CULTURE : A Center That Defines ‘Community’

The thump of basketballs and the shouts of teen-agers reverberate inside the gym at the Venice Japanese Community Center. It’s a balmy evening and the mostly Japanese American teen-agers, part of a youth basketball league, are giddy and playful as they near the end of practice.

Earlier, a contingent of mostly middle-aged Japanese Americans met in the gym for their weekly country line dancing lessons, and elderly residents sat down for a lunch as part of the senior citizens’ nutrition program.

The community center’s crowded schedule continued that evening with a bonsai club, adult Japanese language class, Boy Scouts meeting and Japanese folk-singing group.

Such is the ebb and flow at the little-known center on Braddock Drive that serves as a gathering place for local Japanese American families, many of whom have roots in the area’s farming history.

The center’s older members once worked fields of celery and other crops before housing developments, paved roads and million-dollar condos were built.

In recent years, the average age of the area’s Japanese American population has increased, said Kenji Koda, president of the center. Although the community center has about 1,100 member-families, many of the children have moved to find jobs or more affordable housing.

“This area is so expensive. The children that grew up in the area can’t afford it,” Koda said.

Participation has declined over the years for the former stalwarts of the center: the youth-oriented Japanese language school and judo club. The judo club membership is about a dozen, and the Japanese school has only 20 to 30 students.

Koda speculated that the declining enrollment of the Japanese school may also be a result of increased competition from other Japanese-language programs in the area, including public schools.

Services at the center--which has an annual budget of $85,000 drawn from a yearly carnival, bingo nights, membership donations and renting out space in the buildings--have evolved to reflect the graying trend.

A senior nutrition program began in 1982 to serve hot lunches each weekday to elderly residents in the area. The center also offers watercolor and yoga classes to senior citizens.

But some youth-oriented programs, such as basketball leagues, kendo and karate, are more popular than ever, said Jim Akioka, center manager for more than 20 years and past president.

Other center groups include a local chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, a fishing club, ballroom dancing, shodo-kai (calligraphy), taiko (drumming), odori (dancing), Boy Scouts and karaoke.

The center, housed in a group of nondescript stucco buildings, also has a gardeners’ association and flower arranging and bonsai classes--testament to its agricultural history.

The origins of the community center date back to the 1920s. The volunteer group that runs it was formed in 1921 as a Japanese American farming association known as the Venice-Palms Sangyo Kumiai.

The Sangyo Kumiai, or industrial association, conducted its meetings at the Venice-Palms Japanese Language School, built in 1924 near Jefferson Boulevard and Centinela Avenue. (In 1929, the school moved farther west on Jefferson near McConnell Avenue before moving again to its current site on Braddock Drive in 1941.)

The group catered to families living in what was known as Venice-Palms, said Owen Yoshikawa, 82, who moved to the area in 1924. The area was roughly bounded by Overland Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Venice Boulevard and the Pacific Ocean.

The Venice-Palms area was nationally known for its high-quality celery, said Frank Matsuoka, 86, who moved to the area in 1929.

In addition to the Depression, a series of natural disasters struck the farmers in the 1930s. In the early part of the decade, Ballona Creek, then a winding dirt channel, broke its banks and flooded the area, Matsuoka said.

Farming was interrupted by World War II, when the area’s Japanese Americans were forced to live in internment camps. After the war, the community center served as a way station for Japanese American families returning from the camps.

Over three years, more than 100 families lived in tents and trailers set up on the community center grounds until they could find permanent housing.

In 1971, the center underwent an expansion that included an office, conference room, multipurpose room and renovation of the existing buildings.

In the past, Japanese Americans needed the community center for cultural, social and economic reasons, said Mitsuo Inouye, past president. As younger Japanese Americans face less discrimination and gain greater access to the mainstream economy, the social and cultural needs remain.

“We’ve assimilated into society, but we still need a place to get together,” Koda added. “I’d like it to keep on being a part of the community.”