From the turn of the 20th century to the early 1940s, a human-made island in San Pedro Bay held a flourishing Japanese American fishing village that helped develop Southern California’s mighty seafood industry.
Terry Hara, president of the Terminal Islanders Association, described Tuna Street as the “Broadway” of the Japanese fishing community.
Terminal Island residents observed Japanese traditions, he said, holding mochi pounding celebrations on New Year’s and dancing in kimonos at Girls’ Day festivals.
Around 800 Terminal Islanders were incarcerated in Manzanar concentration camp, and when they returned, almost the entire village had been bulldozed.
The number of surviving Terminal Island residents is dwindling.
A thriving Japanese American fishing community existed on a man-made island in San Pedro Bay from the turn of the 20th century until the early 1940s, contributing to the growth of Southern California’s powerful seafood industry.
Over 3,000 Japanese immigrant fishermen, known as issei and nisei, who were first- and second-generation immigrants, developed novel methods for catching albacore tuna and sardines on Terminal Island, including the use of live bait and 6-foot bamboo poles. In the canneries, their wives prepared and cleaned their bounties.
The village was then destroyed during World War II, and the entire population was uprooted. A pair of abandoned buildings on Tuna Street are the only traces of the enclave; they are now outsized by the large green cranes and vibrant stacks of shipping containers that encircle the island.
The remaining Terminal Islanders and their descendants, who are now well past retirement age, have banded together to try to preserve the last physical link to a mostly forgotten legacy because the buildings are in danger of being demolished to make room for more containers.
According to Paul Boyea, a board member of the Terminal Islanders Association, which is made up of roughly 200 former residents and their relatives, “these buildings are an integral part of American history that should never be forgotten.”.
Advocates have made great strides in preserving the buildings in recent months. Councilmember Tim McOsker proposed a motion in February to declare the structures historic-cultural monuments, which would give them further protection from demolition. In June, L. A. . After reviewing it, the Cultural Heritage Commission will determine whether to move the motion forward for a City Council vote.
The buildings were listed as one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation this month.
Former Terminal Islanders remember families shopping at supermarkets, watching movies, and going to dances at Fisherman’s Hall, as well as praying at a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine. The kids played baseball and did judo.
Boyea, 69, was born outside of Terminal Island and never lived there. However, he claimed that he has always had a deep bond with the location of his mother’s 1919 birth. The Japanese Fishermen’s Association president and captain of a fishing fleet was his grandfather.
The grocery A was housed in two buildings on Tuna Street, the Japanese village’s commercial corridor. The Nakamura Co. as well as the dry goods store Nanka Shoten, which was founded over a century ago.
The buildings were first preserved twenty years ago, but last May, when the Port of L. 1. which controls most of the island, suggested tearing them down to make more room for storage.
The department is working with Terminal Island advocates to work out plans for the buildings, but no decision has been made yet, according to Phillip Sanfield, the port’s director of communications.
The Terminal Islanders Association president, Terry Hara, referred to Tuna Street as the Japanese fishing community’s “Broadway.”. Hara’s father and two uncles all became commercial fishermen, and his grandfather was a cannery superintendent.
He said that people on Terminal Island celebrated Japanese customs by dancing in kimonos at Girls’ Day festivals and celebrating New Year’s with mochi pounding.
According to Hara, 67, “it was one big happy family.”. When the need arose, families took care of one another and no one locked their doors. “.”.
About two-thirds of Terminal Island’s population in the 1930s were Japanese, according to Geraldine Knatz, a maritime expert and co-author of “Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America’s Edge.”.
In the early 1900s, the island was referred to as “L.”. 1. In addition, a significant number of writers, artists, and lumberjacks called “s Playground” home. Knatz remarked, “It was a large, diverse community.”.
Everything changed in December. 7 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japanese aircraft. On suspicion of using fishing boats to spy for the Japanese military, the government promptly arrested hundreds of Japanese fishermen. After being sent to a federal prison, many of them spent months apart from their loved ones.
The remaining inhabitants, primarily women and children, were given 48 hours to leave the island in February of the following year. Nearly the entire village had been demolished when the 800 Terminal Islanders who had been imprisoned at the Manzanar concentration camp returned. Since they had nowhere else to live, many of the former residents moved to the South Bay and Long Beach.
Boyea claimed that because of the trauma, the Nisei avoided discussing incarceration.
The Terminal Islanders Association was founded in the 1970s by a group of survivors and descendants as a way to maintain social ties through yearly picnics and New Year’s festivities. Later, members partnered with the L to get involved in preservation and education initiatives. 2002 saw the establishment of a memorial by a conservancy, which is currently pushing for the Tuna Street buildings to be restored.
The buildings should be turned into a museum, an educational facility, or a general goods store for the island’s port workers, according to preservationists and descendants of Terminal Island residents.
“These structures could fulfill a community purpose while also conveying their history in some manner,” stated Adam Scott Fine, CEO of L. 1. Preservation.
The population of Terminal Island is rapidly declining. According to Hara, fewer than two dozen people remain, including his 100-year-old mother. He believes it is his duty as a descendant to uphold the legacy they established.
“Good or bad,” Hara declared, “this is an American story.”. “Our children and grandchildren need to know about the experience that happened. “.”.
