A groundbreaking for Satoru Tsuneishi Park, located at 1111 Encino Ave. in Monrovia, will be held on Tuesday, June 3, at 10 a.m.
Jonathan Tsuneishi, grandson of Satoru Tsuneishi (1888-1987), posted on Facebook: “Satoru Tsuneishi was the first Asian American to graduate from the Monrovia-Arcadia High School. He would spend most of his life in the San Gabriel Valley and in the 1930s would build a home and raise a family. During the Depression, he lost his chicken farm but was able to make a living selling fruit and vegetables from a roadside fruit stand on Route 66.
“Then World War II broke out and an executive order incarcerated Japanese Americans, sending them to internment camps scattered usually in the most remote parts of the United States. My grandfather and his family were sent to Heart Mountain in Wyoming. And while my grandfather and grandmother were incarcerated, four of his sons served in the U.S. armed services and two of his daughters worked as translators.
“After the war, my grandfather returned to Monrovia. He began to write poetry and started a haiku club. He would spend the rest of his life as a haiku poet, published in Japan and the U.S. under the pen name of Shisei.
“The City of Monrovia has created public parks named after Julies Parker, an African American, and Lucinda Garcia, a Latina, both long-time residents of the city. Roy Nakano, a resident of Monrovia, later commented that Satoru Tsuneishi, Lucinda Garcia and Julian Fisher were everyday people who made extraordinary contributions to building our community.
“Tina Cherry, representing the City of Monrovia, said in an article published in The Rafu Shimpo that she felt it important to share the story of Japanese Americans who lived in Monrovia and that their experience of being interned in WWII should not be forgotten.
“My brother Mark shared that the contributions made by early Japanese Americans help shape our communities and that it was important to create awareness and to preserve that legacy.
“In his later years, my grandfather lived in Boyle Heights with my grandmother. He always had a smile. There were stacks of books and his writings in every room in his home … I remember him enjoying a glass of beer with lunch and him playing with his grandchildren in my aunt’s backyard in Montebello. Those were the last memories I have of him.”
In a unanimous decision in January 2024, the Monrovia City Council voted to name a park after Tsuneishi. Hale Corporation gifted approximately 8,600 square feet for the park. The park will offer the following amenities: three picnic tables, playground, interpretive garden, walking path, walkway lighting, new trees, little library, drinking fountain, park monument sign, five park benches, grass area, bike rack, bike fix-it station, waste receptacles, low-water landscaping, and public art.
A larger dedication and celebration will be held once the park is completed.
RSVP to Tina Cherry by Friday, May 30, at (626) 259-8226 or tcherry@monroviaca.gov.
