George Freeth, the village of Maikura, and the 1918-1920 pandemic

   In December 1908, at the age of 25, the "father of surfing" George Freeth saved the lives of nine Japanese American and two Russian American fishermen off Venice beach when a violent Pacific storm lashed the coast. For his heroic actions, Freeth was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for bravery.

   In April 1919,  at the age of 35, the Hawaiian-born Freeth--noted for his physical fitness and still in his prime--died after a long battle with the flu virus spreading across the globe.  He was the first person to surf the Huntington Beach pier at its re-dedication in 1914.

LEFT: George Freeth in 1909, a year after he rescued fishermen off of Venice beach after the "sudden appearance by a heavy northwester."  He was 25 at the time and was reported to have "made a spectacular dive from the wharf," swimming through the boiling water to pilot the fishing boats to safety. (Image, Los Angeles Times, October 9, 1909)

  Freeth was a remarkably skilled surfer, the one Jack London described during his 1907 visit to Hawaii as "his heels are winged, and in them is the swiftness of the sea." But, he isn't remembered just because he was a surfer. In Southern California, he was a local hero who dedicated his life to saving others.

   On December 16, 1908, the "heavy northwester" hit the Southern California coast, catching local fishermen by surprise. Boats were floundering and being pushed toward the rocky breakwater. As a powerhouse alarm sounded, Freeth "made a spectacular dive from the wharf" into the water and swam to the most endangered boat first. The ocean water temperature off the coast of Los Angeles County in December averages a chilly 60°F (16°C).

   The Los Angeles Times reported the next day that Freeth "successfully piloted the craft, which contained two Japanese fishermen, around the pier to a safe landing." Freeth dove into the water repeatedly until he had helped eleven fishermen safely to shore. He crawled onto one of the Japanese American fishing boats and "by a trick known only to himself, piloted the craft through the surf at railroad speed and made a safe landing on the beach." Freeth was a surfer and followed his instincts, surfing the boat to shore.

   One Japanese American fishing boat capsized as they tried to make their way to shore, with three men falling overboard and too far ashore to be thrown a life buoy. Freeth again dove off the pier carrying a life belt for each of the three men so they could stay afloat until his volunteer lifeguards arrived by rescue boat. All were saved.

RIGHT: George Freeth with a life-saving buoy he designed, described as a "hollow, air-tight, copper torpedo forty-two inches by eight, which will hold up a dead weight of five-hundred pounds." (Image, Recreation, Volumes 52-53, 1915)

   A few of the fishermen caught up in the storm were identified by the Los Angeles Times as T.O. Shiro, T. Caneshira, I. Igi, T. Yamauchi, Y. Kato, and T. Tokushima.* The majority of the fishermen are identified as being from the small fishing village off present-day Pacific Palisades, in a beach area near the "Long Wharf" known as Maikura.

   The day after Freeth's heroic rescue of the Maikura fishermen, they returned to see him, bearing gifts.  In addition to a cash gift of $50---an equivalent of about $940 today---they presented Freeth with a gold watch (average price of a gold watch in 1918 was $12.93, an equivalent of about $240 today). They donated an additional $37 to the volunteer lifeguard benefit fund. The fishermen reportedly announced to Freeth that they were renaming Maikura as "Port Freeth" (Our L.A. County Lifeguard Family, LACoFD, Lifeguard Operations) A 1910 Los Angeles Times article about a Yamato Association picnic on the beach near the fishing village north of Port Los Angeles noted "which by some is called Freeth--so named in honor of George Freeth, the Hawaiian life-saver, who rescued a number of Japanese fishermen who were caught at sea during the storm of two years ago."

ABOVE RIGHT: Local media reported on the daring rescue and on the gestures of appreciation from the fishermen the following day. ("Japanese fishermen thank life saving crew," Los Angeles Times, December 18, 1908)

  Fast forward to 1918, a decade after his nationally-reported heroics rescuing the Japanese American fishermen, Freeth was working a lifeguard job at Ocean Beach in San Diego. He continued to demonstrate his surfing skills for awestruck beach crowds, including one stunt where he "suddenly leaped clearing the board by at least three feet, turned a sumersault, regained his balance on the board again, then completed his stunt with a dive. The trick was a thriller, and evoked a storm of applause."

LEFT: A stone plaque for George Freeth embedded in the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame on Main Street in 2014, one hundred years after he first surfed the Huntington Beach pier. (Photo, M. Urashima, 2014) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

   Months later in January 1919, Freeth was overtaken by the flu virus. The pandemic had taken root in the military bases in San Diego and, despite flu masks and a citywide quarantine in December 1918, the virus continued to spread in the surrounding community. 

