www.montereycountynow.com AUGUST 21-27, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 21 struggle for civil rights, both before and after World War II. It’s a building with a story to tell— several stories, in fact. In 2020, local historian Tim Thomas, who’s been volunteering for JACL for several years, finished installing a small museum in the basement that highlights the history of the Japanese of the Monterey Peninsula, a subject Thomas published a book about in 2011. Those stories—of hard-working immigrants carving out a life here, of racism, xenophobia and residents getting rounded up into internment camps, and how the community responded—still resonate today. And as the JACL Hall turns 100, a series of events have been planned through next May, the anniversary of its dedication. The first of those events, the first-ever Abalone Festival, happened in late July, and it packed every seat in the hall on its opening day. Next is a picnic at Point Lobos in November that will recreate the royal outing from 1925. But the anniversary comes just as JACL, a national nonprofit, faces questions about its own existence: What is the role of an organization, forged in the civil rights struggle for Japanese Americans, now that fascism has taken hold in the U.S., and the federal government is bringing back internment camps? If humanity is forever doomed to repeat its past mistakes, does history ultimately teach us anything? On a morning in July, Thomas opens the door into JACL’s basement, home to the JACL Heritage Museum he finished installing five years ago. Thomas lights up when he enters the space. Collecting these artifacts has been a major part of his life’s work. When he comes upon a small, unsightly wooden chair made from the cut limbs of an old oak tree—the bark is still on the knotted limbs—Thomas’ tone shifts. “State Parks is going to take it back,” Thomas says of the chair, which was made by Japanese immigrant Ichiro Noda in 1905, when he was hired by businessman Harry Greene to make some “mementos” from branches of the famed Vizcaino-Serra Oak, which had recently died. The tree, which stood not far from Fisherman’s Wharf, was where Sebastian Vizcaino and Junipero Serra reportedly held mass when arriving—Vizcaino in 1602, Serra in 1720. Noda only made three chairs out of the oak, and the other two have been lost. “Ichiro was very proud of those chairs,” Thomas says wistfully. “He talked about them all his life.” Above the chair is a placard with text describing the chair’s significance, and below it are two photos—one of the chair being displayed at the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco, the other a shot of Noda pictured in uniform with the Pacific Grove Grammar School’s football team, which he was recruited to play for. “As far as I know, he was the first Japanese to play American football,” Thomas says. Now 71, Thomas grew up on the Peninsula’s waterfront, exploring old cannery sites as a kid. He went to an experimental high school in Pacific Grove where he says he was essentially in charge of his own education. “It was unusual,” he says. “It wasn’t good for everybody, but it was good for me.” Thomas attended Monterey Peninsula College for awhile (but didn’t graduate), then got a job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium when it first opened, helping with exhibits and mail. He later worked for the Monterey History and Art Association for 16 years, and designed their former maritime museum installation in the Stanton Center at Custom House Plaza, which he had to remove in 2017 to make way for a Salvador Dali museum. Thomas spent about a year trying to find a new home for all the maritime artifacts in that museum, and the JACL Hall became one of them. It was a beautiful coincidence, as the local JACL chapter’s HISTORY Historian Tim Thomas (left) and national JACL President Larry Oda (right) have been working together for years to elevate the stories of the Japanese community on the Monterey Peninsula. Left: An ad in the Monterey Peninsula Herald on April 23, 1945 opposed the return of Japanese Americans, sparking an impassioned response from the community. Right: A petition with more than 440 signatories—including John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts and Robinson Jeffers—appeared in the Herald on May 11, 1945, expressing appreciation for returning Japanese Americans. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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