Site information:

Santa Anita Racetrack, Arcadia

34.138481, -118.046119

Plaque information:

Private plaque located in the entrance area of the track. May be gated and restricted access, and you may need to pay to park, depending on what events may be going on.

Plaque text:

Santa Anita During World War II

Early in 1942 the US government designated Santa Anita Park for special usage during the war years.

Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, from March 30, 1942 until October 27, 1942 the facility was used as an assembly and processing center for approximately 20,000 Japanese Americans prior to their displacement to interment camps in other areas of the country.

From 1942 until 1945, the government utilized the property as an Army Base – Camp Santa Anita. It was the largest Army ordnance training center on the West Coast and more than 100,000 soldiers were trained there.

Racing resumed at Santa Anita on May 15, 1945, just after “VE” Day.

This plaque is placed at Santa Anita in remembrance of the events of that period in history by its dedication on this, the 15th day of May 2001.

OHP description:

The temporary detention camps (also known as 'assembly centers') represent the first phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, could be built in isolated areas of the country. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention.

Registered 5/13/1980