By SUSIE LING, Rafu Contributor
MONROVIA — In a unanimous decision on Jan. 16, the Monrovia City Council voted to name a new park the Satoru Tsuneishi Park.
During some recent construction, Hale Corporation gifted approximately 8,600 square feet at 1111 Encino Ave. Tina Cherry, director of Monrovia’s community services, said, “The city has been working to find ways to bring additional green space and recreation for those living in south Monrovia. The Tsuneishi Park will provide an opportunity for more Monrovians to get outdoors and recreate. Having a park that tells a part of the Monrovia story strengthens community for all who visit.”
Satoru Tsuneishi embodies the Issei experience. In 1907, he immigrated at 19 from Shikoku. He met the principal of Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School and became the first Asian American to graduate from there in 1914.
Tsuneishi had hopes of going into the ministry, but instead – with his wife, Sho – raised chicken, strawberries, and children. The Tsuneishis had ten children.
Son Paul Tsuneishi said in an earlier interview about growing up in Monrovia in the 1930s, “We grew up in a house my dad built. Later, Dad built a separate two-room building where all the boys slept. There was a separate little building where we had a traditional ofurotin tub. We had an icebox.
“During the Depression, my father went into the chicken business. One winter, the [Monrovia] wash overflowed and killed most of the chickens. Then my father went into truck farming business. Wherever he could rent a piece of land, he’d plant rhubarb, strawberries, other kinds of vegetables. On Highway 66 in Monrovia, we started a stand selling fruits and vegetables under an oak tree.”
Paul also remembered, “Racial discrimination was very, very overt. It was very much like the South. It was common knowledge that the public swimming pool in Monrovia was only open to Blacks one day a week. They didn’t know what to do with us Japanese.”
Paul, who passed away in 2014, was a longtime leader with San Fernando Valley JACL and API Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
After Executive Order 9066, the Tsuneishis, with other Japanese Americans from Monrovia, were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. Four of the Tsuneishi sons served in World War II, and two daughters served with Allied Translator and Interpreter Services (ATIS).
Paul said of his father, who returned to Monrovia after camp, “He started a couple of haiku clubs – one at the Pioneer Project and another San Gabriel group. He was a poet at heart. The family dispersed; we were too busy making a living.”
Satoru was an award-winning haiku poet, writing under the pen name of Shisei (射陽).
The City of Monrovia had encouraged proposals to name the new park, and themes around Route 66 and citrus were suggested as the site is just south of Huntington Drive, or Route 66. As the city already has parks named after African American Julius Parker and Latina Lucinda Garcia, Satoru Tsuneishi Park became the favored choice.
Roy Nakano of Monrovia said, “Satoru Tsuneishi, Lucinda Garcia and Julian Fisher are the everyday people who made extraordinary contributions to build our communities.”
Cherry said, “Sharing Mr.Tsuneishi’s story and the story of many other Japanese Monrovians is important for our community. The injustice and sacrifice many Japanese Monrovians experienced while being held at concentration camps during the internments of World War II cannot be forgotten.”
She added, “We are currently in the design phase. We would estimate completion in spring of 2025” — just in time for the 100thanniversary of Route 66.
Mark Tsuneishi, grandson of Satoru and president of Tsuneishi Insurance in Torrance, said, “On behalf of the Tsuneishi famiy, we would like to thank and acknowledge all those who made this possible. The contributions made by the early Japanese American pioneers helped to shape our communities, and it is important to create awareness and to preserve this legacy.”