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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Sawtelle reexamined: a preservation study for a historic California Japantown

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Sawtelle reexamined: a preservation study for a historic California Japantown

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SAWTELLE REEXAMINED:

A PRESERVATION STUDY FOR A HISTORIC CALIFORNIA JAPANTOWN

BY

COLLEEN PATRICIA HORN

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Master of Historic Preservation

August 2013

Copyright 2013 Colleen Patricia Horn

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee: Donna Graves, Jay Platt,
and Trudi Sandmeier. Donna, your expertise, thoughtful comments, and lightning quick
responses were truly essential in this project. Jay, I cannot thank you enough for your
thorough feedback and advice. Trudi, you went above and beyond my expectations in
giving me guidance through this journey. I couldn’t have done this without each of you. I
would also like to thank all those, especially Don Sakai, who took time to speak with me
or pointed me in the direction of valuable new information.
Second, I would like to thank my friends and family who supported me over this
long and challenging period. To my brilliant sister who helped edit my early drafts, I am
so proud of you. Ma, you always know the perfect thing to say. Dad and your guidance
made me who I am today. My brothers, Kevin and Connor, you have always been there
for me, and our family, when it counted most. Susan and David, my second parents, your
encouragement kept me motivated and open ears kept me sane. To my Thorn, who
“patiently” waited for me to finish this project, we are a perfect team. I am so very
grateful.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………… ii

LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………... v

LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………. vi

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………...... viii

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………... 1

CHAPTER 1: Background on Japanese Immigration ………………………… 4

What is an “ethnic enclave”?........................................................................ 4
Structural development model……………………………………………... 5
A Brief History of Japanese Issei Immigration…………………………….. 6
Japanese in Gardening and Related Industries in Southern California…… 11
From gardens to Nisei small business and beyond………........………….... 19

CHAPTER 2: Sawtelle Development……………………………………………. 23

Introduction………………………………………………………………… 23
Sawtelle Frontier and Settlement: 1890-1922……………………………... 23
Sawtelle Stabilization: 1922-1942…………………………………………. 27
Sawtelle Resettlement: 1945-1960…………………………………………. 34
Sawtelle faces urban renewal and Sansei dispersion: 1960-present………. 39

CHAPTER 3: Study of the Sawtelle community core………………………….. 45

Boundaries and Period of Significance……………………………………. 45
Profile of existing Japanese-American businesses, district contributing
historic sites………………………………………………………………... 59
Profile of individual resources surrounding Sawtelle Boulevard………….. 70

CHAPTER 4: Significance, Challenges and Recommendations………………. 74
What is the point of studying Sawtelle’s history and built environment?...... 74
Why preserve it?............................................................................................ 76
Challenges………………………………………………………………….. 79
Case Study: Little Tokyo…………………………………………………… 82
Main Street Sawtelle?.................................................................................... 85
Recommendations………………………………………………………….. 86
iv

Recommendations for National, State and Local Historic Preservation
Strategy…………………………………………………………………….. 92

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………… 98

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………… 100

v

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Japanese immigration to the United States from 1870 to 1930 7

Table 2 Distribution of Japanese populations in the United States,
1890 to 1940 8

Table 3 Occupations of Japanese in Los Angeles, 1934 14

Table 4 Survey of Sawtelle Boulevard, west, from Missouri to
Mississippi Avenue 48

Table 5 Survey of Sawtelle Boulevard, east, from Mississippi to
Missouri Avenue 54

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Sawtelle map using Preserving California’s Japantown survey
data 3

Figure 2 Photo of a Japanese-American farmer, 1941 11

Figure 3 An article depicting the bounty at the Southern California
flowers markets and nurseries 17

Figure 4 Image of the modest homes built for families of veterans at
Sawtelle 24

Figure 5 Map of the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Company Electric lines
around, Los Angeles, 1910 25

Figure 6 Streetcar stop at Sawtelle and Santa Monica Boulevard in 1920 29

Figure 7 Los Angeles County, 1940, showing the percentage of “non-
white” population by Census Tract 33

Figure 8 Sawtelle Food Market circa 1947 37

Figure 9 Construction of the 405 Freeway at Wilshire and Sepulveda
Blvds., looking south 39

Figure 10 Photo of offices at 1940- 1950 Sawtelle 42

Figure 11 District boundaries and contributors for the proposed Sawtelle
Historic District 47

vii

Figure 12 Photo of Hashimoto Nursery 59

Figure 13 Photo of Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery 62

Figure 14 Photo of Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery 62

Figure 15 Photo of Satsuma Imports 64

Figure 16 Photo of George’s Hardware and Garden Supply 67

Figure 17 Photo of Jo-Mi Plumbing 69

Figure 18 Photo of Japanese Institute of Sawtelle 70

Figure 19 Photo of Bay Cities Garden at Stoner Park 72

viii

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this thesis is to uncover the historical development of the Sawtelle
area into a California Japantown and suggest its significance as the West Los Angeles
hub for the Japanese American community, with roots in the nursery and gardening
industry, particularly prior to and immediately after World War II. Perhaps due to its
small size, historians, planners and preservationists outside the Japanese American
community have ignored Sawtelle. Logically, much scholarship has been dedicated to the
history and preservation of the larger Japantowns such as Little Tokyo in Los Angeles,
San Jose or San Francisco, but preserving the central Japantowns alone neglects the
important context of the network of unique communities that emerged in the early
twentieth century, a few of which remain today.
1

This paper seeks to highlight Sawtelle’s importance in history, encouraging
increased awareness for the dozens of smaller Japantown enclaves throughout California,
and distinguish their significance in shaping the California landscape. The following
history establishes early Japanese immigration patterns in context with California history,
settlement in Los Angeles, and Sawtelle’s development into a California Japantown.
Then, a study examines the profile of Sawtelle’s commercial core today, calling out
historic community resources. Finally, this paper suggests why preserving Sawtelle’s
resources as a district is critical for historic integrity and offers recommendations as to
how this problem can be addressed.

1
For more information on the many Japantowns in California see “California Japantowns,” accessed April
8, 2013, http://www.californiajapantowns.org/.

1

INTRODUCTION

In 2006, a rally was organized at City Hall in San Francisco in support of
preserving one of the city’s Japantowns. Fearing developer 3D Investments from Beverly
Hills would destroy the cultural character of the district, local activists attempted to block
a transaction which would sell off the heart of the district. Protesters sought protection for
this Japantown because, as petition organizer and San Francisco State University student
Aaron Kitashima said, “you can’t learn everything from a book, you have to come to the
neighborhood and ask real people.” While protestors’ motives were noble, opposition to
their cause came from a surprising source, the Japantown Merchant’s Association
president, who remained hopeful the transaction would attract investment to an area that
“needed improvement.”
2
This case of San Francisco’s Japantown is far from an anomaly;
redevelopment-focused planners and developers in California have altered and
demolished valuable Japantown neighborhoods since the mid-20
th
century.
For Sawtelle, a relatively small Japantown in West Los Angeles, both public and
private interventions have been equally problematic. The first knock to the Sawtelle
community came through federal policy that forcibly relocated and incarcerated all
people of Japanese decent on the West Coast during World War II. Twelve years later,
mid-century urban renewal policies forced the eviction or sale and redevelopment of
hundreds of businesses and homes. Starting in the 1970s and continuing today, land

2
Charles Burress. “Lively Rally at City Hall to Preserve Japantown.” The San Francisco Chronicle, March
15, 2006, B10.
2

values in west Los Angeles have motivated sale, demolition and new construction,
replacing the “under-built” small-scale shops and homes in the community.
After enduring more than fifty years of insensitive demolition and development,
the Sawtelle community remains surprisingly dynamic today. However, with the historic
built environment quickly disappearing, Sawtelle presents preservation and planning
challenges regarding how to plan culturally and historically sensitive future development
and how to promote integrity for the remaining historic resources. Through historical
analysis, this paper shows the evolution of the Sawtelle Japantown community, focusing
on the commercial corridor between Mississippi Avenue and Missouri Avenues. The
lessons from history establish a framework for necessary future planning decisions within
this community.
The statewide effort, Preserving California’s Japantowns, set forth three goals for
a statewide study to document and preserve these historic resources: reclaiming historic
resources from the numerous pre-World War II Japantowns; capturing memories of Nisei
on the historic development and disruptions of California’s Japanese American
communities; expanding knowledge of California’s history by documenting over fourty
Japantowns that existed prior to World War II. With these goals in mind, the following
case study of Sawtelle provides recommendations for a model to achieve a historically
minded and culturally sensitive approach to development.

3

Figure 1. Sawtelle map using Preserving California’s Japantown survey data. Source: Ben
Pease for Japantown Atlas. “2000 block of Sawtelle Boulevard (unspecified post World
War II period),” accessed June 17, 2013, http://japantownatlas.com/map-sawtelle.html.
4

CHAPTER 1: Background on Japanese Immigration

What is an “ethnic enclave”?
The term “ethnic enclave” is associated with a range of meanings and diverse
ethnicities. Sawtelle is a traditional Japanese-American ethnic enclave in California, often
referred to as a Japantown. The following defines these terms used throughout this paper.
The definition of “ethnic enclave” for this paper is taken from a 2008 definition
by scholars Michael Liu and Kim Geron. They generally define an ethnic enclave as
“specific localities where ethnic minorities congregate.” More specifically, they identify
three common features of an ethnic enclave: co-ethnic owners and employees, spatial
concentration and sectoral specialization. These neighborhoods provide several common
resources: protection from hostility, retention of cultural norms and language,
employment and possibility of ownership in business, participation in community, and
religious and cultural organizations.
3

Other scholars such as Logan, Alba and Zhang use the term “ethnic communities”
referring to residential concentrations of ethnic settlement. Laguerre writes of the Global
Ethnopolis, describing Japantowns and Little Tokyo as “ethnopoles.”
4
Each of these
scholars coin terminology that is specific to their purpose, however the term ethnic
enclave is the more generally accepted term.

3
Michael Liu and Kim Geron. “Changing Neighborhood: Ethnic Enclaves and the Struggle for Social
Justice.” Social Justice 35 (2008): 18.
4
Michel Laguerre, The Global Ethnopolis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999), 56; John Logan,
Richard Alba, and Wenquan Zhang. “Immigrant Enclaves and Ethnic Communities in New York and Los
Angeles,” American Sociological Review 67 (2002): 300.

5

Specific to the Asian-American settlement experience, enclaves are categorized
into 4 distinct types: traditional, satellite, new, and ethnoburbs.
5
By definition, Sawtelle is
a traditional enclave. Traditional enclaves are neighborhoods founded before World War
II by Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigrants. Motivated by housing segregation and
discriminatory laws, Asian immigrants created their own institutions and labor markets.
These communities evolved into centers for housing, community and religious
organizations, ethnic shopping, and commerce. For this paper, Sawtelle is a “traditional
enclave”: the terms “enclave” and “Japantown” will be used with this definition in mind.

Structural-development model
Laguerre uses Glenn’s structural-development model that identifies five periods,
providing a framework for characterizing Japanese-American settlement. These are used
to organize Chapter 2: Sawtelle development.
6
The “frontier period,” 1890-1910, is
characterized by immigration of Issei, or first-generation Japanese immigrants, most of
whom were men in search of work. During the “settlement period,” 1910-1924, a massive
migration of “picture brides” joined male laborers. These “picture brides” both arrived
after being selected by men through photographs, as well as through arranged meetings in
Japan. This period saw establishment of institutions, newspapers, churches, businesses
and languages schools. The “stabilization period,” 1924-1940 was shaped by the
restrictive Immigration Act of 1924, which restricted Asian immigration. During this

5
Lui and Geron, “Changing Neighborhood,” 19.
6
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Issei, Nisei, War Bride: Three Generations of Japanese American Women in
Domestic Service (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986): 29-37.

6

time the Nisei, or second generation, developed businesses that catered to the evolving
Japanese community needs. The “resettlement period,” 1945-1960, is characterized by
the return of the Japanese American community from incarceration and subsequent
rebuilding of social and economic capital. Finally the “dispersion period,” 1960-present,
is characterized by the outmigration of the third generation, or Sansei.
7

A Brief History of Japanese Issei Immigration
In order to set the stage for the Sawtelle Japanese American community, it is
important to begin with the broader context of Japanese immigration and settlement
patterns in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, particularly the
establishment of Japanese immigrants in the agriculture industry in California.
Japanese immigration to California is tied to the immigration and then exclusion
of Chinese laborers. By 1860, Chinese were the largest foreign-born ethnic group in
California.
8
Racism and competition led to policies mandating exclusion of these Chinese
laborers. The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by legislators in 1882, renewed in 1892 and
1902, made Chinese immigration to the United States illegal.
9
This left a void in the US
labor market that was subsequently filled by Japanese laborers who began arriving in
significant numbers after the Japanese government legalized emigration in 1884.
10

7
Ibid.
8
Mark Kanazawa, “Immigration, Exclusion and Taxation: Anti-Chinese Legislation in Gold Rush
California,” The Journal of Economic History 65 (2005): 781.
9
Kanazawa, “Immigration, Exclusion and Taxation,” 779.
10
Robert M. Jiobu, “Ethnic Hegemony and the Japanese of California,” American Sociological Review 53
(1988): 357.

7

Like many immigrants, the Issei arrived in search of fortunes, many without plans
to settle long term.
11
The majority of these arrivals were young, single men, often under
the age of twenty-one.
12
This wave of Japanese found employment in a variety of
industries including railroads, logging, mines, canneries, fishing and domestic service.
13

However, the agriculture industry quickly emerged as the most significant Japanese
immigrant employer, with considerable concentration in California, relative to other
states.

11
Jiobu, “Ethnic Hegemony and the Japanese of California,” 357.
12
Gene N. Levine and Colbert Rhodes, The Japanese American Community: A Three Generation Study.
(New York: Prager Publishers, 1981): 3.
13
Masakazu Iwata, “The Japanese Immigrants in California Agriculture,” Agricultural History 36 (1962):
27.

