As farmers and laborers, Issei (first generation) in California often rebuilt sangha (community) in rural areas, such as Guadalupe and San Luis Obispo. At the center of these communities was their faith.

Buddhist Churches of America (BCA), the American branch of the Nishi Honganji sect of Jodō Shinshū, was established in the early 1900s, following the arrival of priests from Japan and the construction of many temples. These temples served as conservators of Japanese culture. 

During World War II, Japanese Americans were uprooted from their homes and communities and forced into internment camps, where they were detained from 1942 until 1946.

Due to the pandemic, religious institutions have undergone restrictions and have held limited services.

However, despite the ongoing pandemic, discrimination, and even accultural alterations, on California’s Central Coast, Japanese-American cultural legacies and the Pure Land Buddhist Faith remain preserved.

Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. Sunday, May 2, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Historic photos of a former monshu (chief priest) Sokunyo Shōnin and wife Noriko Tanaka in Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. April 18, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Sensei (Reverend) Naomi Seijo Nakano preparing the altar for Sunday service at Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. April 18, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Portrait of sensei (Reverend) Naomi Seijo Nakano at Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. Sunday, May 2, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels.

The Collected Works of Shinran Volume 1, the writings and teachings of Jodō Shinshū Buddhism founder, Shinran Shonin, in Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. Sunday, May 2, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Guadalupe Buddhist Church congregation during Sunday service Sutra chanting. Guadalupe, CA. April 18, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Congregation member, Sumi Schumacher, holding O-nenju (prayer beads) during service at Guadalupe Buddhist Church. Guadalupe, CA. April 18, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

San Luis Obispo Buddhist Church. San Luis Obispo, CA. April 11, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

A small statue of Shinran Shonin, founder of Pure Land Buddhism, on the sensei (reverend) podium at San Luis Obispo Buddhist Church. San Luis Obispo, CA. April 11, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Fusuma (sliding door) separating the entry hallway and chapel at San Luis Obispo Buddhist Church. San Luis Obispo, CA. April 11, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

Entryway display and signage at San Luis Obispo Buddhist Church. San Luis Obispo, CA. April 11, 2021. Photo by Savannah Daniels

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“My grandparents did not experience the fires that my parents and I had experienced,” said Robin. 

According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the number of wildfires in the west has nearly doubled since 1985.

As a third-generation owner of the property, Robin was born and raised on the land and clearly remembers the 1993 Altadena fire that raged and burned down five houses on her street. It was after that fire that her father implemented an extensive fire safety plan.

“We spend a lot of money on fire safety. We have a full fire suppression system, a pump that goes into the pool with full-on fire hoses, probably 400 feet of fire hoses,” Robin said. “If you’re going to live here you’ve got to be prepared. It comes with the territory.”

Luckily, the Santa Ana winds did not come into play and the four miles of land between Robin’s property and the fire went untouched. 

“We would have been next. We missed a bullet,” Robin said. 

As temperatures slowly climb to hotter degrees, it has escalated the amount of dry shrubbery and organic matter that fuels fires. Over the past century, temperatures have risen by three degrees increasing heatwaves and lowering the amount of rainfall. These conditions not only ignite these raging fires but also contribute to the fast spread of them and the challenge of putting them out. 

“We saw some of the worst heat we had ever seen,” said Sean Provencio, a resident of Pasadena. 

Temperatures in Pasadena averaged around 111 degrees Fahrenheit in early September when temperatures don’t typically pass 103 F. 

Smoke from the Bobcat fire from Southern California. Photo courtesy of Stacy Rubinowitz

InciWeb says the Bobcat Fire that has ravaged the San Gabriel Mountains remains 15% contained and has burned up to 105,345 acres.

“It almost felt like you were at a campfire site,” Provencio said of the smoke and ash plumes brought on by the fire.

The Bobcat Fire is only one among 26 other fires that firefighters continue to battle throughout the state of California, Cal Fire reported. 

Up in Northern California, the North Complex Fire was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle as the fifth largest fire in California history. It has burned 298,191 acres and is almost entirely contained.

It began in mid-August due to lightning storms and the winds brought the smokey air to San Francisco. 

