a research scholar at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Patti Hirahara was Miss Suburban Optimist OC Nisei Queen in 1974.while still attending college.

(Photo courtesy of California State Parks)By NORI UYEMATSUPatti Hirahara has been a preservationist of Japanese American history as well as a communications facilitator between the U.and to learn more about her Japanese heritage.the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.

her resume is impressive with her work at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.and her wealth of knowledge has helped her to intervene on issues a fourth-generation Japanese American would normally know nothing about.

Her tenacity afforded other Japanese American families the opportunity to tell their stories in the areas where they lived.

She is also the last living Hirahara-surnamed descendant.com/watch?v=LK7jnNZbT3IOne more news item posthumously recognizes the Camellia Kings impact on Manhattan Beach.

while the camellia would be designated the ‘official historic flower and shrub of Manhattan Beach.It was a great opportunity to show the film to New Yorkers in the Times Square AMC[!] It is now available for viewing on YouTube: www.

com/news/descanso-gardens-honors-japanese-americans-during-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-heritage-month)Part of the Uyematsu exhibit is a five-minute version of the documentary Grandpa Cherry Blossom by Maddox Chen.Photo by Shu-ching Cheng (Wendys mother)Descanso Gardens is seeking to better reflect the complexity of the origins of its camellia collection.