8

The Japanese affinity for farming is explained by Issei men and women, who
reported that two-thirds of their parents in Japan were farmers, and one-third of the men
themselves were farmers.
14
According to Higgs, the agriculture industry employed

14
Levine and Rhodes, The Japanese American Community: A Three Generation Study, 28.
9

30,000 Japanese in the summer of 1909. In California at the same time, two-thirds of the
Japanese population was working on farms.
15

In order to survive in a foreign land, the first Japanese immigrants clustered in
close-knit communities providing solidarity. These enclaves encouraged private
enterprise, where entrepreneurial-minded immigrants began to offer services to meet their
social and economic needs.
16
This created a foundation on which the communities
grew.
17
These clusters set the framework for later establishing Japantowns that fostered
traditional Japanese family values, institutions, and businesses that served the Japanese
community in a foreign land.
18

Prior to the establishment of formal institutions, some children of Issei were sent
back to Japan for education. However, it wasn’t long until a more practical solution, the
Japanese Language Schools, became mainstay of nearly all enclaves. Primarily founded
prior to WWII, these schools were responsible for education, including Japanese
language and culture, and provided the cultural backbone for the network of enclaves.
Japanese Language Schools played a huge role in community cultural transmission as a
means for Issei to teach the next generation Japanese values. With 220 schools in
California alone by 1930, four-fifths of Nisei went to Japanese Language School. Due to

15
Robert Higgs, “Landless by Law: Japanese Immigrants in California Agriculture to 1941,” The Journal
of Economic History 38 (1978): 206.
16
Levine and Rhodes, The Japanese American Community: A Three Generation Study, 8.
17
Carey and Company Inc., San Jose Historic Context Statement and Intensive Survey. October 10, 2006,
5.
18
Levine and Rhodes, The Japanese American Community: A Three Generation Study, 10.

10

a considerable amount of white hostility, many of the schools emphasized content about
American citizenship in addition to Japanese culture.
19

Japanese immigrants were quickly condemned for their considerable success in
establishing themselves and their rapid population growth. California Senator James D.
Phelan, proclaimed these sentiments against the Japanese community in his piece titled
“The Japanese Evil in California”:
They are non-assimilable here… they have no disposition in California to
work for wages, but seek control of soil by purchase, leasehold or share of
a crops, and, under these circumstances, become impossible competitors.
The money produced from the soil by Japanese in California circulates
among Japanese, in shop and store, which are conducted by their own
countrymen; and thence it flows to Japan, impoverishing the State that
provides it, to be invested in industries which compete with our own.
20

Both state and the federal government attempted to curtail Japanese immigration
through policy. In 1907, a presidential proclamation prohibited Japanese immigration via
Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. The Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907 sought to monitor
and slow immigration. The California Alien Land Laws of 1913 and 1920 restricted first
generation Japanese, who were legally barred from becoming US citizens, from owning
land, a major blow to those in the agriculture industry.
21
Finally, in 1924 Congress passed
an Immigration Act, prohibiting immigration of Japanese aliens ineligible for
citizenship.
22
Laborers strategized to remain in agriculture through joint land leases and

19
Edna Bonacich and John Modell. The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity, (Berkley and Los Angeles:
UCLA Press, 1980), 220.
20
James D. Phelan, “The Japansese Evil in California,” The North American Review, 210 (1919): 324.
21
Eiichiro Azuma, “Japanese Immigrant Farmers and California Alien Land Laws: A Study of the Walnut
Grove Japanese Community,” California History 73 (1994): 24.
22
While these acts were rationalized by the heavy influx of Japanese immigration, it should be noted that a
study by Ichihashi (1932, see bibliography), shows the numbers used by the government to rationalize
11

sharecropping.
23
However, these harsh policies spurred a shift for many Japanese
Americans from agriculture to gardening, floriculture, and related industries, which
became an important occupation for later arriving Issei and those who followed.
24

Japanese In Gardening and Related Industries in Southern California

exclusion were highly inflated. Ichihashi shows in his chapter on Japanese Immigration into the United
States, early twentieth century statistics often did not differentiate between Japanese arriving in Hawaii, the
continental United States and Alaska; nor did it take into account the vast numbers of Japanese leaving the
United States; and finally it often did not differentiate Japanese Americans born in the United States (legal
citizens), and new arrivals. These inaccuracies certainly contributed to establishing the widespread anti-
Japanese immigration sentiments at the time.
23
Azuma, “Japanese Immigrant Farmers,” 20-21.
24
Nobuya Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California, 1900-1941,” in Labor Immigration
Under Capitalism: Asian Workers in the United States Before World War II, ed. Lucie Cheng and Edna
Bonacich (Berkley and Los Angeles: University California Press Ltd., 1984), 435-469.

Figure 2. Photo of a Japanese-American farmer, 1941. Source: USC Digital
Library Photo Collection, “G. Nagano (Nisei) cultivating truck garden with
tractor at Gardena. The most modern equipment on this farm.” Record ID:
JARDA-1/JARDA-1-10, 1941.
12

Since the turn of the twentieth century, gardening has been a most important
urban occupation among the Japanese and Japanese Americans in Southern California.
25

Gardening was an extension of the farming and domestic work that employed the early
immigrants. With harsh policies making the agriculture industry less attractive, trends
show Issei increasingly settled closer to cities for employment as gardeners and house
help. Early accounts state that Issei first got into ventures like lawn mowing and
gardening in Los Angeles around 1900 when a few Issei domestic workers began taking
care of their employers’ yards. By the 1920s, yard maintenance was an economic
mainstay of Japanese in the Southland.
26
An early example of flower industry activity, in
1892 Sotaro Endo, a pioneer of floriculture in Southern California, began growing
carnations and violets on a leased lot on the corner of South Main Street and West
Jefferson Boulevard.
27

The “former farmers” were lived in boarding houses located in Japanese
American neighborhoods around Los Angeles including Uptown, Southwest, Hollywood,
and West Los Angeles.
28
Through living in boarding houses, the gardening trade became
an apprenticeship system. As described by Shoji Nagumo in Gadena Goroku, to enter the
gardening trade, a Japanese immigrant would work for an Issei already established in the
trade. After gaining enough experience and clientele, one could start a gardening business

25
Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California,” 435.
26
Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California,” 436.
27
Naomi Hirahara. Greenmakers: Japanese American Gardeners in Southern California. (Los Angeles:
Southern California Gardeners’ Federation, 2000), 8.
28
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 19.

13

of his own.
29
These relationships were often established at the Japanese boarding houses,
which served as employment agencies for new arrivals.
30

Japanese immigrants quickly rose to be a substantial market force in gardening
and related industries like horticulture and floriculture, eventually establishing Japanese
owned nurseries and related businesses. By 1905, gardening was the fourth most
important trade employing Japanese men in Los Angeles, employing 5.9% of the working
population.
31
By 1918, the number of Japanese gardeners had grown to 446 within the
city limits of Los Angeles, or 10.4% of the Japanese population, with 556 in the greater
Los Angeles area. By 1920, there were reportedly 1,000 gardeners in Southern California.
Finally, by 1934, gardeners made up 29.3% of the Japanese workforce in Los Angeles.
With a total population of 30,000 Japanese in Los Angeles, 8,135 of whom were in the
labor market, 1,500 were in the gardening industry, making it by far and away the most
significant occupation type.
32

29
Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California,” 444.
30
Ibid, 444.
31
Ibid, 437.
32
Ibid, 440.

14

The rapid growth in gardening is explained by several factors: the rich agricultural
land in California, discriminatory policies and racism, the rapid overall population
growth in Los Angeles in the early twentieth century, the popularity of Japanese style
gardens, familiarity with plants among the Issei, the growing reputation of Japanese
gardeners, and the relative profitability in gardening.
33
Gardeners earned significantly
higher wages than in either railroad or day labor, and attained a degree of autonomy as

33
Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California”: 440. For more information on the Japanese
Gardens see David Engel. Japanese Gardens for Today. (Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1959).
15

independent contractors.
34
Another key to growth in gardening was the linking of
independent contractors into collective networks, a strategy established by the early Issei
farmers.
In Southern California, farmers’ associations formed marketing organizations,
which linked farmers to markets in Los Angeles for the channeling of farm produce
directly to the market.
35
Leveraging the networking at boarding houses within enclaves,
Issei formed cooperative organizations that assisted in education, marketing and
distribution of produce for Japanese farmers. An important reason for success in truck
farming was aptitude for that type of agriculture and ability to organize. Japanese
farmers’ associations provided non-English speaking workers a way to negotiate and
market produce, which was especially helpful to Issei, who spoke little English and were
often unwelcome in markets.
36

The previously established networks, and similar collective strategies, were a
significant resource for gardeners. In 1933, under the leadership of Shoji Nagumo, three
associations of Japanese gardeners formed in Southern California: Hollywood, Uptown
Los Angeles, and West Los Angeles.
37
These groups formed the first federation, the
League of Southern California Japanese Gardeners, in 1937. The federation was located
at 1646 North Hoover Street in Los Angeles, however its membership base was
concentrated in West Los Angeles.
38
In 1940, the federation boasted 900 members: 250

34
Tsuchida, “Japanese Gardeners in Southern California,” 435.
35
Adon Poli and Warren M. Engstrand, “Japanese Agriculture on the Pacific Coast,” The Journal of Land
& Public Utility Economics 21 (1945): 358.
36
Poli and Engstrand, “Japanese Agriculture on the Pacific Coast” 358.
37
Hirahara. Greenmakers, 8.

38
Ibid, 9.
16

in Hollywood, 300 in Uptown Los Angeles, and 350 in West Los Angeles.
39
During the
same year, the first issue of Gadena no Tomo, the monthly magazine published by the
federation, began circulation. The articles in this magazine linked the Japanese gardening
community, discussing important political, technical and gardening topics.
40

Organizations began to proliferate, for example one bonsai nursery owner, Frank Fusaji
Nagata of Alpine Baikoen or Alpine Baika Bonsai Nursery, on Jefferson near La Brea
founded the Southern California Bonsai Club, which later became the California Bonsai
Society.
41

Another major Japanese collective was in the flower industry. Japanese
entrepreneurs rose to dominate the flower industry in Los Angeles in the 1920s by linking
regional flower growers with both local and national customers at the Southern California
Flower Market, or the “Japanese exchange.”

39
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 9.
40
Ibid.
41
“Frank Nagata and bonsai class at Alpine Baika Bonsai Nursery, Los Angeles, California, 1964”
Japanese American National Museum. Toyo Miyatake Studio/ Rafu Shimpo Collection, accessed
September 16, 2012, http://www.janm.org/collections/item/96.267.829/.

17

Figure 3. An article depicting produce at the Southern California flowers markets and nurseries.
Images include pictures of the bounty at the “Japanese exchange.” Source: “The Center of the
Southland’s Commerce in Beauty,” The Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1927.
18

In a 1928 Los Angeles Times report on vegetable production, a blurb highlights
both the economic force of the overall flower industry, valued at “several million
annual,” and the Japanese niche within the business. “In Los Angeles there are two
wholesale flower exchanges supplying about 189 retail florists. The American Florist
Exchanges handles the products of forty-five white growers, while the Southern
California Flower Market handles flowers of 120 Japanese growers.”
42
These local
markets garnered national attention, “You don’t need to go to Paris or Nice or Mexico
City to see one of the most colorful flower markets in the world. You need only go down
on Wall Street, between Seventh and Eighth in Los Angeles…”
43
The flower market was
a national distributor of wholesale flowers, sending weekly shipments as far as Chicago,
New Orleans, Texas and the East Coast.
44

The flower market was located just outside of Little Tokyo, the Japanese enclave
in downtown Los Angeles. As the Japanese clusters grew in and around Los Angeles,
Little Tokyo grew into a regional gathering place. “The central nihonmachi, or
Japantown, in Los Angeles County, Little Tokyo was the biggest and busiest of more
than forty Japantowns in the state of California prior to World War II.”
45
Through
publications such as The Rafu Shimpo, first printed in 1903, the communities remained
connected with each other and the Little Tokyo, the bustling central enclave. A survey
found that 51% of the “small business portion of the Nisei” was strongly tied into the

42
“Vegetables.” The Los Angeles Times. January 3, 1928.
43
Lee Shippey. “The Lee Side O’L.A.” The Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1928.
44
Ibid.
45
Hilary Jenks. “Home is Little Tokyo: Race, Community, and Memory in Twentieth-Century Los
Angeles” (Dissertation, University of Southern California, 2008), 29.

19

ethnic community in Los Angeles by regular newspaper reading.
46
“With its Japanese-
oriented shops, bathhouses, doctor’s offices, churches, temples, restaurants, newspaper
offices, and movie theater, along with the flower and wholesale produce markets that
operated along its periphery, Little Tokyo was the center of social and economic life for
the immigrant, or Issei generation.”
47

While Little Tokyo was a gathering place for the broader Japanese community, all
over Southern California dozens of small Japantowns grew into unique and significant
communities in their own right.

From gardens to Nisei small business and beyond
The escalating Japanese-American success was jolted by the onset of World War
II and subsequent Japanese internment. For these blossoming Japantowns, the historic
injustice of the early 1940s was a significant setback. President Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, making it legal for authorities to remove people from an area
without trials or hearings on the basis of “military necessity.” Order 9102 established the
War Relocation Authority, and the first groups of Japanese Americans were soon
transported to Manzanar during the spring of 1942.
48
On January 2, 1945, the exclusion
order was repealed and captives left camps to rebuild their communities.

46
Edna Bonacich and John Modell. The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity, (Berkley and Los Angeles:
UCLA Press, 1980), 204.
47
Jenks, “Home is Little Tokyo,” 29. For more information on Little Tokyo see Hilary Jenks. Dissertation
USC. “Home is Little Tokyo: Race, Community, and Memory in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles.”
(Dissertation, University of Southern California, 2008).

48
Carey and Co. Inc., San Jose Historic Context Statement, 7. For more information on Japanese
incarceration see Jeff Hay, ed., Perspectives on Modern World History: The Internment of Japanese
Americans, (Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2011).
20

The war’s end marked the beginning of resettlement for the Japanese American
community at large, a period sometimes referred to as the Nisei experience.
49
The Nisei
resettlement period leveraged pre-war Issei business experience to grow beyond
nurseries, gardening, and floriculture into new small businesses. Success in gardening,
floriculture, and nursery businesses allowed for investment in new business and
education.
50
According to Tsuchida, “In the postwar period, this line of business not only
enable many Japanese Americans to accumulate sufficient capital for going into other
small businesses, but it also helped the gardeners provide their children higher
education.”
51
Gardening and related industries provided the foundation, then, particularly
in the postwar period, led to new growth. While there were many new ventures, the Nisei
shared the pattern of concentration in small businesses and self-employment with the
generation that preceded them.
52
One such story typifies this Nisei experience.
After growing up in Sawtelle, Tom Ikkanda, an attendee of Sawtelle Gakuin’s
first Japanese Language class, went to mechanics school.
53
Prior to WWII, Ikkanda got a
part time job working at a garage at La Grange and Sawtelle Boulevard run by Japanese
Kogas Gas Station, one of the first gas stations in the surrounding area. At the same time,
Ikkanda was also working part-time as a gardener to pay his way in school. In late 1939
he started his own business at the corner of La Grange and Pontius, where he opened a

49
Jack Fujimoto, PhD. Sawtelle: West Los Angeles’ Japantown, (San Francisco: Acadia Publishing, 2007),
25.
50
Tsuchida, Sawtelle, 436.
51
Ibid.
52
Edna Bonacich and John Modell. The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity, (Berkley and Los Angeles:
UCLA Press, 1980), preface.
53
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 63.

