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MN: Now, what is your birth name?

TS: Thomas Nobuyuki Shigekuni.

MN: Were you delivered by the samba-san?

TS: (Yes). I don't think anyone went to the hospitals in those days. I was delivered right on Thirty-sixth Street near Normandie, at home.

MN: And that, and that section is called Seinan?

TS: (Yes).

MN: What year were you born?

TS: 1929.

MN: Now, what kind of business did your parents run before the war?

TS: They had a nursery.

MN: And how many nurseries did your family have?

TS: At least two or three. I don't quite remember, but they had nurseries.

MN: Do you remember any of your parents' nurseries names?

TS: There was one called Centrose, C-E-N-T-R-O-S-E, that was at Central and Rosecrans, and I think the one at Inglewood was called Inglewood Park Nursery. We were near (the) Inglewood Park (race track).

MN: The racetrack?

TS: (Yes).

MN: Who were your parents' customers? Were they businesses or were they more residential people?

TS: Residential.

MN: And, and yourself, did you attend Japanese language school?

TS: Yes. I was (an) involuntary student. [Laughs] I didn't want to go, but I went.

MN: And where were these classes held at?

TS: At the West Side Church of Christ on Thirty-seventh near Normandie.

MN: Was this every day or just Saturdays?

TS: After school.

MN: After school every day?

TS: (Yes), every day.

[Interruption]

MN: Now, there was this huge earthquake in 1933. I think the epicenter was Long Beach. What happened to the Church of Christ building?

TS: Nothing happened to the Church of Christ building. It was a wooden building, but the grammar school I went to was three stories tall. Thirty-seventh Street School, came down, and after that, when I was in grade school, I was always in a wooden bungalow.

MN: Oh, so it was your grammar school that came down?

TS: (Yes), from three stories they rebuilt it to (a) one story (building). (They) never had a three story building again, to this day.

MN: Now, what was this Seinan area before the war? I know after the war there was a lot of African Americans. What was it like before the war?

TS: Between Exposition and Jefferson and Arlington and Vermont there were a lot of Japanese (restricted covenants in California) which kept Japanese there. I think there were restricted covenants there, too, but they didn't enforce it. And there weren't many blacks there, but later on (the area) became (all) black.

MN: Now, you were born right before the Great Depression. Did your family have a difficult time making ends meet?

TS: (I never experienced any deprivation because we lived as well as any other Japanese people).

MN: But you didn't hear stories of your brother having to go to the dumpster to get food or --

TS: Oh no, nothing like that. My father was always employed as a gardener and he had a lot of customers.

MN: Did your parents, while you were growing up, enroll you in a martial arts class like judo or kendo?

TS: (Yes), kendo and judo, (...) I didn't like either one.

MN: Which, which dojo did you take --

TS: Seinan Dojo on Thirty-sixth Street near Halldale.

MN: And who was your judo and who was your kendo teacher?

TS: Judo (teacher) was Ken Kuniyuki (...). Kendo was (taught by) a guy named Kubota. He became the owner of the Kubota Mortuary later on. He used to be my neighbor on Thirty-seventh Street and Halldale.

MN: As a child, did you ever visit Japan?

TS: Not as a child. I did go (to Japan as a member of) the US Air Force.

MN: Later on in life.

TS: (Yes).

MN: What about your parents? Did they visit (Japan)?

TS: (Yes), they were going to Japan off and on.

MN: So before the war your parents were able to afford traveling to Japan and also afford to have you go to kendo and judo. It sounds like your parents were doing really well in the nursery business.

TS: (...) I don't know how they paid for any of this, because I was too young. I had no knowledge of what kind of income they had.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.