   Freeth recovered, then relapsed, and was hospitalized again. He would not fully recover. On the evening of April 7, 1919, he passed. The Honolulu Star Bulletin reported on April 8, 1919, that "George Douglas Freeth, well known local athlete and swimmer, died at Ocean Beach, California, last night of pneumonia, according to a cablegram received by Honolulu relatives today. In December 1908, Freeth rescued nine Japanese fishermen during a storm at Venice, Cal., for which he was awarded the Congressional medal for heroism."

RIGHT: The Japanese American fishing village of Maikura (aka Port Freeth) as it appeared the year Freeth died in 1919. The Los Angeles Times described Maikura as "one of the most picturesque spots on the coast and a large number of the houses are built after Japanese plans. The customs of the settlement are entirely Japanese." Both Maikura and George Freeth met their demise in 1919. This photograph was taken before the 2,000 residents of Maikura were displaced by the Pacific Electric Railway. Japanese American fishing villages were targeted by those fomenting anti-Japanese politics in California. Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. campaigned against the villages in the San Francisco Examiner in 1923, characterizing the communities as "aliens" monopolizing an industry. Forced to move from Maikura in 1919, the residents relocated to the fishing village on Terminal Island, where they would lose their community again in 1942. ("Old Japanese fishing village at Port Los Angeles to disappear," Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1919)

   During the 1918-1920 pandemic, the mortality was a "W" curve. The virus hit hardest those younger than five, 20-40 years old, and those sixty-five and older. Many who succumbed were fit and healthy before the virus, like George Freeth.
  

LEFT: George Freeth, of Hawaiian-British descent (ethnically Hawaiian-Irish), with his Congressional Gold Medal and U.S. Volunteer Life-Saving medal for Valor pinned on his lifeguard uniform. (Photo, Los Angeles County Lifeguard Trust Fund)

   The number of lives lost during the 1918-1920 pandemic is estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC also notes, "with no vaccine to protect against influenza infection and no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections that can be associated with influenza infections, control efforts worldwide were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions such as isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings, which were applied unevenly." (1918 Pandemic - H1N1 Virus, Centers for Disease Control)

   George Freeth, the son of Elizabeth Kailikapuolono Green Freeth was laid to rest in the O'ahu Cemetery in Honolulu County, Hawaii after friends in California sent his ashes home to his mother. Freeth's legacy in Southern California is not just as the "father of surfing", but also the lives he saved during his short time on earth. His story is one out of the millions of souls lost to the 1918-1920 virus. 

   At the time of this writing, the Huntington Beach pier that George Freeth famously surfed in 1914 is closed to limit public gatherings due to the global pandemic coronavirus, COVID-19. For those reading this in the present day, stay home. Flatten the curve.

*Names of the Japanese American fishermen as spelled by the Los Angeles Times in 1908.

© All rights reserved. No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, Mary Adams Urashima. 

Rebuilding the pier in 1914

ABOVE: Huntington Beach's wooden pier, 1906, a few years before Pacific storms damaged it.  A fixture on the coast since the late 1800s, the community rallied to rebuild and reopen the pier in June 1914. (Photo, City of Huntington Beach archives)

   From their first arrival in Wintersburg Village and Huntington Beach township, the pioneer community gravitated toward the beach for fishing and recreation.  The wide, open stretches of sandy beach were open to everyone.  
  
LEFT: One of several beach scenes included in the 1933 publication, Echo, produced with the assistance of the Smeltzer Japanese Association, which met above the Tashima Market in Wintersburg Village.  (Photo, Orange County Young Men's Association publication, Echo, 1933) © All rights reserved.

   For the Japanese community in the early 1900s, the beach was a place were there were no restrictions or discrimination as was found in movie theaters in Garden Grove and the Walker's and Yost theaters in Santa Ana* where rope lines separated the Japanese and Mexican community from Caucasian theater goers.  The beach and pier were open and free.

RIGHT: Beach goers identified as Mr. Noguchi, Henry Kiyomi Akiyama (Charles Furuta's brother-in-law and fellow goldfish farmer), and Mr. Andow, at Huntington Beach circa 1915.  (Photo snip, University of California - Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 520) © All rights reserved


   "The most common beach which was used by the Japanese groups was Santiago Beach, which was on the terminal end of Bushard Street in Huntington Beach," recalled Clarence Nishizu during his 1982 oral history interview.**  "Another beach frequented was called the Jetty near the outlet of Santa Ana River between Huntington Beach and Newport." 

