NPS Photo

Mess Hall at Bishop airport before move in December, 2002.

On Friday, December 6, 2002, the first two sections of an original World War II mess hall were moved forty-five miles from the Bishop County Airport to Manzanar National Historic Site. The other two sections followed on Wednesday, December 11.

NPS Photo

Stabilization of Mess Hall before move to Manzanar.

The 40' x 100' structure is the same type as the 36 mess halls used by the Japanese Americans interned at Manzanar from 1942-1945. After the war, all but three of the camp's 800 buildings were dismantled or relocated. The mess hall was located at Bishop Airport and served as the Northern Inyo Hospital from 1946-1949. In the past 50 years, it was used as a storage space and eventually abandoned in a state of disrepair.

NPS Photo

Mess Hall ready for transport to Manzanar.

The mess hall is the first building in the "Demonstration Block" called for in Manzanar National Historic Site's General Management Plan, approved in 1996. The National Park Service will pursue special project funding to make the building safe and accessible for visitors.

Manzanar National Historic Site plans to rebuild two barrack buildings, a latrine, a laundry building, and a garden which together with the mess hall will comprise our Demonstration Block. This will allow visitors to better understand living conditions for internees at Manzanar.