Upcoming Exhibition
Browse the resources below to see the many different ways that that Japanese American community has fueled evolutions in car culture.
This map has the locations of past and present gas & service stations either owned or operated by Japanese Americans in the Los Angeles area. Locations were primarily contributed by members of the Japanese American National Museum. If you think a location is missing or needs correcting, you can submit that through our form: Amendments
We are looking for images of local Japanese Americans with their work trucks, vans, and cars. Many people may have posed in front of their family cars but we know there are also photos of people with their utility vehicles too. We want to make sure these—and the people behind them—are properly represented in our exhibition.
Right now, we prefer to look at digital scans (if possible). Please send them to cars@janm.org.
Thank you to everyone who submitted information! We are no longer accepting submissions.
We’re looking for family photos, and especially home movies, depicting people’s relationship to their cars for loan to JANM or a potential donation to the permanent collection. These images can be people driving, cruising, and racing cars, or even just family photos/movies shot in front of cars or taken during road trips. We are especially interested in your photos and home movies from the 1930s through 1980s.
Thank you to everyone who submitted information! We are no longer accepting submissions.
We need your help to identify all the different gas stations and service centers in the region that were owned or run by Japanese Americans!
Even if all you remember is the intersection where the station is or was, that’s useful to us. If you remember the name of the station and/or the name(s) of the Japanese American owner(s), even better.
We’re also interested in seeing any photos that people may have of those stations and the people who worked there.
Please fill out this form to submit your response. We’ll use this information to create a database and interactive map of all the gas/service stations in the region, based on all your replies.
Deadline: April 30, 2023
