Historical Marker
Temporary Detention Camp for Japanese Americans, Santa Anita
Arcadia, Los Angeles County · California
Erected 2001
The plaque calls what happened at this racetrack special usage, and it is not the state's; Santa Anita cast it in 2001. The Army held 18,719 people here between March and October 1942, most of them American citizens, and more than 8,500 lived in converted horse stalls. For the first four months there were 150 showers. This was the only one of these camps to run a camouflage net factory, and inmates wove the nets under military contract. On August 4, 1942, after guards searched the barracks for anything written in Japanese, people rebelled and military police moved in.
What the plaque says
Santa Anita During World War II Early in 1942 the U.S. Government designated Santa Anita Park for special usage during the war years. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, from March 30, 1942 until October 27, 1942 the facility was used as an assembly and processing center for approximately 20,000 Japanese Americans prior to their displacement to internment camps in other areas of the country. From 1942 until 1945, the government utilized the property as an Army Base - Camp Santa Anita. It was the largest Army ordnance training center on the West Coast and more than 100,000 soldiers were trained there. Racing resumed at Santa Anita on May 15, 1945, just after "VE" Day. This plaque is placed at Santa Anita in remembrance of the events of that period in history by its dedication on this, the 15th day of May, 2001.
Where it stands
34.13845, -118.04609 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 4.5 miThe fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
- Colorado Street Bridge — 6.7 miBeaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
- Chavez Ravine — 12 miThree Mexican American neighborhoods cleared for public housing that was never built, then traded to a ballclub.
- Campo de Cahuenga — 18 miThe treaty that ended the fighting in California was signed on this ground, and the building it was signed in is now under the boulevard.