[Home Movies of the Seventh Street Produce Market in Los Angeles; Farming; Festival with Taiko Drummers and more / circa 1935 - 1936]

Dateca. 1935-1936

Mediumacetate

DimensionsFilm Format: 16.00 mm, L: 350 ft

ClassificationsMoving Images

Credit LineGift of Hiroko Roppiyakuda

Object number2004.7.1

DescriptionBlack and white footage shot by Soshiro Kiyama, circa 1935 to 1936. Footage includes the Los Angeles 7th St. Produce Market, where workers are busy packing and selling produce; workers harvesting and tending fields; family dogs, including one with a litter of puppies; a blimp; a night parade featuring various Japanese floats, including one with taiko; and what appears to be a racially integrated Catholic church service. There are also shots of various people (including some with recurring appearances) doing different activities like reading the newspaper and walking. Women in traditional Japanese dress also appear.

Timecode list:

1:02 -- 7th St. Produce Market, including clock packed with vehicles; various figures at the market including other workers and policemen, people loading/unloading items
2:25 -- “Keystone Brand Fruits and Vegetables Consolidated Produce Co. Ltd”
2:37 -- Interior of the wholesale area
3:12 -- Young man lighting a cigarette, older man in a cap and smoking a pipe writing in a notebook
3:25 -- white and Japanese workers with crates of produce
4:30 -- produce storefront with handwritten signage advertising prices (“Ex. Fancy Summer Squash 2 lbs 8¢” “Solid Tomatoes 3 lbs 25¢”)
4:53 -- Farmland
5:30 -- Shots of farmworkers in the distance; closeup shots of one man in white harvesting crops in a small field
6:01 -- Women in dresses and men in suits walking around for the camera in both a farmhouse and suburban setting
7:07 -- Daughter with white girl friend
7:16 -- Family sitting together inside; two men in suits sitting inside and posing for camera
8:04 -- Woman with (possibly her son?) man in glasses outside in a neighborhood
8:18 -- People preparing a float for the produce center at 7th St Wholesale Terminal
8:50 -- Two family dogs, including one who is pregnant
9:23 -- Two children with two young dogs wearing makeshift cones
9:35 -- New puppy litter playing, nursing, and napping
11:52 -- Baby on a woman’s lap, girl next to her in Japanese dress; two boys smiling together for the camera
12:13 -- Group of Japanese people casually gathered outside; some women in background wearing traditional Japanese dress, children playing on swing set
12:45 -- Unidentified blimp towing a sign (indecipherable due to low resolution) outside Buddhist church
13:15 -- Bridge?
13:25 -- Night time parade; small float decorated with lanterns and foliage/florals with a sign in Japanese kanji (something about dance?)
13:48 -- Crowd in both Japanese and Western dress
13:56 -- Medium sized float decorated with lit lanterns, American flags, and a sign in Japanese kanji and katakana (was able to decipher “international”)
14:20 -- Large float decorated with lots of flowers and lanterns; a group of women in traditional Japanese hairstyles and dress sit on the top deck; sign in kanji, sign in English (“Japanese” ___ ___?)
14:26 -- Small float decorated with lanterns, towed by a pickup truck that says “(?) Trading Co Inc”
14:31 -- Large, ornately decorated float; women in traditional hair and dress play taiko
14:56 -- Two young women working in Japanese garden near a pond
15:22 -- Family reading newspaper together at home; the two men are smoking cigarettes; all five also pose together out in the front of the house
16:13 -- Same man and woman from 8:04 with another woman
16:32 -- Multiracial (Asian, Black, white) crowd outside church
16:55 -- Inside of Catholic church service
17:17 -- Cut to black, end of footage

1 film reel (350 ft.) : si., b&w. ; 16 mm. original reversal pos.;B&w amateur footage of the Los Angeles 7th Street produce market, farming, festival at night, family life and a Catholic church service in Los Angeles, California, ca. 193-. Includes footage of men packing and selling produce at open market, workers harvesting and tending fields, dog and puppies, blimp passing outside a Buddhist Church, taiko on parade float at a night festival with crowd in suits and kimono, brief shot of young woman in Japanese garden next to pond, family reading newspaper at home and attending a Catholic church.