Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture in Los Angeles

Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture in Los Angeles

Takei, George
Wang, Oliver

Hardcover

Asian American StudiesGeneral SociologyRegional: West

Publisher Price: $50.00

ISBN10: 1626401357
ISBN13: 9781626401358
Publisher: Angel City Press
Published: Aug 5 2025
Pages: 276
Weight: 2.45
Height: 1.00 Width: 8.20 Depth: 10.30
Language: English
A visual history of Japanese American car culture in Los Angeles, from gardeners' trucks and family sedans to hot rods and race cars.

2025 SILVER Winner for Multicultural, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards

Finalist, 2025 CALIBA Golden Poppy Awards, Glenn Goldman: California Lifestyle

Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture in Los Angeles explores how generations of Japanese Americans in Southern California shaped, and were shaped by, local automobile cultures and industries: from desert lakebeds to concrete speedways, gas stations to design centers, souped-up import tuners to humble gardening trucks. Along the way, cars and trucks became literal and figurative vehicles for Japanese American self-expression, social mobility, community identity, and much more. Cruising J-Town is driven to explore how these diverse relationships between people and the world of cars have steered the Nikkei community's American stories across the generations.

Interviews and oral histories chronicle the people and stories behind how Japanese Americans have played vital roles in countless car scenes throughout the region. Cruising J-Town is filled with vintage and contemporary photographs, drawings and ephemera that bring the story to life.

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