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When we returned from our aborted climb of Mt Whitney, we thought we'd visit the Movie Museum. Nope - closed on Tuesday. So, off to Manzara - about 5 miles north of Lone Pine. We passed it on the way down the road. A Federal Park Service Establishment. It's where 10,000 Japanese Americans were interned during WWII.
It's difficult to believe today that his happened - however it's part of history. The constitution provides that no citizen can be imprisoned without due process of law. This was ignored by the folks during WWII. To the credit of the Americans, President Reagan signed an Act of Apology and gave $20,000 to every survivor of this mistake. This country has both shame and honor in its amazing history. Thank you, President Reagan.
The visitor center is apparently the only building still standing on the site. Mind you, it looks 21st Century. It may have been restored - however there's not much of the original place here!
As always, we talked to a very interesting and engaging Ranger - Mr Johnson. Most interesting what he had to say about the history of the site and the Owens Valley and their relationship with their water guzzling neighbor - the City of Los Angeles.
I saw a movie a while back (15 - 20 years ago) about the plight of the Japanese Americans in the internment (concentration) camps. The Ranger believes that was Alan Parker's Movie - 'Come See the Paradise'. I don't remember the story of the movie - however I remember the subject vividly. That was the first time that I learned that 110,000 American Citizens of Japanese descent had been locked behind barbed wire during the war. No trial, no crime, just simple racism. It's sad. However, I'm also very pleased that Reagan apologised to the majority of those people during their lifetime.
On the way back to Lone Pine, we visited a Cemetery to the folks who died in the Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. Nothing special to say about that.
Ali and I have been very impressed with our visit to Lone Pine. I think we could live here. The setting is incredibly beautiful and house prices aren't shocking. We won't come to live here - but it earns the 'could live there' accolade. Dinner at the Pizza place - thanks Kenny, made this another amazing day.
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