Tule Lake Segregation Center, Modoc County, CA

Threat: Inappropriate development; Insensitive public policy
Owner: City of Tulelake owns the Tulelake Airport at the Tule Lake Segregation Center site 

Tule Lake stockade gate. Photo courtesy of Tule Lake Committee.

Tule Lake aerial panorama. Photo courtesy of Tule Lake Committee.

Tule Lake Concentration Camp and Segregation Center was a Japanese American concentration camp operated by the US government from 1942-1946 in Modoc County, Northern California. During WWII, the US government suspended the rule of law and the Constitution and forcibly removed and imprisoned 120,000 Japanese Americans in ten concentration camps located in desolate regions of the nation. Those who spoke out or resisted the government’s violation of their human and civil rights were smeared as disloyal pro-Japan extremists. Absent hearings or trials, these dissidents were segregated to the maximum security Tule Lake concentration camp and subjected to abuse and an unprecedented, little-known, denationalization program. This is the only time in our nation’s history when more than 5,500 American citizens were stripped of their U.S. citizenship so the government could legally deport them to Japan after the war. The wartime protest and segregation of dissenters at Tule Lake has been buried for nearly 70 years, marginalized as a story of disloyalty.

Tule Lake Concentration Camp and Segregation Center is threatened by Modoc County’s plans to construct an enormous, 3-mile long 8-foot perimeter fence around the Tulelake Airport, which it says will prevent wildlife strikes, even though no such strikes have been recorded during the entire existence of the airport beginning in the 1950s. Such a fence would destroy portions of the historic site and close off access to a place of remembrance, a place of mourning, a place where thousands of lives were destroyed.

In January 2014, the County approved a 5-year, $3.5 million plan to refurbish and develop airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has the power to stop the destruction of this unique civil and human rights site.  We ask that the FAA stop granting funds that will destroy the integrity of the site's historic resources, and that the FAA assist in removal of the airport to a non-historically significant site.  

Contact:

Barbara Takei, CFO

Tule Lake Committee

c/o 7227 Bayview Way

Sacramento, CA 95831

916-392-5432

Email: btakei@pobox.com

Website: www.tulelake.org

Chinatown House, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Threat: Demolition; Neglect; Insensitive public policy
Owner: Cucamonga Valley Water District

Rear facade, view northeast. Photo courtesy of O.C. Lee.

Front facade, view southwest. Photo courtesy of O.C. Lee.

The Chinatown House in Rancho Cucamonga, California was built in 1919 by and for Chinese workers. These men represented the remaining population of a Cucamonga community, which developed well before 1900 as veterans of railroad building of earlier decades worked their way south into the orchards, vineyards, and citrus groves of Southern California. Of the 15-20 Chinatown settlements scattered across Southern California during the 19th and early 20th centuries, this is the last intact remaining building outside of Los Angeles’ Old Chinatown that can help tell the story about the contributions of Chinese workers to the regional agricultural economy. Built on ranch land owned by William Araiza, the two-story building housed a general store with rooms and a dormitory for perhaps 50. It functioned also as a rooming house for workers who lived in outlying farms and came into town to socialize.

Chinatown House is constructed of walls with unreinforced hollow clay tile and clay brick, multicolored center around shades of brown and sand giving a stirring effect in the afternoon sun. After Mah Wong, the last Chinese resident who passed in 1944, the property was sold to a local family, the Navarettes, and subsequently to the Cucamonga Valley Water District in 1988.  For the past 26 years, the building has been vacant. In 2013, cracks in the 90+ year old mortar, sagging walls, and deteriorated roof led the City of Rancho Cucamonga to issue an order to the Water District to correct structural problems or demolish.

Chinatown House was added to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Places List in 2013. Thanks to vigorous community action, the City Planning Commission concurred with preservation advocates that the threatened demolition represented “demolition by neglect,” and that a full environmental impact report should be required prior to issuance of any demolition permit. The City has allowed for a structural evaluation of the building both in the interior and exterior, to plan next steps toward repair and reuse. 

For more information:

Eugene W. Moy

Co-Chair, Chinatown House Preservation Coalition

President, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Los Angeles

415 Bamboo Lane

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Email: ewmoy49@gmail.com
Websites: www.savechinatownhouse.org and facebook.com/savechinatownhouse

Historic Wintersburg, Huntington Beach, CA

Threat: Demolition; Insensitive public policy
Owner: Rainbow Environmental Services

   

     Furuta family bungalow. Photo courtesy Mary Adams Urashima/Historic Wintersburg.

    

      The last remaining pioneer heritage barn in Huntington Beach at Historic Wintersburg. 
      Photo courtesy of Chris Jepsen.

The 1910 building of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission. 

Photo courtesy of Mary Adams Urashima/Historic Wintersburg.

Historic Wintersburg is a Japanese American pioneer property located in north Huntington Beach, Orange County, California.  The approximately five-acre property contains six extant structures: the 1910 Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission, the 1910 Manse (parsonage), the 1934 Depression-era Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church, the 1912 Furuta family bungalow, the 1947 post-World War II Furuta ranch house, and the Furuta barn, built between 1908 to 1912.

