Statement of Significance (as of designation - June 12, 1995):
Known to its residents as Japantown, Little Tokyo Historic District is a small commercial district that served as a haven and foothold in America for arriving Japanese immigrants, and became the focus of the country's largest Japanese-American community before World War II. Though it has lost a signifcant part of its former size, the district nevertheless remains the historical focal point for the Japanese-Americans of Greater Los Angeles; it illustrates the historical development of the major Japanese-American community on the U.S. mainland and symbolizes the hardships and obstacles that this ethnic group has overcome.