21

garage in the back of an existing shop.
54
Ikkanda Automotive Services got its first
permanent location post-WWII at 1920 Sawtelle Blvd.
Tom Ikkanda’s Automotive business remained at its Sawtelle location until it was
sold to developers in 1988.
55
In its place, developers built a four-story apartment
building, which remains there today.
56
Ikkanda, like many of the aging Nisei small
business owners that grew Japantown community businesses after WWII, faced the
pressure of a changing community from the inside as well as the outside leading to the
present situation many Japanese-American small business owners find themselves in
today, the Sansei dispersion.
In part, the family business tradition has declined because Sansei and Yonsei, third
and fourth generations, have left Japantown communities to seek education, careers, and
success elsewhere.
57
Bonacich and Modell aptly predicted this conundrum in 1980.
Since the Nisei seem to have followed the pattern of their parents in providing
considerable education for their children, we would anticipate that few third-
generation Japanese Americans will operate ethnic small businesses for long.
Their careers will most likely resemble those of the youngest Nisei, although they
will have even less reason to develop a niche in an ethnic economy than did the
youngest of their parents’ generation.
58

Armed with education, the current generations have less need to rely on the ethnic
enclave for economic stability. The small family businesses of the Nisei and the nurseries
of pre-war Japantowns are increasingly scarce. In the same study, the researchers found
that among the Sansei in the sample, there was a great shift away from the occupations

54
Tom Ikkanda. ”Oral Histories.” Japanese Institute of Sawtelle, accessed April 8, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/oralhistories_009-Ikkanda-Tom-1.asp.
55
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 72.
56
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”
57
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 25.
58
Bonacich and Modell, The Economic Basis, 172.

22

held by their parents. While Sansei generation retained the self-employment ideal, and
those who reported self-employment as a priority also were likely to retain ties to the
ethnic enclave, the overwhelming trend is away from ethnic solidarity as an economic
basis.
59

59
Bonacich and Modell, The Economic Basis, 250.
23

CHAPTER 2: Sawtelle Development

Introduction

Sawtelle, which originated as a nursery and agricultural enclave in West Los
Angeles, is one of the several Los Angeles communities that contributed to the large
network of Japanese farmers, gardeners, and nurserymen. With 350 out of 900 members
of the League of Southern California Japanese Gardeners located in West Los Angeles by
1940, Sawtelle was home to more than a third of the gardeners in the League. Sawtelle’s
growth into an enclave is an excellent example of the considerable network of
Japantowns throughout California that literally and figuratively shaped the landscape of
the State and the West Coast.

Sawtelle Frontier and Settlement: 1890-1922

The lands in and around Sawtelle, originally known as Barrett, were part of the
San Vicente land grant.
60
The first development occurred around 1888, before the town
of Barrett was founded, when the United States Government established Soldiers’ Home
two miles north of Barrett, where the Veterans Administration is currently located. The
federal government spent millions of dollars developing, landscaping and beautifying 737
acres for retired war veterans. Subsequently in 1896, the Pacific Land Company hired
Rev. S.H. Taft, an experienced town developer, to develop a barley field south of
Soldiers’ Home into a town for the purpose of dividing and selling the land. In 1897, Taft

60
Luther A. Ingersoll. Ingersoll’s Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities, (Los Angeles: L.A. Ingersoll,
1908), 345.
24

tried to establish a school district, but there were only thirteen school-aged children. By
1898, the necessary fifteen children where counted, and the Barrett district was establish,
named after A.W. Barrett, a tenured manager of Soldiers’ Home. However, the postal
service objected to the town name of Barrett due to similarity to another town name.
61

The name of the school district and town was changed shortly thereafter to Sawtelle after
W.E. Sawtelle, a prominent resident.
62
Early growth was largely due to Soldiers’ home,
which at the end of the nineteenth century already had 2,000 members. Many of the
veterans, widows, and families of veterans took advantage of the affordable land in
Sawtelle and purchased it to build modest homes.
63

61
Ingersoll, Ingersoll’s Century History, 346.
62
“The City of Sawtelle and the Soldiers’ Home.” The Los Angeles Times. September 10, 1911.
63
Ingersoll, Ingersoll’s Century History, 346.

Figure 4. Image of the modest homes built for families of veterans at Sawtelle. Source:
Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives, “Ladies of the Grand Army Cottage Homes
for Veterans and their Wives, Sawtelle, California,” Identifier: RY132, date unknown.
25

Bordered by present day Pico Boulevard to the south, Santa Monica Boulevard to
the north, Sepulveda Boulevard to the east and Bundy Drive to the West, Sawtelle was
well located.

Figure 5. Note the Sawtelle and Soldiers Home stops on the Pacific Electric Streetcar line. Source:
University of Southern California Digital Library.“Map of the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Company
Electric lines around, Los Angeles, 1910.” Record ID: USC-1-1-1-13395, 1910.
26

While only an infant town, Sawtelle had many advantages: proximity to fertile
agricultural soil south of Pico; tree-lined streets; and a location on the Pacific Electric
Streetcar Exposition Line fifteen miles from Los Angeles and three miles from Santa
Monica.
64
With a mild climate and rich soil, Sawtelle was advertised in the Los Angeles
Times as an agricultural dream. “This explains the presence of so many market gardeners
and small fruit farmers in the vicinity of Sawtelle.”
65
Many tried their hand at farming or
as nurserymen in the Sawtelle area. In 1902, Stephen H. Taft, the aforementioned town
developer, advertised his “Semi-Tropic Nursery” just off the electric car stop at Sawtelle
on Oregon Ave.
66
Commercial and residential growth led to increased traffic, thus the
roads in the Sawtelle area were paved in 1913.
67

Issei arrived in the Sawtelle area between 1900 and 1910 to work in the
agriculture fields south of Pico.
68
Truck farming, or raising crops transported from West
Los Angeles to be sold in downtown Los Angeles markets, was a mainstay.
69
Later Issei
arrivals came to work for the established nurseries in the area, as well as in service jobs at
Soldier’s Home.
70
Sawtelle was an attractive area for Japanese laborers due to its
strategic position near agricultural land south of Pico, proximity to gardening jobs north
of Santa Monica Boulevard, and demand for labor at Soldier’s Home and nurseries.
71

64
Ingersoll, Ingersoll’s Century History, 346.
65
“The County of Los Angeles Outside of the City,” The Los Angeles Times, 1912.
66
“Semi-Tropic Nursery.” The Santa Monica Outlook. January 17, 1902.
67
“Sawtelle Moves Along.” The Los Angeles Times. June 15, 1913.
68
David Stea, Sylvia Martinez, and C. Michael Douglas. Sawtelle Revisited: A Background for Community
Planning, (Los Angeles: UCLA School of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1975), 8.
69
Don Sakai in 90404 Changing: The Vanishing American Neighborhood. DVD. Directed by Michael W.
Barnard. 2007; Santa Monica, CA: LightningBoltPIX, Inc.
70
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 45.
71
Ibid.

27

Sawtelle settlement was also influenced by the fact that Japanese were not allowed to
settle east of Sepulveda.
72
Additionally, it is important to remember that Issei were not
allowed to own land. One way they were able to circumvent this law was to put land in
their children’s names.
73

In 1912, Armacost and Company’s Sawtelle nursery had an entire glass house at
15
th
and La Grange dedicated just to rare orchids.
74
When property development began to
boom on the west side of Los Angeles around 1920, namely in Westwood, Beverly Hills,
Brentwood, and around the University of California, Los Angeles, demand for plants and
laborers increased. This large nursery and gardening company began hiring Issei
employees at the Sawtelle location.
75
With the aforementioned legislation and broad anti-
Japanese campaign, many Japanese were pushed out of agriculture; the demand for
service, horticulture and gardening labor drove Japanese population growth around
Sawtelle. The “suburban” town of Sawtelle was ultimately annexed by the City of Los
Angeles in 1922.

Sawtelle Stabilization: 1922-1942
In 1925, Riichi Ishioka, moved from Hollywood to Sawtelle, where he soon
opened Kobayakawa Boarding House, named after his mother’s second husband.
Originally a single rental unit, he quickly expanded to six rental units, housing up to 60

72
Rachel Cho and Jenny Yee, ed. Sawtelle: The Cultivation of a Japanese American Community. (Los
Angeles: Jenny Ye, 2004).
73
Don Sakai in 90404 Changing: The Vanishing American Neighborhood. DVD. Directed by Michael W.
Barnard. 2007; Santa Monica, CA: LightningBoltPIX, Inc.
74
“Armacost and Co., Florists.” The Santa Monica Outlook. September 16, 1912; “A Wonder Spot.” The
Santa Monica Outlook. April 1, 1914.
75
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 9.

28

tenants, mostly single workers.
76
Sawtelle was host to several buildings described in the
1924 Sanborn maps as “tenements” (2531 103
rd
Street), “lodging” (2534 104
th
Street,
later Sawtelle Blvd), and “rooming house” (2518-2522 104
th
Street, later Sawtelle Blvd),
although there is no specific acknowledgement of Japanese living there or operating
businesses until the 1928 Sanborn map.
Marjorie Nakagiri-Morikawa, whose father farmed lands in the Venice-Palms
area, arrived in 1924. The family harvested lima beans and vegetables, which were sold
at the Central Market in downtown L.A., where Japanese controlled much of the flower
and produce market. “There were many vegetable and flower farms all around West L.A.
in those early days. At first, my father used horses for plowing. And we still had only
cold running water, outhouses and an ice box for refrigeration.”
77

Japanese were by no means the only ethnic population living in the Sawtelle area
in the early twentieth century. Simultaneous growth of Japanese, Anglo and Mexican
communities fostered a dynamic area in West Los Angeles. Don Sakai remembers a mix
of approximately one-third Anglo, one-third Japanese, and one-third Mexican in the area
around Sawtelle.
78
As mentioned in the previous section, Anglos originally settled the
area due to the proximity to Soldiers’ Home as well as the rich agricultural land.
Commercial businesses were established along Santa Monica Blvd, near the streetcar stop
at Sawtelle.
79

76
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 45.
77
Linda Burum. “Sawtelle Boulevard: Unrolling American Japanese food history on the Westside,” LA
Weekly, February 12-18, 1999: 20.
78
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.

79
Stea, Martinez, and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 9.
29

The Mexican community also settled and established businesses around
Sawtelle.
80
The Japanese community located closer to what would be come Olympic
Blvd. While these ethnicities had independent communities, there was considerable
interaction. For example, in addition to Japanese labor being employed by Anglo
nurseries, some of the Mexican laborers were employed in the landscape and gardening
industry, at times by Japanese gardeners.
81

80
Stea, Martinez and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 9. For more information on the history of the Mexican-
American community in West Los Angeles and Santa Monica see 90404 Changing: The Vanishing
American Neighborhood. DVD. Directed by Michael W. Barnard. 2007; Santa Monica, CA:
LightningBoltPIX, Inc.

81
Tsuchida, 446. For more on the relationship between Japanese and Mexican immigrants in early 20
th

century Los Angeles, see Hilary Jenks. “Home is Little Tokyo: Race, Community, and
Memory in
Twentieth-Century Los Angeles.” (Dissertation, University of Southern California, 2008), 73-75; or David
Stea et al. Sawtelle Revisited: Background for Community Planning. (Los Angeles: UCLA, 1975), 8-10.
Figure 6. Streetcar stop at Sawtelle and Santa Monica Boulevard in 1920. Source: Los Angeles
Public Library Images, “Santa Monica Blvd., Sawtelle,” Image ID: 00024998, 1920.
30

While commercial and residential development along the Sawtelle corridor
between Santa Monica and Pico boulevards increased, agriculture remained strong
through the 1920s south of Pico. In 1924, Mr. Richardson, an early resident and twenty-
two year veteran of Sawtelle farming and ranching, reported 40 or 50 acres of Richland
Realty Company land adjacent to his was “let out on shares” to the Japanese. He reported
their lettuce was “unusually large and so hard it easily cracks, being more like
cabbage…”
82

Sustained growth of the early nursery and gardening industry in Sawtelle is
evident with the 1928 Sanborn Insurance maps, updated in 1946. Specifically called out
are the OK Nursery on northwest corner of Sawtelle and La Grange, a “Japanese
Nursery” at 1948 Corinth Avenue, and another “Japanese Nursery” at 2114 Sawtelle.
83
In
1929, Armacost & Royston drew attention to the emerging Sawtelle nursery district when
they exhibited their Sawtelle hothouse grown roses at a Pasadena show, winning the
sweepstakes and gold medal.
84

With the ever-increasing demand for gardening and horticulturists, Issei
established their own nurseries in the commercial core. Established by the Hashimoto
brothers around 1926, the Hashimoto Nursery, at that time known as the OK Nursery
located on the northwest corner of Sawtelle Blvd. and La Grange Ave., was one of the
first Japanese owned nurseries in the Sawtelle area. During a 1991 interview in the Los
Angeles Times, nursery co-founder Shichiro Hashimoto, a pioneer of Sawtelle Japanese

82
“Lettuce is good, but returns small.” The Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1924.
83
Sanborn Map, W. Los Angeles, 1928, New Index, August, 1946, Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970, Los
Angeles Public Library.
84
Frances Duncan. “Southland Gardens.” The Los Angeles Times. November 10, 1929.
31

nurseries, described his family business. “The brothers ran a flourishing wholesale
business delivering plants all over Los Angeles,” Shichiro Hashimoto said.
85

To support the growing Japanese community, organizations established locations
on or near Sawtelle Blvd from the mid-1920s onward, providing community, cultural and
social engagement. In 1925, Sawtelle Nihongo Gakuen, the Japanese Language School,
was founded.
86
The first class was held at Gisuke Sakamoto’s home, who subsequently
founded the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle.
87
The JIS was the heart of community
activities after it opened at 2110 Corinth Avenue in 1929 providing language classes,
lectures, social events, and entertainment.
88
In 1932, a language school facility was built
at 2110 Corinth, followed two years later by an auditorium, used as a community hall.
89

The same year, the Sawtelle community planted a garden at Stoner Park, the local park,
to foster goodwill within the neighborhood.
90

Many Japanese businesses were established along Sawtelle Blvd. in the 1930s.
Stores, groceries, retail and apartment buildings opened to support the growing district. In
a recent interview, Rose Honda, Haru Nakata, Fumi Tsuruya, and Edith Yamamoto
recalled that the busy district still had no restaurants prior to WWII, other than a Chop
Suey house. Rather, community members traveled to Little Tokyo to dine out.
91

85
Barbara Koh. “Home Grown Development,” The Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1991.
86
Toyotomi Morimoto. Japanese American and Cultural Continuity: Maintaining Language and Heritage.
(Toyotomi Morimoto: 1997), 149.
87
Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. “Our History,” accessed June 20, 2013,
http://sawtellejis.org/about_history.asp.
88
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 9-12.
89
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 45.
90
Jill Shiraki. “Remembering Sawtelle.” Nichi Bei Times, accessed October 1, 2012,
http://www.californiajapantowns.org/RememberingSawtelle.pdf.

