In the plaza outside the San Bruno BART station, between the mall and the rail line, a granite-and-bronze memorial commemorates the 8,000 people of Japanese descent — two-thirds of them American-born citizens — who were held at Tanforan from April to October 1942. The centrepiece is a sculpture by Sandra Shaw and Steve Holland of the three Mochida children waiting with their identification tags, recreating Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph.
The memorial was dedicated in September 2022 after a long campaign by survivors and descendants. Interpretive panels describe how the racetrack stalls were converted into family "apartments" — still smelling of horses, with whitewashed walls and bare concrete — and trace the journey of those held here to the more permanent camps at Topaz, Utah, and elsewhere. It is a quiet, dignified site and well worth ten minutes if you are passing through.