The 40 Families Project is an ongoing historical research project that seeks to identify members of the 40 Japanese families and their descendants who farmed across the Peninsula and outlying communities from the early days of 1900s until WWII and those who returned in the late 1940s.

PVLD local history volunteer Richard Kawasaki and Archivist and Local History Librarian Monique Sugimoto in front of the 40 Families photo

“Who are these people?”

The black and white photograph was just another part of the distant past, long forgotten, on the wall in the Malaga Cove Library’s History Room. Taken in 1923, it had probably hung there for years. That was until the keen eye and curiosity of former Local History Librarian Marjeanne Blinn was piqued - this historic commemorative photograph dedicating the farm cooperative hall in Portuguese Bend, showing 187 men and women with babies all in formal attire, was about to get a new breath of life. The 40 Families Project was in the game.

Richard, a retired Lomita City Planner, came on board in 2004 when a fellow retiree asked him what he intended to do with his free time. “I really don’t have any hobbies,” he responded. But Richard’s grandfather had farmed in Lunada Bay and that was all the inspiration he needed to become involved. Slow news during the holidays in 2004 spurred an article in the Los Angeles Times about the project and the hits just kept coming.

“Do you think we can identify these people?”

Marjeanne and Richard began the task of identifying those in the photograph. The documentation was all hard copy, the dark ages really, until Monique input each of the stories and photos on the Palos Verdes Community Archives, the digital repository the library maintains. Richard went back through old address books and memorabilia, and photos came in from descendants who contributed their family histories once the Times article brought the project to public awareness. Together Richard and Monique have created a file number for each individual so as information comes in they can identify that person’s name and biographical information including spouse and children along with any information gathered about them and their subsequent family history and descendants. The site includes “Do you know any of these Faces?” where prompts to add names and recollection tags can be submitted.

Monique explains just how it works – the main photograph is divided digitally into 3 sections to allow for easier navigation. To access the 40 Families, go to “palosverdeshistory.org” - sign in as a guest or log in, type “40 families” in the search box and the 40 Family Name Index pops up above each face with details in the column to the right. Monique has been working on linking all of these people to relatives as more information comes forward.

The stories Richard and Monique have uncovered abound – marriages, many arranged as was the custom of that time, and wedding photographs. Anecdotes and tales about who these people were, their everyday lives, are all part of the fabric of the history of the Peninsula.

“My grandfather, Yasu Ashimoto, did not start farming in Lunada Bay until around 1928 or ‘29 so he’s not in the picture”, Richard tells me. “He was the auditor of the San Pedro Growers Association in 1940. After the internment camps were closed, many of those who had been displaced returned to Japan; but those who stayed would get together every summer for a big barbeque at the beach at Abalone Cove. Probably 50 to 75 people would show up and, amazingly, they had a mailing list for this annual event. I found addresses for half to two thirds of the people in that photograph living in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas.”

“James Hatano’s grandfather had been farming in Redondo Beach growing flowers before WWII. Coincidentally, he was in the same camp and block as those in the picture. James and Tom Kojima came to the area after the war because they had developed a friendship with George Ishibashi who had been dry farming until irrigation was established later. In the early days, the Ishibashis had to drive a cart to Machado Lake near 5 Points to bring water to irrigate their crops up the hill.”

Masaichi and Mie Ishibashi wedding photograph October 17, 1937 - Image courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection

“The climate then was wetter than it is today, a lot wetter,” Richard explains. “Development and paving all over the Hill has changed the weather patterns; but back then the natural moisture from coastal clouds nesting on the hills around the Peninsula condensed and dropped onto the land. There was enough water to grow a wide range of vegetables: tomatoes, string beans, and cucumbers, profitable crops to sell locally with garbanzo beans being one of the early money makers to export to Europe. And the spring along the road provided fresh water for household use.”

Japanese farms dot the entire Peninsula from Malaga Cove to Lunada Bay and Portuguese Bend - Image courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection

There were flowers being grown all over the area from Malaga Cove down along the coast from Lunada Bay to Portuguese Bend. When the Homes Association began approving new homes, the farmers had to give up their yearly leases, moving southwest into Lunada Bay and farther down the coast to Portuguese Bend.

Japanese farmers with family in the fields on the Palos Verdes Peninsula - Image courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection

Richard has a tale about the farmers getting together to buy a number of washing machines some time in the 1930s: “They brought them up to the Ishibashi farm to do group laundry hoping to show the electric company that there was a need for providing electricity to their area and all along up the coast.”

One of the many interesting contributions to the project came from Jane Hayakawa Dote whose grandfather, Fusajiro Hayakawa, also farmed in Lunada Bay near where Richard’s grandfather farmed. In the early days of old Los Angeles, the Yasuhara Hotel on Jackson Street in downtown was where almost all of those who came from Japan stayed. The Yasuhara was the home of the association office for people from the Tottori Prefecture as well as the Yasuhara Sake Brewery, then the second largest sake brewery in the United States. Richard tells me, “ My grandfather lived there for a couple of years before an opportunity came and he began farming on the Peninsula selling tomatoes. My mother was born at the Yasuhara Hotel in 1913.”

The Yasuhara Hotel and Sake Brewery - Image courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center Collection

This is a continuing article sharing stories about the 40 Families and their descendants. If you have information, memorabilia or photos of family histories about the 40 Families Project, please go to ‘palosverdeshistory.org.” There are many other Peninsula history projects ongoing at the Library and volunteers are welcome. The new Marymount Collection has over 50,000 images and 20 or 30 boxes of materials in the wings, waiting. The new digital repository is a wonderful asset for anyone interested in this history and the history of the Peninsula.

Web link - www.lynnelafleur.com

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Lynne LaFleur attended Malaga Cove School, Lunada Bay Elementary, and Chadwick School, received her BFA from Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn and has lived in New York City, Colorado and Northern California before returning to Palos Verdes in the late 1980s.

For more information, please contact Lynne at “lynnelf1@gmail.com”- The Centennial Celebration poster and all the individual illustrations (both as fine art giclée prints and as educational posters) are available for purchase from her website: www.lynnelafleur.com Facebook: LynneLaFleurArtist Instagram: “lynnelf1”