California State Military Department

The California State Military Museum

A United States Army Museum Activity

Preserving California's Military Heritage

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Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields

Burbank Prisoner of War Processing Station

(Including Griffith Park Internment Camp, Griffith Park Photographic Center, and Griffith Park Experimental Laboratory)

 

Located on what was previously a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp established on 12 May 1934 (Project SP-21 manned by Company 1917) and later an Immigration and Naturalization Service (then part of the Department of Justice) Alien Detention Center, this installation was originally designated a Prisoner of War Enclosure known as the Griffith Park Interment Camp (Temporary) by Headquarters, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army on 19 February 1942. The camp is described as being organized into two compounds that were surrounded by fences and guard towers

Further construction of the camp was completed and reported by the War Department on 10 September 1942. The camp was transferred from the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army to the Commanding General, 9th Service Command on 14 December 1942. The Army's Station List for 1 June 1943 list the following units garrisoning the installation:

 

• 314th Military Police Escort Guard Company (Army Service Forces)
• Service Command Unit 1937 (Griffith Park Internment Camp, Army Service Forces)
• Service Command Unit 1996 (9th Service Command Military Police Station, Army Service Forces)
• Service Command Unit 1997 (Administrative Supply and Service Center, Army Service Forces)

The camp was then redesignated as a Prisoner of War Processing Station by the War Department on 14 July 1943 and was discontinued on 3 August 1943. Prisoners were initially received here from the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation and then moved to other Prisoner of War Camps in the West. Those thought to have valuable information were sent to an interrogation center at Camp Tracy at Byron Hot Springs.

Soon after the Prisoner of War Center was closed the Army established Griffith Park Photographic Center on 9.1 acres of the western portion of the reservation and the Griffith Park Experimental Laboratory utilizing remaining 18.76 acres on the central and eastern part of the former interment camp. Both activities utilized talented personnel from nearby films studios in nearby Burbank and Hollywood to process photographs and to develop and test new camouflage systems and techniques.

On 30 August 1947. The Los Angeles City Council passed Resolution 117 terminating the lease for all except 1.46 acres of the Experimental Laboratory effective the following day. The Army paid Los Angeles $1,400,000 in lieu of restoration. The remaining 1.46 acres was returned to the City of Los Angeles on 15 July 1949.

On 26 December 1947, the City of Los Angeles terminated the lease with the Army for the former Photographic Center. The Army paid the City of Angeles $7.900,000 in lieu of restoration.

Today, there are no remains of this installation and it has been covered over by the City of Los Angeles's Travel Town Museum.

Sources

1. Historical Data Card: Prisoner of War Processing Station, Burbank California, Center of Military History, Washington DC

2. Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) Program Files

Undated 10 January 2012.

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