LEFT: Leonard Miyawaki with a leopard shark caught at Huntington Beach, circa 1924.  Leonard's father, Yatsumatsu Miyawaki, was a signer on the 1904 founding document for the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  Miyawaki also opened the first Japanese market in 1907 at 217 Main Street in the Talbert-Leatherman building, today the Longboard Restaurant and Pub. (Photo, University of California - Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 027) © All rights reserved.

   Nishizu said Japanese American groups "like the Japanese Language School, Orange County Young Mens' Association, judo groups, church groups" gathered at the beach for picnics, clamming, swimming and sunbathing, experiencing  no formal segregation, "no discrimination."  The beach then, as today, was one of the free public spaces for which there were no restrictions based on ethnicity.

   Journalist Neeta Marquis had written about the atmosphere in Orange County in 1913, observing the working relationships and friendships among the Japanese pioneer community and others in Orange County.  Marquis had come to interview the first clergy of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church, Reverend Joseph K. Inazawa and his wife, Kate Goodman.  While their marriage made headlines around the world, it was simply accepted in Wintersburg.  Marquis noted there were many multi cultural ventures and civic events.

   “…others all over Southern California are having similar experiences in both the business and the social world—very especially among the agricultural classes owning and working the great celery fields of Orange County," wrote Marquis.  "...The entire countryside accepted the invitation of the Japanese to join them in their celebration of the Emperor’s last birthday."

ABOVE: Clamming at Huntington Beach, circa 1935. (Photo, University of California - Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 355) © All rights reserved.

   Marquis was writing about events in 1912 that brought Orange Countians together.  At that time, much of the Huntington Beach pier had fallen into the sea after fierce Pacific storms.  

   The Huntington Beach board of trustees (predecessor to the city council), approved Ordinance No. 91 on May 13, 1912, regarding the issuance of a $70,000 bond for the "construction and completion of a municipal wharf for the water front."  Two weeks later, Huntington Beach leaders would meet with the growing Japanese community from Wintersburg Village and the surrounding area.  If Huntington Beach was going to rebuild its pier, the township would need help from around the County.

ABOVE: A gathering on the steps of the Huntington Inn, May 31, 1912, thought to be about fundraising support for the pier.  The crowd includes Huntington Beach's first mayor, Ed Manning (second row, far right in light-color suit),   another Huntington Beach mayor, Orange County supervisor, and pioneer realtor, Thomas Talbert (second row on step, fourth from left with hat in hand), Wintersburg Mission clergy, Reverend Hisakichi Terasawa (front row, fourth from right), Charles Mitsuji Furuta (front row below step, second from left), and at center next to Rev. Terasawa, a two-time Huntington Beach mayor (1914-1916 and 1918-1919) Eugene French. (Photo, Wintersburg Presbyterian Church) © All rights reserved

   Relationships among Huntington Beach leaders and those in Wintersburg Village had already been established.  When the Wintersburg Mission sought donations for the 1910 Mission building, contributions came from around the County and from Huntington Beach businesses and individuals.  Among the names recorded as contributing to the Wintersburg Mission are some of Huntington Beach township's founding families.

Left: From the archives of the present-day Wintersburg Presbyterian Church, a report listing the donors for the 1910 Mission in Wintersburg Village. (Image, Wintersburg Presbyterian Church)

   Asking for community help was a pioneer farming country practice, everyone helped each other.  Instead of raising a barn, this time the community raised a pier.

   When the pier was finally ready to re-open in 1914---one hundred years ago this month---the community held a party the likes of which had not been seen before.  A reported total of 20,000 people attended the two-day festivities, many riding Henry Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway to town.  There would be music and baseball (the team from Garden Grove vs. the Pacific Electric team), swimming and diving competitions, and a sack race.  

   One of the exciting highlights of the pier re-dedication was the surfing demonstration by Hawaiian-Irish surfer George Freeth, considered the first surfer in Southern California and the first to surf the pier.  He would forever set the tone for future generations: surfing the Huntington Beach pier means you're a pro.

ABOVE: A group from the Garden Grove Japanese Language School at an outing at Huntington Beach, circa 1927.  The Garden Grove school was located at 10771 Sherman Street near Garden Grove Boulevard and was demolished to make way for a Costco shopping center, despite its historic status. (Photo snip, University of California - Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 204) © All rights reserved.


