Greetings!   I would like to welcome you to the website of the Venice Japanese Community Center (VJCC). For over eighty-five years, the VJCC has been serving residents living in the Venice area and proximal communities. The overarching goal of the Venice Japanese Community Center is to preserve and perpetuate the Japanese American heritage and culture. The VJCC achieves this goal through providing a venue for numerous classes, programs, and organizations that emphasize Japanese and Japanese American traditions. 

VJCC 88th Anniversary - Add to the Memories

By Alexa Giffen

As many of you may or may not know, next summer will be the 88th anniversary of the Venice Japanese Community Center. This is a very special moment in the Center’s history and we are working to preserve and collect more of it through oral history interviews and photographs. While efforts have been made to collect both photographs and memories from community members, we are looking to expand upon this. Over the past summer, I’ve had the pleasure of listening and talking to people who have helped build, supported, and grown up at the Center. They have all shared fond memories and stories ranging from Boy Scout trips to hanging out at the summer carnivals. Our goal is to continue to record more stories like these, and we need your help to do it.

Along with stories, we are also looking to collect photographs that have been taken at the Center over the years. Old or new, all are instrumental in helping us create a great visual history of the Center to match the memories that we have been gathering. At the moment we do have a collection of stories and photographs upon which we hope to build. This project is very important to all members of the Community Center and it is essential that we work together to make it the best it can be. If you are interested in volunteering any of your time to help out with this task through sharing stories, photos, or any other memories, your assistance will certainly be appreciated! Please contact me at alexakifumi@gmail.com or Sharon Kumagai at sakwhy@aol.com if you have any questions or information you would like to share.