A sign marking the site of a camp where Japanese, German and Italian immigrants were detained during World War II will be dedicated on Thursday, April 20, at 10:30 a.m. at Travel Town in Griffith Park.
The entrance is located at 5200 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles.
Scheduled speakers include: City Councilmember Nithya Raman, District 4; Jimmy Kim, Department of Recreation and Parks; Kyoko Nancy Oda, president of Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition; John Esaki, vice president of Japanese American National Museum; Linda Barth, Travel Town historian; Sigrid Toye and Kathy Masaoka, family members of Griffith Park prisoners; and Phil Leirness, past president of L.A. Breakfast Club Foundation.
The Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners on April 6 approved the sign as a donation from the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Foundation and the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.
Like the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Tuna Canyon in Tujunga, the Griffith Park camp was used to imprison first-generation Japanese, German and Italian immigrants for periods of up to several months. The Army closed the site in 1943 and the detainees were sent to other camps.
The narrative for the sign was supported by the Travel Town Museum Foundation, Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition, Japanese American National Museum, and. Griffith Park Advisory Board.