Block 14, Manzanar

Block 14 is the demonstration block at Manzanar. There are four reconstructed buildings and signs designating all building locations.

• bare dirt with four black tarpaper buildings and many signs designating building locations

Block 22 Garden, Manzanar

Learn more about the Block 22 Mess Hall Garden

• rock garden and empty pools surrounded by trees

Block 34 Garden, Manzanar

Learn about Block 34 Mess Hall Garden

• Rock garden and empty waterways surrounded by a wood fence.

Camouflage Net Factory at Manzanar

Japanese Americans incarcerated at Manzanar worked for the war effort at the Camouflage Net Factory.

• Looking south from the tour road, you see long, narrow concrete slab foundations. In the background are the Alabama Hills. The vegetation in the surrounding area is low desert scrub.

Education at Manzanar, Block 16

Initially established in rooms and buildings throughout the facility, Manzanar Elementary School was eventually consolidated at Block 16.

• The Manzanar Elementary School was eventually consolidated at Block 16. This area of Manzanar is accessible only by foot and is overgrown with low scrubby brush and some trees.

First Street, Manzanar

First Street in Manzanar was much like Main Street in many towns in the USA. But here, those with Japanese Ancestry didn't have the freedom to leave.

• As you entered Manzanar during World War II, you would have seen white administration buildings on your left and black tar paper barracks on your right. In the background are the Sierra Nevadas. The two stone sentry posts are in the area you are standing.

Guayule at Manzanar

Learn how Japanese Americans incarcerated at Manzanar assisted the war effort through guayule production.

• There are scrubby sagebrush looking guayule plants planted in the area between the ramp and stairs at the entrance to the visitor center.

History of the Manzanar Cemetery

Learn about the Manzanar Cemetery and the iconic obelisk monument.

• The white obelisk with black kanji characters has the dramatic backdrop of the high Sierra. The obelisk is surrounded by faux wood pillars and then by the graves of the few buried here. All the vegetation is removed from this area.

Judo Dojo at Manzanar

Japanese martial arts judo and kendo were both practiced at Manzanar.

• The cement foundation of the judo dojo is still present. It is surrounded by a few large cottonwood trees.

Legacy of the Manzanar Cemetery

Learn about the Manzanar Cemetery and it's legacy.

• The white obelisk with black kanji characters has the dramatic backdrop of the high Sierra. The obelisk is surrounded by faux wood pillars and then by the graves of the few buried here. All the vegetation is removed from this area.

Manzanar Auditorium

Learn about the Manzanar Auditorium that now acts as the Manzanar National Historic Site Visitor Center.

• large green building with visitor entry door on left

Manzanar Baseball

Learn about the role baseball and sports played within the barbed wire.

• The baseball diamond is located near the eastern boundary and under the reconstructed guard tower. As you stand at home plate you look east and see the Inyo Mountains. The area surrounding the diamond, which has been cleared of vegetation, is high desert sage.

Manzanar Fire Department

Learn more about Manzanar's Fire Department.

• A reconstructed wooden building with black tarpaper on the outside has open bay doors with fire trucks inside.

Manzanar Fire Station & Engines

Learn more about the Manzanar Fire Station and its original engines.

• wooden building covered with black tarpaper with open bay doors and fire engines inside

Manzanar Hospital

Learn about the Manzanar Hospital and how patients were cared for behind barbed wire.

• Located in the northwest corner of the barbed wire, there are a few trees surround the area that still preserves the remains as the hospital garden. The foundations, rock outlines, and cement walls still survive throughout the site.

Manzanar National Historic Site

Manzanar National Historic Site was established to preserve the stories of the internment of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, and to serve as a reminder to this and future generations of the fragility of American civil liberties.

Manzanar Orchards

Manzanar's orchard trees are about one hundred years old and are part of the historic landscape.

• The Manzanar orchards are composed of lines of pear trees that are currently surrounded by fencing to protect the historic trees from foraging animals.

Manzanar Reservoir

Learn about the Manzanar Reservoir and the way water and resistance had an impact on the lives of Japanese Americans there.

• The landscape gently slopes from the Sierra to Manzanar and is vegetated with high desert scrub. The reservoir is empty of water and made of concrete. It is surrounded by rock work.

Manzanar's Children's Village

The Children's Village at Manzanar was the only orphanage in a WRA facility

• The Children's Village was recently cleared of vegetation and has been archeologically excavated. Some dispersed trees remain. The outlines of three buildings are evident in the soil.