The smoke penetrated the marine layer and blocked the sun bringing a dark and apocalyptic feel to the city , said Julie Peck, a resident of San Francisco. “And when it’s really smokey you wake up and your whole house smells like smoke,” said Peck. 

Breathing in the smoke is known to cause respiratory problems, strokes, and heart attacks leading to higher numbers of hospitalization. And amid a global pandemic, these fires just add to the chaos and incredulous hardships.

Peck said 2020 has been a beast of a year.

“It just seems like it’s one thing after another,”she said.

And now with the fires becoming an annual occurrence, residents have begun to ask themselves if it’s worth it to stay in California. 

“I’ve been through it so many times you’d think it would get easier and you’d be more prepared as time goes on,” Robin said. “Is it really worth it that every year we have to go through that much fear to live here?”

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“I want them to understand that this is a process that is laid before us via the Governor,” CNUSD Board Member John Zickefoose said prior to passing the resolution. “I don’t want parents of middle schoolers and high schoolers to think we don’t care about them.” 

Governor Newsom released a Blueprint for a Safer Economy on Aug. 28. The blueprint contains a tier system that identifies the risk level of each county based on the number of new cases and the percentage of positive tests in the area. CNUSD is located in Riverside County. As of September 10th, Riverside is in Tier 1 (Widespread Risk) and can’t start in-person schooling until it reaches Tier 2 (Substantial Risk).  School districts that haven’t reached Tier 2 are allowed to apply for a waiver to start limited in-person schooling for grades TK-6. CNUSD will start preparing the waiver application now that the Board has passed this resolution.

Maddie Root  shows off her remote schooling station. Photo courtesy of Allison Root.

“The only schools around us that have [applied for the waiver] are private schools, no public schools have applied yet,” Allison Root, the mother of , Maddie Root, a third grader in the district said. “No one has applied and everyone is wondering why.”

The application requires extensive proof of compliance with the state safety guidelines for schools. It also requires prior consultation with labor, parent, and community organizations. Although the teachers ‘union hasn’t started negotiations, this requirement has led to speculation among  parents that the teachers’ union is causing a delay in the process. 

“These unions fight and fight and fight and say they can’t open,” an unidentified parent said during the public comment portion of the school board meeting.  “I think this is truly an injustice. People are still going to the grocery store, people are still going to target, everyone seems to be doing that safely.” 

Meg E’amato, who has taught in the district for 22 years, expressed a number of concerns about reopening.  She is not against in-person schooling and understands that parents want their kids to return to campus, but she has serious reservations. She believes that some parents aren’t seeing the big picture.

“A lot of our members really want to get back on campus and I just want to make sure that everyone is safe and following the protocols that we have established,” Meg E’amato said after the school board meeting. “There’s so many things that go into these processes. But I think people like to try to pick one thing to put all their anger towards.”

Some staff members have already returned to campus. During this time, a number of staff members have contracted COVID, and according to E’amato, some teachers have witnessed and reported staff protocol breaches.

“I feel like the district is following the protocols, but maybe not all the sites are following the protocols,” E’amato said. 

The debate about when and how CNUSD should return to in-person schooling has been emotionally charged as teachers witness children struggling and falling behind and parents attempt to juggle the challenges of supervising remote learning. 

“I feel like I have to be there, she’s in third grade, typing takes forever,” Allison Root said of helping her daughter Maddie complete her homework assignments. “I know if I did have a job right now it would be way more stressful. It’s horrible that [COVID] happened and I did get laid off, but I can’t imagine having to work and also juggle this, with her, because I’d get no sleep at all. We need to go back to school.”

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But California Governor Gavin Newsom announced this year’s school vacation could last until Fall. 

In the Golden State, 1,039 Coronavirus cases have been confirmed and a total number of 19 deaths. In the Bay Area, around 675 cases have been identified. Last night, Governor Newsom gave a mandatory order for all Californians to self-isolate, in addition to a “shelter in place” policy that was enforced Tuesday. The policies are some of the strictest methods enforced in the U.S., asking all residents to stay inside their homes. 

In Alameda County, Oakland Unified School District said they would move to remote learning for the duration of the lockdown. Last Monday, teachers were warned they may not have classes for the remainder of the school year. 

