Japanese Farming on the Hill

Japanese Farming on the Hill. Part of the “Memory Necklace”. Signal Hill was home to fruit, flower and vegetable farms beginning in the early 1900s. In addition to the backyard gardens of hill residents, land was leased by Japanese “truck farmers” who grew produce and flowers to sell commercially at the old farmer’s market in Long Beach. The north and south farm fields of Signal Hill were exclusively devoted to flowers such as zinnias, chrysanthemums and gladiolas. The southeast corner of Willow and Temple (to the right of the view shed) was home to one of the last gardens, which comprised 10 to 12 acres of flower fields. Cucumbers, under cover of hot houses, and watermelons were widely grown as well., Zinnias once grew so profusely that the were an easy choice for the official city flower in 1984. The City of Signal Hill designated the flower and honored Japanese families who once farmed the area. A zinnia garden with a memorial plaque was dedicated at Signal Hill Park., Many of the farmers’ land leases were bought out with the oil boom in the 1920s. One farmer recalled that her garden turned black every time a new oil well was discovered. Some farms persisted into the 1940s, but the Japanese internment period during world war two ended the truck farming era.