For travelers on eastern California’s Highway 395, Manzanar National Historic Site provides a crucial look into what happens when nationalism goes so far that it contradicts the nation’s founding principles. Once an internment camp and now a nationally-protected educational site catering to tour groups and road trippers, at Manzanar we explore liberty and justice deprived to Japanese Americans during WWII.
Even if you have already heard about how more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into segregated resettlement in the early 1940’s, this former government-run camp provides a chilling glimpse into what life was like for its 10,000 residents in 841 acres.
Visiting a War Relocation Center is not a road trip activity for the faint at heart. But you’re not faint at heart. That’s why you want to learn, that’s why you want to see the world, that’s why you care. That’s why you’ll take an hour or two on your trip to stop at this sad, shocking place.
And that’s why you’ll want to recommend visiting this place to others, because you care about the past and the future. Here are top tips for visiting Manzanar National Historic Site in California.
Facing the Facts:
Top Tips for Visiting Manzanar National Historic Site
1. Where is Manzanar NHS? This national historic site is between Bishop and Lone Pine on Highway 395 which runs north-south along the Sierra Nevada mountain range in eastern California. Depending on traffic, it’s a four or five hour drive from Las Vegas, Reno or Los Angeles.
The town of Independence is on the map, but you’ll want to lodge in the places mentioned above, or camp for free in ample nearby BLM land.
Appreciate the phenomenal geographic setting so close to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous U.S. at 14,505 ft. Don’t appreciate the irony of visiting the remains of such a low point in U.S. history in the shadow of one of its most majestic peaks.
2. How to Get There: Manzanar National Historic Site is a perfect road trip stop. There are clean bathroom facilities and plenty of parking. It’s just off Highway 395, so there’s no long detour as a tourist. But as one of the internment camp residents in the early 1940’s, it was a massive departure from life as they had known it. Many Japanese Americans had previously been living in urban, coastal areas, running successful businesses, going to school and being productive members of society.
Have you ever had to take a trip spontaneously? Maybe it was for a family emergency or work crisis, but even if you have a “go bag” packed, it’s not easy to hit the road with little notice. Imagine walking out the door, leaving most of your possessions, and not knowing if you’d ever return to your own life. It’s understandable to feel some weird feelings about having the freedom to travel to a place where its residents didn’t have the freedom to leave.
Of course, the remoteness is part of why this site was chosen for the camp. Manzanar was the first of these internment camps. There was another in California plus camps in Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Arkansas for a total of ten War Location Centers. A rock memorial garden in front of the Manzanar visitors center illustrates all the camps, all in similarly remote, interior land.
3. Best Time to Visit: Manzanar National Historic Site can be visited any time of year and any time of daylight (dawn until dusk). The visitors center and some exhibits are closed on Christmas Day only. Compared to other national sites nearby like Yosemite and Death Valley, Manzanar is a simple travel stop without seasonal road closures or lengthy wait times. However, this region is subject to temperature extremes with high mountain elevations and blistering desert heat. It felt just right for jeans and a tank top (and sunscreen) on a balmy February morning.
Click the pic below if you want to see how to get the best Highway 395 road trip Instagram shot here!
4. Who Should Visit: Anyone who finds her or himself in this part of the country should visit Manzanar National Historic Site, because it’s unlikely that you’ll be back unless you have a regular reason such as family living in the area. California is a big state to visit, and realistically, the next time you travel here, you will probably want to see another new part of it.
Anyone who doesn’t think that what happened there in the 1940’s matters today is exactly who needs to visit the most! Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, as they say. The photo below is one of many gut-wrenching examples of the horrible things people used to say to each other and justify forced resettlement.
5. Hiking at Manzanar National Historic Site: You won’t really hike around here, but you have plenty of space to walk around the camp. Save your hikes for nearby Alabama Hills to the south or Mammoth Lakes to the north. In the interest of time for a road trip, spend 15-45 minutes walking around the primary buildings and exhibits, like the mess hall shown below.
At Manzanar’s visitors center, check out the gift shop corner with proceeds going to nonprofit education. If you have room in your road trip car, there are many unique items reflecting Japanese heritage as well as the splendor of this region of California. Then, hop back in the car and drive around the rest of the camp before driving out to the cemetery. The obelisk shown below is called “The Soul Consoling Tower.”
6. Don’t Miss This: Walk the not-so-welcome walk of internees with an exhibit that allows you to step into the shoes of a real person who was forced to live here because of their race. Take a ticket and imagine how it would feel if this place was suddenly your new home compared to your current one. Some travelers aren’t daunted by the barracks, mess halls and latrines. But many free-spirited travelers find the lack of freedom and justice most abhorrent.
The overt racism and underlying fears that lead to the creation of places like Manzanar used to seem like antiquated, disproven notions of the past. But these concepts are again making headlines daily.
Consider all the progress that has been made for civil and human rights on U.S. soil since the dark times of WWII. We need to keep moving forward, not back to places like Manzanar. We can’t move back to Manzanar.
As many nations look for modern solutions to timeless questions of security and solidarity, traveling to places like Manzanar National Historic Site reminds us what NOT to do to fellow humans. Segregating each other by racial differences has been authoritatively determined as disastrous.
You don’t have to travel to Manzanar to know that, but being a traveler who supports civil rights means being a traveler who has civil rights.
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Trailheaders, thank you for your interest in visiting Manzanar National Historic Site, and thank you caring about each other.
Further reading: This New York Times article explains why celebrity George Takai and other internment camp survivors find last week’s Supreme Court ruling about the atrocity to be “Bittersweet.”
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