Asian Pacific American Preservation Profiles
Bill Watanabe
Bill Watanabe is the founding Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center in Los Angeles, CA. Honored by HGTV in 2004 as a "Restore America Hero," Bill's desire to connect his organization's efforts to foster community identity and vitality in Little Tokyo with the organized historic preservation movement led him to first attend the National Preservation Conference in 2004, as a Diversity Program Scholarship recipient. Learn More »
Dione Chen
Dione Chen is the founder of Chinese Junk Preservation, Inc., a group working to preserve the oldest Chinese wooden sailing vessel of operal condition in the world. "I never planned to spearhead efforts to preserve this historic vessel. But standing before it in late 2007 with my children, I thought that I must try." Learn More »
Laura Dominguez-Yon
Laura Dominguez-Yon is a spokesperson for the Friends of Gilroy Hot Springs, a group working to preserve a mid-century Japanese onsen or hot bath resort near Gilroy, California. Find out why she is passionate about this place. Learn More »
Minoru Yamasaki
In April, the National Trust listed the 1964-1966 Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The Century Plaza Hotel was designed by Japanese American architect Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986), a celebrated designer whose work included the 1966-1977 World Trade Center in New York. Learn more »
Diane Matsuda
As the Program Director of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, Diane Matsuda helped convene the first All Camps Summit, a meeting of groups working to preserve and document the history of Japanese internment camps. Learn more »
Irene Hirano Inouye
Irene Hirano Inouye was elected to the Board of Trustees of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2007. Ms. Hirano Inouye is the former President and founding CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and continues to serve as its Executive Advisor. Learn more »
