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Sawtelle is a district in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California, partially within the West Los Angeles subregion. It was established in 1899 and named after a manager of the Pacific Land Company who was initially responsible for its development and promotion. Sawtelle is noted for its thriving Japanese American community, busy restaurants and arthouse movie theaters. It has strong roots in Japanese-American history. In recognition of its historical heritage, the area was designated Sawtelle Japantown in 2015.
[edit] History
[edit] Early historyIn 1896, the Pacific Land Company purchased a tract, which lay just south of the veterans home, and hired S. H. Taft to develop a new town named Barrett, after Andrew W. Barrett, local manager of the veterans home. When the Pacific Land Company attempted to secure a post office for the new town, the postal authorities objected to the name "Barrett" on account of its similarity to Bassett, California. In 1899, the name of the town was formally changed to Sawtelle (for W. E. Sawtelle, who succeeded Taft as manager of the Pacific Land Company). The Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers served as an attraction for both tourists and local real estate speculators. In 1906, the Pacific Branch became a stop on the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad's “Balloon Route”, a popular tour of local attractions conducted by an entrepreneur who escorted tourists via a rented streetcar, often from downtown Los Angeles to the ocean and back. In 1905, residential lots and larger tracts in the new Westgate Subdivision, which joined “the beautiful Soldier’s Home”, and which were owned and promoted by Jones and Baker’s Santa Monica Land and Water Company, were for sale. The new community of Sawtelle developed around the Pacific Branch when veterans’ families, as well as veterans themselves who were drawing relief, settled there. Most of Sawtelle thus grew up after the veterans home was established. Sawtelle existed as a separate city until 1922. According to the Los Angeles Times,[1] the following events took place:
[edit] Interwar period (1930s to 1950s)Sawtelle is steeped in Japanese American history. Within Sawtelle lies a Japanese American community and business district along Sawtelle Boulevard, between Santa Monica and Olympic Boulevards. These are remnants of a larger Japanese American presence in the area before the population was disrupted by World War II, when many were displaced by Japanese-American internment. [edit] Research Tips
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