White Point Hot Springs Resort

 place with historical importance, interesting place, historic ruins

Although the first Japanese to live in this area were Issei fishermen working for Ramón Sepúlveda in 1895, the site was not further developed to take advangage of the sulphur springs until 1915. The original settlers were attracted to this stretch of coastline for its abundant lobster and abalone stocks. This profitable industry ended in 1908 when it was alleged that these settlers were using fishing as a front for spying on coastline activities. Restrictive laws concerning how much shellfish could be taken were also enacted when the once-rich supplies of shellfish were quickly depleted.

In 1915, Tojuro and Tajimi Tagami, with the help of Sepúlveda, developed the area as the White Point Health Resort. The restorative sulphur water was pumped into a pool, and various buildings were constructed to serve tourists: cabins, a restaurant, a 50-room hotel with dance floor, various pools, and pier which ferried tourists to a nearby fishing barge. It was not uncommon for local children to bathe in the sulphur water on their way home from school.

In the late '30s, various disasters led to the decline and eventual closure of the property: storms damaged the pools and some of the buildings, while the 1933 Long Beach earthquake caused the water to stop flowing from the springs. Although the hotel continued to operate despite these set-backs, the final blow came in 1941 with Pearl Harbor and the rise of anti-Japanese hysteria.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=06bvGXtmcMI

jahmp.org/history.php?t=Community
blog.sanpedropalisades.org/3-the-neighborhood/history/
www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/5views/5views4...
www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/coast&ocean/suchive/COVE....
www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/Wheel/lapage/6_so_la/whit...