<Begin Segment 18>

MA: I also wanted to ask you about Japantown and what happened to the businesses and when it started, sort of, declining, I guess.

TN: Yes, I mentioned the Salt Palace which is a huge convention facility. It covers two square blocks, and I think a block in Salt Lake is ten acres, so it's a huge area. Anyway, in 1966, Salt Lake City decided they wanted a convention center, and it just so happened that that was the street where Japantown was located. And we still have pictures of it in the book I gave you.

MA: So the city then, like, bought out all the businesses?

TN: Yes, they just, could have even used eminent domain, but there was some talk about relocating at that time, but it never really got off the ground. And the Salt Palace was built and all of our buildings were destroyed. And ever since then, there has not been a Japantown anywhere in Salt Lake.

MA: Was there, how did the community feel about that back in the '60s? Was there anger against the government, the city government?

TN: Oh, yeah. We had quite a few meetings, and churches got together and proposed possible sites to relocate, but I guess we just weren't organized enough or didn't have the funds to buy the property, and we just never got going, never got it going.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.