Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California (Historical Studies of Urban America)

347 Pages·2009·2.53 MB·English

by  Charlotte Brooks

Alien Neighbors,
Foreign Friends
historical studies of urban america
EditedbyKathleenN.Conzen,TimothyJ.Gilfoyle,andJamesR.Grossman
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Alien Neighbors,
Foreign Friends
asian americans, housing,
and the transformation
of urban california
Charlotte Brooks
TheUniversityofChicagoPress chicago & london
charlotte brooks isassistantprofessorofhistory
atBaruchCollege,CUNY.HerworkhasappearedintheJournalof
AmericanHistory,thePacificHistoricalReview,TheBest
AmericanHistoryEssays2006(PalgraveMacmillan,2006),
andTheEncyclopediaofChicago(UniversityofChicago
Press,2004).Thisisherfirstbook.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:2)C 2009byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2009
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13:978-0-226-07597-6(cloth)
isbn-10:0-226-07597-4(cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Brooks,Charlotte,1971–
Alienneighbors,foreignfriends:AsianAmericans,housing,andthe
transformationofurbanCalifornia/CharlotteBrooks.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-226-07597-6(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-07597-4(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Discriminationinhousing—California—History—20thcentury.
2.AsianAmericans—Housing—California—History—20thcentury.
3.Metropolitanareas—California—History—20thcentury. 4.Asian
Americans—Publicopinion—California—History—20thcentury.
5.Politicalculture—UnitedStates—History—20thcentury. I.Title.
hd7788.76.u52b76 2009
363.5(cid:3)9950794—dc22 2008029629
(cid:2)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetsthe
minimumrequirementsoftheAmericanNational
StandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaper
forPrintedLibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1992.
Formyfather,RichardR.Brooks
Andinmemoryofmymother,PeggyS.Brooks

c o n t e n t s
Acknowledgments ix
ListofAbbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
part i AlienNeighbors
1 Chinatown,SanFrancisco:TheFirstSegregatedNeighborhood
inAmerica 11
2 LosAngeles:America’s“WhiteSpot” 39
3 TheNewDeal’sThirdTrack:AsianAmericanCitizenshipand
PublicHousinginDepression-EraLosAngeles 70
4 “HousingSeemstoBetheProblem”:AsianAmericansandNewDeal
HousingProgramsinSanFrancisco 86
5 TheSubdivisionandtheWar:FromJeffersonParktoInternment 114
part ii ForeignFriends
6 “GlorifiedandMountedonaPedestal”:SanFranciscoChinatownatWar 135
7 BecomingEquallyUnequal:TheFightforPropertyandHousingRights
inPostwarCalifornia 159
8 “TheOrientalsWhoseFriendshipIsSoImportant”:AsianAmericans
andtheValuesofPropertyinColdWarCalifornia 194
Epilogue 237
Notes 241
Index 311
a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
Ioweadeepdebtofgratitudetothemanyinstitutions,colleagues,friends,and
familymemberswhohaveassistedandencouragedmeoverthepastdecade.
Withoutthem,Inevercouldhavecompletedthisbook.
Anumberofinstitutionssupportedmyresearchandwriting.Grantsfrom
TheGraduateSchoolatNorthwesternUniversity,theHistoricalSocietyof
SouthernCalifornia,theHarrySTrumanLibraryInstitute,theNorthwestern
UniversityDepartmentofHistory,theUniversityatAlbanyFacultyResearch
Assistance Program, and the State of New York/United University Profes-
sions Joint Labor-Management Committee Individual Development Award
Program helped fund research at archives throughout the country. Disser-
tation fellowships from The Graduate School at Northwestern University
and from the International Migration Program of the Social Science Re-
searchCouncil,withfundsprovidedbytheAndrewW.MellonFoundation,
madepossiblebothresearchandwriting.GeneroussupportfromtheStateof
NewYork/UUPJointLabor-ManagementCommittee’sDr.NualaMcGann
Drescher program and the Dean’s office of the Weissman School of Arts
andSciences,BaruchCollege,CityUniversityofNewYork,enabledmeto
completetheproject.
Librarians and archivists made my research much easier than it would
otherwise have been. I wish to express particular thanks to David Kessler
andtherestofthearchivistsattheBancroftLibrary,UniversityofCalifornia,
Berkeley,whereIdidmuchofmyresearch.Iamalsogratefultothestaffat
the National Archives and Records Administration II facility; the National
Archives regional office in San Bruno, California; the Hoover Institution;