CHAPTER III.

JAPANESE IN CITY EMPLOYMENTS AND BUSINESS IN LOS

ANGELES.

[For General Tables, see pp. 361-372.]

INTRODUCTION.

These men had

A few Japanese came to Los Angeles about 1885. served as cooks on a sailing vessel, and, leaving the ship at San Diego, drifted north to Los Angeles, where they opened a restaurant. With this as a beginning, the Japanese population of the city increased slowly until about ten years ago. There has been no direct steamship connection with Japan, and it was only a little more than ten years ago that Japanese were employed in large numbers by the railroad companies with terminals at Los Anegeles, first as section hands and then as laborers in the shops. The members of the race did not become conspicuous as farmers and agricultural laborers in the southern part of the State until some six or seven years ago. With the influx of laborers to engage in such occupations as those mentioned, however, the number of Japanese who have settled in Los Angeles and the number and variety of business establishments conducted by them have rapidly increased. According to the best-informed Japanese, the number of persons of their race in Los Angeles in 1897 was about 500. According to the Japanese-American Yearbook for 1905, the number in December, 1904, was 3,358. Of these, 3,178 were adults males, 144 were married women, while 36 were children. In 1906 the number greatly increased as a result of the San Francisco fire, which caused many to leave San Francisco and settle in other places, principally in Los Angeles.

The number of Japanese in the city at the close of that year has been estimated as in excess of 6,000. Ďuring 1907 and 1908, however, the number decreased. Some returned to Japan and others found business unprofitable and sought employment elsewhere. The total number residing in the city in December, 1908, was estimated by the secretary of the Japanese Association of Los Angeles at 4,457. Of these, 3,925 were adult males, 427 adult females, and 105 children under 16 years of age. It would appear that the number of adult males had increased somewhat between 1904 and 1908, and that the number of women and children had increased almost threefold. These figures are for the settled population. There have been as many as 20,000 Japanese in southern California, and during those seasons when many are unemployed they have come to Los Angeles in large numbers, the lodging houses being crowded with transient

" According to the Census for 1900 (Population, pt. 1, p. 798), however, the number of foreign-born Japanese in Los Angeles was only 152. There is good reason to believe that the actual number was in excess of that reported.

laborers. According to the Japanese-American Yearbook for 1905, 2,025 of the 3,358 reported for the preceding December were laborers, 250 were students, 681 were engaged in business or employed for wages by business men, and 140 were tenant farmers in the suburbs. According to the same authority, in December, 1908, 1,661 of the total 4,457 were engaged in business or employed for wages in establishments conducted by their countrymen. In all probability between 2,000 and 2,500 were gainfully occupied in other ways. Some of these are employed in track work on the street railways, others as car cleaners, and still others as laborers in the yards and shops of the steam railways. A much larger number, however, are employed in stores, clubs, saloons, restaurants, and other places conducted by white persons and as domestics in private families. A small number are employed as janitors or cleaners about office buildings, at wages varying from $9 per week to $60 per month. As porters in saloons and in a few hotels they earn from $35 to $50 per month. A small number are employed as elevator boys at from $35 to $60 per month. By far the largest number are employed, however, as "kitchen help" in restaurants and hotels, as domestics in private families, or as "house cleaners," working by the hour or day. As dishwashers and "general help" in restaurants they are paid from $8 per week to $40 per month with board. Domestics earn from $30 to $50 per month with board and lodging. Most of the cooks are paid $40, the less skilled servants $30 or $35 per month. There are more than 20 establishments which send men to private houses to do cleaning and similar work. They are paid from 27.5 to 35 cents per hour and earn about $40 per month. As already stated, the first Japanese to locate in Los Angeles started a restaurant. This was a low-priced place, patronized chiefly by white working men. A little later another Japanese located here and manufactured bamboo furniture, for which he found ready sale. By 1892 there were 14 restaurants serving 10, 15, and 25 cent meals, all patronized chiefly by white workingmen. In 1897 there were 15 restaurants, 7 bamboo-furniture stores, and a few other establishments conducted by Japanese. Since then, until recently, the number of branches of business enterprise and the number of establishments conducted by Japanese have rapidly increased. Most of the business engaged in has been designed to serve the needs of the increasing number of Japanese employed in Los Angeles and in other parts of southern California, but some of it, like the first establishments opened, has been designed to serve the needs of other races in this rapidly growing city. The number of establishments in which each specified kind of business was conducted in 1904 and in 1909 are shown in the following table. The figures for the year 1904 are taken from the JapaneseAmerican Yearbook for 1905, while most of those for 1909 were reported by the agents of the Commission as a result of an investigation made by them during the months of June and July, 1909. The enumeration by these agents was not complete, so that in several instances use has been made of the figures reported in the JapaneseAmerican Yearbook for the month of December preceding. In many branches of business the number of small establishments changes rapidly, so that the data presented in the table can not be accepted as being more than an approximation of the true number, and are intended merely to indicate in a general way the extent to which the

