How a Dubious Olympic Bid Nearly Destroyed this Japantown
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- Salt Lake City’s Japantown was once a thriving community for thousands of Japanese Americans. In 1966 city officials destroyed it for a glitzy new sports arena, one justified by an Olympic bid that ended in failure. Here’s how the controversial practice of “urban renewal” nearly wiped out Japantown and how the Japanese American community is fighting to protect what remains. Is history about to repeat itself?
Hosted by Harini Bhat, Ph.D., In The Margins is a new PBS series that covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.
SUPPORT your local station ▶︎▶︎
to.pbs.org/DonateORIG
SUBSCRIBE to In the Margins on PBS Origins ▶︎▶︎
/ @pbsorigins
00:00 - Intro - How a sports arena + Urban Development plan demolished Salt Lake City's thriving Japantown
01:39 - History of Salt Lake City's Japantown growth
02:31 - Owning property and Alien Land Laws
03:03 - WWI, 1942 incarceration of Japanese Americans and discrimination
03:45 - Salt Lake City Japantown boom, White Flight, and Redevelopment
05:15 - 1972 Olympic Bid, sports arena
06:12 - National push for Urban Renewal, Eminent Domain Laws
07:00 - Response to Urban Development, Demolition of Japantown
07:24 - Olympic bid and Urban Development outcome and response
08:34 - What remains of Salt Lake City's once thriving Japantown
08:52 - Community response, Revitalizing Japantown
09:06 - Current development plans - Is history repeating itself?
09:36 - Japanese American community response to devastation and current developments
10:38 - Close - how has Urban Renewal affected your community?
↓↓More info and sources below↓↓
Check out more from Harini Bhat @tilscience !
Learn more about Salt Lake City's Japantown:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/...
slcjapantown.wixsite.com/utah...
www.intermountainhistories.or...
Keep up with In the Margins and PBS Origins on:
Facebook: / pbsdigitalstudios
Instagram: pbsds
As an Angeleno, I can’t help but see parallels to Chavez Ravine and Dodgers Stadium. I can’t imagine how frustrating it is to have your thriving community labeled a “slum”, destroyed, and then used for a completely different purpose
Not to mention Chinatown and Little Tokyo in LA
I never even knew that Salt Lake City had a thriving Japanese/Japanese American community
Me either!
@@PokhrajRoy. I've been to SLC 3 times. It did not even occur to me to look for the Japantown. I would have made it a destination if I knew. I went to a Mexican restaurant called the Blue Iguana. Twice. Very very good.
I grew up in SLC, lived there for nearly 25 years, and I had honestly never heard about the origin of the Salt Palace before. This feels like one of those things that our parents and grandparents just didn't want to ever talk about, because they knew they did something wrong.
That was the idea.
@@paulsmith9341 The Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple are all that is left of "Japantown". There's nothing else to see.
As someone who lives in an area that was just trying to buy up and bulldoze an area for a new sports stadium, this is incredibly timely.
I've visited a few internment camps as I am half Japanese. I never realized that there is a large Japanese population in Utah!
My great grandfather helped build one of those internment camps in Nebraska. Maybe do an episode on Sanish a community of Native Americans who were forced to leave their town in 1950 because the North Dakota government was going to build a dam there. I know there were many other towns that were affected by what happened but that story might be of interest to you.
I would definitely be interested in a video on this.
thank you for such an excellent story about the Japanese community in Salt Lake City, and what the building of the Salt Palace did to their thriving neighborhood. This story reminds me of what happened in Sacramento's former West End of downtown - this area was quite multi-racial, with residents who were Black, Japanese, Latino living there, until the area was declared "blighted" in the 1950s, and razed. Residents of the West End fled to other parts of the city, in the southern part, and this neighborhood is quite valuable real estate now, with the state capitol and many other buildings on the site. I used to live in Seattle, and a big sports stadium, the King Dome was proposed to be built on the edge of the International District, aka Chinatown/Japantown, and many Asian residents protested, but the stadium was built anyway, displacing lots of residents.
7:33 I mean, the irony & the plot twist.
using public money for PRIVATE SPORTS BUILDINGS, or even worse, OLYMPICS stadia, is disgusting and evil.
@@gibberishname yes, this is happening with the Chicago Bears vs Chicago. Bears want the public to shoulder a bunch of the funding for a new covered stadium. 😠😤
It is according to today's sentiment. Back then, decision making was more patriarchal in nature, with a lot of quid pro quo behind it.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Meanwhile public transit in most cities only faces more and more budget cuts
This sounds so much like what is happening, right now, in Philadelphia. The big plan here is to build a new Sports arena, right in the middle of the City, and to bulldoze a big section of Chinatown to do it.
I don't know anyone who actually likes this idea, but the city govt seems damned determined to go through with it.
I know what you are talking about, the arena in Chinatown for the 76ers. As far as I know, no one, other than the 76ers owner, really wants it. I mean, after the Phils, a more popular team, were not able to get a stadium built in the downtown area in the late 1990s, why do the 76ers owner think he has a better chance at it?