91
Rose Honda. “Oral Histories,” Japanese Institute of Sawtelle, accessed April 9, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/oralhistories_010-Honda-Rose-4.asp.

32

By 1940, in addition to Riichi Ishioka’s boardinghouse, six others were
developed. Rose Honda recalled that Mrs. Iwanaga made the sandwiches for day
laborers, including gardeners or those picking beans, out of her boarding house.
92
There
were six grocery stores, six gas stations, thirteen nurseries, and four flower shops.
93
In
1941, Kumaichi Kageyama, a local gardener and his wife Kuniye, leased two lots for
their F. K. Nursery, beginning their family nursery business.
94

Using community directories published by Nikkei newspapers, Preserving
California’s Japantowns found that by 1941, the Sawtelle area boasted twenty six
nurseries and florist shops, eight boarding houses, eight gas stations and garages, four
churches, three grocery stores, five shops, four barbers, two sewing schools, and one
beauty salon.
95
Before the mass removal of Japanese Americans during World War II, a
total of 310 Japanese American households, or 1,300 people, lived in the Sawtelle
community.
96
By any account, Sawtelle Boulevard was a bustling gardening district and
Japanese community. Sawtelle, the most established Japanese community in West LA,
not only served the immediate neighborhood, but Japanese Americans scattered around
Santa Monica and the entire Westside.
97

92
Ibid.
93
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 45.
94
Shiraki, “Remembering Sawtelle.”
95
Preserving California’s Japantowns. “Sawtelle,” accessed 10/1/2011,
http://californiajapantowns.org/sawtelle.html.
96
Hirahara, Greenmakers, 45.
97
Don Sakai in 90404 Changing: The Vanishing American Neighborhood. DVD. Directed by Michael W.
Barnard. 2007; Santa Monica, CA: LightningBoltPIX, Inc.

33

Figure 7. Los Angeles County, 1940, showing the percentage of “non-white” population by
Census Tract. Race in 1940 was categorized as “white,” “black,” and “non-white.” Map shows
the substantial “non-white” population at Sawtelle. Source: map created by author. US
Census, “Race,” 1940. data available at http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx.

34

One notable trend marking this era is the construction of residential units to the
rear of stores used both as rental income properties as well as for owner-occupants. To
support the growing population, residential units were added to existing buildings, both
residential and commercial. Don Sakai, longtime community member, recalls that it was
very common for a homeowner to build a small unit on their property to rent out, or for a
storeowner to build residential quarters out back.
98
For example in March of 1939, the
Kaizuka family hired an architect and contractor to build a new store at 2031 Sawtelle
Blvd., (now Satsuma Imports) then added living quarters in the rear of the store.
99

Sawtelle Resettlement: 1945-1960
Sawtelle, like all other Japanese-American enclaves, was disrupted by the
incarceration of the entire community in camps during World War II. Some Sawtelle
locals returned to Japan before the hostilities started, but most were interned at Manzanar
leaving the nurseries and stores to sit idle, or be occupied by those left entrusted with
property, or, once empty, filled because of pressures on housing and space during the
war.
100

The war’s end marked the beginning of resettlement for the Japanese American
community at large.
101
In 1945, the Hashimoto Nursery, after sitting idle for three years,
reopened. Shichiro Hashimoto and his older brother, who went to Japan before the

98
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.
99
City of Los Angeles. Department of Building and Safety, Permit Number 27052, July 6, 1939.
100
Koh, “Home Grown Development”; Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May
22, 2013.
101
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 25.

35

hostilities started, returned and started anew.
102
Many of the pre-internment community
members returned to Sawtelle. Although neighbors and caretakers had been enlisted to
monitor homes and businesses, some Japanese Americans returned to find possessions
stolen and property wrecked.
103
Tosh Ishioka recalled the post war resettlement was a
challenge. His father was one of the first to return to a boarding house at Sawtelle. Upon
seeing Japanese returning to Sawtelle, people threw rocks and eggs through the windows
to welcome him.
104
Others returned to find their business or property sold by the
individual entrusted with “power of attorney” while the owner was interned.
105

Despite the obstacles, the neighborhood rallied to rebuild and reclaim their
community. An important and defining event of this era, during resettlement, Japanese
Americans used community spaces and old boarding houses as post-war hostels.
106

Throughout 1945, the Japanese Institute along with several other places provided
boarding. JIS temporarily converted the gym, built in 1940, into a shelter for returning
families. The Kobayakawa Boarding House was also made available as housing for
displaced families returning from Manzanar.
107

Nisei were tasked with both rebuilding the Sawtelle community and economy. In
an effort to rebuild a significant cultural landscape, during the 1950s, the community
garden at Stoner Park was restored by the Bay Cities Gardeners Association with

102
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”
103
Ibid.
104
Tosh Ishioka. “Oral Histories.” Japanese Institute of Sawtelle, accessed April 9, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/oralhistories_005-Ishioka-Tosh-1.asp.
105
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.
106
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
107
Shiraki, “Remembering Sawtelle.”

36

direction by Koichi Kawana and support from local nurseries.
108
Many Nisei established
new businesses, while others tried to rehabilitate those that had been established before
the war. After the War ended, the Yamaguchi family, previously from Stockton, moved
to Sawtelle. They stayed in a boarding house for six months, then were able to move out
and purchase a home in the area. In 1946, Mrs. Yamaguchi opened Sawtelle Variety
Store at 2057 Sawtelle, later known as Yamaguchi Store, while Mr. Yamaguchi worked
as a gardener.
109

In 1946 after returning from internment, the Sakurai family stayed in a room lent
to them by the Yamaguchi family. Mr. Sakurai became acquainted with the owner of
Sawtelle Fish Market, located at 2029 Sawtelle. He decided then to start his own market
to resettle his family in the Sawtelle community selling Japanese goods.
110

In 1953, Mr. Naramura built a new retail and office complex from 2015- 2019
Sawtelle Blvd that housed a barbershop, the Naramura Realty office, and a medical
office.
111
In addition to new construction, old buildings were expanded to accommodate
new shops in the growing postwar economy. For example in 1958, a one-story store was
added to residential lot at 2011 Sawtelle Blvd., now housing Jo-Mi Plumbing.
Post-war Sawtelle, sometimes referred to now as “Little Osaka,” featured
Japanese American owned restaurants, small shops, markets, and services. Community
staples included the Safe & Save, Ben’s Jewelry, Ketchy’s hamburger stand, Futaba
restaurant, Yamaguchi’s, and some medical offices. The Yamaguchi pharmacy uniquely

108
Shiraki, “Remembering Sawtelle.”
109
Cho and Jenny Yee, ed. Sawtelle.
110
Yuki Sakurai. “Oral Histories,” Japanese Institute of Sawtelle, accessed April 9, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/oralhistories_003-Sakurai-Yuki-1.asp.
111
City of Los Angeles. Department of Building and Safety, Permit number WLA9615, April 22, 1954.

37

served the gardening community; with many gardeners cashing checks and obtaining
money orders. Bachelors living at boarding houses would often send money home to
families in Japan. Sandy Toshiyuki remembers these retail locations and the close
community that operated within them. As a child she just “charged it” and her father
would pay the bills at the end of the month.
112
While many new shops and businesses
were added during resettlement, in 1959 there were still reportedly over two dozen
wholesale and backyard nurseries.
113

112
Sandy Toshiyuki. “Oral Histories,” Japanese Institute of Sawtelle, accessed April 9, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/oralhistories_017-Toshiyuki-Sandy-2.asp.
113
Lyndon Stambler. “Outgrowing the Past.” The Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1985.

Figure 8. Sawtelle Food Market circa 1947. Source: Los Angeles Public Library Images. “Japanese
American Grocery Store,” Image ID: 0004461, 1947.
38

In the 1950s, Sawtelle was the victim of the first in a series of planning decisions
that negatively impacted the broader community. While Sawtelle Boulevard has been the
major commercial center for the community, the residential neighborhood it served
extended both east and west for several blocks. The mid-1950s construction of the San
Diego Freeway divided the community and resulted in complete disintegration, loss of
kin and neighbors between Sepulveda and Sawtelle Boulevard. Several families relocated
to other areas of Sawtelle, while many other left for Mar Vista or Santa Monica.
114
Don
Sakai remembers the freeway having a particularly significant impact on the Latino
businesses on Olympic boulevard.
115

114
Stea, Martinez and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 10.
115
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.

39

Sawtelle faces urban renewal and Sansei dispersion: 1960-present

In the post-war period, Japantowns throughout the state were targeted by urban
renewal projects. Shizue Seigel, Managing Editor of the Nikkei Heritage states, “The
mass internment during World War II had a dramatic impact on Japanese Americans, but
Figure 9. Construction of the 405 Freeway at Wilshire and Sepulveda Blvds. looking south. Source:
USC Digital Library, “San Diego freeway (aerial views), 1956.” Record ID: examiner-m19298, 1956.
40

urban renewal, or redevelopment, amounted to a second eviction for residents of urban
Japantowns on the West Coast.”
116

“The Sawtelle Urban Renewal Project was a tragic example of top-down urban
planning which was to benefit outside economic and political interests at the expense of a
community little able to determine its own future.”
117
In 1957, the northern, residential
part of Sawtelle was targeted as an area for urban renewal by the Los Angeles City
Council.
118
Far from a slum, Sawtelle’s small, older homes were seen by Mayor Paulson
and developers as obstacles to more profitable apartment construction on the west side.
Sawtelle was one of the last underutilized R3 zones in West LA.
119
The area consisted of
285 acres bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, Centinela Avenue, Santa Monica Boulevard,
and Beloit Avenue with a population of 4,305. This project differed from other mid-
century urban renewal because it called for rehabilitation through local building code
enforcement rather than wholesale demolition, placing the expense burden on property
owners. In the doomed area, 75% of the owners had been there for more that ten years
and the population was older than the average in LA. The redevelopment plan had almost
no concern for the community’s social welfare, and did not complete the federally
required socio-economic study until after the project was initiated. At the onset, residents
received documents up to seventeen pages long detailing required repairs. 1,324 out of
1,855 dwellings received citations for non-compliance. The Department of Building and
Safety declared 47% substandard. Residents could either comply with the repairs within

116
Shizue Seigel. “Redevelopment & Urban Japantowns,” National Japanese American Historical Society,
2009, accessed June 20, 2013, http://njahs.org/nikkeiheritage/viewdetails.php?id=11.
117
Stea, Martinez and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 10.
118
Stea, Martinez and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 10.
119
Ibid, 13.
41

30 days or sell. As a result of this redevelopment effort 386 buildings were demolished,
65% of which were residential, paving the way for multi-family development projects.
120

The government imposed redevelopment of Sawtelle led, in later years, to
community activism to preserve the community character and lifestyle. In 1973, the
community successfully opposed a city-proposed Sawtelle street widening project.
Unfortunately, following this short-lived victory, redevelopment hit Sawtelle hard in the
1970s and 1980s, especially the historic commercial corridor. Sandwiched between high-
rise development on Olympic and Santa Monica Boulevards, Sawtelle Boulevard had
lower land values in a prime, Westside location.
With many Sawtelle residents aging, community and business leadership began to
change in the 1970s. Mrs. Yuki Hoshiyama, recipient of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
or Kunsho Award, received a certificate from the City of Los Angeles on December 7,
1969 commemorating her retirement after 40 years as Director of Japanese Language
School.
121
At the same time, nurseries became a target for developers looking for
underutilized land on the west side of Los Angeles.
By 1985, rampant large office development was taking over the commercial strip
on Sawtelle. Two examples illustrate the widespread changes. In the mid-1980s,
developer Yehuda Netanel bought S & M Nursery, a community staple for 38 years from
owner Harry Hankawa, and constructed a 36,000 square foot retail building. Hankawa

120
Ibid, 15.

121
“Testimonial dinner honoring Yuki Hoshiyama at Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, California, December
7, 1969,” Japanese American National Museum. Toyo Miyatake Studio/ Rafu Shimpo Collection, accessed
September 16, 2012, http://www.janm.org/collections/item/96.267.1103/.
42

sold because “My sons didn’t want to continue the business, so I quit.”
122
He said he was
offered a good price. Hankawa predicted that in five to ten years, all Sawtelle would be
high-rise. Lifelong Sawtelle resident Tom Ikkanda sold his garage and engine-parts
business in the late 1980s to a developer who built a four-story apartment building. Lot-
filling blocks of apartments were now on land that used to hold nurseries, small
businesses and single bungalows. The purchase offer of $570,000 was "such a fantastic
offer," Ikkanda explained, that he couldn't pass it up. Judy Owyang, a Sawtelle
community slow growth activist, said the battle was lost, “kiss it goodbye.” With land
values increasing, nurseries would soon be history.
123

Many long time community members believed Sawtelle was already ruined by the
development, but others continued fighting. In another 1980s project, the city approved a
seven story building on Sawtelle,
which the community fought,
leading failed attempts for a three-
story building height limit.
124

However, by this time over
200,000 square feet of office
space had already replaced many
of the small mom-and-pop

122
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”
123
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”

124
Mary Curtius. “Braud Gives up Trying for Sawtelle Blvd. Controls.” The Los Angeles Times. April 19,
1984.

Figure 10. Photo of offices at 1940- 1950 Sawtelle. In 1985,
small businesses from 1940-1950 Sawtelle were demolished and
this giant office complex was developed. Photo by author, 2012.

