Only the Oaks Remain


Bolton Hall Museum/Little Landers Historical Society in Tujunga is hosting a special exhibit during the month of July that tells the story of the WWII internment of Japanese, Italian and German immigrants at the Tuna Canyon Detention Station (TCDS) on the site of the former Verdugo Hills Golf Course.  

“Only The Oaks Remain” is a museum quality traveling exhibit created by the TCDS Coalition that is being displayed at a number of Southern California locations this year including the Japanese-American Museum in Los Angeles and the site of the Manzanar Relocation facility.

A grand opening celebration and exhibit viewing has been scheduled for Sunday, July 9 starting at 6 p.m. at Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga and the public is invited. RSVPs are being requested due to widespread interest in the exhibit and the special activities scheduled for the event. (See the ad in CV Weekly for RSVP information or contact Bolton Hall at littlelanders@verizon.net or (818) 352-3420.)

The location of the former Tuna Canyon Detention Station is rich in history beginning with the Tongva Village under the oaks along the spring-fed creek, followed by several Spanish and Mexican land grants and then local residents established farms with orchards and vineyards. In 1933, the location became one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps, training and educating young men struggling to survive the Depression. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, the CCC camp was disbanded and a temporary holding center, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station, was established for up to 300 immigrants of German, Italian and Japanese descent whose loyalty was considered questionable.

The appearance of the CCC camp changed dramatically. A 12-foot fence topped with three strands of barbed wire and floodlights surrounded the area where prisoners would be kept. With guard towers on each corner, a lookout tower on the northern ridge, a cleared area outside of the fence, and an armed patrol walking the fence, there was little chance of escape. Family members and friends visiting detainees were made to stand outside the fence, 10 feet away, and speak only in English.

The new Tuna Canyon Detention Station operated until October 1943. Of the 2,562 prisoners processed there between 1941 and 1943, 2,316 (90.4%) were Japanese born. This number included Japanese individuals imported from Peru by the American government to hold as hostages for prisoner exchange. The Italian and German detainees were released when the detention station closed. However, all of the Japanese prisoners were transferred to what President Roosevelt referred to as “concentration camps” scattered all across the south and as far north as the Canadian border. Some would rejoin their families at these remote camps and others would not see their families until three to five years later.

    When TCDS was closed in October 1943, the old Army buildings found a new use as a LA County Probation School for boys. In 1960 these buildings disappeared and the Verdugo Hills Golf Course took their place. The golf course preserved many of the old oaks and sycamores and, until recently, provided 25 acres of recreation for young and old for more than 50 years.

Dr. Lloyd Hitt, a lifetime member of Little Landers Historical Society and its past president for 10 years, became involved more than 10 years ago with LLHS member Paul Tsuneishi and others seeking to establish recognition for those individuals who were interred at TCDS. In recent years, a coalition of interests representing Japanese, Italian and German immigrants interred at TCDS was formed for the purpose of advancing plans for a memorial on the site of the TCDS. Hitt has served as co-chair of the TCDS Coalition and his research and presentations were vital to moving the memorial project forward and obtaining a Los Angeles City Cultural Heritage Monument designation for the location. In 2013, Los Angeles City Council approval was obtained for recognition of the site as Los Angeles City Cultural Heritage Monument #1039. A one-acre site near old oak trees was selected for a TCDS memorial. A formal dedication ceremony followed on Dec. 16 of that year.

Submitted by Sheri SMITH