Dan Kwong: Manzanar Baseball Livestream at 18th Street Arts Center

Baseball at Manzanar sounds like a contradiction until you learn the history. Japanese Americans incarcerated at the camp during World War II built their own teams and leagues anyway, and that culture is the subject of artist and storyteller Dan Kwong's Manzanar Baseball Project. On Saturday, October 17, 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica hosts a free, day-long livestream gathering built around it.

What the project covers

Kwong's work connects the baseball diamonds at Manzanar to questions that outlast the camp itself: what people build when everything else is taken away, and how that memory moves into communities today. The gathering mixes storytelling and performance with the livestream itself, so it plays less like a screening and more like a community watch party.

Schedule for the day

The event runs from 10 AM to 6 PM, split into segments rather than one continuous program:

• 10:00 AM: Morning Game
• 12:00 PM: Break
• 1:20 PM: Opening Ceremonies
• 2:00 PM: All-Star Game
• 5:00 PM: Closing Ceremony, Obon Dancing

Drop in for a piece of it or stay the whole day. The free admission and the open schedule make this an easy one to work around other Saturday plans.

Getting there

18th Street Arts Center is at 1639 18th Street in Santa Monica, a short drive from the pier and the rest of the city's arts and culture scene. The event is free and open to the public; check the event page for the livestream link closer to the date. For more to do nearby, browse what else is happening in Santa Monica.