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<\/a>At the Chula Vista Museum and History Center in Chula Vista, Earl Jantz, 84, pores through a book by historian Steven Schoenherr, “Chula Vista Centennial: A Century of People and Progress, 1911-2011.” (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nThat mission comes to life on Sept. 18, when the museum unveils its inaugural exhibit, \u201cThe Chula Vista Japanese American Story.\u201d The exhibit sheds light on a pivotal \u2014 and painful \u2014 chapter in South County history: the displacement of thriving Japanese vegetable farmers following the onset of World War II.<\/p>\n
Through photos, historical accounts and archival newspaper clips, \u201cThe Chula Vista Japanese American Story\u201d recounts the experiences of a generation uprooted from their homes and sent to internment camps across Arizona and California.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s these kinds of stories that the people behind the Chula Vista Museum and History Center are trying to preserve \u2014 \u201ca community-built collection of the moments, memories and milestones,\u201d organizers say.<\/p>\n
Why now? Across the street, inside the city library, the Chula Vista Heritage Museum has, for years, mounted exhibits about the city, but for this intrepid band of history buffs, it\u2019s not quite enough. There\u2019s so much to say about Chula Vista \u2014 from the era of lemon orchards to its stunning growth to become the county\u2019s second-largest city \u2014 that it truly deserves to have a stand-alone museum, they say.<\/p>\n
Longtime resident Earl Jentz is so adamant about this that in early 2025, he and other ardent Chula Vista residents came together to discuss the idea. Since arriving in town in 1976, he\u2019s been a vocal advocate of preservation efforts to make sure Chula Vista\u2019s story continues to be told for generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the first time this has been done,\u201d Jentz said.<\/p>\n
Efforts to start a museum beyond what\u2019s already in the library have been attempted in the past, but for one reason or another, they just never could get things off the ground. Many of those local boosters have since died.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re trying once again,\u201d Jentz said.<\/p>\n This time, though, the work seems to be paying off, thanks to community members, many of whom have donated boxes and boxes of memorabilia to the museum\u2019s collection. Former county supervisor Greg Cox, who also served as Chula Vista mayor from 1981 to 1990, has donated some artifacts from his time in office. Museum board member Steve Wood, a photographer, has donated many items to the museum as well.<\/p>\n There is now a museum board. It has nine members, including former Chula Vista councilmember Pat Aguilar, who\u2019s just as passionate as Jentz about Chula Vista history.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is trying to fill in the gap so that (there\u2019s) a place that residents, visitors, students can go to learn about the history of the city,\u201d said Aguilar, now board president.<\/p>\n At the Chula Vista library across the street, there are boxes and boxes of historical artifacts, all in storage. The people behind the Chula Vista Museum and History Center would like to make sure all that history doesn\u2019t remain locked up.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no official partnership with the city, but some council members have voiced support and even dropped by for a visit. Many local politicians have been invited to the inaugural exhibition, which features former mayor Shirley Horton, a Japanese American herself.<\/p>\n Beyond politicians, support has also come from the Chula Vista Heritage Museum, which falls under the auspices of the city library.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re very supportive of what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cWith all the things that they\u2019re doing, they really don\u2019t have the staffing or the resources to get into things like museums. They\u2019re too busy.\u201d<\/p>\n In Chula Vista, the library \u201calso serves as a sort of a community services organization,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cI mean, they have a food pantry there. They hold movies on certain nights for children. They do all sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides that, Aguilar said, the city is now in the process of building a new library on the eastern side of town.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, because of things that are going on that are no fault of their own, they can\u2019t really focus on a museum,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just don\u2019t have the resources, so we\u2019re trying to help by filling in the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n On a recent Wednesday, Jentz walked around the museum, housed in a privately owned home built in 1945. The house sits in a commercial zone, which allows it to operate as a museum. Jentz knows every nook and cranny of the museum and all the artifacts in it. But there\u2019s a photo in the back room that he always gravitates to: a black-and-white picture, circa 1910, of an electric carline at the corner of F and Third streets.<\/p>\n The photo shows the Melville Building, built in the early 1900s by Chula Vista pioneer Ed Melville. It housed, according to history records, Chula Vista Dry Goods, a real estate office and a meat market, as well as the city\u2019s first medical and dental offices. Later, the Security Trust and Savings Bank opened a branch there.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look closely,\u201d Jentz said, pointing to the photo, \u201cyou see the different kinds of transportation of the day. There\u2019s a horse, an electric trolley, a car and a bicycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Years later, the Sweetwater Dam broke and unleashed what would later become known as the Great Flood of 1916. The torrent flooded the South Bay for 12 miles from inland to the sea. That flood washed away the rail line in the photograph and was never rebuilt.<\/p>\n It\u2019s stories like these that the people behind the Chula Vista Museum and History Center want to continue telling.<\/p>\n Because of limited space, the museum is only displaying one exhibition at a time, like \u201cThe Chula Vista Japanese American Story.\u201d But many of the displays are on mobile carts and stands that the museum plans to take on the road \u2014 to community festivals like the Lemon Festival or the Starlight Parade.<\/p>\n \u201cChula Vista has this amazing history that in our view is worth promoting,\u201d Aguilar said.<\/p>\n Aguilar should know. She was on the City Council for eight years.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was on the council, it was: We need money for cops. We needed money for street repairs. We needed money for infrastructure. We need cheaper housing. That\u2019s not limited to Chula Vista. When you rank all of those things in terms of priority, where does a museum end up? It\u2019s not a priority, so it was a struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut on the other hand, history is important,\u201d she added. \u201cHistory is really important because we learn from history.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>One prominent display at the Chula Vista Museum and History Center is a front page from the city\u2019s local newspaper, the Chula Vista Star-News, with the headline \u201cPresident is Mourned.” (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\n\u2018Fill the gap\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>This section of the Chula Vista Museum and History Center is called the “Lemon Room,” displaying photos of the dozens of lemon orchards that dotted the South Bay. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\n\u2018Amazing history\u2019<\/p>\n