Browse Items (29 total)

Soko Hardware is another longtime feature of the Japanese community opened in 1925 by Masayasu and Naka Ashizawa at 1683 Post Street in the heart of the Japantown. The name Soko was used as the Japanese name for San Francisco in the early days of the…

The corner of Post and Buchanan Streets

Morning Star Middle School was a mixed race Catholic school located near Japantown off of Pine and Octavia Streets. The school was built in 1929-1930 and served students from different backgrounds for many years. While most schools at the time were…

The Azumaya Tofu Factory was one of the early tofu manufacturers in Japantown when it opened in 1937. Originally the factory was housed above the Uoki Sakai fish store off of Post Street, but by 1940 the factory had moved to a new location off of…

The 11th birthday celebration for Hanuko who is in the front. Her sister Toshi is right behind her.

The Benkyodo Candy Factory is one of the oldest businesses in Japantown having opened in 1906 by Suyeichi Okamura shortly after the earthquake that devastated the original Japantown. Suyeichi ran the shop for a number of years specializing in…

Many Japanese who wished to integrate themselves into American society would attend Americanization classes offered by local schools. One such school that was located near to Japantown was the Raphael Weill Center. The school was named after a…

The Matsuya Store sold candy and was run by Yasutaro and Kimi at 1699 Post Street from the early 1920s until its closure during the Great Depression in 1931. Further down the street is the Soko Hardware Store.

Second Photograph is of the inside…

Facing west on Post Street with a man identified as Ichiro posing outside the Aki Hotel.

A family standing out front of the Buddhist Church of San Francisco in 1934. The Buddhist Church was founded in 1898 and was the first Pure Land Buddhist Church in America. The Church was originally located at 807 Polk Street but was destroyed in the…