendship Knot sculpture), a 1/10^th scale replica of the Space Shuttle Challenger (which honors the first Japanese-American astronaut; Ellision Onizuka, the street on which this replica stands is appropriately named after him), and a memorial wall honoring the names of the 16,000 Japanese men who served the U.S. army during World War II, specifically, in the 100^th and 442^nd Battalions.

Though it would not be exclusively referred to as “Little Tokyo” until the 1920’s, its existence spans over one hundred years, beginning with a brief French presence, and quickly followed by the emergence of a Japanese community towards the end of the 19^th century. As the new century was approached and then passed, hundreds of immigrants from Japan (the Issei) first arrived after they were recruited in northern California by Henry Huntington to lay tracks for the Pacific Electric Railway. In addition, another factor responsible for the congregation of Japanese-Americans in Little Tokyo was the restrictive and racial real-estate covenants that existed, legally, until 1948. In response to these restrictions, many Japanese would often attempt to purchase land with the names of their American-born children (the Nisei). Additionally, discrimination would prohibit Japanese-born Americans from gaining U.S. citizenship until 1952.

While physical labor was the primary reason for migration into the area, the population was initially limited mostly to the arrival of male Japanese immigrants. During the early part of the 20^th century, several anti-immigration laws, such as the Gentlemen’s Agreement and the Immigration Act of 1924, would further limit the growth of this community. However, the arrival of wives and prospective brides, would catapult the livelihood of Little Tokyo by helping it become a more settled and cohesive community. This era is sometimes referred to as the “picture-bride” era. Cameron Trowbridge, an L.A. Conservancy docent and a manager of research services at the Getty Conservation Institute, points out, “This was key to the community taking hold here, because really after that period, the community really took off”. During the 1930’s, most of the 35,000 Japanese living in Los Angeles County were concentrated into seven or eight outlying communities such as Sawtelle and Gardena. The rest of the Japanese population lived within a three-mile radius of Little Tokyo.

 World War II, as the naming of such an event, or series of events, implies, is partially understood by its global impact. Such an impact was seldom more directly felt, as it was for the Japanese American community after December 7^th, 1941. Just a few hours after the attack at Pearl Harbor, more than a dozen local community leaders were rounded up by the FBI and taken into custody. This occurred despite the classified Munson Report, issued just one month prior to Pearl Harbor, which reassured the government that the Japanese-American presence did not pose a real threat. Two months later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would sign Executive Order 9066, ordering all persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast to report to “relocation centers”, which, as it turns out, would more accurately be described as concentration camps, which technically constitute the imprisonment of people because of who they are, rather than for the crimes they committed. By the end of May, 1942, over 6,000 people from Little Tokyo were shipped through the Santa Anita Racetrack to join the other 18,000 Japanese from Southern California to await their transfer to barracks at Manzanar, Tule Lake, Gila, Poston, Topaz, Granada (Amache), Minidoka, Heart Mountain, Rohwer, and Jerome.

Almost immediately after Little Tokyo was deserted, in what would become a short-lived part of history that is often without mention, Little Tokyo, having previously been home to 30,000 residents, became home to 60,000 African Americans almost overnight. This migration came from the South and was primarily caused by the rising war industry of Los Angeles. Until the Japanese returned after World War II and reclaimed their community, the war years would witness a vibrant African-American hub in Little Tokyo. During this time, Jazz clubs sprang up and featured nightly performances by notable jazz musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson (credited for establishing the formula for Swing music, the most fashionable form of Jazz ever in the U.S,) and Count Basie. During these years, Little Tokyo came to be known as Bronzeville. We may not forget, however, that similar to the Japanese during the previous decades, the African-American population was, in great part, relegated to the Little Tokyo area as a result of restrictive and racist housing practices. 

And so, while African-American population of Little Tokyo contributed to both the development of Jazz music and the war effort, Japanese-Americans would soon find a way of contributing to the war effort themselves. Despite being confined to American internment camps, Japanese-American men would volunteer and serve in the segregated 100^th and 442^nd Battalions and subsequently become the most decorated soldiers in the U.S. Army for their size and length of service. Therefore, despite being totally rejected and stripped of their rights, rather than victimize themselves, they were able to lay aside their immediate oppression for the sake of optimistically seeking the long term benefits of justice. These battalions, while made up of only Japanese-American soldiers, would be found storming the beaches of southern Italy, almost simultaneously, as their more noted American counterparts were storming the Normandy beaches of France. As a result of this service, Jim Makino, a member of the 442^nd Battalion, would go as far as saying, “I’ll tell you this, truthfully and right from the heart, if it were not for the 442^nd, doing what they did, in such a heroic manner, for many more years we would have been a people with no voice to stand on, whereas today, we can stand very proud and tall because of these accomplishments.”

After the war, the area lost a lot of its historic fabric. The community had become mostly dispersed. By the 1950s, Little Tokyo was home mostly to elderly Issei and new immigrants from Japan. It wasn’t until the 1970’s, as Japanese trade and the tourism market began to grow that efforts to re-develop Little Tokyo would become significantly more proactive. In 1970, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), created the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project, which included new plans that called for a radical restructuring of Little Tokyo’s physical landscape. As Cameron Trowbridge would point out, “long time merchants that were concerned about the redevelopment were afraid of losing some of the flavor of the neighborhood.” One of the results was the redevelopment of the Japanese Village Plaza, an unusual shopping complex, utilizing white stucco with exposed wood framing to set off its blue sanchu tile roofs, which gives us the impression of being in a little Japanese hamlet.

In 1986, Little Tokyo landed on the national register of historic places and in 1995, it became a national historic landmark district, the highest national distinction extended to historic properties. The buildings have been mostly restored to what they would have looked like during the 1930’s, since those were its peak years. Another notable organization is the Nisei Week Foundation, whose offices could be found at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Nisei Week was formed as a way for second-generation Japanese to celebrate their culture, as well as a way to renew their interest in the Little Tokyo community. Since 1934, the festival has run continuously every August, except during World War II.

Despite great efforts of redevelopment, the Japanese-American community has undoubtedly changed. In fact, the community is very much in decline. Aside from the initial dispersal caused by World War II, some would also point out that among Asian groups, Japanese-Americans are perhaps the most out-marrying of all. And so, if you are looking at those who support the arts and community issues, this apparent phenomenon would surely compromise their continued support. In more recent years, the influx of newer Japanese seems to only suggest that this newer group simply does not connect with this long-standing community.

And still, despite the challenges that Little Tokyo faces, and whether or not it manages to achieve a more pronounced atavistic quality, the fact that it remains, and has thus been preserved, despite earthquakes, decreased funding and decreased cultural importance, is proof that it resiliently refuses an elegiac response to the challenges it faces. And so, even if perhaps more Japanese-Americans regard its importance with an insouciant mindset, and despite its seemingly mercurial condition in the face of redevelopment, Little Tokyo still manages to survive. This simple fact, as improbable as it once may have been perceived, gives way to the voice of a community that not only once flourished here, but still remains. A long gained permanent voice for the lives of those who were long denied one.

Photography by the Writer

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