Revisiting `Lost Communities' of Terminal Island in LA
More than a decade ago, when Geraldine Knatz was the director of the Port of Los Angeles, she visited Terminal Island with Minoru “Min” Tonai, a community activist who had grown up in what was once a bustling Japanese American fishing community.
“We were there for hours,” recalls Knatz, who had come with the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. “We were captivated.”
The excursion was the seed for “Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge,” which has just been republished by Angel City Press. Authored by Knatz and award-winning mystery novelist Naomi Hirahara, the book's first edition was issued in 2015 under the title “Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor.”
“There was no real marketing for it or anything like that,” says Knatz, noting that the book had been sold through historical societies and institutions like L.A.'s Japanese American National Museum and at places like Manzanar National Historic Site. “It went out of print very fast.”
The book's updated title reflects the Terminal Island story's reach beyond Los Angeles County.
Hirahara notes its significance in the history of the broader Japanese American community. “It was such a vibrant part of the community with a unique story in terms of the World War II experience,” she says.
Terminal Island has lived a lot of lives. At one point, it was home to a laboratory, a precursor to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Artists used to squat on Terminal Island, too. Knatz has a watercolor of East San Pedro, aka “Squatter Town,” hanging on the wall behind her during our video call. The island was also a destination for wealthy Angelenos, who stayed at resorts and established summer homes there before the area became more industrialized.
With the rise of the local fishing industry, Terminal Island became home to a Japanese American community that differed from others in the region. Hirahara, who previously worked as a reporter and editor for the Japanese American newspaper Rafu Shimpo, mentions a Shinto shrine that once existed on Terminal Island as one of the unique characteristics of the community.
“There weren't that many Shinto shrines on the mainland. They were mostly in Hawaii,” Hirahara explains. Moreover, the shrine's altar included portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. “It really shows you the intersection of the two cultures,” she says.