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Photo by Jack Iwata, gift of Jack and Peggy Iwata, Japanese American National MuseumIncarcerees belonging to the March 23, 1942 caravan from Pasadena, arriving to Manzanar.<\/p>\n
Photo by Jack Iwata, gift of Jack and Peggy Iwata, Japanese American National Museum
Incarcerees belonging to the March 23, 1942 caravan from Pasadena, arriving to Manzanar.<\/p>\n
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Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library announces the publication of \u201cCruising J-Town,\u201d a visual history of Japanese American car culture in Los Angeles, from gardeners\u2019 trucks and family sedans to hot rods and race cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cCruising J-Town\u201d by Oliver Wang, with a foreword by George Takei, explores how generations of Japanese Americans in Southern California shaped, and were shaped by, local automobile cultures and industries. From desert lake beds to concrete speedways, gas stations to design centers, souped-up import tuners to humble gardening trucks, automobiles impacted Japanese Americans in profound ways.<\/p>\n
Along the way, cars and trucks became literal and figurative vehicles for Japanese American self-expression, social mobility, community identity, and much more. \u201cCruising J-Town\u201d is driven to explore how these diverse relationships between people and the world of cars have steered the Nikkei community\u2019s American stories across the generations.<\/p>\n
The book is a companion publication to a new exhibition from the Japanese American National Museum, \u201cCruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community,\u201d which also chronicles how Japanese Americans have played vital roles in countless car scenes across Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
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Courtesy of Tod Kaneko
Street racers Tod Kaneko and David Eguchi, inside of Glen Kuwata\u2019s Chevrolet Vega, during a Nisei Week cruise, Little Tokyo, 1982.<\/p>\n
The book traces the history of the Japanese American community alongside the development of the car, from the earliest days of the automobile. Japanese American farmers became some of Los Angeles\u2019 earliest drivers as they trucked their crops from field to market. These communities embraced the automobile as a new horizon for their prospects in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Car clubs, such as the Japanese Auto Club of Southern California (JACSC), were created to connect Nikkei car owners and educate them about basic road safety and etiquette. With the increasing popularity of cars came the need to maintain them, so mechanics and gas stations in J-Town (also known as Little Tokyo) became community centers where families and individuals came together to maintain both their cars and their relationships with the community.<\/p>\n
During World War II, many Japanese Americans drove themselves to incarceration camps, and their impounded cars became literal and visible reminders of the freedoms they had left behind. After the war, Japanese Americans embraced the mid-century car culture that swept across Southern California, becoming devoted hot-rodders, drag racers, and car customizers.<\/p>\n
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Courtesy of Hagerty Drivers Foundation
Bob Hirohata\u2019s 1951 Mercury Coupe, aka the Hirohata Merc, on the National Mall, Washington D.C., 2017. The car was displayed after being added to the National Historical Vehicle Registry.<\/p>\n
\u201cCruising\u201d became a popular pastime for JA teenagers, culminating in the Nisei Week Cruise in Little Tokyo, which was undoubtedly the coolest place to show off a custom car. In fact, one of the most famous custom cars in America, the Hirohata Merc, was modified in East L.A. for a Japanese American, Bob Hirohata.<\/p>\n
As import car scenes of the 1980s and 1990s took over the landscape, Japanese Americans were among the first to embrace the new Toyotas and Nissans coming across the ocean and popularized the art and sport of drifting, which originated in Japan.<\/p>\n
But \u201cCruising J-Town\u201d is more than a history of a machine, or even an art form. The book is filled with vintage and contemporary photographs, drawings, and ephemera that tell the story of a community in a state of constant transition and growth, using cars as a literal vehicle for creativity, dreams, and the enduring quest for freedom. It\u2019s a story of generations coming together to pass down knowledge and their love of cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn astonishing work born of love and deep curiosity, filled with a remarkable trove of never before published photographs, \u2018Cruising J-Town\u2019 tells the story of the Japanese in America in search of work or adventure, new ways of fitting in or standing out, blissful reprieves while crawling through traffic, the D.I.Y. pride of making something your own.\u201d \u2014 Hua Hsu, author of \u201cStay True\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a gift to L.A. history. Bursting with original research, eye-popping archives, and skilled storytelling, \u2018Cruising J-Town\u2019 meticulously \u2014 and joyfully \u2014 peels back over a century\u2019s worth of Japanese American culture and community in Los Angeles. Wang has delivered a game-changing book.\u201d \u2014 Josh Kun, author of \u201cThe Autograph Book of L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oliver Wang is a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach and the author of \u201cLegions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area\u201d (Duke University Press, 2015). He is a regular writer on music, arts and culture for outlets including NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered,\u201d The Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and KCET\u2019s \u201cArtbound.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has co-hosted the podcasts \u201cPop Rocket\u201d and \u201cHeat Rocks\u201d and is currently developing a new podcast on the songs of Asian America. He currently lives in the San Gabriel Valley.<\/p>\n
The JANM exhibition, curated by Wang, is on view through Nov. 12. at the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design, 1111 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena For more information, visit www.janm.org\/exhibits\/cruising-j-town<\/a>.<\/p>\n