After the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1910, Korean immigrants in America regarded themselves as exiles--a passion that tied Koreans in a single cause. Even those who were not political refugees had relatives who suffered under the Japanese occupation of Korea, and still others had to abandon plans to return home. Japanese occupation riveted immigrant Koreans' attention to news of conditions in the homeland and filled them with such a sense of loss that many did not engage fully with their situation in America. In fact, for some, preoccupation with the Independence Movement served as an effective way to deny the difficulties of the new context; instead of focusing on their material and historical location in America, these immigrant Koreans remained transfixed to conditions in the homeland.

In the two decades after migration was halted, the practice of sending for picture brides became common for Korean men. About 1,000 pictures brides arrived in Hawaii before 1924, and about 100 arrived on the Pacific coast. While the center of the Korean American community remained in San Francisco, there was a gradual migration of Koreans from San Francisco and surrounding rural areas to southern California as there employment opportunities opened up. By the 1930's the leadership of the community had shifted to Los Angeles and the December 22, 1937 move of the Korean National Association of San Francisco offices to a new building located on Jefferson Boulevard in Los Angeles, marked a rise of southern California as the nexus of the Korean American community.