Boyle Heights History Day

November 8, 2014
10 am to 4 pm
Breed Street Shul
247 N. Breed Street, Los Angeles

Boyle Heights Historical Society and Little Tokyo Historical Society will be co-presenting, Boyle Heights History Day, on Saturday, November 8 at 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the historic Breed Street Shul at 247 N. Breed Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.  The program includes music by Boyle Heights’ The Neighborhood Music School, Rubén Guevara reading his “Yuriko & Carlos” short story, screening of “Stand Up For Justice:  The Ralph Lazo Story” by John Esaki, writer and director, vintage photo displays and light refreshments.  The day will spotlight the close connections and friendships between the long ago Japanese American residents of Boyle Heights and the larger Boyle Heights neighborhood. 

BHHS will feature an interview on and family members will fondly remember Molly Wilson Murphy, an African American lady who held many friendships with Japanese Americans before WWII and during the concentration camp years with her many letters she wrote to the internees.  Sadly, Mrs. Murphy passed away one month ago due to natural causes.  Her letters are now housed at the Japanese American National Museum.

LTHS will have a panel discussion on the former Japanese Hospital, the nondescript building that was at 101 S. Fickett Street and First Street, that has a rich, but unknown history to the neighborhood.  The story of the Japanese Hospital is important to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California and U.S. history.  LTHS is now working on the City of Los Angeles’ Historic-Cultural Monument application on the Japanese Hospital.  On the panel will be Carole Fujita, Troy Kaji, MD and Kristen Hayashi.  Dr. Kaji is the grandson of the seminal figure, Dr. Kikuwo Tashiro, a Little Tokyo doctor who was the lead physician in a successful U.S. Supreme Court case in 1928 that allowed the hospital to be built in 1929.