Community Meetings:

May 31, 1998: Six people attended the first community meeting at the VJCC. We discussed the plans for the mural. Tony Osumi gave a slide presentation about previous community murals. Historian Glen Kitayama talked about oral histories. Sharon Kumagai volunteered to assist with oral histories and Julie Inouye made suggestions regarding publicity for future meetings.

June 5: As a result of the interest generated by the announcement in the newspaper and the help of Reverend George Matsubayashi, 21 people attended the second community meeting at the Venice Buddhist Temple. Tony Osumi repeated the slide presentation to the larger group and talked about the vision for the mural. Jenni Kuida distributed tips on doing oral histories. Several of the older people present shared stories about the Centinela area and agreed to begin doing oral histories. Ideas were shared about what images people would like to see on the wall.

June 23: The third meeting had 19 people in attendance at the Venice Buddhist Temple. Nancy Nishi brought a videotape that she had put together of photos, music and memorabilia of the Venice/Culver community from 1905 to the 1980s. Some of the people who had begun oral histories reported back on the info they had learned. Others brought photos and lent them to us for photo duplication. Photos were copied and returned to the owners. Tony Osumi spoke on behalf of the design team about some of the ideas that were in process.

July 9: Fourth community meeting was attended by 16 people at the VJCC. Some of the sketches and ideas from the Design Meetings were presented, along with some additional oral histories. Tony Osumi talked more about the Mural making process, prepping the wall, painting on stucco.

August 4: Fifth community meeting was held at the VJCC. 9 people attended. Mural design changes were presented. Additional input was provided by community members and Aloha Grocery owner, Wayne Uyehara. Jenni Kuida talked about the plans for the volunteer painting days and that painting would begin once the wall was prepped.

Oral Histories:

Oral histories began at the Community Meetings with Oral History Tips and Guidelines by Glen Kitayama. Additional oral histories were arranged with Suzy Katsuda, Min Ioki, Gary Ioki, Louise Ino, Yuri Amamoto, Joe Montez, Nancy Nishi, Tad Nakagiri and Judy Hopfield’s father during June and July. People at the meetings were very happy to share stories about the pre-war farm life, and the transition from an agricultural farm community to a more residential community as homes were built after WWII.
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