Horse stables were converted to living areas, 500 new barracks were built in the parking lot and single males were housed in the existing grandstand building.

Like the Burbank Airport, there was a camouflage net put over detention camp as the center operated under military contract.

Large venues that could be sealed off were used such as fairgrounds, horse racing tracks and Works Progress Administration labor camps.

These temporary detention facilities held Japanese Americans while permanent concentration camps were built-in more isolated areas.

The order had all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California to surrender themselves for detention.