Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Kazuko Uno Bill Interview I
Narrator: Kazuko Uno Bill
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: May 7, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-bkazuko-01-0008

<Begin Segment 9>

MA: So is there anything else about your childhood or about South Park that you wanted to talk about or reflect on about the South Park community?

KB: Well, the only thing I could say is that we were disrupted by the expansion of Boeing, and...

MA: When did that happen?

KB: That happened... oh, actually, that happened after I was in high school. So maybe we shouldn't talk about that. Well, anyway, I think you know that the Japanese were not able to own property for a long time, and so our land that we farmed on was rented. And in our case, it was rented by a friend who had an older child who was an American citizen, and therefore he was, I think he must have been over twenty-one, that he was able to rent the land for us. So when Boeing decided to expand, then they took over all this area where the farms were on our side of the river, and we all had to move. So at that point, our family went to another farm further south. It was still, I'm not exactly sure what part of the, whether that area had a name, I guess it was Duwamish. And the other families also scattered to different parts of, the southern part of Seattle.

MA: Did Boeing provide you with any compensation or anything for leaving?

KB: No, because...

MA: They just sort of came in and took over?

KB: Yeah, 'cause we didn't have, we didn't own the farm. So I guess we were not entitled to anything. I really don't know who owned that property. I think we looked at an old map and still couldn't find out who actually owned that property, maybe it was just there.

MA: That seems like a big deal, though, Boeing coming in, it sort of disrupted the community, or scattered it, the South Park community, it seems.

KB: Well, we were just a small part of the community. It was the area east of the Duwamish River. I think from the address, our address, I'm trying to find the exact address, but I know it was in the 8000 East Marginal Way, and I don't know whether East Marginal Way was relocated or what, but the Museum of Flight is on East Marginal Way, it's eight thousand and something, and the Boeing headquarters is in that area also, and I think that's where our farms were, as far as the address goes. And I can't find anything to back up this information. I'm trying to find some old maps, maybe that would help. But even at the Museum of Flight, they had some maps and it just never showed the farms. Anyway, from the old address, then we would have been where Boeing plants are. And that took place quite a while ago.

MA: And what about that sort of central area with the language school and the theater, was that affected by the Boeing encroachment?

KB: No, because that was on the other side of Fourteenth Avenue and I'm not sure what happened to that area. There were a lot of small houses. I guess I should look into it one of these days and see what happened to the language school. I'm sure it's no longer there. Not as a language school, anyway.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.