Once a goldfish and flower farm, the property pre-dates California’s Alien Land Law of 1913—prohibiting Japanese immigrant property ownership—and is home to the “oldest Japanese church in Southern California.”  The Mission is part of California’s Japanese Mission Trail, beginning 50 years after the last Spanish Mission, with the work of Dr. Ernest Adolphus Sturge, later presented the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan. The Mission buildings are the oldest surviving Japanese‐American religious structures in Southern California.

Historic Wintersburg was the heart of Orange County’s Japanese community.  The Mission also supported language schools and social activities for the Japanese community around Orange County.  The property was designated by the City of Huntington Beach General Plan as a local landmark in the mid-1970s.  

In November 2013, the City of Huntington Beach approved an amendment to change the existing General Plan land use designation for the Historic Wintersburg property, which is currently owned by Rainbow Environmental Services, a waste disposal company. Although no new development, or active use was proposed, Rainbow Environmental Services also sought approval to demolish, or remove all of the property’s structures. The Wintersburg Preservation Task Force has been given an 18-month window to raise funds to purchase the land, or, failing that, to move the buildings to a new location. In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added Historic Wintersburg to its 11 Most Endangered Places List.

For more information:

Mary Adams Urashima, Chair
Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force
Huntington Beach City Hall
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Email: Mary.Adams.Urashima@gmail.com

Websites: historicwintersburg.blogspot.com and www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/i_want_to/give/donation-wintersburg.cfm

Riverside Chinatown Archaeological Site, Riverside, CA

Threat: Inappropriate development
Owner: Riverside County Office of Education

Riverside Chinatown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo courtesy of Rosalind Sagara.

Riverside’s Chinatown dates back to 1885 and is considered among the best-preserved early Chinese American archaeological sites in the country. The site has been designated a historic resource by federal, state, county, and city governments. A central hub of the Chinese community in Inland Southern California, Riverside’s Chinatown contains the remains of a temple, business district, and permanent and temporary housing. Many of Chinatown’s residents provided skilled labor to the region’s developing citrus industry. Their centuries-old knowledge of citrus contributed to making Riverside the richest city per capita in the U.S. by the turn of the 20th century.

In October 2008, the City of Riverside approved a medical office development at the site of Riverside’s Chinatown. The approved project would have resulted in the loss of the site’s archaeological remains, considered to be one of the best intact remains of an early Chinese American historic site. Local citizens successfully challenged City approvals in court and have subsequently developed a vision for a signature park that highlights the site’s social, cultural, and archaeological values. Despite widespread opposition, the developer and new out-of-town business partners are continuing to seek entitlements for a medical office development at the historic site.

For more information:
M. Rosalind Sagara, Chair
Save Our Chinatown Committee
P.O. Box 55436
Riverside, CA 92517
Email: saveourchinatown@gmail.com
Websites: www.saveourchinatown.org and facebook.com/savechinatown

Defining "Threat"

You may be facing one or more of these threats to your community's historic resources. 

Demolition 
Destruction or dismantling of a historic building, site, or landscape. 

Neglect 

‘Demolition by neglect’ is a common and serious threat to historic buildings. An owner allows a site or building to slowly deteriorate to the point that it can be deemed a safety hazard, and therefore legally demolished. 

Inappropriate Development 
Can refer to either: 1) development not in keeping with the architectural or historic character of its surrounding neighborhood, or 2) development that impedes interpretation of a significant historic site or cultural landscape. 

Insensitive Public Policy 
Broadly defined as legislation that impedes the awareness and protection of a community’s historic resources.

Submission Guidelines

We review applications on an ongoing basis. Email the following information to apiahipsites@gmail.com: 

1. Name of resource

2. Location
3. Provide a brief description of the site and its significance (maximum 250 words)
4. Describe the nature and urgency of the threat* (maximum 250 words)
5. Contact information (full name, address, phone, email, website)

Attach minimum two photos of the resource (maximum file size 1 MB). By submitting photos, you indicate that you agree to our use on our blog and APIAHiP-affiliated websites.

*Defining threat: 

Demolition 
Destruction or dismantling of a historic building, site, or landscape. 

Neglect 
‘Demolition by neglect’ is a common and serious threat to historic buildings. An owner allows a site or building to slowly deteriorate to the point that it can be deemed a safety hazard, and therefore legally demolished. 

Inappropriate Development 
Can refer to either: 1) development not in keeping with the architectural or historic character of its surrounding neighborhood, or 2) development that impedes interpretation of a significant historic site or cultural landscape. 

Insensitive Public Policy 
Broadly defined as legislation that impedes the awareness and protection of a community’s historic resources.

In addition to APIAHiP's Endangered Sites Watch List, we provide letters of support for preservation-related projects. To request a letter of support, submit a 1-3 page issue summary to apiahipsites@gmail.com.