Patrick Alvarado

Patrick Alvarado has been part of the Nishi family for more than 25 years, and has had a strong interest in the history of Japanese Americans. In addition to his family connection to Manzanar, as a Mexican American, Alvarado feels a particularly strong connection through the story of Ralph Lazo, a Mexican American who voluntarily went to Manzanar and was incarcerated with his Japanese American friends from Belmont High School in Los Angeles.

Updated May 2011

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Nishi Family Returns to Manzanar to Help Rebuild Historic Bridge at Merritt Park - Part 2

By Patrick Alvarado
9 Aug 2011

Read Part 1 >>

Laying the Foundation

Amos, Robert, and Brian used an auger drill to bore four holes where the main posts of the bridge would be placed, two on each side of the bridge. The crew had to drill pretty deep in order to provide a sturdy anchor for the rest of the bridge, as each post weighed over a hundred pounds and measured about six feet tall with only two feet being exposed above ground.

Once the holes were drilled out, the crew had to lift and carefully place each post as closely as possible as they appeared ...

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Nishi Family Returns to Manzanar to Help Rebuild Historic Bridge at Merritt Park - Part 1

By Patrick Alvarado
2 Aug 2011

During the weekend of May 21–22, 2011, the son of Kuichiro Nishi, Henry Nishi, and his family, traveled to the Manzanar National Historical Site with an engineer contractor in tow. The purpose of the trip was to begin rebuilding the bridge that connected the center of the pond to the rest of Merritt Park.

This journey really began almost seventy years ago when American citizens of Japanese descent were removed from their homes and incarcerated in “War Relocation Centers” across the Western and Central United States.

Henry, his mother, and sisters were among these citizens who were forced to ...

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

Patrick Alvarado

Nishi Family Returns to Manzanar to Help Rebuild Historic Bridge at Merritt Park - Part 2

Nishi Family Returns to Manzanar to Help Rebuild Historic Bridge at Merritt Park - Part 1

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