<Begin Segment 4>

MN: Now your parents, what profession were they in?

KI: Well, my father ended up being a nurseryman, did gardening and then we had a nursery. So he did both gardening and then sold plants and things like the plants, shrubs, trees out of the nursery.

MN: And then where was this nursery located?

KI: On University Avenue in Berkeley. It was just below Grove Street, it was between Grove and Grant. Grove Street now of course is now called Martin Luther King.

MN: How big was this nursery?

KI: To me it was huge 'cause... and then our house was a second, two floor house, three floors I guess. And it was all rented and it just seemed like acres... well, I know... I don't know what an acre is. But we used to run around all over my sister and I and just run around among the trees and the shrubs and the flowers and stuff like that. I would say probably it would take two house lots.

MN: Just on the yard?

KI: Well, the house was on the lot, on the front corner of the lot.

MN: That's a pretty big lot then.

KI: Yeah, it was a big lot.

MN: And I can't imagine a nursery on University right now, it's so different. What was University Avenue like before the war?

KI: There were businesses. I think we were between two large garages where people bought in and there were just huge garages. And then there was another store, going up towards the campus there was another business I don't know what it was but on the corner was a laundry, McFarland's Laundry I think it was called. And then going west there was another residence and then another house on the corner that had a big lot. So I would say it was mixture of actual homes and businesses and then of course above Grove Street was all business because two blocks above that was the UC Theater. So there was nurseries and there were drug stores and paint stores, key stores, just all these little stores going all the way up to Shattuck.

MN: Now at your parents' nursery lot, what did they grow?

KI: Well, he had what they called bedding plants, like they have like the color spots now, they have these little box, individual things of plants. I think I remember him calling them bedding plants 'cause they were little starters, they were little starter plants. So on one side he had that and then on the back side, back side of the little store we had the shrubs, little samplings, trees, that kind of things.

MN: And then most of these plants, were they... 'cause your father also did gardening, was it for his gardening business?

KI: I was trying to think about that the other day after talking to you and I think I don't... of course I wasn't home all the time so I don't know if... I'm sure he took it up to his customers when he did gardening but I don't recall people coming in and actually buying it off the street or something like that. But they could have 'cause like I wasn't home and I wasn't aware of those kind of things in those days. The store itself was called University Avenue Nursery and had a little storefront on it, I mean, glass panes and stuff like that. And in that he sold cut flowers. And I remember vaguely going with him to San Francisco or to Oakland to pick up those plants. You know how they still go early in the morning? And I have a vague remembrance of doing that because we never grew flowers but we didn't have a lot. Enough where I guess you could continue selling it. But I remember the biggest thing about the store is since we're so close to the UC campus and when the big game season came my father -- and I don't know if he made it or whether it was made for him -- we had those great big yellow chrysanthemums with the big C on it and it would be out in front of the store and people would buy it.

MN: And talking about the UC Berkeley campus, were you able to go on campus at all?

KI: Oh, yeah, we just walked up there. My sister and I used it as a place to go hunting and playing and hiking and we hiked up to the hills where the big C is now and it was just... we used it just as a place to go to. And it's funny, just think in those days I was probably ten years old because my sister is two years younger and to think we used to walk up there. I don't think you would see kids that age walking now. I don't think their parents would let them. And then to go on the campus, gosh, you don't go into that campus, there's too many people, weird people. But my sister got lost up there one time and we had to call the police 'cause I don't know if... I can't remember if I lost her when we went up there together or if she wandered up there by herself. But I remember her picture got in the newspaper. [Laughs] Anyway, so the campus was more of a playground rather than an educational object for us.

MN: Now I imagine the campus looked a lot different than it does now then? The way you're describing it to me.

KI: Oh, yeah, the basic old buildings are still there but then all the new ones, they just weren't there. Of course the Campanile was there and Wheeler Hall and the library, just the old buildings. But like I said if we walked past them, it didn't make any sense to us and mainly I remember walking under the trees and along the streams crossing the little bridge.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.