43

businesses that had defined the Sawtelle built environment.
125
In 1985, the Sawtelle
Community Association began pushing a street widening project that would also make
room for over 2.7 million square feet of new office and retail space. Local merchants
were against the proposal; many felt the Sawtelle Community Association, made up of a
few real estate owners, did not have the larger community’s interest at heart. By 1991,
only seven nurseries remained.
126

The city wasn’t entirely blind to the conflict between community and
development going on in Sawtelle. In 1983, the city attempted to draft a plan that would
maintain the street’s character in the face of new development. Sol Blumenfeld, author of
the draft, said the plan would have helped maintain the special qualities of the
neighborhood, but the plan failed because few community members formally supported it
at public meetings.
127

Sawtelle Boulevard today is the result of its complex past and present. Today,
there are external factors that drive the changing neighborhood form, as well as shifting
community values. The conflicts between land value and small business persist to alter
the community. For example, developers Wellesley Manor opened a five-story 94-unit
condo development in 2009 quoting, “Where can you get new construction for these
prices on the Westside?”
128

Outside influences are problematic, but potentially more problematic is the
internal conflict between the changing values of third and fourth generation Japanese

125
Stambler, “Outgrowing the Past.”
126
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”
127
Stambler, “Outgrowing the Past.”

128
Dakota Smith. “Sawtelle’s Soho Square Stays Condo, Opens its Doors.” CurbedLA, accessed June 2,
2009, http://la.curbed.com/archives/2009/06/sawtelles_soho_square_stays_condo_opens_its_doors.php.

44

Americans. Recently, the family business tradition has declined because Sansei and
Yonsei, third and fourth generations, have left the community in favor of college
education and careers elsewhere.
129
The example mentioned earlier of Harry Hankawa is
illustrative of the sansei dispersion period: Hankawa’s children did not want to continue
in the nursery business, so he sold his property to a developer. With both external and
internal influences pushing Sawtelle away from its family-owned, small-business core,
justice for the community that desires to remain is a challenge, as well as for the historic
resources that indicate the remarkable past of this Japantown.
Today there are only three nursery businesses and one nursery plot in Sawtelle,
only two of which are owned and operated by longtime Sawtelle Japanese-American
families, and a handful of Japanese-American family businesses. The next chapter
includes a 2012 survey of Sawtelle Boulevard detailing what the street looks like in the
modern era. Following the survey, several of the historic sites are studied to provide
details about the buildings and the community that built them.

129
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 25.

45

CHAPTER 3: Study of the Sawtelle community core

Boundaries and Period of Significance
In order to study this culturally and historically significant community, research
included a new survey, review of existing studies, interviews, and review of building
permits. The preliminary boundary for the present survey included the east and west sides
of Sawtelle Blvd bounded by Santa Monica Blvd. to the north and Olympic Boulevard to
the south. This is the boundary suggested by Dr. Jack Fujimoto.
130
However, based on the
1975 report by Stea, Martinez, and Douglas, a pre-survey by the author, and a mapping
project undertaken in 2008 by Japantown Atlas, the present study is bounded Missouri
and Mississippi Ave on Sawtelle Blvd. This survey is of the historic commercial core and
does not include the surrounding residential development: “Sawtelle Boulevard is
probably the most interesting part of the Sawtelle Community, for indeed, it epitomizes
the very nature of the community itself.”
131

In 2012, the City of Los Angeles surveyed the Sawtelle community as part of the
citywide survey project, SurveyLA.
132
Potentially significant individual resources were
found along Sawtelle’s commercial core, as well as in the adjacent residential district.
Significance for the commericial buildings was listed as part of Criteria A/1, “Events,”
specifically Commercial Development, 1850-1980; Commercial Identity, 1850-1980. The

130
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 7.
131
Stea, Martinez, and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 35.
132
City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning Office of Historic Resources. Historic Resources
Survey Report: West Los Angeles Plan Area. Prepared by Sapphos Environmental, Inc., accessed June 18,
2013, http://preservation.lacity.org/files/West%20LA%20Survey%20Report%20Final.pdf.
46

reason for listing Satsuma Imports, for example, was listed as “longstanding local
business associated with the Japanese-American community in West Los Angeles.”
133

The present survey was guided by the SurveyLA themes and sub-themes, with
some difference. While Los Angeles Criteria 1: “historic structures or sites in which the
broad cultural, political, economic or social history of the nation, state or community is
reflected or exemplified,” is appropriate, it does not address cultural significance. As
such Sawtelle district significance should also be considered for its cultural significance,
potentially as a cultural landscape.
As discussed previously, the first Japanese settlement around Sawtelle was around
1900-1910. However, in order to capture any development currently unknown to this
author, the period of significance for this study is 1884, when Japan legalized emigration
to the United States. The period of significance ends with Fujumoto’s recommendation of
1965, as he defined the resettlement period as 1945 to 1965.
134
Contribution resources for
this survey are based on a building’s construction dated to the period of significance and
a preliminary assessment of integrity.

133
City of Los Angeles. “SurveyLA Field Survey Findings and Reports: West Los Angeles” accessed
May18, 2013: http://preservation.lacity.org/files/Individual%20Resources_Final.pdf.
134
Fujimoto, Sawtelle, 25.
47

Figure 11. District boundaries and contributors for the proposed Sawtelle Historic District.
Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
48

Sawtelle Boulevard, West Side, from Missouri to Mississippi Avenue, 2012

Address: 1903 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-001

Building one year built: 1937

Building two year built: 1924

Contributor

Address: 1909 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-002

Building one year built: 1950

Building two year built: 1965

Contributor

49

Address: 1921 1/2 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-002

Building one year built: 1931

Building two year built:
1929/1958

Contributor

Address: 1925- 1927 S.
Sawtelle Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-045

Building one year built: 2012-
2013

Non-‐contributor

Address: 1935 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: , 4261-030-004, 4261-
030-005

Building one year built: 1931

Building two year built: 1929

Contributor

50

Address: 1941 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-006

Year built: see above

Contributor

Address: 1947 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-030-019

Year Built: 1971

Non-‐contributor

Address: 2001 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-005

Year Built: undetermined

Contributor

51

Address: 2005 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-006

Effective year Built: 1965

Contributor

Address: 2011 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-011

Year Built: 1922

Contributor

Address: 2013 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-011

Year Built: 1922

Contributor

52

Address: 2015- 2019 S.
Sawtelle Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-012

Building one year built: 1953

Building two year built: 1953

Contributor

Address: 2021- 2027 S.
Sawtelle Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-013

Year Built: 1956

Contributor

Address: 2029- 2031 S.
Sawtelle Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-014

Building one year built: 1939

Building two year built: 1940

Contributor

53

Address: 2045 S. Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN: 4261-033-026

Year Built: 1992

Non-‐contributor

Address: 11297- 11313 W.
Mississippi Ave., 2047- 2057
S. Sawtelle Blvd.,

APN: 4261-033-022

Year Built: 2010

Non-‐contributor

Table 4. Survey of Sawtelle Boulevard, west, from Missouri to Mississippi Avenue. Source:
Photographs by Colleen Horn, 2012.
54

Sawtelle Boulevard, East Side, from Mississippi to Missouri Avenue, 2012

Address:
2062-‐2068

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261-‐032-‐024

Year
Built:
1931

Effective
Year
Built:
1955

Contributor

Address:
2062-‐2068

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261-‐032-‐024

Year
Built:
1931

Effective
Year
Built:
1955

Contributor

55

Address:
2062-‐2068

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261-‐032-‐025

Year
Built:
1931

Effective
Year
Built:
1955

Contributor

Address:
2044-‐2060
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261-‐032-‐025

Building
one
year
built:

1938

Building
two
year
built:

1975

Contributor

Address:
2040
S.
Sawtelle

Blvd.

APN:
4261-‐032-‐056

Building
one
year
built:

1948

Building
two
year
built:

1990

Non-‐contributor

56

Addresses:
2030-‐2034
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261032056

Building
one
year
built:

1948

Building
two
year
built:

1990

Contributor

Addresses:
2024-‐
2028
¾
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261032027

Building
one
year
built:

1953

Building
three
year
built:

1934

Contributor

Address:
2014
S.
Sawtelle

Blvd.

APN:
4261032026

Year
built:
1975

Non-‐contributor

57

Addresses:
2000-‐
2010
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.,
11270-‐
11280
W.
La
Grange
Ave.

APN:
4261032054

Year
built:
1997

Non-‐contributor

Addresses:
2000-‐
2010
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.,
11270-‐
11280
W.
La
Grange
Ave.

APN:
4261032054

Year
built:
1997

Non-‐contributor

Addresses:
1940-‐
1950
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261031026,

4261031027,
4261031028,

4261031029,
4261031030,

4261031031,
4261031032

Year
built:
1985

Non-‐contributor

58

Address:
1920
S.
Sawtelle

Blvd.

APN:
4261031035

Year
built:
1988

Non-‐contributor

Addresses:
11274
W.

Missouri
Ave.,
1900
S.

Sawtelle
Blvd.

APN:
4261031023

Building
one
year
built:

1948

Building
two
year
built:

1976

Contributor

Table 5. Survey of Sawtelle Boulevard, west, from Mississippi to Missouri Avenue. Source:
Photographs by Colleen Horn, 2012.
59

Profile of existing Japanese-American businesses, district contributing historic sites

The above survey is a starting point for determining the boundaries of a new
historic district, rather listing these resources individually. Certain buildings and sites,
through research, were determined to have considerable integrity through continuous
operation by Japanese-American families since the period of significance, associated with
the at-risk nursery and gardening property type, and/or the post-WWII resettlement era.
The following profiles a number of the historic buildings in the proposed Sawtelle
district, including information about the community who founded and operate these
landmarks.

Hashimoto Nursery
1935- 1941 Sawtelle Boulevard

Figure 12. Photo of Hashimoto Nursery. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
60

Masahiko Hashimoto was born around 1885 in Fukushima, Japan. According to
the SS Sado Maru vessel report, he emigrated from Japan to the United States in 1913,
arriving in Seattle, Washington on October 9. He listed himself as a student, intending on
Oakland, CA as his final destination. According to his granddaughter, he planned to study
English; he soon became involved in the nursery business in West Los Angeles.
135
His
wife, Michiko Hashimoto, a self-described artist, was born in Miyagi, Japan and arrived
in the United States in 1911. According to the 1930 Census, City of Los Angeles District
56, Block 646, Shichiro and Juro Hashimoto arrived in the United States in 1921,
followed by Suehiko in 1924. As Masahiko and his wife Michiko did not have any
children, they adopted Shichiro, Juro and Suehiko as their sons.
136
On the 1930 census,
Masahiko, 45, was listed as head of household, “Michi,” 42, as his wife and Shichiro, 27,
Juro, 24, and Suehiko, 21, were listed as brothers. At the time, they were living at 1947-
1951 Sawtelle Blvd.
137

The four Hashimoto men started the O.K. Nursery on the corner of Sawtelle and
La Grange in 1926, a few blocks from the current Hashimoto Nursery location. They
operated the nursery until hostilities associated with the impending World War drove
Michi, Masahiko, and Shichiro to leave West Los Angeles for Japan prior to Japanese
internment, where they remained from 1940 to 1950. The two younger brothers remained
at Sawtelle until they were interned at Manzanar.
138

135
Nanayo Kuno and Chimie Hashimoto (Hashimoto nursery) in discussion with the author, November 6,
2012.
136
Kuno and Hashimoto, November 6, 2012.
137
Other Japanese families listed in the 1930 census included the Yamanaka family of 1837 Sawtelle Blvd.,
the Tasaka family at 1855 Purdue, and the Nagano family at 1903 Butler.
138
Kuno and Hashimoto, November 6, 2012.

61

After internment Juro and Suehiko purchased farmland at 9709 Arleta Avenue in
Pacoima and started a wholesale nursery farm in the San Fernando Valley called
Hashimoto Brothers Nursery. Michi, Mashiko and Shichiro returned to Sawtelle in the
1950s. In approximately 1961, they opened the Hashimoto Nursery at its current location
at 1935-1941 Sawtelle, specializing in fuchsia flowers. Shichiro took over this location in
1972. The nursery continues to be operated by the family, however business has
struggled in the last ten years. The future for the Hashimoto Nursery is uncertain.
Hashimoto family members suggested that contributing factors to the declining nursery
business include that there are no associations for Japanese nurseries, unlike those for
gardeners, and the rapidly changing community and community values.
139

The Hashimoto Nursery site contains one two-story building and encompasses
two adjacent parcels. Public records state that there are two buildings on the site, one
built in 1929 and one in 1931, however there is currently no second building. Prior to
1929, 1941 Sawtelle contained a single-family residence owned by Anna Coolidge. There
are neither permits on record detailing how the present Hashimoto Nursery building was
altered or constructed, nor when the single-family residence was demolished. The
undeveloped portion of the site houses rows of nursery supplies, plants, and trees raised
and sold by Hashimoto. The building is wood frame construction and stucco siding. It
appears to have been built in phases, presumably the second story was a later addition.

139
Kuno and Hashimoto, November 6, 2012.
62

Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery
1903- 1905 Sawtelle Boulevard

Figure 13 & 14. Photo of Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
63

Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi leased a plot of land and established OS Nursery on the
corner of Sawtelle and Olympic Boulevards in 1949. Born in Terminal Island, California,
Kikuyo Yamaguchi’s family worked in canneries in San Pedro and the garment industry
in New York before arriving in Sawtelle after internment in Manzanar. After operating
for 15 years, in 1965 the Yamaguchi family purchased a new site and the nursery moved
to its current location at 1903 Sawtelle.
140
In 2005, George Yamaguchi passed away; the
family continues to operate the business.
141

Original owner, Nellie Emerton, developed 1903 Sawtelle as a residence in 1938.
The site included two structures: a house and garage, to which a new addition for a
laundry and toilet was added later that year. The next recorded permit was in 1994 when
the City condemned a structure built in 1937 after it was significantly damaged by
earthquake. According to Zimas, there are currently two buildings on the Yamaguchi site.
Building one is 1,885 square feet built in 1937; building two is 1,394 square feet built in
1924. According to permits, in 1964, George converted one of the houses on site to a
store. The use of store with residential is typical for first and second-generation Japansese
merchants. Currently, in addition to the two buildings, there are other accessory
structures, including a greenhouse as well as vegetation associated with nursery
functions. Both of the main buildings are single-story built with a combination of wood
frame and stucco, as well as some concrete masonry unit block, and appear to have been
altered over time.

