- 1890's
- 30,000 Japanese laborers emigrated to Hawaiian plantations. Many from Hiroshima
- 1894
- Jotham Bixby welcomed Japanese farmers to Rancho de Los Palos Verdes (PV)
- 1898
- Japanese abalone fishing industry began at White Point. Ended in 1907
- 1900's
- Kumekichi Ishibashi entered U.S. through Mexico, did railroad work in WY & ND
- 1904
- Chinese Exclusion Act made permanent (Scott Act banned Chinese in 1882, 1892)
- 1906
- K. Ishibashi builT first Japanese American ranch house in PV (PV plaque)
- 1906
- April 18: San Francisco earthquake drove Japanese to migrate southward
- 1907
- Gentlemen's Agreement severely limited entry of Japanese male laborers to U.S.
- 1909 June
- Los Angeles City Market opened on 9th & San Pedro Street. Japanese occupied 120 of 180 produce stalls
- 1910-
- Early Japanese settlement near Pt. Fermin and White Point. Mr. Kanehara (Aichi Prefecture) experimented with crops. Japanese ranches spread along PV coast
- 1910 Sept.1
- K. Ishibashi, Tomizo, his younger brother, K. Ozaki & C. Hayashi signed 50 acre lease at $6 per acre. Began long reign of dry farmed vegetable cultivation in PV
- 1913
- Frank A. Vanderlip, Sr. purchased 6,000 acres of PV from Fundenburg/George Bixby. Became primary PV landowner to Japanese ranches.
- 1913
- California Heney-Webb Alien Land Act banned ownership to aliens "ineligible to citizenship." Loopholes allow Nisei American born children to sign lease.
- 1915
- San Pedro Vegetable Growers Co-operative Association founded
- 1918
- May 11, Seventh St.(& Central Ave) Wholesale Terminal Market opened
- 1919
- SPVGA contracted for a joint sales stall with District 9 (Bay City) and District 7 (Imperial). Known as a model co-operative both here and in Japan
- 1920
- California banned land ownership to aliens "ineligible to citizenship." Picture bride visas end.
- 1920
- SPVGA created crate label to insure recognizable quality produce
- 1921
- Palos Verdes Project (E.G. Lewis) to develop PV into elite community, venture failed
- 1922 Nov
- Ozawa vs US Supreme Court banned naturalization of Asian aliens on racial grounds. Issei ineligible for citizenship until 1952.
- 1922 Nov. 24
- San Pedro Vegetable Growers Association (SPVGA) dedicated first community building in Portuguese Bend. Nearly 200 attended
- 1924
- Immigration Act of 1924 ended all Japanese immigration to U.S.
- 1924
- White Point and District 26 ranches separated from SPVGA
- 1924
- Drought for 2 years. SPVGA applied for a loan
- 1925
- White Point Tagami Hot Springs & Hotel became a popular seaside resort through 1935
- 1925
- San Pedro 26th Streeters families evicted as San Pedro city expands.
- 1925
- Palos Verdes Corporation formed, primary landowner to PV Japanese until 1942.
- 1930
- SPVGA began shipment of Kentucky Wonder beans to Chicago
- 1932
- L.A. Summer Olympics: Japanese swimmers trained at White Point, broke 2 records
- 1933 March 10
- Long Beach earthquake. Damage to San Pedro High, White Point
- 1933
- Mexican farm workers strike; caused great losses to PV ranches.
SPVGA spent $2000 to build two Japanese labor camps (Meno & Kozan) - 1933
- SPVGA Parent Association reinstated to run Japanese language school.
- 1936
- 38 SPVGA families cultivated 3200 acres, pop. 225 Issei-Nisei live in PV
- 1941
- Dec. 7 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, HA. FBI rounded up 736 Issei by 6:30 AM
Dec. 8 War declared. Within 48 hrs, 1291 Japanese detained & classified as "dangerous enemy aliens" without formal charges.
Dec. 29 Japanese ordered to turn in contraband: radios, cameras, weapons - 1942
- Feb. 1 Palos Verdes Corporation cancels Japanese leases
Mar 5 L.A. Mayor Bowron: L.A has largest density of Japanese & has become "the hotbed, the nerve center of the spy system, of planning for sabotage"
Feb. 19 FDR signs Executive Order 9066: mass removal & detention of Issei, Nisei
Feb. 25 3000 Terminal Island Japanese given 48 hours to vacate homes & businesses
Mar 27 20-30 SPVGA families relocated to Strathmore, CA to farm, San Pedro-L.A. group relocated to harvest orchards in Winters, CA
June 2 Voluntary relocation ends. All Japanese sent to WRA centers. National Student Relocation Council placed interned Nisei in colleges - 1943
- Feb-July Controversial questionnaire issued in camps to segregate "loyals" from "disloyals." No-no respondents transferred to Tule Lake-Newell, CA camp
Feb. 1 All Nisei 100th, 442nd Regimental Combat teams activated - 1944
- Hirabayashi vs U.S. upheld evacuation. Reversed in 1988 based on coram nobis. War Dept reinstates draft for Nisei
June 28 63 Heart Mt. internees refused draft & sentenced, demanding civil rights
Sept Esther Takei, first evacuee, to return to California (Pasadena Jr. College)
Dec. 18 Korematsu vs US upheld EO 9066, Reversed in 1984
Endo vs U.S. ruled WRA cannot detain "loyal" citizens.
Oct.27 800 442nd Regiment Nisei fatalities to rescue 211 Texas Battalion - 1945
- Aug. 6 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Aug 11 Japan agreed to unconditional surrender to Allies
Sept-Oct Mass departures from camps: 80,000 internees return to West Coast
- 1952
- Walter McCarran Immigration Act: Issei eligible for naturalization. 185 Japanese entries allowed under annual quota
- 1988
- Civil Rights Act for $20,000 redress-reparations to Japanese Americans
- 1992
- May 1: Ishibashi ranch house designated State Point of Historical Interest
Hiromitsu & Haruko Sumi Family
Seaman to Farmer
Hiromitsu Sumi was born in November. 1899 in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, an area known for fishing, sand dunes and rice fields. He started his U.S. land migration from Philadelphia, PA Port after leaving the S.S. Tuscan Prince on October 3, 1919. Unlike his Tottori family's farm background, he worked as a seaman. From Philadelphia, Hiromitsu worked a while in Chicago, IL. from February, 1920. He arrived in Los Angeles, California in September, 1921 and worked three years as a gardener for Mr. [Phineas] Banning in Wilmington, CA. Hiromitsu then worked two years for the Leslie Salt Company (Alvarado, CA) that paid a higher wage. A marriage was arranged to Haruko Endo, also Tottori-born. She arrived in San Francisco, June, 1924. By 1929, Hiromitsu was farming at Ranch 35, where his brother-in-law was farming in the Lunada Bay area on the western coast of Palos Verdes, CA. Hiromitsu and Haruko raised a family of four daughters and three sons.
In the 1930's, the Sumis grew Pearson-Freestone tomatoes and cucumbers, French & summer squash (coop crops). Their late season tomatoes were picked up by Fullerton's Hunts Company for canning. Lima beans (main dry farmed crop) were planted on the upper slopes and hauled to a Ventura packing house. Prices fluctuated according to the market. Certain years brought in little money to pay for high irrigation water bills, young transplants, equipment and migrant laborers.