Naming Projects
Toyo Miyatake
Project Coordinator: Bill Watanabe
Toyo Miyatake was a noted photographer based in Little Tokyo who gained fame through his on-the-spot photographs of the WW2 Confinement Site known as Manzanar. The Little Tokyo Historical Society worked with The Related Company in designating a street in their housing development project to be named "Toyo Miyatake Lane" and a full-sized relief of Toyo with a shoulder-slung camera will be erected on the site. Reverend Howard Toriumi
Project Coordinators: Bill Watanabe and Tad Kowta
Reverend Toriumi was a highly-regarded minister of the Union Church in Little Tokyo and was instrumental in the establishment of several significant community projects such as the Little Tokyo Community Redevelopment Project Area, the Koreisha Chushoku Kai senior nutrition program, and the Parkinsons Support Group. The Little Tokyo Historical Society has been in negotiations with the City of Los Angeles to designate a ground-level open plaza and garden above a public parking structure at First and Aiso Streets, just across from the site of the church which is now the Union Center for the Arts. Nellie Oliver
Project Coordinator: Bill Watanabe
Nellie Oliver was an elementary school teacher in Little Tokyo during the 1920's and 1930's who created her own boys and girls clubs for the Japanese American youngsters growing up in the area without access to such activities. She became a tremendous positive influence for hundreds of young boys and girls who learned about social and life skills in addition to playing sports. The Little Tokyo Historical Society is seeking to designate a street on the east side of a new development at First Street and Alameda called Nikkei Center (formerly the Mangrove Project) which is located very near the school at which Ms. Oliver taught. J. Marion Wright (Proposed)
Project Coordinator: Carole Fujita
J. Marion Wright, a Los Angeles pioneer and lawyer, helped California’s Japanese, aliens and United States citizens alike, to obtain their civil rights. Throughout his 57 years as an active lawyer, his most significant legal achievements were involving Japanese clients between 1913 and 1952. In a 1924 fight to get better medical care for Japanese community, attorney Marion Wright won the Jordan vs. Tashiro case before the United States Supreme Court enabling Japanese Hospital to be built and opened near Little Tokyo in 1929. The Little Tokyo Historical Society is considering pursuing a naming project to honor Wright’s contributions to the Little Tokyo and Japanese American communities. |
Little Tokyo Historical Society
