Sawtelle:: West Los Angeles's Japantown

By Jack Fujimoto Ph.D., Japanese Institute of Sawtelle and Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California

A 1.48-square-mile piece of unincorporated Los Angeles County when it was annexed by the City of Los Angeles in 1922, tiny Sawtelle has lived very large in the hearts and minds of Japanese Americans. Their homes, livelihoods, religions, businesses, language, and other ethnocentric and social involvements are rooted in the area, with the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle as the cultural nexus. Bisected by Sawtelle Boulevard, this particular Japantown flourished through a close-knit network of immigrants who were denied citizenship until 1952 and were excluded by law from land ownership. Only through second-generation, American-born children could they buy real property. These vintage images--collected from local families, businesses, and organizations--provide rare glimpses into the Japanese immigrant experience in Los Angeles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439634226

Jack Fujimoto Ph.D.

Author Jack Fujimoto, Ph.D., is a 50-year resident of Sawtelle. He has been president of the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle and its Japanese language school for more than a decade. He has also served as president of the West L.A. Buddhist Temple, the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California, and several community colleges. He was the first Nisei to head a mainland U.S. college when he became president of Sacramento City College in 1977.

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Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

When people mention Japantown in West Los Angeles, they usually think of Sawtelle. The immigrant Japanese (Issei) pronounced Sawtelle as soh te ru, and at times, Sawtelle was found on walls graffitied as sotel. Sawtelle Boulevard between Santa Monica and Pico Boulevards was and is the hub of Japantown.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Issei settled in the Sawtelle area, where farming took place in open fields south of Pico Boulevard, and gardening jobs were plentiful north of Santa Monica Boulevard. The farmers relied on large families to provide the necessary labor for labor-intensive work in the barley and celery fields. The many Issei gardeners found themselves in need of plants and shrubs, which they, in turn, found in Issei-established nurseries. Sawtelle was a Japantown where Issei supported each other in an isolated community and therefore lived in a ghetto of Issei and their families.

More recently, Sawtelle’s Japantown has often been called Little Osaka in contrast to Little Tokyo because of Sawtelle’s many colorful eateries and shops.

During the past century, the flavor of the Sawtelle community has changed through distinct phases, mainly because of a convergence of an aging Issei population, a cutback in their landscaping and gardening business, and an inflow of new cultural and racial ethnicities to Sawtelle Boulevard.

From the 1900s through the 1930s, the Issei developed a distinct Japantown in Sawtelle where close cultural ties and a stable family life contributed to a community where the Issei families patronized Japanese shops. A stable family life included large families, some with a half a dozen or more children.

Sawtelle was a tranquil community. A common scene might be one where the Issei would sit on the porch enjoying the cool ocean breeze sipping liquor, often home-brewed. This was common after having worked hard during the day. Often the Issei family went to Sawtelle Boulevard to patronize Japanese shops where Japanese was the spoken language. Even then, the traffic on Sawtelle Boulevard was an issue, which still persists into the 21st century.

The Issei, in general, did not learn the English language. They did not read newspapers. Their ethic was to work hard to support their family and provide education for their children. The tie that bound the Issei family to others was the community center in Sawtelle, located at 2110 Corinth Avenue. This Japanese community center provided Japanese language instruction and social exchanges as well as entertainment for the Issei family. The Sawtelle community center was incorporated in 1929 as the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle.

The Issei were primarily laborers in the fields of grains and vegetables south of Pico Boulevard or gardening and landscaping trades in Westwood, Bel Air, and Brentwood, north and east of Sawtelle’s Japantown. For many, because of hardships created by a hostile environment and lack of job opportunities, the Issei wanted to earn enough capital so that they could return to Japan. Many of their children, called Nisei, they were sent by Issei parents for an education in Japan. When they returned, they were called Kibei, meaning returning to the USA.

World War II disrupted the tranquil Sawtelle Japantown. Evacuation orders by the federal government required that all Japanese leave Sawtelle without due process or time to negotiate any disposal of property.

Many Japanese were incarcerated as inmates at Manzanar (near Mount Whitney of the Sierra Nevada). Others were sent to the famous Santa Anita Race Track, living in horse stalls, and later transported to concentration camps in Arkansas (Rohwer and Jerome).

The Sawtelle Issei and their offspring joined the mass exodus of 120,000 who were sent to the 10 concentration camps set up by the War Relocation Authority during World War II. From the camps, many former Sawtelle residents took jobs elsewhere in the United States. Many settled in the Chicago and Minneapolis areas.

In the postwar Sawtelle, a new Japantown was born and flourished. Many of the prewar Issei returned to establish residence in Sawtelle again. Some returned to homes that they left entrusted to others only to learn that all was gone. Others were newcomers who frequented the several hostels, including the Japanese Institute of Sawtelle and the eight boardinghouses