San Francisco Japantown Task Force

DATA SHEET

Place: 1830 Sutter St. Building (Nihonmachi Little Friends)

Address: 1830 Sutter St., San Francisco

Visual Description:

The 1830 Sutter St. Building currently houses Nihonmachi Little Friends, a bilingual day-care center based in Japantown (see data sheet). The building was designed and constructed in 1932 by world-renowned architect Julia Morgan, and includes dormitory and meeting rooms, offices, a kitchen and an auditorium. The auditorium features a genuine Noh theater stage, the only one in the western United States, which was once used by girls to perform interpretations of classical Japanese dramas. A tokonoma, a special alcove adjoining the stage, was used for tea ceremony. The ranma, decorative wooden panels below the ceiling, were designed by artist Chiura Obata.

History:

The 1830 Sutter Building embodies the legacy of the community building efforts of the Issei (first generation Japanese women. In 1912 these visionary women founded an independent Japanese YWCA to provide social services for the women and girls of their community. In the early 1920’s they decided that the organization needed a permanent home. Although barred from acquiring property the 1913 Alien Land Law, the Issei women received assistance from the San Francisco YWCA, which agreed to purchase the property in trust for the Japanese YWCA with funds from the Japanese community. The property’s original structure was razed in 1932 when Julia Morgan designed and built the present building. After the internment, few of the women who had founded the Japanese YWCA returned to San Francisco. Knowledge of the land trust was lost, not having been passed to the Nisei (second generation). In 1996 the San Francisco YWCA decided to sell the property at commercial rates beyond the reach of community organizations. Based on scattered memories, researchers from the Japanese community investigating community contributions to the original purchase made a startling discovery: the minutes of the SF YWCA documented the trust agreement. Because the SF YWCA refused to recognize and honor the trust, the Japanese community supported the Soko Bukai, the organization of Japanese Christian Churches whose members formed the original Japanese YWCA, in a lawsuit to enforce the trust and secure the property for community-serving purposes. The Soko Bukai settled the lawsuit in 2002, enabling NLF to purchase the property and become the owner of the building.

Significance:

Cultural, Educational, Historical, Social

Sources:

Seizo Oka, Executive Director, Japanese American Historical Archives;

Cathy Inamasu, Executive Director, Nihonmachi Little Friends

Prepared By: Young Kim Date Prepared: 8/25/04