| The Chinese The Chinese first arrived in San Bernardino in 1867 and most of them went to Needles to help build the railroads. After the railroad jobs were over many left or were forced to leave because of white prejudice. Some of them stayed on and started laundries and restaurants. But many were forced out by anti-laundry ordinances enacted against them in 1876. Some worked as cooks in the Ivanpah mines two hundred miles east of San Bernardino. They dug tunnels in the San Gabriel Mountains, picked grapes in Cucamonga, constructed water lines for the East Redlands Water Company and worked in a San Timoteo Canyon winery. In 1881, those who were left founded Chinatown, located in Meadowbrook, on 3rd St. just east of Arrowhead. The Alien Exclusion Act of 1882 limited new immigrants, and consequently, their numbers dwindled. In 1931 there was an attempt by Mt. Vernon Avenue interests to move Chinatown to the Mt. Vernon district between 4th St. and 8th St.. The move failed but, in 1942, the County Board of Supervisors took over practically all of what was for 50 years San Bernardino’s Chinatown. The rest of Chinatown was razed in 1947 to make way for the expansion of downtown. Following the Chinese by a dozen years were the Japanese who began to establish themselves as farmers, domestic servants, and opening businesses catering to other Japanese. Some became labor contractors for the railroads, canneries and farms. But their numbers were few in San Bernardino. Nonetheless, like elsewhere, the Japanese had their assets frozen and transferred to American citizens during and after being interred during WW II. As a result they lost their virtual monopoly on truck farm produce. Few Japanese Americans returned to San Bernardino, and those who did faced vigorous protests against their resettlement.. The Railroad In the 1880s, the railroad came to San Bernardino. The Santa Fe, the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific railroads all converged on the city, making it the hub of their Southern California operations. San Bernardino was becoming an important trade and railroad town. When the Santa Fe Railroad established a transcontinental link in1886 the valley population exploded, increasing from 6,150 in 1900 to 12,779 in 1910. The San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot, built in 1918, was the second largest depot in the state and was the headquarters for Santa Fe's West Coast operations. The facility handled passengers, goods, freight, and materials from the east coast. The depot and train yards were built on undeveloped land on the far west side of San Bernardino along Mt. Vernon Avenue just south of 5th St. where the National Trails Road turned west towards Los Angeles. Both Mt. Vernon and 5th St. would later become part of U.S. Highway 66. This section of the fabled highway would bring prosperity and recognition to the west side. All travelers coming from the east and all travelers on their way to the San Bernardino Mountain resorts would drive along Mt. Vernon Avenue, through the Mexican barrio Prohibition At the beginning of the 19th Century, San Bernardino, along with the rest of the nation, was increasingly concerned with the moral fabric of society. The concern was focused primarily on the problems associated with alcohol. Saloons had proliferated in every city and town across America. They were seen as breeding grounds for corruption, disease, gambling, prostitution and criminal activity of all kinds. In 1918 the Prohibitionists were successful in getting Congress to pass the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The states ratified the Amendment the following year. But the consumption of alcoholic products did not end with Prohibition, nor did the vices associated with drinking. There were men who were willing to break the law to supply alcohol to the countless Americans willing to defy the law for a drink. The illicit traffic in the production and consumption of alcoholic products gave rise to a general disrespect for the law. The Roaring Twenties Like elsewhere in America, the “Roaring Twenties” had arrived in San Bernardino. Local bootlegging operations were carried on by Italian vineyard owners; the Black Hand, the precursor to the American Mafia, and the Ku Klux Klan. The most notorious case in San Bernardino was the murder of Joe Lamento, an Italian vineyard owner and bootlegger in 1925 by Sam Matranga, Victor Pepitoni and Frank Borgia, who were believed to be members of the Black Hand. In a 1925 Grand Jury investigation, Federal narcotics agent V. H. De Spain branded San Bernardino as the distribution point for opium sold throughout Southern California. The center of the ring was reputed to be run by Chinatown business man Sam Lung and his associate Sam Levy. Chinatown was the location for opium dens referred to as “hop joints,” and for gambling dens reputedly run by Wong Nim, the “mayor” of Chinatown, and Sam Wong. The Wongs were reputedly members of the Bong Kong tong. Wong Nim’s death in 1941 signaled the end of the Chinese settlement. San Bernardino was also said to be the “safe harbor” for an alien smuggling ring transporting Italians and Chinese barred from entering the U.S. by the alien quota laws. Newspaper accounts portrayed San Bernardino as a wide open town with bootleggers, dope dealers, prostitution, official corruption and more than a few bank robberies ending with shootouts with the police. By the late 1920s bootlegging, gambling and other vices such as prostitution were brought under the control of organized crime. The Mafia It was Carlos Matranga who brought the Black Hand to Southern California and San Bernardino. 1n 1922, after retiring as head of the New Orleans Stuppagghiera, a rebel underworld movement unrelated to the traditional Mafia, Matranga showed up in Los Angeles where he established a new organization. The murder of Joe Lamento at his west end vineyard was an attempt to muscle in on San Bernardino’s bootlegging enterprises. By the mid 1920s the New York Mafia, headed by Joseph Ardizzone had established control of the Los Angeles Mafia. It was Ardizzone’s cousin Frank Borgia who was involved in the murder of Joe Lamento. Ardizzone’s successor, Jack Dragna, quickly organized Southern California’s Mafia clans under his leadership. Prohibition opened up new opportunities for the Mafia in San Bernardino. John B. Agliani, Harry Tossetti and Bob Ruffatto began setting up home breweries and distilleries in the Italian and Mexican neighborhoods in the Mt. Vernon district. And with their newly acquired wealth and influence they soon branched out into other illegal activities such as gambling and prostitution. In 1933, in reaction to the rigid “blue Laws” of the prohibition era, the citizens of San Bernardino elected a slate of liberals who promised an “open town.” The open town label attracted underworld racketeers who rushed in to establish gambling in newly licensed night clubs and cafes. The better known of these gambling joints, The Cave, The Orange Belt Club, The Mint and The California Service Club were periodically closed only to re-open the next day. At one point the County Sheriff had to step in to enforce state laws against gambling which local authorities were unwilling to do. Many attempts were made by local church groups to combat commercialized vice conditions that were giving San Bernardino the reputation as the “black spot” of California. One citizens group, who likened San Bernardino to another “Mexicali,” threatened to take matters into their own hands. Their efforts were met by stonewalling politicians who blamed the Chief of police for not enforcing the law; while the Police Chief accused the politicians of tying their hands. In 1938 the County Grand Jury ordered City officials to close down the “Red Light District” on Third Street for good. A series of raids against known houses of prostitution and gambling were carried out by the Chief of Police Joseph P. Hayden who later announced, the red light district “is closed up.” Mayor C.T. Johnson then ordered that “all evidence be forwarded to the District Attorney that may be used to prosecute property owners under the red-light abatement act.” In December of 1938, the District Attorney began abatement proceedings against sixteen houses of prostitution on D and Stoddard Streets. The scene on D Street was described as follows by police officers as follows: |