manzanar national historic site

Unless you see the film in the visitor centre before commencing your drive or walk around the site, you can have no real idea what the site is about and the sad conditions these American citizens of Japanese origin lived in. Even then, it is hard to imagine the sheer number of people who had to share what is really too small an area to contain so many people. As with all wars, it is always the innocents who pay the price for those in power who lead the world into conflict. This camp is a classic example and serves to remind us all of this fact.

We have driven by Manzanar several times on journeys to and from Mammoth Mountain. Since the late 90's, I would go by, wondering what it was all about, but not giving it a second thought. We had stopped in a couple years ago and did the driving tour, but just recently dropped into the visitor center and made the experience complete.Although very little stands today, it is a very interesting site. I recommend experiencing the exhibits in the visitor center before taking off on the driving tour, as the tour will make better sense. Don't skip the movie right outside the gift shop - it is simple, yet powerful. The exhibits are well put together and informative, making this American (with parents not even alive at the time) cringe. It's worth a drop-in, even if it's to use the restroom and briefly peruse the exhibits while stretching your legs on this portion of the 395. The time to dedicate to the visit is really up to the visitor! You can learn something in 15 minutes, or stretch it out for a couple hours!

We have been driving by Manzanar for over 25 years and we went to the old museum which I think was in Lone Pine - many many years ago. This weekend we finally stopped and looked at the new museum located on the camp property and housed in what used to be the social hall. It was very well done, and I recommend the 22 minute film especially if you have antsy teens/kids/adults with you that don't have the patience to read everything. It's a good overview of what happened and why this place in the middle of no where exists.I am just blown away every time I think about what happened to these wonderful hard working Japanese and Japanese Americans. It is something that many people - especially young people have no idea it even happened, let alone on American soil to people born in America. Please take the 1 hour or so and visit the museum - it's free - and drive around the camp grounds to get a better idea in your head of what it must have been like for those 10,000 people who were forced to live there. And then think about what it would have been like to think you were doing your duty to your country to get on the buses with only what you could carry - and then find that you have no place to return to, no business, no home, no possessions...all gone and you have to move to somewhere else when you are released and start over with nothing. Wow...this should never have happened. Having visited Dachau concentration camp, I can say with certainty that this was not a concentration/death camp - but it was as close to one as I hope to ever see in this country. All ages of children can see this exhibit as it is not a story of genocide, working people to death, and sick torture/experiments. The true story of hysteria, prejudice and fear that brought this camp into existence needs to be told to all our young people so this doesn't happen again.

When World War II began, the United States forced Japanese-Americans from their homes in California into concentration camps located at many sites around the United States. Manzanar was one of these locations. I recommend seeing this site in late August to experience what these people endured in terms of weather. It is a national shame created by fear that should be remembered. Oddly enough, Earl Warren who authorized this camp went on to become one of this nation's most liberal justices on the United States Supreme Court.

Loved the real history and the presentation. Would love to go back. I hear they are putting in the Japanese gardens back in to show what it looked like at the end of their incarceration.

This was a very upsetting place to visit but should be visited regardless as to avoid its repeat. Words can really describe it. The video is well done and summarizes the entire mood when visiting this place. Did not get a chance to do the whole tour but if we had an hour, we would have. There should be better signage on HWY395 that describes it as a historic site and named it properly as a concentration camp.

what a testmony to the WW2 Japanese who were interred here. you could almost feel the wind blow and the huddled masses heaving, what a place in history we need to remember, as today we are so forgiving and forgetting about 9/11. a great place to reflect on how things were and how we have changed as a nation I found it interesting most cars in parking lot wre from Japan...maybe we didn't win the war afterall. spend time, and look at it all...and free from our Federal Government, go before they find out

I've been to Manzanar a few times--decades ago when I was a kid, and more recently after the Park Service completed their restoration and transformation of the site. It's hard to describe how well they have brought to life this chapter in US history. My young daughters were mesmerized by the exhibits, and we took time to do the driving tour of the camp afterwards. We didn't need to preach to our kids about the history of this internment camp--they spent a few hours here learning for themselves, and came to their own conclusions. Its wonderful that this camp has been preserved. In short, its really an amazing place worth the stop along 395.

This was an amazing place to visit to understand what life was like for the Japanese who were sent to internment camps during WW II. There's a museum with great exhibits and an informative 22 minute video. The gift shop has some nice items. The mess hall exhibit in one of the barracks out back helps you feel what it was like for those who ate there. The living quarters exhibit was not yet complete, but seems like it will be interesting once it is. I would highly recommend visiting this historic site. They also have the junior ranger program available.

Manzanar is a magnificent tribute to this country. A mistake was made, a very large one and the U.S. government through the National Park Service has preserved this error and sought to make it understandable to all who visit. See the exhibits, walk the extensive grounds and draw your own conclusions. The result is often a complex interplay of the "tone of the times" along with the amazing adaptability of the internees and the willing assistance of the non-internees. It made me both sad and proud to be from the U.S.A. I've known of this place since I was a boy and I'm so pleased that our country can own up to its errors and showcase them in a way that educates all who visit. Don't miss this place.

Informative museum giving an insight into bit of WW2 we hear little about in Europe. Little to see other than the museum despite a 3 mile drive around a site largely empty of anything. Even the cemetery has only a handful of graves. A sad reminder of how the largely innocent Japanese population of the USA, in 1942, were rounded up and deprived of their liberty.

Very informative and sad at the same time. The museum is very nice and continues to improve and expand. It is a must for Americans to visit so that we never make mistakes like this again.

This is one of the sites where Japanese-Americans were interned during WWII. Exhibits include guard towers, barracks, dining halls and a larger artifacts museum.

Heartbreaking monument with a great informative visitor center about a very sad part of American history. The watch tower standing in the middle of this gorgeous scenery can only evoke similarity to other much somber and cruel locations from WWII in central Europe. A must-see if you are in the region, but you leave with somber mood for a moment. I needed a drive up Whitney portal to lighten up afterwards.

Informative and still being developed. Made us think about how people and act and react. How easily suspicion / hatred can be manipulated. It's understandable why the Army chose to inter the US citizens of Japanese origin after Pearl Harbour, but the way it was done and the losses suffered by those effectively imprisoned makes for sad reading. War affects the innocent often in ways we could not have anticipated.