   There was another featured event that day that demonstrated the support and community involvement of the Japanese pioneer community.  After George Freeth's "surf board riding" and before the grand finale of the concert band and pier illumination, thousands of visitors witnessed a "Japanese fencing and sword dance" demonstration, most likely a kembu performance.  Like all the day's events, the performance represented the community and those who had supported the rebuilding of the pier.

Right: The June 12, 1914, Huntington Beach News lists events planned for June 20 to mark the dedication of the new concrete pier.  The Huntington Beach News reported 20,000 visitors came for the pier dedication and provides the events calendar with Japanese fencing and sword dance at 4:30 p.m., just before the band concert and pier "illumination."  Reverend Kenji Kikuchi of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission belonged to one of the many Japanese fencing clubs. 

   The Japanese sword dance also was an indicator of Samurai origins for some.  Reverend Terasawa and Reverend Kenji Kikuchi of the Wintersburg Mission, Yukiko Yajima Furuta, Masako Tashima of Wintersburg's Tashima Market, Clarence Nishizu, and Maki Kanno (mother of Fountain Valley's first mayor, James Kanno), among others, had Samurai ancestry.  Community involvement and civic responsibility was second nature.

   "We were indoctrinated with the spirit of bushido..." explained Clarence Nishizu in his oral history interview.**  "There are countless stories in Japanese history of a Samurai giving his life to prove the avowed sense of ethical code of loyalty to one's lord. This is synonymous to the spirit of Americanism as written in the American creed to love one's country and to support its Constitution and defend it against all enemies."

   Performed in feudal times as an exercise in courage or mental concentration, it is performed by women and men.  A video of a sword dance performed in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ste5UCxKqMs  

ABOVE: A generation after the Issei, or Japanese immigrants arrived in Orange County, the American-born Nisei had fully adopted the Southern California beach lifestyle.  An account of the Japanese baseball league that practiced across the street from the Mission in Wintersburg Village notes the coach had trouble getting players to practice, as they preferred the beach. (Photo, A humorously titled image of a gathering at Huntington Beach from the Orange County Young Men's Association publication, Echo, from 1933) © All rights reserved.
   
   Imagine the hushed crowd at the pier in 1914 as they watched, the ocean waves crashing in the background.  Undoubtedly, few in the crowd had seen a sword dance before that day. 

   The sword dance also was a signal that Huntington Beach was inviting the world to take a look at the growing beach town.  The pioneer community already spoke a half dozen languages in addition to English and Japanese, including Spanish, Italian, German, Armenian and Tagalog.  California was gearing up for the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915, marking the opening of the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Panama Canal.  There was an enthusiasm in California for all things new, inventive, and international.  On June 20, 1914, the town was bubbling over with civic pride, thousands of people, and a reported 1500 automobiles parked up and down the coastline. 

ABOVE: A beach party at Huntington Beach, circa 1933-1935.  The Japanese Language Schools, Mission and Japanese Association regularly held events at the beach and in Huntington Beach's downtown parks. (Photo, University of California - Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 357) © All rights reserved.

One hundred years of gratitude
   The Huntington Beach pier has battled Pacific storms more than once, with the community rebuilding it each time.  In 1988, the ocean again took parts of the pier out to sea.  

   Among those who contributed to rebuild the pier for its 1992 re-opening, was Huntington Beach's Sister City of Anjo, Japan, with a contribution of $92,000.00---more than the total cost of the pier in 1914.  The design replicated the architectural structure of the 1914 pier.

   On June 21 and 22 this year, special events will remember Huntington Beach's "100 Years of Surfing."  There again will be surfing demonstrations, music, speeches (see information at http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/announcements/attachments/100Years_Postcard-may%2028%20%283%29.jpg) 

   As the community marks the 100-year anniversary  of surfing at the"longest pier on the coast," we also remember and extend gratitude to the Japanese pioneers in 1912 and, in more recent times, our friends in Anjo, Japan, who helped build it. 


*Walker's Theater in Santa Ana originally opened as the Temple Theater in 1909.  It was demolished in the early 1960s.  The Yost Theater still exists as a historic music and event venue on Spurgeon Street in Santa Ana.
** Clarence Nishizu's oral history interview was conducted in 1982 for the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project by Professor Emeritus Arthur A. Hansen.
 ***We continue to identify the people in this photograph.  If you spot someone you know (and can document the identity), please contact Historic Wintersburg via SurfCityWriter@yahoo.com 

© All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.