Fundraising has been essential to the survival of a brick-and-mortar.

Organizing the ReunionPatti Hirahara.From the Orange County Nikkei Coordinating Council.

Frances Shima Matsumoto (1981).treasurer of the Suburban Optimist Club.was organized as a marketing strategy to celebrate the achievements of the Japanese American community and bring in outside shoppers to the struggling businesses in Little Tokyo.

Dominique Mashburn (2014); (front row) Alice Amano (2018).Then the Suburban Optimists decided to take over sponsorship in 1974 when I was selected their first queen.

when Hirahara was 6 years old.

Then the Suburban Optimist Club of Buena Park decided to sponsor a queen candidate.they continued to play organized sports like basketball and baseball.

basketball had surpassed baseball in terms of participation levels and youth basketball for boys and girls as young as five years old began to grow.Japanese Americans in both Southern California and the San Francisco-East Bay area restarted their basketball leagues beginning in 1947.

Lee and Chan will discuss their own participation and their experiences.Even when Japanese Americans were forced by the U.