New mural unveiled to commemorate lost Sacramento Japantown community
Before it was torn down
By James Taylor
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SACRAMENTO, California (KCAL, KCBS) — A lost piece of Sacramento’s history is now being revived in the form of a colorful new mural.
Stan Umeda grew up going to Sacramento’s Japantown.
In its heyday, it was the fourth-largest Japanese community in the nation, with 500 Japanese-owned businesses.
“It was fabulous because the grocers, the dentist (were) all trusted individuals in the community,” Umeda said. “Everybody knows each other, so it was a great community at the time.”
The community was centered around what is now 4th Street and Capitol Mall, but in 1955, the city decided to redevelop that part of downtown.
Several blocks of existing buildings were torn down to make way for Interstate 5, new high-rise offices and stores.
“It was a disaster,” Umeda said. “It really broke up the community.”
The city of Sacramento, unfortunately, targeted directly Sacramento Japantown to demolish,” Jim Tabuchi said.
Tabuchi’s grandfather owned a department store in the district, and he vividly remembers demolition day.
“I was a 4-year-old boy watching this black iron ball and chain crash into our building,” Tabuchi said. “I remember tears coming down my face and crying to my mother.”
Now, he’s helping unveil a new history mural at the site of the mostly forgotten community.
“The idea is we want to attract people to stop and learn and to find out that Sacramento Japantown was once here and was once vibrant,” Tabuchi said.
The paintings depict what the streets looked like in the old days, and the hope is that they will be a reminder of the damage that can be done by breaking up close-knit communities.
“It just destroyed everything that we had worked for,” Umeda said.
Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela attended Wednesday’s ceremony and officially apologized for the decisions that were made decades ago.
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