140
Cho and Yee, ed. Sawtelle.
141
Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery. “About the nursery,” accessed May 1, 2013,
http://yamaguchinursery.com/about-us/.
64

Satsuma Imports
2029-2031 Sawtelle Boulevard

Satsuma Imports, previously the Sawtelle Food Market or Sawtelle Fish Market,
is one of the last remaining Japanese-American, family-owned businesses on the strip.
The combination of store, living quarters and rental housing is representative of the early
entrepreneurial pattern of development in the Sawtelle community.
As told by Yuki Toya Sakurai, daughter of Fusajiro and Aki Toya, owner
operators of Sawtelle Food Market, “It was a place where the customers came after work
to purchase fresh and wholesome foods for their families.” Fusajiro was born in Nagoyo,
Japan and left for California at a young age. He first worked on asparagus farms in
Figure 15. Photo of Satsuma Imports. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
65

Walnut Grove in Sacramento County, where he met wife, Aki Tsuzuki. They moved to
San Francisco and opened a Japanese grocery store in the 1920s and also started the
Aichi Hotel on Post Street in Japantown catering to Japanese immigrants. They moved to
Salinas in 1932, where they established Toya Japanese Confectionery Store on Lake
Street in Salinas’ Japantown, serving Japanese farm workers. When ordered to leave their
homes in 1942, the couple and their five children were sent to Poston Camp II in Arizona
and Tule Lake in Northern California. Upon release, they moved to a trailer in Santa
Monica, and then rented rooms behind Yamaguchi’s Variety Store at Sawtelle. The
Kaizuka family who owned and operated Sawtelle Food Market, sold the business to
Fusajiro. It opened under new ownership in late 1946 and Fusajiro’s family moved into
the duplex behind the market. The business was next sold to the Tokuda family in 1956,
then the Kaizuka family eventually sold the property to the Sakai family, who opened
Satsuma Gift Shop. Don and Cynthia Sakai inherited the store from his parents and have
continued to operate the business, expanding sales and new merchandise.
142

The building was originally built in 1939 as a store with residential quarters in
rear of the lot. The owner was listed as Irene Hisaye Kaizuka, the daughter of Issei
parents. The building housed Modern Dress Shop, Modern Beauty Salon and Mitchell
Sewing School in the back.
143
In 1945, the property was divided into the fish market and
beauty store. According to Don Sakai, 2029 housed the beauty shop, with an apartment in
the back; 2031 housed the Sawtelle Fish Market with a duplex in the back that the family

142
J.K. Yamamoto. “Sawtelle Merchants tell their Stories,” The Rafu Shimpo. December 21, 2011,
accessed May 1, 2013. http://www.rafu.com/2011/12/sawtelle-merchants-tell-their-stories/ ; Fujumoto,
Sawtelle: 36.
143
California Japantowns. “Sawtelle,” accessed May 1, 2013,
http://www.californiajapantowns.org/sawtelle.html.
66

lived in. Subsequently, the demising wall between the two properties was opened.
144

There were several minor alterations including tile work and repairs completed in the
1940s. A new 12 x 18 addition to the store and residence received Certificate of
Occupancy in 1948 for use as living quarters.
145
A new building permit was issued in
1953. Alterations permits have been granted in 1967 and 1989. In addition to the store
and residences, Don Sakai’s father installed a traditional Japanese garden that is between
the store and duplex.
146

144
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.
145
City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Permit 3079. March 9, 1948.
146
Cho and Yee, ed. Sawtelle.
67

George’s Hardware and Garden Supply
2060 Sawtelle Boulevard

Previously located at 2043 Sawtelle Blvd., George’s Hardware and Garden
Supply is a longstanding gardening retail business in the community.
147
Tsuyoshi Ohara
was born in Japan in 1950 and immigrated to the United States in 1964 where his family
settled in West Los Angeles. Ohara’s father worked as a gardener and was a member of
the Bay Cities Gardeners Association. In 1974, Tsuyoshi and his brother, Yukio Ozaki,
bought George’s Lawnmower shop from George Okamoto and ran the business out of its

147
Stea, Martinez, and Douglas, Sawtelle Revisited, 37.
Figure 16. Photo of George’s Hardware and Garden Supply. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
68

original location on the corner of Sawtelle and Olympic for 9 years. George’s Hardware
was an important resource for gardeners, known as a place to gather, socialize, drink, and
share stories.
148
The shop moved to its current location at 2060 Sawtelle Boulevard in
1982.
149

Previously owned by Tommy Ikkanda and used as a garage in 1947, 2060
Sawtelle received a new Certificate of Occupancy in 1971 for a one-story gymnasium
building. The noncommercial use included a swimming pool, built for the Bonanza Day
Camp. In 1975 the gym was converted to a store for owners Tak Minazumi and Bill
Tanouye. In 1979, the attached 2050 Sawtelle Boulevard address structure was converted
to a restaurant. In 1982, an addition for George’s Hardware was made to the existing
structure, making a one story hardware store and lawnmower repair shop.

148
Cho and Yee, ed. Sawtelle.
149
Ibid.

69

Jo-Mi Plumbing
2011 Sawtelle Boulevard

Jo-Mi Plumbing is a unique example of a Japanese-American business that has
been owned and operated by a Japanese-American family since it opened its doors at
2011 Sawtelle in 1953.
150
A successful operation, Jo-Mi Plumbing business grew a wide
customer base; in 1960 Jo-Mi was included in an advertisement for InSinkErator as an
authorized installer in the Los Angeles Times.
151
Mr. Uyeda, the original proprietor,
recently retired and his son now operates the business; the front of the store has been
converted into a gift shop.
152

150
Jo-Mi Plumbing & Solar Inc. “About us,” accessed April 9, 2013, http://www.jomiplumbing.com/.

151
Display Ad 21, The Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1960.
152
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.
Figure 17. Photo of Jo-Mi Plumbing. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
70

Prior to Jo-Mi Plumbing, 2011 Sawtelle was a residence constructed in 1928 with
a detached garage. According to permits, in 1956 a wood frame and plaster store was
added, fronting on Sawtelle Boulevard, to the existing residence by Joe Uyeda, while two
ancillary structures remained in the back of the lot. In 1966, a larger garage replaced the
original garage and the other ancillary building, a shed, was demolished. Also in 1966, a
residential unit and deck was added behind the existing structures. While no permit was
found, the existing signage also likely dates to the mid-century construction period.

Profile of individual resources surrounding Sawtelle Boulevard

Japanese Institute of Sawtelle
2110 Corinth Ave.

Figure 18. Photo of Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
71

The Japanese Institute of Sawtelle has been a significant community cultural
resource since 1925. Early activities included teaching Japanese language and culture to
children of the first generation immigrants. The first class, four students, was taught at
the home of Gisuke Sakamoto, founder of the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. The group
later relocated to a local church. The institute located at 2110 Corinth Ave, the present
location, in 1928. The institute received non-profit status in 1929. The community center
quickly grew and in 1940, a new auditorium was added to the site. At the start of
Japanese internment, December 1941, the JIS was closed and left to the custody of the
West Los Angeles branch of the American Red Cross. After release from camp, in 1945
the JIS served as a temporary boarding house for those who returned to Sawtelle. As the
Japanese community resettled, the JIS continue to expand cultural activities including
martial arts and cultural events. In 1962, the language school became a separate entity
and was incorporated as Sawtelle Gakuin, with title to the property formerly held under
the JIS. With this separation, JIS became primarily a Japanese American community
organization called NikkeiJin KyogiKai. The facility was expanded in 1964 to include a
kitchen and in 1978, the facility received a face-lift, resulting in its present configuration.
In 1986 a Japanese American Community Center (JACC) was organized. Under the
leadership of Dr. Jack Fujimoto, a local community college president, new nonprofit
organization papers were filed. On February 1, 2000, the Sawtelle Gakuin and the JACC
agreed that the JIS become the surviving entity. Presently, the Sawtelle Gakuin and the
72

Japanese American Community Center operate under the JIS, managed by a Board of
Trustees representing 15 community organizations.
153

Bay Cities Garden at Stoner Park
1835 Stoner Avenue

Prior to WWII, Stoner Park was a place for recreation including baseball games
and swimming in the outdoor public pool. In 1932, the Japanese garden was designed and
dedicated by Japanese American gardeners as a display of cross-cultural goodwill. A
plaque dated 1931 reads, “This garden presented by the Japanese People of Sawtelle to

153
Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. “Our History,” accessed May 1, 2013,
http://www.sawtellejis.org/about_history.asp.

Figure 19. Photo of Bay Cities Garden at Stoner Park. Source: Colleen Horn, 2012.
73

the public for the promotion of better understanding.” In the 1950s, the Bay Cities
Gardeners Association, famed landscape architect Koichi Kawana, and local nurseries
restored the community garden, which had faded into disrepair due to incarceration.
154
In
1994, one hundred cherry blossom trees were donated by the West Los Angeles Japanese
American Community Center and planted by the Bay Cities Gardeners Association and
volunteers. The Bay City Gardeners Association has continued to maintain the Stoner
Park Community Garden, the WLA Buddhist Church garden, and host an annual orchid
and bonsai show at Stoner Park.
155
As described by SurveyLA:
This small landscaped Japanese garden is located in the eastern section of Stoner
Park, in the Sawtelle neighborhood of West Los Angeles. Accessed by a
pedestrian path that diverts slightly from, yet parallels, the nearby sidewalk, the
garden is bounded by Nebraska Avenue to the north, Stoner Avenue to the East,
Missouri Avenue to the south, and Westgate Avenue to the west. It is paved with
small smooth rocks, includes traditional Japanese landscape design elements and
is adorned with a stone lantern, inset pebble paving, mature examples of Japanese
dwarf trees and flowering plants, and other mature vegetation.
156

154
For more information on famed Japanese American Landscape Architect, Koichi Kawana, see “Koichi
Kawana,” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, accessed June 1, 2013, http://tclf.org/pioneer/koichi-
kawana.
155
California Japantowns. “Sawtelle,” accessed April 14, 2013,
http://www.californiajapantowns.org/sawtelle.html.
156
City of Los Angeles. “Historic Districts, Planning Districts and Multi-Property Resources- August
2012,” accessed April 15, 2013, http://preservation.lacity.org/files/Districts_Final.pdf.
74

CHAPTER 4: Significance, Challenges and Recommendations

What is the point of studying Sawtelle’s history and built environment? Why and
how do we preserve it? What are the challenges? The following chapter answers these
questions, and then makes recommendations to preserve this historic community.
What is the point of studying Sawtelle’s history and built environment?
In Urbanism Without Effort, Charles Wolfe proposes that the underlying
rationales for urban policy, planning and regulation are best understood from a historical
perspective and with a better understanding of the everyday uses of urban space. He
argues “we will achieve the most effective evolution of our urban landscapes only if we
first challenge ourselves to fully understand the historical underpinnings of the world’s
most successful cities, towns and neighborhoods.”
157
History provides valuable
information for the community and the public to understand successes and failures.
Historical analysis uncovers unique patterns of development, the non-existent and
existent historic and cultural resources, and the people that both made and make a
community unique and valuable. It also reveals the trajectory of development: what
direction the community is headed and if this direction is in harmony with the
community. It is through study that residents and cities become aware of resources that
have been overlooked or dismissed.
Lack of awareness or insensitivity to the existence of significant communities in
the past has led to oppressive and/or destructive planning implemented without regard.

157
Charles R. Wolfe. Urbanism Without Effort. (Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2013): introduction.
75

Particularly problematic was the urban renewal era in city planning in which top-down
and comprehensive plans were implemented to clear “slums” and “blight,” often targeting
working class neighborhoods and people of color.
158

Japantowns were just one of the many ethnic communities affected by urban
renewal. The Omnibus Housing Act of 1949 provided federal funding to “clean
up the slums” in America’s inner cities and reverse the middle-class flight to the
suburbs. This massive program affected, and continues to affect, virtually every
major city in the U.S., with disproportionate impact on marginalized groups.
Since older inner city buildings and storefronts on the margins of downtown were
often the only areas where immigrants, minorities, the underemployed and the
elderly could settle, urban renewal led to a massive destruction of ethnic
neighborhoods.
159

Tough lessons from renewal revealed that it in order for cities to create successful plans,
it is critical to understand the community resources and stakeholders to achieve just,
dynamic places. For example, Jane Jacobs’ famous case study of the North End in
Boston: while the City planned to demolish and reconstruct what appeared to them to be
an old, low-end slum, Jacobs found a mixed-used, pedestrian-oriented, complex economy
with content residents.
160

The Sawtelle community is another example of a neighborhood victimized by
uninformed, top-down planning, and insensitive development. Sawtelle, a community
that built a successful economy on the shoulders of the gardening and nursery industry,
was slated for urban renewal, and punctured by the 405-freeway construction as part of
mid-century planning schemes. The layers of history that shaped Sawtelle into a distinct

158
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
159
Shizue Seigel, “Redevelopment & Urban Japantowns.”
National Japanese American Historical Society,
2009, accessed June 20, 2013, http://njahs.org/nikkeiheritage/viewdetails.php?id=11.
160
Jane Jacobs. The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961): 8.
76

community and unique culture with a strong sense of place went ignored by outside
assessment.
While planners, journalists and historians have raised awareness of threats to
Sawtelle’s historic community, zoning and land use remain unchanged. Plans, or a lack
there of, do not reflect the historically and culturally significant resource on hand. The
study of Sawtelle Boulevard today reveals a shocking disregard for the community by
new development. Giant, oversized apartments regularly replace the “underutilized,”
small-scale shops on this historic street. This pattern of development, completely lacking
respect to the small-scale, historic, built environment suggests a need for a modern plan
to preserve the remaining resources of this historic community. It is clear that Sawtelle’s
remaining historic and cultural resources are at risk.
Historical analysis revealed the evolution of a unique community, the
mistreatment by outside forces, and what remains today. However, identifying historic
resources is only a piece of the puzzle as to preservation planning. The all-important
perspective from inside the community today must inform the direction for the future. It
is the plans that result from bottom-up, community-based strategies that lead to
sustainable, interesting and just cities. It is through the community perspective that the
cultural and historic assets in this community become not only an important connection
to the past, but key to a successful, locally based, sustainable economic development plan
for the future.
Why preserve it?

77

First, Sawtelle should be preserved because the community desires a future that
acknowledges and respects the past. Through interviews, newspaper articles, and oral
histories it is clear that the longstanding Sawtelle Japanese-American community misses
aspects of the past, including sense of community, and desires recognition of the
important contribution that the first and second generation Japanese-Americans made in
creating the Sawtelle neighborhood. When asked about the changing community, a
family member at the Hashimoto nursery replied, “I miss it a lot,” referring to the sense
of community that used to exist.
161
Along with disappearing remnants of the past, there is
considerable uncertainty about the future. There are only two historic nurseries remaining
on Sawtelle Boulevard and the economic viability of these institutions continues to be a
challenge. In the past ten years, the nursery business has grown increasingly difficult.
162

“The imprint of Sawtelle’s Japantown history may quickly dissipate unless we capture
it.”
163

In an oral interview, Rose Honda and Haru Nakata agree that Sawtelle today is
very different. Today’s merchants are quite successful, but they have no idea of the
struggle the Issei faced settling Sawtelle. There is a lack of acknowledgement of the
history and cultural struggles of the first generation Sawtelle Japanese. Places like the
Olympic Collection have no reference to the past. If the Issei were to walk Sawtelle
today, they would be surprised.
164
Honda and Nakata remarked that if people on Sawtelle

161

Nanayo Kuno and Chimie Hashimoto (Hashimoto nursery) in discussion with the author, November 6,
2012.

