Redevelopment: Western Addition Project Area A-1

A-1 encompassed an irregular area of 27 blocks, including much of Japantown south of Post St. Project Area evictions were non-negotiable and there was precedent established for relocation assistance to residents and businesses in this area. The Japanese American Merchants and Property Owners Association was the first organization to address concerns around redevelopment in 1953.

By 1960, about half of the core of Japantown had been razed, displacing at least 1,500 residents and more than 60 small Japanese American businesses. At least 38 property parcels passed from Japanese ownership to the Redevelopment Agency in this period.(17) In place of the demolished structures was constructed the eight lane Geary Expressway and the Japan Cultural and Trade Center. The Geary Expressway sliced through what was historically the Japantown neighborhood and its southern border along O'Farrell. Hence, the Geary Expressway became a physical and psychological dividing line between the Japanese and African American communities. Loss of housing and urban decentralization led Japanese American families to move to the outer suburbs of the Richmond and Sunset districts of San Francisco and to the East Bay cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and El Cerrito. The demolition of single-family or two-family residences and the construction of large, low-income, multi-family complexes changed the mix and fabric of the community as well.

Redevelopment: Western Addition Project Area A-2

As the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency announced plans for the launching of the Western Addition Project Area A-2, community members who had witnessed the ongoing mass evictions and clearance of neighboring A-1 became concerned and alarmed at what would happen to the rest of Japantown. In part at the urging of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA), the United Committee for the Japantown Community (UCJC) was formed in 1962 with over 200 members(18). After negotiations with the SFRA, the UCJC formed the Nihonmachi Community Development Corporation (NCDC) in 1964 and it became responsible for "allocating development sites to its members, undertaking the financing and development of shared facilities, [and] coordinating community interests with the agency" (NCDC).

The architectural firm of Rai Y. Okamoto and Van Bourg/Nakamura, who had worked with UCJC and the SFRA, prepared concept plans envisioning a "village-scale" environment and a community center for the new Nihonmachi bounded by Post, Webster, Bush, and Laguna.(19) Although redevelopment dramatically raised property values, many small businesses that served the neighborhood were not able to return to Japantown after being evicted due to increased rents. Newspapers at that time reported property taxes tripling in areas adjacent to the new Japan Cultural and Trade Center. As more and more low-income housing and small family businesses were evicted to make way for hotels and larger businesses, the tightly woven historic fabric of the neighborhood further unraveled.

In the late 60's with the creation of the ethnic studies program at San Francisco State University and the beginning of the Asian American movement, the evolution of non-profit, community-based service organizations also began.(20) The Sansei (third generation Japanese Americans) promoted the ethnic identity of Japanese Americans and formed many grassroots organizations. In 1969, in response to the needs of children and youth in the Japanese American community, the Sansei created the Japanese Community Youth Council. In 1971, Kimochi, Inc. was created to address the needs of the elderly Issei, who were not being served by the mainstream service organizations due to cultural and language barriers. Other Japantown-based, non-profit organizations subsequently formed were Nihonmachi Little Friends, Nobiru-kai, the Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California, the Japanese American National Library, the Japantown Arts and Media Workshop, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (formerly Nihonmachi Legal Outreach), and the National Japanese American Historical Society. All of these organizations were created as alternative, ethnically-based organizations to serve the needs of the Japantown residents and the Japanese American community to fill the service void of mainstream institutions.

At the behest of progressive ministers, the Western Addition Community Organization (WACO) was formed in 1967 with a largely African American membership but also including Japanese Americans.(21) Led by Hannibal Williams and formed to fight displacement and the destruction of the neighborhood, WACO organized residents, picketed the agency, and blocked bulldozers. In 1967, WACO filed an injunction which eventually succeeded in halting A-2 activities until RDA submitted a federally certified plan for relocation of displaced residents as required by law.(22) All this activity slowed the Agency and shortly afterwards the SFRA hired a Western Addition minister, Reverend Wilbur Hamilton, to become the director of the A-2 project area.

In 1968, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began to require that projects form a Project Area Committee that would be able to review SFRA activities in the Western Addition. Shortly thereafter, the Western Addition Project Area Committee was formed with representatives from 40 diverse Western Addition groups,(23) many of whom were nominated by WACO. In addition to reviewing agency activities, WAPAC also began securing SFRA jobs for its members, some of whom formed the Fillmore Economic Development Corporation. After WAPAC was founded however, WACO saw less and less a need to address housing and displacement, and turned to providing surplus food to needy area residents.(24)

With redevelopment already in full swing, a grassroots activist group, the Committee Against Nihonmachi Evictions (CANE) emerged in 1973 to address the needs of residents and small businesses. One of CANE's first actions was to support the Japanese American Religious Federation's housing project for affordable housing in Japantown. CANE's increasing membership, which swelled to over 300, revealed the discontent with redevelopment. Through protests, editorials, and education, CANE was able to make itself heard, yet redevelopment rarely acted on CANE concerns(25).

Fifty-eight Japanese-owned properties were transferred to the Redevelopment Agency between 1962 and 1978.(26) In the end Japantown not only lost a great deal of land, residents, and businesses, but its community dynamics and relationships were also altered by the large influx of Japanese capital and shifting demographics. Although Japantown continues to be the cultural, historical, and spiritual center of the Japanese American community, A-1 and A-2 dramatically altered the small neighborhood feel of Japantown with far-reaching effects still felt today.