>bulldoze a big section of Chinatown to do it.
You're regurgitating the NIMBY lie lol
It's redeveloping the old Gallery/Fashion District Mall on top of Jefferson Station, which isn't even in Chinatown.
It's so weird too bc like, if the main thing they were targeting is impoverished areas (which is still immoral and dumb anyways) there are definitely worse off places in philly, chinatown overall is pretty nice compared to like, kensington. It really does feel like they're specifically targeting chinese immigrants, which is stupid because the whole reason we hate china is their government, their people and culture didn't do anything wrong. Especially not the immigrants who actively left (not to mention those who arent even from mainland china)
Oddly enough, every sports arena that I've heard the history of, seems to follow this exact same pattern. Bulldoze minority neighborhood, use tax dollars to build stadium that mostly benefits rich people.
Every. Single. One.
Loved visiting Japantown in San Francisco. I wish so bad there were more across the US. With Japan rising in popularity with the younger generation, I think US city mayors/planners can really make something special by allowing these importsnt communities to thrive rather than build yet another generic entertainment district that will look and feel like all the others in their cities.
@radio-silence9506
They will just displace another ethnicity. People have been taught prejudice about people who fought for other minorities. Who are still demonized and had their towns thriving destroyed. To make the new place look at gentrification. And the homeless issue for working people.
Did not know this history at all. Thank you so much PBS Origins!
This was a great watch. Thank you PBS Origins! 🤗
I wish the video essay had delved deeper into the compensation or lack thereof for the Japantown community. Eminent domain with due compensation has been a thing in the United States since the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. I am sure all sorts of shady and low-ball deals were made, but even in 1972 there would have been opportunities for high-visibility legal cases due to violations of civil and Constitutional rights.
I also wish the video essay had offered some more solutions on how to better prevent these kinds of things from happening again. Are there ways for communities to better-organize to protect themselves, and how can allies better help these communities?
Agreed.
Stuff like this is why the Olympics recently decided to pick cities _already_ well-capable of hosting their games. Because, unfair as it might sound, the alternative is actually worse.
I actually learnt about this from Fort Minor's song "Kenji"
Totally appreciate that LAs Little Tokyo, Little Osaka and areas of Torrance survive with Japanese cultural influences.
Little Tokyo in LA is hardly Little Tokyo, more like a Chinatown extension. I hardly see any actual Japanese
Along with that, San Francisco Japantown
The US has a long history of racism and social injustice. It makes me sad, but I'm filled with hope we can be better.
Wow, being from Utah, I hadn't even heard that Salt Lake had a Japantown until recently after we got the hockey team and the talks of the entertainment district started. (There are also talks of replacing Abravenal Hall which is Utah's premier concert hall close to the Delta Center where the Jazz and new hockey team play. Hopefully, we learned something from the construction of the Salt Palace, but it feels like history is repeating itself.) It was never discussed in our history courses and I was always under the impression that any of the residents we had with Japanese ancestry came from the interment camp Topaz. The Salt Palace was built before I was even born and always seemed like a big part of downtown Salt Lake.
Thank you for these videos. I love tuning in every week.
"I am what I am because of you." could be used for all displaced or culturally obliterated peoples
The Topaz museum innDelta, Utah is great. I'd recommend to anyone interested in WWII history of Japanese people.
In eastern Knoxville, Tennessee, there is a neighboorhood called Burlington. It's a historically black neighborhood that used to be its own town called Park City. There is a circular street that marks the path of the old horse racing track made and run by the first black millionaire (not 100% sure about his millionaire status but I know he made lots of money). After Knoxville annexed Park City, the city taxes stopped being put back into the region and the neighborhood has fallen on hard times. There is a local community center called The Bottom that is showcasing and creating modern black art and also keeping the history of Park City alive.
Unfortunately this kind of thing is still a threat to many communities for example Chinatown in Philadelphia is trying to fight off another plan to put in a stadium
Thank you for highlighting this important piece of history
I live in SLC and I’ve never known any of this. Wow this is really sad
Edenville Florida, my Great Grandfather lived there and it has some serious historical significants. Also, the city that's under central park.
look up the communities under central park, and pretty much every dam lake....
Cheers to remembering and preserving the rich cultural history of Japanese Americans. Salt Lake City needs the Rio Grande Plan to keep moving in a brighter, safer and more equitable direction!
Awesome documentary, so sad though, I feel sad for all Americans, especially for the Japanese Americans but all of us lost when these families were mistreated, disrespected and displaced. Instead it’s now just another homogenized town in Utah. I would love to see a documentary on Pope Francis's recent apology visit to the First Nations People in Canada. The Pope’s apology visit was pertaining to child abuse and the murders of many indigenous children while forced to work and “study” in Christian Schools during the twentieth century.
Never knew anything about this! Great story
This was an excellent video and I really appreciated the care that was clearly put into telling this hidden history. I look forward to going through the channel to find more videos in this series.