162
Ibid.

163
Jill Shiraki. “Remembering Sawtelle.”
164
Rose Honda, “Oral Histories.”

78

want to maintain any kind of identity, you have to have some of the institutions survive.
What is good for the community economically isn’t necessarily good for Sawtelle’s
identity and future. The community has to step up to keep the Japantown history alive.
165

The history of the Japanese Americans in Sawtelle is currently preserved by Japanese
American-owned businesses that remain open.
166
And while there is desire to retain
connection with the past, there is also feeling that a change for Sawtelle is not all bad.
Some are sad to see Japanese-American businesses close or move out of the area, while
others welcome the diversity of proprietors and customers in Sawtelle today.
167
While
there is no one perspective with stakeholders regarding how to move forward, there is
consensus that the historic Sawtelle community is disappearing and recognition of the
past is important.
Second, Sawtelle should be preserved because it makes West Los Angeles a better
place. In a city plagued by automobile-oriented design, malls and big box retail,
identifying and preserving diverse and dynamic neighborhoods enhances quality of life
and sense of place in Los Angeles. Sawtelle’s unique sense of place did not spring up
overnight, but evolved organically over a hundred years, influenced by challenges that
shaped the culture, local-economy and built environment.
Sawtelle Boulevard between Mississippi and Missouri Avenues features wide
sidewalks, a narrow street, short blocks, one or two-story businesses, residential mixed
with commercial uses, historic and interesting building stock. These resources are

165
Ibid.
166
Cho and Yee, ed. Sawtelle.
167
Ibid.
79

perfectly in line with modern planning movements like Smart Growth that seek to make
our cities more enjoyable and sustainable through encouraging mixed land uses; compact
building design; walkable neighborhoods; distinctive, attractive communities with a
strong sense of place, a variety of transportation choices, and encourage community and
stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.
168
Rather than having to fight for
new, sustainable development, in this case the city simply has to prevent the demolition
and redevelopment of a community that, through its own evolution, features principles of
smart growth and sustainability.
Challenges
In recommending a plan for the future of Sawtelle, there are a number of
influences that make recommendations for the future challenging. The following section
discusses a number of issues including historic preservation of culturally significant
resources; changes within the Japanese-American community, and preservation and
economic development challenges, all of which contribute to the complex problem of
planning the future of Sawtelle.
First, Sawtelle is significant both as a cultural, community resource and for its
historic built environment. A challenge for historic ethnic enclaves like Sawtelle is that
significance comes not necessarily from their architectural styles and design, but from
their social and cultural history.
169
The evolving, intangible nature of this significance
makes resources hard to define and preserve. For example, the Holiday Bowl, a Los

168
Smart Growth Network. “This is Smart Growth” accessed May 18, 2013,
http://www.smartgrowthonlineaudio.org/pdf/TISG_2006_8-5x11.pdf.

169
Manami Kamikawa. “Historic Preservation in Ethnic Enclaves: Four Chinatown Case Studies,” Masters
Thesis, Columbia University, 2006.
80

Angeles cultural resource partially demolished in 2003, lost the preservation battle as a
lesser architectural resource, despite being a significant Japanese-American community
cultural resource.
170
And even if successfully designated, historic preservation is not a
magic bullet for cultural resources. Distinguishing a community based on social customs
and ethnicity can negatively impact the community, creating division between the
enclave and the larger community, or forcing a community into a particular identity
assigned by planners and preservationists.
171
This is especially problematic when historic
preservation is seen as an intervention by outside planners, rather than as a solution that
originates within the community.
The Japanese-American community at large is grappling with changing desires of
third and fourth generation Japanese-Americans, many choosing to move away from
Japantowns to seek careers outside of family businesses. This creates a challenge in
preserving a historic district where family businesses are an important component
contributing to its character. It is the Japanese-American family businesses, especially
those related to the gardening industry and the post-war resettlement, that link the past,
present and future. With an aging population, and few members of the next generation
remaining, the direct connection to the historic and culturally significant small-business
economy is unlikely to remain. The decline in family businesses has not led to blight in
the area, much to the opposite, the hip and walkable community has attracted new
restaurants and retail, competing for space.

170
For more information on the Holiday Bowl preservation challenges see Katie Horak, “Holiday Bowl and
the Problem of Intangible Cultural Significance: A Historic Preservation Case Study,” Masters Thesis.
University of Southern California, 2006.
171
Manami Kamikawa. Historic Preservation in Ethnic Enclaves: Four Chinatown Case Studies.
81

A particularly challenging issue is commercial gentrification, where the
historically community-serving businesses are being replaced with new businesses that
often target wealth from outside the community. Don Sakai also noted that the
surrounding small homes are being demolished and replaced with large, contemporary
homes.
172
Gentrification is made more difficult with the speed of demolition and new
development. Through the examination of the built environment, it is obvious that new
development is replacing historic buildings at an alarming rate. For example, from the
time this paper was conceived, the new center that houses high-end restaurants at 2057
Sawtelle replaced Yamaguchi’s, a Sawtelle community staple. A challenge remains to
figure out a way to leverage the success of new restaurants on Sawtelle for the benefit of
the historic family businesses.
A historic preservation and planning effort must grapple with and attempt to
balance preservation, economic development and financial fairness. The remaining small
businesses are not the highest and best use of the land with the current zoning. For
example, the one-story Satsuma Imports is zones for C2-1VL, meaning it has by right
maximum height of 45 feet, 3 stories, with a 1.5:1 floor to area ratio. This makes the
building a target for development. Many small business owners already sold to
developers for large sums in the 1980s and 1990s.
173
Any new zoning that preserves the
historic character and height limits of the building stock limits the existing buildings
value due to limitations on the development potential of the “underutilized” resources.
This means that the longstanding family business properties become less valuable.

172
Don Sakai (business owner) in discussion with the author, April 11, 2013.
173
Koh, “Home Grown Development.”
82

As with many destinations in Los Angles, another challenge to Sawtelle is the
need for parking. On any given afternoon or evening, the majority of street parking is full
and the spill over impacts the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
As Sawtelle faces these challenges, an important consideration is how other
Japanese-American communities have attempted to address these problems. The most
proximate example is Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. The following case study
discusses some of the methods used for preservation, planning and economic
development.
Case Study: Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo, the largest historic Japantown in Southern California, like many
aging historic neighborhoods in California, received assistance from California
Redevelopment Agency to revitalize its community in light of changing economic,
community, and residential dynamics.
174
In 1970, the Little Tokyo Redevelopment
Project was adopted by City Council. As stated in 2000 in the
Little Tokyo
Redevelopment Project Five-Year Implementation Plan, the goal was “to reconstruct and
preserve a mixed use, full service community that will continue to serve as the cultural,
religious, social and commercial center of the Japanese American community in Southern
California.”
175

The historic preservation component of redevelopment commenced in 1986, when
the First Street Historic District was placed on the National Register. Subsequently

174
The CRA was dissolved in 2012 and is no longer able to contribute financially or otherwise to
neighborhood redevelopment planning.
175
The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles. Little Tokyo Redevelopment
Project Five-Year Implementation Plan FY2000-FY2004. Adopted October 5, 2000.
83

through the Historic District Commercial Rehabilitation Program, the Agency provided
low-interest loans or grants for historic rehabilitation and seismic upgrades.
Adjacent to the Little Tokyo Historic District, an art installation was placed in
new sidewalks to document Japanese American history with images and quotes from
community members. Sheila Levrant de Brettville, designed a six-decade timeline telling
the Japanese American story from the 1890s through the community’s years of growth to
the war years and internment. Artists, Sonya Ishii and Nobuho Nagasawa, also
contributed to the project, funded in part by the Little Tokyo Public Art and Cultural
Trust Fund, part of the streetscape renovation by the CRA.
176

Streetscape and greenscape improvement was key in the Little Tokyo
revitalization. On First Street (north side), public improvements included art, street
widening, sidewalk construction, street lighting, and historic banner posts. A group of 70
volunteers planted trees along Los Angeles, Second, and San Pedro, including tree grates
designed by CRA.
All in all, the CRA contributed $46 million in total value to projects, yet they
were not the only organization engaged with improving Little Tokyo.
177
In 2003, Los
Angeles City Council established the Little Tokyo Business Improvement District
through ordinance. The Little Tokyo BID set forth the mission to create a positive
identity, improve Little Tokyo as a destination, strengthen investor confidence, and both
attract new business while strengthening existing businesses, though the majority of their

176
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.

177
“Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project Five-Year Implementation Plan FY2000-FY2004.” The
Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, accessed June 1, 2013,
http://www.crala.org/internet-site/Projects/Little_Tokyo/upload/5lt.pdf.

84

current budget (86%) is spent on professional security. Other programs that make up the
remaining budget are street maintenance, marketing and promotion, and
administration.
178
The Little Tokyo BID also maintains a website that lists the restaurant
and retail options in the district, a marketing tool for local businesses.
In 2006, the CRA and community members established the Little Tokyo Planning
and Design Guidelines, which created a guide for historic and cultural preservation, as
well as encouraged an enhanced pedestrian environment, streetscape, gateways, signage,
and lighting to define the district using historic character. The guide established a vision
and detailed everything from boundaries to Japanese plants and trees to be used in the
district.
179

An important lesson from the establishment of these guidelines was the way in
which they were drafted. A community workshop to gather Little Tokyo community
stakeholders’ ideas and input on culturally appropriate land use and design elements was
funded by the CRA and co-sponsored by the Little Tokyo Community Council,
Councilmember Jan Perry, the Mayor’s Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory
Committee, CRA/LA, the Nikkei Interfaith Fellowship, the Little Tokyo Business
Association, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California.
180

178
“Little Tokyo Business Improvement District Annual Report: 2012 Fiscal Year Renewal Activities.”
Little Tokyo Business Improvement District, accessed June 1, 2013, http://cityclerk.lacity.org/bids/little-
tokyo-annual-report-2012.pdf.
179
Little Tokyo Planning and Design Guidelines Joint Task Force. “Little Tokyo Planning & Design
Guidelines,” accessed June 1, 2013, http://www.crala.net/internet-
site/Projects/Little_Tokyo/upload/LTCDACApprovedGuidelines.pdf.
180
Ibid.
85

Throughout the revitalization planning process, community based organizations, like the
Little Tokyo Service Center, took on key leadership roles.
181

Little Tokyo highlights potential treatment of historic and cultural resources and
leveraging the assets for place-based economic development. Key take-aways from this
case study are creation of a mission statement and vision, engaging stakeholders early
and often, organizing inter-group committees to draft key documents, creating public art,
crafting design guidelines by and for the community, public-private partnership, utilizing
historic elements to strengthen identity, and potentially establishing business
improvement district.
Main Street Sawtelle?
Over the past 30 years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street
program has offered communities a different way to think about the revitalization and
management of their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
182
Recently,
ethnic enclaves and multi-cultural neighborhoods have begun to use the National Trust
Main Street model. In 2012, Zuni Pueblo became the first Native American main street
community in the nation. The goal is “further promote Zuni as a unique tourist and
commerce destination."
183

Main Street’s trademarked Four-Point Approach: Organization, Promotion,
Design, and Economic Restructuring provides a foundation for communities to revitalize

181
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
182
National Trust for Historic Preservation. “About Main Street,” accessed May 18, 2013,
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/about-main-street/#.UZgRDSv72aI.
183
Linda Glisson. “Zuni Pueblo Makes Main Street History,” accessed May 18, 2013,
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/story-of-the-week/2012/120710zuni/zuni-
pueblo-makes-main-street.html#.UZgywiv72aI.
86

their districts through leveraging local assets including cultural or architectural heritage
and local businesses.
184
The Main Street approach is typically used for communities in
need of economic revitalization. For Sawtelle, the new restaurants and shops are in little
need of economic revitalization. However, this economic boom associated with trendy
shops and restaurants has not contributed to the businesses like Hashimoto or Yamaguchi
Nursery. Hashimoto Nursery has seen a decline in business over the last ten years.
185

Still, the Main Street model helps communities identify what makes them unique
and markets the small businesses that define the neighborhood. One longstanding
promotional goal is to celebrate heritage and utilize design to respect and celebrate
cultural diversity. Two questions Main Street programs ask in their mission of supporting
small business development are: What market is this business reaching at this moment?
What market does this business have the potential to reach?
186
This model provides the
collective marketing strategy that make small, family businesses like those on Sawtelle
viable through collective advertising for historic resources. While few historic businesses
remain, this strategy can help to keep the unique bonsai and Japanese-American specialty
nurseries, gift shops, restaurants and gardening-related store in business. They can
become visible and benefit from the increased foot traffic in and around the new
restaurants and shops.
Recommendations

184
National Trust for Historic Preservation, “The Main Street Four-Point Approach,” accessed May 18,
2013, http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/about-main-street/the-approach/#.UZgSvCv72aJ.

