Tanforan Memorial

In 1942, the Tanforan racetrack of San Bruno became the Tanforan Assembly Center, a Japanese Internment camp that held nearly 8,000 internees. The Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee recognized the need to honor this historic injustice and have been working with BART to develop a memorial site at the San Bruno Station. RHAA provided design efforts for the memorial to honor three retired partners who are of Japanese American descent and were interred during World War II, Asa Hanamoto, Kazuo Abey, and Harold Kobayashi. The site features a re-creation of the barrack horse stalls with interpretive signage that provides insight to life as an internee. The names of all those interned are imprinted on the stall doors. A sculpture of interned children by Sandra Shaw and inspired by the photos of Dorothea Lange stands prominently next to a single Japanese Cherry Tree.