I recently was fortunate enough tp participate in a workshop with Asain Americane Advancing Justice and learned more about the history of Asian Americans in the United States. I am so glad that you brought this history to a wider audience.
There are so many other communities from other backgrounds that deserve to have their histories shared on a wider platform, but I would be interested in learning more about the Japanese American communities in Chicago. Since there is a major Chinatown in Chicago, I knew there is a large population of Chinese Americans there, but I had no idea that many families relocated in Chicago after WWII. I think it would be an interesting continuation of your coverage of hidden histories of Asian American communities.
+
Denver used to have a Chinatown community. DC's Chinatown is now just basically a Chinese looking gate and nothing more, barely any Chinese owned businesses and restaurants left. Black Wall Street in Tulsa and what happened to black people and their community in Wilmington.
The highway over Edenville Florida, the city underneith central park.
Nicely done.
Thanks interesting story. Of course there are many other stories. For example the greenwood community in Tulsa which was not just destroyed in 1908? But also later when the federal hwy system came in the 1970s hwys were built over the reestablished community! And the hwy system also destroyed many other black or poor neighborhoods around the country intentionally because of racist policies
Japantown street is going to get a lot of reinvestment as part of this new entertainment district. Millions from the city and the replacement of the loading docks with storefronts.
Also, SLC had a big Greektown as well. Hope to see that revival someday too.
The Salt Palace is probably the most ugly stadium.
Broke ground in 1967. Opened in 1969. Demolished in 1994...
I live close enough to Manzanar that this part of shameful American history will never be forgotten.
There is an extremely similar story in Denver
1968 World's Fair, San Antonio Texas
Love this!
If your city is thinking about adding an arena or hosting the Olympics, you should be thinking about moving.
I know that there has always been a Japan town in SF but it is in decline due to lack of investment and homelessness etc
If they want some more support, reach out to the local anime community.
Also, I like to say, in Los Angele's Little Tokyo, its getting increasing harder for shops and residents to stay in Los Angeles due to rising costs. In the last 10 or 15 years many of the small independently owned and runned shops have scuttled their doors and have been replaced with large and chain stores.
I did not realize that Utah had Japanese community, nor the cost of having Winter Olympics in Utah. 😞
I have zero connection to SLC or any of the traditional West Coast Nikkei communities but I'm mixed Japanese and being raised between split family members between Japan/US, am fully bilingual. Since coming back to the States to live again post-COVID, I was devastated to see how little to no Japanese presence there was left in some pockets of NY that I had grown up assuming there was always gonna be. After being re-immersed in "NY"/"America", I'm even considering joining a Japanese-American Church, even though I grew up Catholic for a few years and don't really agree with following any organized religion. I just want the community. To be able to switch to Japanese from time to time and just say ホッと息をつける場所が欲しいんだよね without fumbling over how to say what in English or maybe it doesn't translate, blah blah blah. So I wish I could've seen what Japantown was like back in its glory days.
It’s a great feeling you and I share the same ancestors in Kashmir.
Salt Lake and the state of Utah will virtually sell its soul for economic development and national recognition. Sweetheart tax breaks to lure corporations here, and complete destruction of historic neighborhoods is now the norm, and really ruining the liability of this area. Come visit all you want, but please don't move here, we're full! If you do move here, bring your own clean air and water because both are in short supply!
Speaking of the 1972 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City lost the bid to a Japanese city that deserved it: Sapporo.
🤣👍🏽
Sounds like they planned a Win/Win situation..They win the bid...they host the Olympics...they lose the bid...They win by getting rid of the Japanese with building the stadium under the pretence of it being for the Olympic bid. ...Sounds like the only reason for any of it...was to get rid of the Japanese....which they called "immigrants"...in a country created by "immigrants"...the 2 faced irony.
Wow😮 I've never heard this before. Thank you for the content. But, wondering how the Church was involved in all this...
Philadelphia to Chinatown for the 76ers
First you lose your businesses and properties when you're interned. You and your communities build yourself back up, but then you lose it all to 'development'. So many immigrant stories start with promise, but have a sad ending.
Shouganai. -_- I'm so sorry to the people
Mexico and Canada had their own internment camps for Japanese people
More we began watching documentaries like this, the LESS we liked “urban ‘renewal,’” as it should be renamed urban and cultural erasure and genocide.
This happens all the time to African American communities over 300 All Black townships have been destroyed through eminent domain.
How ironic, given that nowadays Japanese culture is admired and imitated by Americans: sushi, manga, ramen, martial arts, bushido, kawaii - the Shogun TV miniseries was successfully remade. If those guys had kept Japan Town as it was, now it would be a tourist attraction on its own, without any effort from their part, and for free.
What’s her name
Harini Bhat
Notice they didn't do this to German or Italian Americans.
Oh yes they did. German-Americans were lynched during WWI for speaking German.
now talk about arizonas china towns
Utah didn't deserve a major sports franchise
And Japanese in Japan will live in ignorance of all this that happened to their diaspora and continue to think the us is the best and has best intentions for them..
"Police power bs g eminent domain" is such an evil thing