Community
Painted San Pedro crosswalks honor Japanese fishing community
Tuna-patterned street art at Mesa and Sixth streets connects today's waterfront with the Japanese and Japanese American fishing village that once stood on Terminal Island.
CBS Los Angeles reported Monday that artist Lua Kobayashi created the red-and-tuna crosswalk design as a tribute to the fishermen and families who helped establish San Pedro's tuna industry in the early 20th century.
Artwork: “Furusato: Home Sweet Home”
Location: Mesa and Sixth streets, San Pedro
Artist: Lua Kobayashi
Community connection: Terminal Island's prewar Japanese fishing village
A public reminder of a displaced community
Before World War II, Terminal Island was home to about 3,000 Japanese and Japanese American residents, according to the report. Fishing families traveled between the island and San Pedro, while major tuna companies operated along the harbor. Residents were incarcerated during the war and the village was later demolished.
Kobayashi drew on gyotaku, the Japanese practice of making prints from fish, as well as carp streamers visible in historic photographs. The project also has a personal link: the artist learned that her great-grandfather had worked as a Terminal Island fish peddler.
History preserved in the streetscape
The crosswalk shares its “Furusato” name with a longer-running preservation effort focused on the two surviving buildings from the former village. The Los Angeles City Council approved historic-monument status for those structures in August, CBS Los Angeles reported.