Manzanar: Block 14, Barrack 8

Beginning in the summer of 1942, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) hired Japanese American crews to install linoleum floors and hang sheetrock on walls and ceilings. But other promised improvements never appeared. People who could afford it bought items from catalogs or had belongings delivered from storage. Some people built furniture from scrap wood, nails, and cement that they “borrowed for the duration.”

• Long black tarpapered building with door on end and two doors on side. Ramp leads to door on end and one of doors on side.

Manzanar: Block 14, Barracks 1

On March 7, 1942, Lieutenant General John DeWitt announced that the US Army would build a “reception center” for Japanese Americans at Manzanar. Two weeks later, the first people forced from their Los Angeles homes arrived here to a chaotic construction zone. There weren’t enough barracks, and some were without windows, doors, or roofs. The green lumber used for the buildings shrank quickly in the dry air, creating gaps and knotholes.

• Long black tarpaper barrack with two doors along the long side. A ramp leads to one door.

Manzanar: Icon of Confinement

From 1942 to 1945, eight US Army guard towers loomed over the more than 11,000 Japanese Americans held in Manzanar. For most of that time, US Military Police manned the towers, a visual reminder that the unconstitutionally incarcerated people were not allowed to leave without permission.

• Tall wooden tower over looking area towards Sierra sits next to barbed wire fence. Frontage road passes by the area.

Manzanar: Ironing Room

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) paid Japanese Americans to build ironing rooms near the laundry rooms in each block. They completed construction in early July 1942, yet by August Tanaka noted, “Still unused for their original purpose are the ironing rooms on each block.”

• Concrete slab foundation

Manzanar: Latrine

In each block, two latrines—one for women and one for men—served about 300 people. Women’s latrines had ten toilets, men’s had eight and a urinal. Francis Kikuchi recalled, “The pots were sitting right next to each other . . . if you're going, you're sitting there rubbing elbows."

• Black tarpaper building with concrete foundation. Door opens to the south.

Manzanar: Recreation Hall

Each of the 36 blocks had recreation halls—a barracks on the southwest corner of the block that was not used for living space. Recreation halls served as libraries, churches, classrooms, and places to learn arts and music or hold club meetings; one hall even served as Manzanar’s museum.

• Wooden sign that says, "Recreation" in front of bare sand.

Merritt Park

Merritt Park was the largest public park created at Manzanar by the Japanese Americans incarcerated here.

• Merritt Park is full of carefully positioned rocks, surrounding a concrete pool that no longer holds water. There are two bridges that cross the water. Mature trees surround the area now, but little other vegetation is present.

Paiute Landscape at Manzanar

The indigenous first people of this valley refer to themselves as Nüümü. We are all standing on Nüümü Land. Their government given name, which more commonly used by non natives, is Paiute/Shoshone (Newe for Shoshone). The most important acknowledgement is that the Nüümü people are still here living and existing on their ancestral land.

• Manzanar is in the Owens Valley, a high desert landscape of shrubs and sand. It is bordered on the west by the Sierra Nevadas which reach 10,000 feet above the valley floor. To the east are the Inyo Mountains which extend over 6,000 above.

Shepherd Ranch

Shepherd Ranch predates both the Town of Manzanar and Manzanar War Relocation Center.

• Not much remains of the original ranch, but you can see a walkway lined with rocks and the foundations of several buildings in the area which is covered with low scrub and scattered trees.

Town of Manzanar

The Town of Manzanar was an orchard community.

• The town of Manzanar has few remnants on today's landscape. You see the high desert sagebrush landscape surrounded by the Sierra Nevadas on the west and the Inyo Mountains on the east.

War Relocation Authority: A Community Apart

Learn about the community of War Relocation Authority employees and their children that lived in a world apart, within the barbed wire.

• the area is different the the rest of Manzanar in that it has white rock alignments and is clear of vegetation, some concrete foundations are visible

Water in the Desert

Water in the desert is ever important to the human life there. Water in the Owens Valley has supplied life to many generations and groups of people near and far.

• The Owens Valley landscape is high desert. Scrub is the primary vegetation, but there are lines of trees that come down from the Sierra to hint at the watercourses that once supplied the region with water.

Manzanar Visitor Center

• Manzanar Visitor Center
• The Manzanar visitor center offers extensive exhibits, a 22-minute park film, a bookstore, a Junior Ranger program, and an information desk.

• Driving, Biking, and Walking at Manzanar
• The site is open during daylight hours, see it on foot or via the 3.2 mile driving tour road.

• Become a Manzanar Junior Ranger
• At home or at Manzanar, becoming a junior ranger is a great way to learn about the stories of Manzanar.

• Explore Manzanar Block 14 Exhibits
• Walk through one of the 36 Blocks of Manzanar to feel what life would have been like here during WWII.