The Fuji-kan Theater Historic-Cultural Monument sign unveiling and presentation by the Little Tokyo Historical Society in partnership with Japanese American National Museum, with sponsorship by Aratani CARE Grant and the Arts District Little Tokyo Neighborhood Council Neighborhood Purpose Grant, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 30, in Little Tokyo.
The schedule is as follows:
10-10:30 a.m.: Sign unveiling at 324 E. First St. and declarations by Bill Watanabe of LTHS, City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, Dr. Daisuke Miyao of UC San Diego, and Deputy Consul General Naoko Kamitani
11-11:30 a.m.: At JANM Democracy Lab, 100 N. Central Ave., welcome by Bradly Hammond of LTHS; presentation by Dr. Miyao
11:30-11:45 a.m.: Q&A with Dr. Miyao, LTHS members
11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.: Light lunch by Don Tahara of Far Bar and socializing
All are welcome. There is no charge for the program. Donations are welcome but not required.
Fuji-kan Historical Background
In 1924, Yasuasaburo Fujimoto and Katsugoro Kawase secured investments from shop owners in Little Tokyo and subsequently established a movie theater, Fuji-kan (also known as Fuji-kwan) to show American silent movies. It opened on Oct. 20, 1925 at 324 E. First St. (south side of First, east of San Pedro Street).
An article in The Rafu Shimpo called it “the one and only entertainment venue” in Little Tokyo.
On Feb. 15, 1926, the theater had a reopening and screened “Konjiki Yasha” (The Golden Demon), a Japanese silent film starring Tsuzuya Moroguchi and Yoshiko Kawada, produced by Shochiku (1922). This is believed to be the first time that a Japanese silent film was shown in Los Angeles.
Admission was 50 cents. An onsite narrator (benshi), Tochuken Namiemon, was often employed to provide a dramatic insight into what was happening on screen.
Japanese films continued to be shown at the Fuji-kan until 1941.
Actor Sessue Hayakawa rose to prominence in the silent movie era in the 1910s and 1920s. He was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve film stardom as a leading man in America and Europe. He got his start on the theater stage in Little Tokyo in a play called “The Typhoon,” was hired by producer Thomas Ince to star in a silent movie version with the same title, then was signed by Famous Players-Lasky to star in “The Cheat,“ directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
Many silent and sound films starring Hayakawa would be shown at the Fuji-kan.
Hayakawa later received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in 1958 for “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” in which he played Col. Saito.
Executive Order 9066, issued on Feb. 19, 1942, resulted in the forced removal of the entire West Coast Japanese population, many of them American citizens, to concentration camps, turning the thriving Little Tokyo community into a shuttered ghost town. Fuji-kan closed and the owner was falsely arrested in January 1942 for allegedly spreading propaganda.
During the war, the neighborhood, then known as Bronzeville, became predominately African American. Fuji-kan reopened as the Linda Lea Theatre in 1945, featuring movies and live acts catering to the largely African American population that had filled the apartments and houses vacated by the incarcerated Japanese Americans.
After the end of the war, the Japanese population slowly moved back, African Americans moved to other areas of L.A., and the community became known once again as Little Tokyo.
In April 1955, the theatre was reacquired by the Nichibei Kinema Company, whose president was Shunsuke Kumamoto. It was renamed the Kinema and reopened Aug. 13, 1955. The Kinema was running as late as 1963.
The operators were evicted when the property was acquired by the City of Los Angeles for redevelopment. The former Fuji-kan was demolished by 1964.
The Los Angeles City Council recently passed the following motion: “Be it moved that 324 E. First St. be recognized as the site of an important Japanese owned and run movie theater in Little Tokyo, the Fuji-kan, during the 1920s until the 1960s, and that the Department of Transportation will be directed to fabricate and install a permanent ceremonial sign to this effect at this location.”