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Hatano Farm's historical significance could be recognized by the state
The last Japanese American farm on the Palos Verdes Peninsula could be formally listed as historice later this week.
By Michael Hixon | mhixon@scng.com | The Beach Reporter
Hatano Farm, the last vestige of a rich Japanese American farming legacy on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, could soon be officially recognized for its historical significance.
The State Historical Resources Commission will discuss Hatano Farm during its Friday, Jan. 20, meeting and could possibly place it on the California Register of Historical Resources and list it as a California Point of Historical Interest.
"It's just a beautiful way to honor Mr. Hatano and his family and Japanese farming," said Karina Bañales, deputy city manager for Rancho Palos Verdes. "This is the last one here and we want to do our best to preserve it and honor that and embrace that."
The 5.5- acre farm was established in 1953 by James Hatano, according to a draft application from the Historic Resources Group, which was hired by the city.
Alexandra Madsen, senior architectural historian at the Historic Resources Group, said last week in a phone interview, that it was "really incredible" that the last farm still remains and that it had been cultivated continuously for decades up until last year.
"That's another really important aspect," Madsen said, "is that it's rare to see something with such longevity."
Japanese American farms were prevalent on the Peninsula decades before James Hatano started his farm.
The first farms date back to the early 20th century, said Sian Winship, an architectural historian subcontracted to HRG and the president of the Southern California chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.
By 1909, according to an HRG report written by Winship and Madsen that will be presented at Friday's meeting, "two-thirds of California's Japanese population was working on farms."
"Those of Japanese heritage had thriving agricultural business," the report added, "especially in flower production in Los Angeles."
In the South Bay, the HRG report said, Gardena was named "Berryland," while the "Celery Capital of the World" was Lomita. Torrance had Japanese American farmers cultivating several crops and had livestock around what is currently Hawthorne Boulevard at 190th Street.
On the Peninsula, meanwhile, Japanese American farmers began cultivating 2,000 coastal acres, from Malaga Cove to Western Avenue, according to the report. They built homes and farmhouses on ranch land that was rented or leased in the early 1900s.
"To compete with larger growers, the Japanese American farmers in the South Bay formed a cooperative known as the San Pedro Vegetable Marketing Cooperative," according to the report. "On November 24, 1923, approximately 40 first-generation Japanese families dedicated a community building in San Pedro to be used for meetings, Japanese language school, judo lessons, and social events."
Around 1940, according to the report, it is estimated that more than 200 Japanese American families farmed on the Peninsula — growing beans, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, melons and potatoes.
But that all changed with the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the subsequent internment of Japanese Americans.
"Upon release from the prison camps, Japanese American community members found themselves with no money, no social capital, nowhere to live, and no opportunity," according to the HRG report. "Most had to completely start over. It was the catalyst for a great diaspora, and many families did not return to the enclaves or communities in which they had resided prior to World War II."
James Hatano was not one of those who left the Peninsula and never returned.
Rather, he was born in San Jose on Feb. 3, 1927. His father, Katsuyemon Hatano, was a farm laborer who had come to the mainland from Hawaii in 1904.
During internment, the Hatano family — with eight children, including 15-year-old James Hatano — were forcibly removed from Porterville, where the patriarch worked at a vineyard, and sent to the Poston Relocation Center in July 1942, according to the report.
"While at Poston, the Hatano family met several pioneering Japanese American farming families from the Palos Verdes Peninsula," the HRG report said. "In fact, records show that they all lived in the same housing block together."
When Hatano turned 18 in February 1945, while still interned in Poston, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. In September that year, he was stationed at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro.
After being discharged, Hatano, along with his father and several siblings, worked on a farm in Torrance, which was at what is now Beryl and 190th streets, according to the report. Hatano also farmed flowers in Redondo Beach.
But eventually, he found a plot of land owned by the U.S. Army in what is now Rancho Palos Verdes.
More than two decades later, the site that was part of federal Nike Missile Sit LA-55, came under city control because of a federal program intended to reduce surplus property. But Hatano, who had a lease agreement with the city from 1974 to 1979, continued running the farm until his retirement more than eight years ago.
After the initial lease ended in 1979, Hatano and the city had an informal agreement that let him continue running the farm; the informal agreement lasted until he signed a formal lease in March 2001, which charged him $100 in annual rent.
After Hatano's retirement, longtime foreman Martin Martinez ran the farm until last year. Martinez was evicted by the city in August because the farm didn't comply with the uses allowed under the Federal Lands to Parks Program. The program allowed the city to use the land for parks and recreational use only, not as a for-profit business — which the farm was.
Since then, the city and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy have worked on a plan that would allow the PVPLC to run the land as a not-for-profit native plant operation, complying with the Federal Lands to Parks Program.
That agreement is expected to be discussed and potentially approved at the Feb. 7 Rancho Palos Verdes City Council meeting.
As for the land's historical designation, the California Point of Historical Interest Program is a less restrictive way to recognize such properties than the State Historical Landmarks program, Bañales said.
With the Point of Historical Interest Program, the city will receive a plaque. The City Council will then determine where the plaque will be placed at the site.
"We'll have a huge celebration for that," Bañales, "and recognize the Hatano family."
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Michael Hixon | Entertainment/business editor/Hermosa Beach reporter
Michael Hixon, a community journalist since 1996, is a reporter at The Beach Reporter who covers Hermosa Beach and well as business, feature and entertainment news. He also has written extensively about Hollywood movies and film festivals and met or interviewed more directors and celebrities than he can count.
mhixon@scng.com
Follow Michael Hixon @MichaelJHixon
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