Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo was once a thriving African-American neighborhood. Bronzeville, as it was called during World War II, became home to hundreds of African-Americans when, in the Spring of 1942, the United States government forcibly put people of Japanese descent into concentration camps. Restrictive covenants prevented the new black Los Angelenos from living in white areas, but Little Tokyo welcomed them. According to a Nichi Bei Times article, today “[n]o trace remains of the Finale Club where Charlie Parker showed off his musical talents, nor of Shepp’s Playhouse where Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and others from white Hollywood hobnobbed with the likes of Herb Jeffries, Eddie Heywood and Coleman Hawkins.”
One African-American who lived in Bronzeville as a child remembered clearing out the family garage in order to store the belongings of their incarcerated Japanese-American friends during the war.
The great influx of African-Americans made the area population swell from 30,000 to 80,000 causing overcrowding and slum conditions. After the war, Japanese Americans returned to the area and bought businesses from the African-American owners. Slowly, the face of Bronzeville changed again. More information is available at www.bronzeville-LA.com.
