“Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor,” a new photographic history of the communities that lived on property under the jurisdiction of the Port of Los Angeles before World War II, will be available for purchase for the first time at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend, April 18-19, at the campus of USC.
The book, a co-publication of Angel City Press and the Port of Los Angeles, will be sold at the Angel City Press booth (#119) during the hours of the festival, starting from 10 a.m. Supplies will be limited.
The co-authors, Naomi Hirahara and Geraldine Knatz, will be signing “Terminal Island” at the booth on Saturday, April 18, at 2 p.m.
Hirahara is known for her Mas Arai and Ellie Rush mystery novels and has also written several nonfiction books on Japanese American history. Knatz is former director of the Port of L.A.
Featuring more than 200 vintage black-and-white and full-color photographs, the 288-page softcover book traces the full history of Terminal Island — from when it existed as two small islands, Rattlesnake and Deadman’s, in the mid-1800s to becoming a resort area for the wealthy and then home for squatters engaged in the arts and marine research.
With the development of canneries in the 1910s, Terminal Island’s Fish Harbor became a tight-knit colony for Japanese fishermen and their families. Japanese immigrants were targets of discriminatory actions before World War II, concluding with their and all residents’ removal from the island in 1942.
Cost of the book is $35.