Sylviane Cohn felt a sense of pain when she taught her last class at Joaquin Miller Elementary for the foreseeable future. 

“I miss them and I feel super useless,” said Cohn, 35. “I just feel so helpless in terms of how I am supposed to fulfill my professional obligation to make sure these kids come out knowing how to read.” 

She said she is worried about students who have difficulties learning on their own. 

“I have to figure out how to be an online educator. How I manage to reach the kids I need to reach, some of the most vulnerable students in the school,” she said. “So that learning can continue.” 

As kids struggle to begin online classes in Oakland, there is a digital divide for low-income families. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 22% of low-income households with school-aged children had no internet access, and Bay Area families making under $59,000 reported having less internet availability than wealthier families. In Bay Area public schools, inequality is a common issue. 

Joaquin Miller Elementary School, Oakland Hills, California. Photo by Joaquin Miller Elementary.

At Joaquin Miller Elementary, they are trying to decrease the gap among students.

“We have allowed families to check out Chromebooks from the school so if families don’t have a computer they can get one,” Cohn said. “We have tried to publicize that Comcast is delivering two months of free internet to families who need it.” 

But she said they can’t control family circumstances and some students will fall behind. She said there are parents who can’t afford to stay at home. 

“Between kids who have families at home who have the time and capacity to work with them and support their continuing learning, versus kids who are taking care of themselves at this time because there is no one who can support them,” she said. “There are kids who have resources at home, but then there are kids who don’t have resources and will watch TV all day. I think that is going to be the largest equity gap.” 

Zoe Lieberman experienced this disparity with her Joaquin Miller Elementary class. Lieberman, 27, began teaching online this week, but said that half of her students didn’t show up for their first class. 

Zoe Lieberman teaches 3rd-5th graders at Joaquin Miller Elementary. Photo by Joaquin Miller Elementary.

“I am happy because I did have half of my class show up to our video chats, but that is only half of my class,” she said. “How many kids are going to have access to technology? There are many different school districts and socio-economic boundaries here. These are all these things that teachers are worried about right now.”

Lieberman’s concerns are common across the nation. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed distress in closing New York City’s public schools in reaction to the spread of the Coronavirus. The nation’s largest public school system serves around 750,000 low-income students, and doubles as a place for students to get meals and have access to technology. 

But public schools will be closing down this week to lessen contamination, and will switch to online learning on March 23. Teachers will be asked to come to work for training on remote education, and New York City schools are offering computers for students who need them. 

For Oakland students, Lieberman said they are trying to help by being available for support. 

“I wish there was more that we could do but I am trying to make myself available online,” she said. “Next week I am setting up office hours if anyone wants to video chat, or do a lesson.” 

She said there will be unique challenges for students beginning online education. 

“Our community is different,” Lieberman said. “A lot of our kids don’t have the ability to independently log on, and answer the questions. Some of them might not be able to read the questions. There are challenges and it’s hard to accommodate everybody.” 

Families are also worried about their children’s mental health while learning remotely.  

“This morning was the roughest morning for the kids, because it sank in that they aren’t gonna see their friends,” said Anne Hurst, 46, a mother of two. “They said they miss their friends and their teachers and they don’t want to do homeschool anymore.” 

She said that there has been emotional distress for her family while staying at home, but they are trying to remain positive. 

“They are sad right now,” she said. ““We take one day at a time, and try not to think too much about the future, because it is unknown. It feels too scary, so just focus on doing the best with what you can do today.” 

And Cohn, who may not see her K-5 classes for the rest of the school year, said that her students were equally devastated about missing their friends. 

“They seem to have a clear understanding that play dates were gonna be cancelled for the indefinite future and that was scary for them. It was both wonderful and horrible that they were devastated by the notion of not going to school. We love structure as humans, and that was taken from them.” 

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Chef Ari Taymor begins prepping a tangerine curd dessert for Alma's first dinner service in a new borrowed space, Brick House Cafe at the end of posh Abbot Kinney Road in Venice Beach, CA. Photo y Edna Ishayik

Chef Ari Taymor excitedly described what’s for dinner: smoked oysters, house made tofu, honey-dijon buttermilk sauce, egg-potato emulsion. He could be reading off Willy Wonka’s grocery shopping list—the items are offbeat, intriguing, and wildly creative.