members of this race have engaged in the different branches of business enterprise.

TABLE 3.—Business conducted by Japanese in Los Angeles, Cal., December, 1904, and June, 1909.a

a Does not include physicians, midwives, dentists, interpreters, and other professional men and women. As ascertained by agents of Commission. Those marked (*) taken from Japanese-American Yearbook, and are for December, 1908.

c According to Japanese-American Yearbook for 1905.

d In most cases conducted in connection with other business.

• Number of establishments somewhat smaller because of fact noted in (a).

Most of the Japanese places of business are located in two colonies. The older colony finds its center in East First street from Alameda to Main, but many shops are located on Alameda and San Pedro, while a small number of Japanese are located on the short streets running from Main to Alameda and lying north of First street. In this section of the city, laborers and petty business men of many races are found, but the Japanese alone have colonized there. The Chinese, the Mexican, and the Italian colonies are found in other parts of the city not far away. As the number of Japanese has increased, the older white element has tended to move elsewhere, so that most of the residents of the district at the present time are foreign-born. In recent years, however, the Japanese have opened shops in another part of the city several blocks away. At present a

large number of their establishments are located on South Sixth and Seventh and Hill, Olive, and Hope streets. That is a distinctly better part of the city than the other district in which the Japanese have colonized. Yet it is a mixture of small shops, small residences, and large old residences which the original occupants have tended to vacate, making possible the gradual formation of another foreign quarter. In these two districts practically all of the business of the Japanese, save the curio shops or "bazaars" (these are located in the shopping district), are located. Moreover, all but a comparatively few of the Japanese who provide their own lodgings live in the one "quarter" or the other, usually in boarding and lodging houses or in the structures in which business is conducted.

Agents of the Commission collected data relating to 92 of the business enterprises conducted by Japanese, the men who conducted them and the members of their households and some of their employees, together with general data relating to the competition between Japanese and other races in some lines of business. The detailed investigation covered the following Japanese establishments: Two book stores, 6 curio stores, 3 drug stores, 5 fish and poultry markets, 9 fruit, confectionery, and cigar "stands," 9 provision and grocery stores, 2 watch and jewelry stores, 2 men's furnishing stores, 8 barber shops, 6 boarding and lodging houses, 9 restaurants, 4 tailor shops, 7 laundries (including separate shops), 6 pool rooms, 3 cobbler shops, 2 photograph galleries, 2 employment agencies, and 7 other establishments of various kinds. Data were also obtained for the purpose of comparison from 23 establishments conducted by members of other races in the same districts. The data relating to the date of establishment, capital employed, the amount of capital borrowed, the volume of business transacted during the year, the number and race of employees, rent paid for shop or other structure occupied, the net profit realized from the business, and the race of patrons, are shown for each establishment in General Table 22. The personal data collected are presented in other tables at the end of this report.

DATA RELATING TO JAPANESE BUSINESS.

Barber shops. The number of barber shops conducted by Japanese has rapidly increased. There are now 44 as against 18 in 1904. These, with two exceptions, where the Japanese proprietor employs white barbers," are all small shops, the majority with two chairs, the proprietor being assisted by his wife or one employee. The 8 investigated are typical of the greater number. Most of the shops are fairly clean, are simply furnished, and give the service characteristic of other small shops located in similar localities. The amount of business transacted varies from $1,200 per annum to something more than twice that amount. The barbers employed are paid $30, $35, $40, or $45 per month, with board and lodging, in the majority of shops; but in others, following the custom of the establishments conducted by white proprietors, the employees receive 60 per cent of the earnings of their chairs, without board or lodging.

a One Japanese proprietor employs 12 white barbers.