On July 27, 1959, construction began on the Federal Building at 650 Capitol Mall between 6th and 7th Streets in Downtown Sacramento. Then Governor Pat Brown spoke at the ceremony to mark the occasion. The Sacramento Bee newspaper’s cover story for this day stated that the “New Skyline Will Erase Slums Area.” It was a joyous occasion for some, but its construction by the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency was at the cost of many communities in Sacramento’s Downtown area, then known as the West End. In the area that would become the John E. Moss Federal Building was Sacramento’s Japantown, a thriving Japanese community that had roots in the West End since the 1880s. The community there was still in the process of recovering from returning to Sacramento since their forced removal and internment during the Second World War. In January 1957, neighborhoods were vacated in the West End, buildings and homes were demolished, and it left communities displaced. Housing options were also limited due...