As a chef, Taymor does not lack enthusiasm, talent or dedication. What he lacks is a kitchen to cook in. Until he finds one, he and his team are operating a vagabond eatery called Alma Food and Wine, hopping from location to location, cooking out of storefront kitchens around Venice Beach, Calif., and trailing their growing clientele of foodies along with them.

The crew of three chefs and one managing partner have been looking for a suitable restaurant space to move into, slogging through a forest of red tape to obtain licenses and permits needed to open a restaurant in Los Angeles. So far, no luck.

But instead of waiting for the real estate stars to align, the team decided to fire up the grills and get started. They asked the owner of a café on Rose Street called Flake, if they could take over the space in the evenings (the café closes at 3:30) and got permission.

Voila! Five nights a week, the neighborhood coffee shop transitioned into a prix fixe, farm-to-table haven of cookery. Creamy soups, fresh vegetables and savory main dishes started coming out of Alma’s ad-hoc kitchen.

“We were working off of two induction burners and a little tiny camp stove,” said Taymor. “There was no oven, no heat, no gas.”

Despite roughing it, the food was good enough to get attention from the Los Angeles Times and other outlets. Accolades poured in and so did investment offers.

But finding a space of their own remained a problem. Attempts to lock in real estate were met with licensing snafus, long waits for permits, and other deal breakers. So on a recent Friday, the team took over the after-hours at the Brick House, a café with a full kitchen at the end of the posh shopping corridor on Abbot Kinney Road.

“We’re on the move,” said Dinnelle Lucchesi, the managing partner of the roaming project, as she polished silverware in preparation for their first dinner service in the new space.

“We don’t have a place for our stuff,” Lucchesi said. “We keep our things in our cars, our houses, our own fridges.”

Life was not always so up in the air for Taymor. He and his team of two chefs were running the kitchen at Saluté, a wine bar in Santa Monica. Taymor was recruited by the general manager, a friend who promised free-reign of the kitchen.

But when ownership changed hands, the culinary range became more restrictive and Taymor felt stifled.

“We want to cook the food that we want to cook,” said Taymor. “So for us, we were in a place where we couldn’t do that. We felt it was better to take a risk, step out on our own, see if our food could stand up for itself.”

Alma’s food is a personal twist on modern American cooking. In coming up with weekly-changing menus, the team is driven mostly by what’s in season and what’s for sale at farmers markets. But the ideas for what to do with those ingredients come from experiences and nostalgia.

The ingredients for tangerine curd--the dessert that came with the prix fixe at Alma recently. By Edna Ishayik

“We think about stuff that we like to eat, ingredients that are coming into season, stuff that our farmers are proud of and we use them to express memories that we have of food and of places we’ve been, places we’ve worked, people who have inspired us,” said Taymor.

His childhood spent on the coast of northern California was the spark for celery root, smoked lardo, pine and apple soup. The dish was meant to invoke the Santa Cruz mountains, the scent of the ocean, pine trees and camp fires.

Moving locations every few weeks can make it more difficult to come up with new menu items every few days. But there are upshots to starting off as a roving feast The Alma crew has been able to test the restaurateur waters and see if they could secure financial backing without significant risk.

“It’s given us time to nail down our concept, get our team flowing in a really efficient way and we’re not putting ourselves out there, vulnerable for bankruptcy,” said Lucchesi.

Also among the benefits are the people enjoying the group’s offerings.

“We’re building a community around the name, and the concept, and the food,” said Lucchesi. “They are a part of us literally building our dream.”

Before dinner is served on their first night in their latest borrowed kitchen on a recent Friday, the chefs are preparing. They call out to each other in a secret language of measurements, ingredients and techniques. Bins clatter, spoons bang, knives chop, a blender whirs as the group gets accustomed to their new surroundings.

If they don’t find a permanent space soon, Taymor estimates Alma will work out of the Brick House Café for another month or so. Then the team will have to find a new kitchen to camp out in.

“We’re just these people kind of looking for a home,” said Lucchesi. “That’s what it comes down to.”

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