projects

  • Crossroads in Nihonmachi
    Residents of San Francisco's Japantown relive a recurring nightmare of displacement and urban renewal.

    Directors: Adrianne Anderson and Tony Sondag
  • Glory Glory Hallelujah
    The tale of an earthquake, a church, a gymnasium, a monumental collage, and the incomparable Reverend G.

    Directors: Sanje Woodsorrel
    and Kedar Lawrence
  • CPC for the Bay Area
    Clients of the Cerebral Palsy Center for the Bay Area discover their goals and aspirations.

    Director: Kyung Lee
  • Asian American Political Movement of the 70's
    A selection of photographs chronicling the work of Bay Area activists from back in the day.

    Directors: Boku Kodama
    and Ken Yamada

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Crossroads in Nihonmachi

Directed by Adrianne Anderson and Tony Sondag

What place does community hold in the new urban landscape?

In the 1950s, Japantown (Nihonmachi) encompassed 40 blocks, the heart of the Japanese community.

In the 1960’s, San Francisco initiated an urban renewal program that began another vast dispersal of the neighborhood.

Nihonmachi would become a tourist attraction. Residents and merchants who knew everyone by name were relocated to the outlying suburbs or out of the city. To many, these evictions were “the second evacuation.”

When later phases were initiated in the early 70s, the community fought back. Businesses organized on an official front. Community activists and college students gathered renters and small business owners in protest.

In 2006, as Nihonmachi celebrated its 100th anniversary, a Beverly Hills investment group began to purchase 60 percent of the business properties. History repeated itself.

Nihonmachi struggled for a future and a voice.

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