| Santa Anita Assembly Center | |
|---|---|
 Japanese-Americans in lines next to horse stalls as armed guards observe (April 1942) | |
| Location | Santa Anita Racetrack |
| Coordinates | 34°08′19″N118°02′46″W / 34.138480555°N 118.04611944°W /34.138480555; -118.04611944 |
| Built | March 27, 1942, to October 27, 1942 |
| Designated | May 13, 1980 |
| Reference no. | 934.07 |
  Location of Santa Anita Assembly Center in the Los Angeles metropolitan area | |
TheTemporary Detention Camp for Japanese Americans / Santa Anita Assembly Center is one of the places Japanese Americans were held duringWorld War II. The Santa Anita Assembly Center was designated aCalifornia Historic Landmark (No.934.07) on May 13, 1980. The Santa Anita Assembly Center is located in what is now theSanta Anita Racetrack inArcadia, California inLos Angeles County.
After theattack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there was fear that some Japanese Americans may be loyal to theEmpire of Japan andEmperor of Japan. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, signedExecutive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 authorized thesecretary of war to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the incarceration ofJapanese Americans,German Americans, andItalian Americans in U.S.concentration camps. The Santa Anita Racetrack was selected as one of theSouthern California detention camps. The other Los Angeles County camp selected was thePomona assembly center at theLos Angeles County Fairgrounds inPomona, California. Pomona assembly center is also a California Historical Landmark (No.934.04). A California Historical Landmark Plaque for the Santa Anita Assembly Center is located Santa Anita Racetrack, 285 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, CA 91007, in front of the Grandstand entrance.[1]
The Santa Anita Assembly Center opened on March 27, 1942. The center at its peak housed 18,719 Japanese Americans. Horse stables were converted to living areas, 500 new barracks were built in the parking lot and single males were housed in the existinggrandstand building. Like theBurbank Airport, there was acamouflage net put over detention camp as the center operated under military contract. On August 4, 1942, a riot broke out at the Santa Anita Assembly Center. The camp closed on October 27, 1942. Once the permanent concentration camps were built most of the Santa Anita Assembly Center inmates transferred toHeart Mountain Relocation Center,Rohwer War Relocation Center,Granada War Relocation Center, andJerome War Relocation Center.[2][3][4][5]
In California, thirteen temporary detention facilities were built. Large venues that could be sealed off were used such asfairgrounds,horse racing tracks andWorks Progress Administration labor camps. These temporary detention facilities held Japanese Americans while permanent concentration camps were built-in more isolated areas. In CaliforniaCamp Manzanar andCamp Tulelake were built. Executive Order 9066 took effect on March 30, 1942. The order had all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California to surrender themselves for detention.Japanese Americans were held to the end of the war in 1945. In total 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry were held during the war.[6][7][8][9]
Marker on the site reads:[10]
Media related toSanta Anita Assembly Center at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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