Executive Order Number 9066, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19th, 1942, forced Japanese citizens on the West Coast to leave their homes and businesses for internment after Pearl Harbor in fear that some may create acts of sabotage in support of Japan’s military machine. The Japanese owners of this business on Grant Avenue south of Pine Street in Chinatown, (there were several Japanese owned businesses on Grant Avenue between California and Bush Streets in 1942) are selling off as much of their inventory as possible before being relocated. Ironically, their shop was the one with the green BLOWOUT SALE sign in the window behind the California flag in my update.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
Gasp! This is part of history most of us would prefer to forget. I just briefly made reference to it in my other blog. There is a museum for it in Japantown in San Jose. I think knowing how much it affected the Bay Area makes it harder to forget. When you realize that Bay Meadows and Tanforan were ‘assembly centers’ and that Norman Mineta of San Jose was interred when he was young . . . . it is impossible to dismiss.
Touché! Absolutely impossible to dismiss, Tony. But you know, I used to have a Japanese husband and wife who where interned back then who came into my tax office for many years. Both are gone now, and with great pride, they didn’t show any bitterness. They knew what happened to them was wrong, but I remember the wife, Kumiko, telling me, although it was absolutely unjustifiable, they understood what the world was like during World War II and that was a lesser of so many atrocities that were happening back then. What a proud and forgiving couple they were.
I never knew of anyone of the victims or their families who was bitter about it. It is still difficult to be aware of though.