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monroviaweekly.com
Thursday, January 26, 2017 - February 1, 2017
Your Voice, Your Community
Since 1996
Respected Monrovia Japanese-American Civil and Gay Rights Activist Remembered
VOLUME 21, NO. 4
FEATURE BY SUSIE LING
S (Clockwise) Kuromiya family reunion. Steven Kiyoshi, and Steven Kiyoshi from MHS yearbook 1961. - Courtesy photos
Old Town Report Hello – it’s sunny today and I’m delighted. I know we need the rain (we are still in a drought!), but there is just something so joyful about the sun… It is now time to meander through Old Town again
and I recommend stopping at Myrtle Tree in the 400 block: they’ve added something new! I was delighted to find out yesterday that I could not only sit down with SEE PAGE 15
teven Kiyoshi Kuromiya liked to say that he was conceived in Monrovia. He is now laid to rest at Monrovia’s Live Oak Cemetery. But Steve spent few of his adult years being part of Monrovia. A member of Monrovia High’s Class of 1961, Kuromiya is a nationally recognized civil rights and gay rights activist. Stevie had deep roots in Monrovia. His grandfather, Hisamitsu James Kuromiya moved the family to California Street, just south of Colorado in 1929. Grandfather was a vegetable peddler with six children. When elderly neighbors wanted to sell their property, potential buyers complained to City Hall about the “Japs” liv-
ing in the area just north of the trolley tracts. Monrovia in the 1930s was a racially segregated community. African Americans, Mexicans, and the few Asians were restricted to the area south of Olive. The Kuromiyas were evicted and found another place near Primrose and Huntington Drive (today’s Pep Boys). Stevie’s father, Hiroshi, graduated from Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School near 1935. On Pearl Harbor Sunday in 1941, Hiroshi had a preplanned engagement party with his Glendora fiancé, Emiko. World War II’s Executive Order 9066 led to the unjust forced evacuation SEE PAGE 6
New CERT Class Open for Registration The Monrovia Fire Department will start a new Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic Training Seminar in February. The purpose of the training is to giving individuals better skills to help
themselves and their families when a disaster strikes. The training will be held over three Saturdays: Feb. 4, 11, and 18 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All these classes will take place at Monrovia Fire Station 102
(2055 South Myrtle Ave.). Class size is limited, so pre-registration is required. For information or to register, contact Susie Dobson via email at sdobson@ ci.monrovia.ca.us.
THE LARGEST Saturday, Feb. 4 ONE OF CAMP FAIRS ON + 100 CAMPS FOR BOYS +GIRLS K-12 THE WEST COAST! WESTRIDGE SCHOOL • Free Admission • Learn more at Westridge.org/SOF