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MA: So your father, he was born in California?

CT: He was born in Stockton.

MA: Stockton. What were his parents doing at the time?

CT: You know, I'm not really sure. I think they were also doing something in agriculture. But conditions were really poor, and so then he, my grandfather and grandmother then moved the family down to the Los Angeles area and they lived in Orange County. And so that's where he kind of went to high school and grew up.

MA: And then how did he meet your mother?

CT: I think, let's see... let me backtrack. My father was lucky enough to be able to go to Berkeley back in that time. And then he was never able to graduate. He was in his last semester before graduation and then the Depression hit, so then he left school and went down to Orange County to help the family. And he and my mother met probably at a party or something. 'Cause she was, they had moved down and she was living in Los Angeles.

MA: Had she moved with her family?

CT: The whole family. My grandfather sold all the farm equipment and then he bought this old Model T and they packed everything up in the Model T and they drove to Los Angeles. And the family stories are he didn't, they didn't have a map. And then we've heard stories from my grandfather and my aunts and uncles that they drove over a pass here called Loveland Pass, and they all had to get out and move the rocks out of the road so the car could go up over the road and then make it the rest of the way. So anyway, they moved there. And then my grandfather did gardening and was in, owned a flower shop and things like that.

MA: Do you know why your grandfather decided to leave Colorado?

CT: Farming was really hard. It was kind of difficult to raise a family. And then the other men that came with him, instead of coming this way, you know, after the earthquake, I was saying that they, they went on down to Los Angeles. And then my grandfather came this way because he had relatives here.

MA: Okay, so then he decided to go back to Los Angeles.

CT: To Los Angeles, and then start some kind of work or business there.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.