Manzanar: Ironing Room

Manzanar Fish Market, photo by Toyo Miyatake.

Courtesy of Toyo Miyatake Studios

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Pressing Needs

Original plans for Manzanar did not include ironing rooms. But as Togo Tanaka reported in June 1942, people ironing in their barracks “blew out fuses and plunged the rest of the entire barrack into darkness.”

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) paid Japanese Americans to build ironing rooms near the laundry rooms in each block. They completed construction in early July 1942, yet by August Tanaka noted, “Still unused for their original purpose are the ironing rooms on each block.”

Someone suggested, “Now that we’ve got them they ought to be used for game rooms or family parties or barber shops or club gatherings or club rooms for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.”

Workers transformed ironing rooms to provide services not considered essential by the WRA, such as barber shops, beauty salons, fish markets, and more.