The Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme for 2024 was Many Voices, celebrating our diverse and rich history. Japanese immigrants began arriving in our area in the late 1800s, and by the 1930s were the dominant labor force in the harvesting and processing oysters for the area’s important industry. Pictured here is the “opening room” of the J.J. Brenner company, located where the Bayview Thriftway is now.
Asahel Curtis photo, 1910, courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 1943.42.19970
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024