february 1942
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the forced removal and wartime incarceration of San Francisco’s entire Japanese American community. Japanese American families were required to register at the YMCA before their forced removal to incarceration camps. On April 28, the building was padlocked and its keys were entrusted to the Metropolitan YMCA.
may 11, 1942
A total of 891 residents of Japanese ancestry reported to the Buchanan YMCA to register and board buses bound directly for the temporary Tanforan Assembly Center. Under strict limits set by the authorities, evacuees were permitted to carry only two bags of essential belongings. In a display of solidarity, neighbors stepped forward to safeguard the possessions left behind.
1942
The Buchanan building was rented to the USO for $225 per month as a center for African American troops.
July 1942
Following the removal of the Japanese American community, the National YMCA officially transferred administrative control of the empty 1530 Buchanan Street facility to the San Francisco YMCA Metropolitan Office to oversee its rapid transition into a wartime USO center.
