A Community's Living Room-Manzanar National Historic Site - Independence CA
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 36° 43.672 W 118° 08.866
11S E 397511 N 4065298
This auditorium is one of three original buildings remaining here from Manzanar War Relocation Center. As you walk closer, listen for laughter, tears, music—the sounds of celebration and sadness that once echoed through this building’s cavernous space.
Waymark Code: WM135PK
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2020
Views: 0
A Community's Living Room-Manzanar National Historic Site--This auditorium is one of three original buildings remaining here from Manzanar War Relocation Center. As you walk closer, listen for laughter, tears, music—the sounds of celebration and sadness that once echoed through this building’s cavernous space. They linger in the stories you will hear inside, of those who worked and played here over many decades: internees, War Relocation Authotity (WRA) staff, and Owens Valley residents.
In just five months, internee carpenters transformed standard government blueprints into a community auditorium for more than 5,000 people still confined here in June 1944.
With a stage, locker rooms, and projection booth, the 14,000 sq. ft. building changed the way Manzanar gathered. Concerts, lectures, Japanese American cultural activities and physical education classes filled its calendar---and often its 1,280-seat capacity. Tickets for dances, talent shows, and movie nights were 5 cents for children, 25 cents for adults, 50 cents for camp staff and “everyone else.”
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
5001 Highway 395 (Entrance to the Site)
Located on the grounds of Manzanar National Historic Site
Independence, CA USA
93526
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Visit Instructions:
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