185
Nanayo Kuno and Chimie Hashimoto (Hashimoto nursery) in discussion with the author, November 6,
2012.
186
Conan Cheong. “America in Translation: Hispanic Heritage on Main Street,” accessed May 18, 2013,
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/story-of-the-
week/2012/120927hispanic/translating-america-hispanic.html#.UZg16iv72aI.
87

Given the challenges and the above case study: how do you preserve Sawtelle’s
historic character without stifling economic development? The following section makes
recommendations based on the unique challenges Sawtelle faces and the lessons from
Little Tokyo Redevelopment and Main Street Program as to the roles of historic
preservation, the community and city planners.
1. Identify and engage stakeholders
This is arguably the single most critical piece of the puzzle for planning the future
for Sawtelle. The all-important local “buy-in” is crucial, especially in a community with
members who are unaware, suspicious, or have not considered historic preservation and
planning as an option. Planning and preservation are most successful when they are
bottom-up, grassroots efforts rather than top-down interventions. Essential to any
planning and preservation effort is access to local knowledge, community led advocacy,
and internal leadership to guide the process and engage with local residents and
businesses.
One community leader has already engaged in the study of the Sawtelle district.
According to author and chronicler Jack Fujimoto of West Los Angeles’s Japantown,
“the transformation of West Los Angeles’s Japantown continues to show its traditional
Japanese roots on a smaller scale, with newcomers upholding the cooperative spirit of the
Issei immigrant pioneers.” He states, “Despite the loss of historic Sawtelle, perhaps a new
identity as “Little Osaka”; adjunct to downtown Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo, with a
Japanese restaurant row and J-pop storefronts, offers a new dimension.”
88

While the bustling, popular restaurant district is an important contribution to the
local economy, it is critical to ensure that the remaining historic fabric and community
are not pushed out by commercial gentrification. It is through collaboration with local
experts and community members that the remaining historic resources can be preserved
and a balance can be found between the new economy and the old.
2. Establish a Sawtelle historic district
With the rate of demolition and out-of-scale new development, it is critical for the
City of Los Angeles to begin working with the community to establish boundaries for this
commercial historic district to preserve the integrity of the remaining historic resources.
Historic districting will address the unintentional inequities caused by the zoning code:
where development is incentivized to demolish historic buildings to build large, out of
scale projects. As a local Los Angeles Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, the historic
districting tool used by Los Angeles City Planning, the contributing structures are subject
to review and exterior alterations require “certificate of appropriateness” by the HPOZ
board.
Sawtelle is in a unique position of leveraging the resources identified through
SurveyLA, the Preserving California Japantowns survey, and the present study to gain
support and momentum for designating a historic district. Using the present study as a
jumping off point, approximate boundaries include Missouri to Mississippi on Sawtelle
Boulevard. On the east side of Sawtelle this includes 1900 through 2068 Sawtelle
Boulevard. On the west side of Sawtelle this includes 1903 through 2057 Sawtelle
Boulevard. Using these boundaries and the period of significance, there are sixteen
89

potential contributing resources and nine potential non-contributors. In addition to this
historic district, individual resources include the Bay Cities Garden at Stoner Park and the
Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. Less obvious resources associated significance as cultural
landscapes include, for example, the vernacular Japanese garden planted by Don Sakai’s
father behind Satsuma Imports. Again, within the solution of historic district designation,
without local buy-in, it would be impossible for outside planners to identify the breadth
of historically and culturally significant resources.
3. Draft design guidelines
After identifying this historic district, the question remains what will rehabilitated
contributors and new construction look like along the commercial corridor. Taking
lessons from Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles, historic districting is further
enhanced by design guidelines for the buildings, streetscape, and sidewalks. Design
guidelines ensure cohesive character within the historic district. A gateway, streetscape,
plaques, sidewalk improvements and a list of preferred plant species are ways to enhance
the pedestrian experience and define the district. Specific to Sawtelle, gateways placed at
Missouri and Mississippi would serve as visual entrances into the district, defining the
area, enhancing sense of place and providing visual cues to visitors who may or may not
be aware of the significant history and culture surrounding them.
Design guidelines are a key resource to equalize the inequity between new
development and the historic buildings and businesses. Without design guidelines, new
development projects can be out of scale, and characterless. These projects sometimes
erode historic character of the district, then capitalize on that character through
90

advertising the building based on district character. This parasitic relationship is not
sustainable and not equitable. New development, through design guidelines, can
participate in the character and scale of the neighborhood, and potentially enhance the
district through streetscape and building style requirements.
These design guidelines, rather than being dictated, should be created with
community participation. The community itself must lead the preservation efforts as to
not force a top-down plan, rather create bottom-up solutions more likely to be well
received and have a lasting impact.
4. Identify artists and volunteers for greenscape and public art
Little Tokyo features public art installations related to the Japanese-American
immigration experience that were placed along the First Street Historic District sidewalk.
Although commissioned by the CRA, not community generated or funded, community
members still participated in the process.
187
A similar approach could enhance Sawtelle
Boulevard, however hopefully as a community-generated movement. With the unique
nursery and gardening history, organic art and greenscape design installations could be
used to reflect this community’s story. Parklets or small public gardens could be placed at
key, community locations in the district, further reflecting the cultural landscapes layered
in Sawtelle. This both addresses the community’s desire to highlight and respect the
accomplishments of the Issei, but also indicates to visitors they are in a historic district,
strengthening Sawtelle’s sense of place.
5. Consider using the Main Street approach or forming a B.I.D. to identify funding
sources for historic preservation, streetscape, and marketing for small businesses

187
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
91

For recommendations 4 and 5, Sawtelle can consider using the Main Street
approach. For example, the Sweet Auburn project in Atlanta, Georgia, a historically
African-American neighborhood utilized Main Street strategy to market businesses along
their historic core on Auburn Avenue. “A primary goal for the Sweet Auburn project is to
create a volunteer-driven organization that can guide the commercial revitalization
process, develop a strategic plan, promote neighborhood assets, and encourage
investment in business and property development, while also protecting the historic
character of the neighborhood.”
188
Promotion, a key component of main street strategy, is
critical for the preservation of local, historic family businesses. Yamaguchi, Hashimoto,
and Satsuma Imports, to name a few, are unique businesses that provide services and
products that are not easy to find, promotion for these is key to their ongoing success.
Another consideration is forming a Business Improvement District, similar to the
Little Tokyo Business Improvement District. The LTBID uses the majority of their self-
assessed budget on security. Sawtelle has little need for security and with a far more
modest budget, through a steering committee, could decide on marketing strategies and
streetscape improvement projects. A Sawtelle BID could also partner with the LTBID to
create marketing strategy, linkages, and sharing of resources between Little Tokyo and
Sawtelle.
A BID can also play a role in solving parking tension through partnership
amongst local businesses and the city. The BID can take on a survey of available parking

188
Teresa Lynch. “From Vision to Reality: Reviving Two African-American Main Streets,” accessed May
18, 2013, http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/story-of-the-
week/2013/130225sweetauburn/from-vision-to-reality.html#.UZg3XCv72aI.
92

by time of day with the goal of an agreement to use available office parking off-hours,
using a shared parking approach.
6. Leverage existing cultural resources like the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle and the
Stoner Park Garden

With a historic community gathering center and the Stoner Park garden, not to
mention the many religious groups and facilities walking distance around Sawtelle, there
are many opportunities for cultural programming, events, and gathering spaces in the
neighborhood. Organized either through the BID or other stakeholders, events enhance
and preserve culture and further strengthen sense of place, not to mention continue to
engage historic sites and resources as integral to the community.

Recommendations for National, State and Local Historic Preservation Strategy

The following discusses changes at the national, state and local levels to
characterize and protect Japantowns.
National

Preserving Japanese-American history is a federal priority. In 1992, Congress
authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a Japanese American
National Historic Landmark Theme Study. This law defined the purpose of the study to
identify the key sites associated with Japanese Americans that illustrate the period in
American history when personal justice was denied to them. The Theme Study sought to
identify, evaluate, and nominate as national historic landmarks those sites, buildings, and
structures that best illustrate or commemorate the period in American history from 1941
to 1946 when Japanese Americans were ordered to be detained, relocated, or excluded.
93

The title of the resulting theme study was Japanese Americans in World War II. Famous
places like The Manzanar Relocation Center, part of the Minidoka Relocation Center,
were declared National Monuments under this context.
189

While this Theme Study indicates Japanese-American history to be a priority,
there are many significant resources associated with the pre-war settlement and postwar
resettlement period that this theme ignores. As discussed, pre-war Japanese-American
historic resources were often lost, sold, or damaged as a result of internment, heightening
their significance as potentially the last remaining of their type. Additionally, as
demonstrated through historical analysis, the resettlement period from 1945-1965 is a
significant period in history both on its own and in context with Japanese-Americans in
World War II. Using the Sawtelle community as a case study suggests that, at a national
level, the scope of this theme could be expanded to include Pre-War and resettlement
periods to capture a more comprehensive Japanese-American experience.
In a recent initiative the National Park Service launched a new initiative
potentially addressing this criticism. In 2013 launched The National Park Service Asian
Pacific Islander Heritage projects to explore how the legacy of Asian Pacific Islanders
can be recognized, preserved, and interpreted for future generations.
190
This initiative will
begin to address the scarcity of designated sites associated with Japanese American
history on a federal level.
191

189
“Japanese Americans in World War II,” United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service,
accessed June 1, 2013, http://www.nps.gov/nhl/themes/JAWWII.pdf.
190
“Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Initiative,” The National Park Service, accessed June 6,
2013, http://www.nps.gov/history/AAPI/.
191
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
94

Broadly speaking, Sawtelle represents a significant national level historic
preservation issue: the underrepresentation of diversity in historic resource
documentation. In a 2012 report, historian Donna Graves directs preservationists to this
challenge:
It was no coincidence that California was where Stephanie Meeks, President of
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, gave a major address in 2011 on
“Sustaining the Future: The Challenge of Making Preservation a More Diverse
Movement.” Meeks pointed out that, as U.S. demographics continue to be
transformed, preservationists are recognizing that our historic landmarks,
preservation programs, and professional ranks do not reflect the growing diversity
of the American people.
192

The modern historic preservation movement is being called to embrace diversity and
cultural heritage to not lose connection with the American people. This report assesses
how California’s formal landmarks programs at the federal, state, and local levels reflect
the contributions of communities specifically identified by the Endowment’s legislation:
Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and other traditionally
underrepresented communities with distinctive cultures and histories.
193
Historic
preservation is in need of national leadership to broaden the appeal of historic
preservation to diverse communities and make sure criteria for designation do not favor
architecturally significant resources over culturally significant ones. Without embracing
diversity, historic preservation becomes increasing irrelevant to a dynamic American
population.
194

192
Donna Graves, “The Legacy of California’s Landmarks,” accessed June 6, 2013,
http://www.library.ca.gov/grants/cche/docs/TheLegacy_of_CaliforniasLandmarks.pdf.
193
Ibid.
194
Ibid.
95

California
California State Senate Bill 307 was passed in 2001, which provided critical
funding and support for the development of plans for the historic and cultural
preservation of the remaining Japantowns in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose.
This effort has been instrumental in preserving California Japanese-American heritage in
the three biggest districts: San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.
195
It is
now time to use this momentum to provide for preservation of the Sawtelle community
and those remaining small Japantowns like it. This is critical to accurately reflect
Japanese-American history in California, particularly the pattern of settlement in smaller
communities that was characteristic of many Issei and Nisei immigrants.
The Preserving California Japantowns study has provided the impetus to broaden
the scope of historic preservation from the largest, central Japantowns to the many small
communities, in which historic significance has been less recognized. Through the
contributions of the Project, California has historic documentation on 43 historic
Japantowns. This ongoing study continues to educate regarding the significance of
Japantowns on California culture and landscape. This study can be the organizing force
for communities and community organizations, and the resource for smaller Japantowns
in California bringing together the scattered, local businesses to organize on a statewide
level.
Advancing the Project in order to accurately depict history and create social
capital, it is important that Japantowns be recognized and organized on a statewide scale.

195
“Sponsors,” Preserving California’s Japantowns, accessed June 6, 2013,
http://www.californiajapantowns.org/exploring.html.
96

Much like SurveyLA, a statewide Japantown multi-property context would allow
communities to place local resources in context throughout the state. In line with this
thinking, recently the State Office of Historic Preservation released a Request for
Qualifications for a statewide Latino Historic Context Statement.
196

The history of Japanese settlement, particularly in California, is a story of many
Japantowns that individually and collectively impacted the social, cultural and economic
landscape. A statewide Japantown context would provide a guide for these smaller
communities on a local level to engage with state level planning, and provide a cohesive
statewide strategy. It would also serve the plethora of Japanese-American businesses,
community organizations and networks to create shared resources like marketing,
strategy and planning for the smaller neighborhoods.
Local
Recently, the City of Los Angeles undertook a multi-phase citywide historic
resource survey; phase two of this survey included West Los Angeles and Sawtelle.
Results identified historic resources in the Sawtelle Japanese-American community area.
The survey identified a potential Cultural Landscapes district, the “Japanese Garden
Planning District,” bounded by Nebraska, Corinth, Colby and Mississippi Avenues. The
district found to be “A good example of residential garden design in the Japanese style.
Represents the influence of the Japanese-American community in West Los Angeles.”
197

196

Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.
197
City of Los Angeles. “Historic Districts, Planning Districts and Multi-Property Resources- August
2012,” accessed April 15, 2013, http://preservation.lacity.org/files/Districts_Final.pdf.
97

Along the commercial core, between Olympic and Santa Monica Boulevard,
surveyors identified historic resources eligible for local designation. Individual resources
included Hashimoto Nursery, Satsuma Imports, Jo-Mi Plumbing, and many other
commercial resources on Sawtelle.
This survey identified many of the resources identified in the present study.
However, it is critical to the ongoing continuity of the commercial core, which
“epitomizes the very nature of the community itself,” that it be recognized as a historic
district rather than a collection of individual resources as listed by SurveyLA. Preserving
these landmark buildings as individual resources fails to recognize the dynamic of this
historic community as a network of buildings, entangled by culture, an economy and
history.

98

CONCLUSION

This paper provided historical analysis to establish Sawtelle’s development into a
California Japantown, encouraging awareness for and preservation of Japantown
enclaves. The analysis highlighted unique patterns of development in the Sawtelle
neighborhood. Historical perspective is important because it provides valuable
information for the community and the public to understand successes and failures of the
past, critical to planning the future. This contemporary survey detailed existent historic
and cultural resources, as well as the people that contributed to the character of the
community.
Through historical analysis and survey, conclusions were made regarding the
trajectory of development: the direction the community is headed is not always in
harmony with the historic Japantown community. The remaining historic resources are at
significant risk. This paper suggests that, for the benefit of both the immediate and
broader communities, preserving Sawtelle’s resources as a district, rather than as
individual resources, is critical for historic and cultural integrity, and this integrity is
critical to maintain the dynamic, unique urban experience of Sawtelle.
An important consideration of this paper is: by whom and for whom should we
preserve Sawtelle? Based on research and assumptions by this author, it was concluded
that a preservation-based planning strategy is in line with community desires to safeguard
connection with the past. However, as stated throughout this paper, the strategy to
preserve Sawtelle history and culture will be most successful if the community leads
99

through grassroots efforts. Finally, six recommendations were made as potential
strategies to preserve the existing resources, followed by recommendations for the
treatment of Japanese-American historic resources on the National, State and Local
levels.
Over the course of researching this paper, a number of topics for further study
were identified: inter-ethnic community relationships, particularly between the Mexican,
Anglo, and Japanese communities in West Los Angeles and Santa Monica; Japanese
Language Schools, a statewide survey; SurveyLA identified a residential Japanese
Garden Planning District that should be further studied; concealed cultural landscapes in
Japantowns, an example of which being the garden behind Satsuma Imports; and further
research into the impact of the 405 and 10 Freeways on West Los Angeles communities.
Additionally, as pointed out by Donna Graves, there is a need for scholarly contributions
to the ongoing discussion regarding what other tools, besides preserving buildings and
landscapes, could accomplish the goal of cultural preservation.
198

198
Donna Graves (historian) in communication with the author, May 22, 2013.

100

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