Japanese Settlement in the Los Angeles Area

JAPANESE SETTLEMENT IN THE LOS ANGELES AEEA C MIDOHI NlSHI Los Angeles State College The Japanese in the United States, u numerically small but economically .ind socially significant ethnic minority, have had a somewhat unique experience with migration and settlement—unique at least in a country with mg traditions of liberty and democracy. Under wartime conditions, between 1942 and 1945, some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, including 88 per cent of the United States total, were evacuated under military orders from the Pacific littoral. In the first phase of this involuntary migration, which was known officially as "relocation," thev were domiciled in camps and barracks predominantly east of the Sierra-Cascade divide, and for ? greater or lesser period they lived the life of displaced persons. During the second phase known as "resettlement," Üiev were permitted to leave the camps and establish permanent residence further east, predominantly in the Midwest where they found in the main ready acceptance and were able to carry on their own professions or find other suitable work. By early 1945 with the subsidence of national panic and the success of the twofront war assured, the prohibited Pacific Coast was opened, and there was again freedom of choice—to remain in the Midwest where many had attained success, or return "home" to die Pacific Coast to "resettle' in their old familiar pre-war surroundings (Figs. 1, 2, and 3.) Pre-War Settlement in Los Angeles It is not definitely known when die first Japanese came to Los Angeles County, but the United States Immigration Commission reported that a group of them started a restaurant in Los Angeles about 1885. Thirty-six Japanese immigrants were listed in the 1890 census for Los Angeles County.1 With no steamship connection between Los Angeles and Japan, early migrants usually entered by way of San Francisco or Seattle. Many of the earliest settiers were laborers on die Santa Fe or die Southern Pacific, while farm employment and small business enterprises absorbed others. The many attractive features of soutiiern California included the subtropical climate as well as an array of job possibilities in an uncrowded region. A sudden influx of Japanese into Los Angeles County followed the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906. At about the same time poor housing and living conditions proffered to farm laborers throughout the Central Valley were turning many toward die cities and especially in the direction of the rapidly growing Los Angeles conurbation which offered the widest range of opportunities. 1 Report of the Immigration Commission, Immigrants in Industries, Part 25, Vol. 23, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1911. 35 FIGURE I DISTRIBUTION OF JAPANESE, 1940 o 1,000 PERSONS 100 PERSONS CO -4 Fisufie Z RELOCATION CENTERS 00 FIGURE 3 DISTRIBUTION OF JAPANESE, 1950 Ö I*ICO o 1.000 PERSONS 100 PERSONS Another powerful motivation was the California Alien Land Laws, first enacted in 1913 and amended in 1920 and 1923; these deprived aliens of the right to own or lease agricultural kind and thus accelerated movement to the cities. Between 1920 and 1940 there was a marked decline in die number of Japanese in California farming areas; Japanese-operated farms decreased from 361,276 acres in 1920 to 191,427 acres in 1930,- (Fig. 4.) In the Los Angeles area Japanese population expanded rapidly. Whereas in 1900 they were concentrated in San Francisco. Sacramento, Alameda, and a number of other central California counties, bv 1910 Los Angeles County ranked first in number of Japan-born immigrante (Table 1). Table I JAPANESE POPULATION TRENDS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY AND CITY _________________1950 1940 mo 1920 1910 1900 1890 United States141,768126,947 138,834111,01072,15724,;3262,039 California84,95093,717 97,4SG71,95241,35610,1511,147 Los Angeles Co.36,76136,866 35,39019,9118,46120436 Los Angeles City25,50223,321 21,08111,6184,23815026 United States100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Los Angeles Co.25.9 29.1 25.5 17.9 11.7.81.7 Los Angeles City18,0 18.4 15.1 10.55.9.61.3 California100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0...