Land Deal Aids Move to Restore Manzanar

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will trade land used as an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II to the federal government for property elsewhere.

The trade will make possible restoration of the 500-acre site of the former Manzanar War Relocation Center, located about 200 miles north of Los Angeles in Inyo County.

From 1942 to 1945, the dry, dusty area was used as a detention center for 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry--nearly two-thirds of them American citizens--who were rounded up and forced to move to the center by congressional order.

The agreement comes on the 50th anniversary of the closing of the camp, which former internees from the Los Angeles area, including many from the San Fernando Valley, will mark Saturday with an annual pilgrimage to the site.

A tour bus will leave for Manzanar at 7 a.m. Saturday from the San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center, 12953 Branford Ave., Pacoima, and return about 8 p.m.

Manzanar--which means “apple orchard” in Spanish--was the first of 10 such detention centers built across the western United States in the wake of anti-Japanese sentiment after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

But since its closure 50 years ago, it has remained virtually untended. All that is left of what was once the largest “city” between Reno and Los Angeles are two stone-guard houses near the entrance and a large building once used as an auditorium, which now houses county maintenance machinery.

Though Manzanar was declared a National Historic Site by Congress three years ago, no funds could be allocated to maintain or restore the site until the federal government took over the land. On Wednesday, officials from the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and DWP announced an agreement outlining the terms of the land swap, clearing the way for at least partly restoring the site.

Sue Kunitomi Embrey of Los Angeles lived in the camp for 16 months and 26 days. Eighteen years old when she entered, Embrey worked on the camp newspaper, called the Manzanar Free Spirit, and passed time helping to build rock gardens and catalogue shopping. A retired adult education teacher, Embrey now is chairwoman of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, which organizes the annual pilgrimage to the site.

“Many people stop at Manzanar, but there’s no one there to show them how to get around, or to explain anything,” Embrey said. “The agreement means we’ll be able to have some signage, so people can remember where they used to live inside the camp.”

Ross Hopkins, the National Park Service official who oversees Manzanar, noted that little is left of the original camp. The U.S. Army pine-board and tar-paper barracks were removed when the camp closed. Other structures were demolished.

But Hopkins said the Park Service, in cooperation with the Manzanar Committee, plans to turn the large auditorium-gymnasium into a visitor center, which would include a photo exhibit and other historic mementos of life in the camp. A tram system or walking tours may also be developed.

Those interested in participating in this year’s pilgrimage to the site may call Nancy Gohata at (818) 899-4237, or Ray Muraoka at (818) 343-0837.