This photo was taken in November, 1923 to commemorate the completion of the San Pedro Grower's Association community building. Formed in 1912, the Association was created by and for Japanese farmers who farmed the Palos Verdes Peninsula and surrounding areas.

The Peninsula was home to a thriving Japanese farming community prior to WWII. Very few of the original farming families returned after being forcibly removed from their homes and sent to incarceration camps after the issuance of Executive Order 9066.

For the last 24 years, Local History Center staff and docents have been researching the people in the photograph. With records from the National Archives, census schedules, directories, and material donated by the community, we've created family biographies to capture the lives of the families from their arrival to the Peninsula through the upheavals of WWII. So far, we have successfully identified approximately 67% of the 189 people included in the photo.

In addition to biographies, this unique collection includes photographs, name indexes, maps, documents, photographs and yearbooks from incarceration camps.

With our enhanced digital repository, we hope to engage the community - both near and far - to help us identify more people in the photograph.

By registering to the Palos Verdes Community Archives, users can now add a person's name ("tag") and also add comments ("recollections") to images and content in the Archives.

Please visit palosverdehistory.org for more information.