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VY: Okay. So maybe, let's talk about the war. So when the war broke out and Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan, do you know what your family did to prepare? Well, where was your family sent?

NH: To a holding area, Tanforan, on the west side (of the bay). Then eventually we ended up in Topaz. So it was my dad, mother, at that time, two brothers were born, so that's four, my grandmother and grandfather, plus my uncle, so we all lived together in Topaz. I believe they only had ten days, and so they sold off a lot of the equipment, nobody wanted to lease the property, they tried to lease the property. For nursery purposes, nobody wanted to do it. They sold most of the trucks and tractors and stuff, and we had Caucasian employees, they took a lot of our furniture and held it (for us) wherever they had (room), I don't know what else.

VY: So people held onto it or they purchased it?

NH: The furniture?

VY: Yeah.

NH: They just held it for us, pretty loyal employees.

VY: I see. Do you know of any other arrangements that your family might have made with the nursery?

NH: I think there was one guy in particular, Mr. Gomez, we were pretty close, and we grew similar crops. And I believe they left some of the growing stock with him, different varieties that we can later access and propagate.

VY: Okay, so he had to take care of those, the stock?

NH: Right.

VY: What does one have to do to keep that going?

NH: Just water and fertilizer, make sure it doesn't dry up. [Laughs] Simple. But it's time consuming, and to their credit, they're very helpful.

VY: How about, do you know, while your family was in camp, were they able to pay property taxes?

NH: I believe so, because they retained ownership of it, and they rented the house out and retained ownership.

VY: Okay, so they did rent the house out.

NH: Yes.

VY: Okay, but nobody wanted to lease the nursery.

NH: Yeah, at that time, I believe later, it's just in disrepair and everything (vandalized), that people let it go.

VY: So when your father, I guess it was your father and your grandfather were selling off property and personal belongings, did any other nurseries, were they interested in buying any of the equipment or anything like that?

NH: Well, I think they bought the rolling trucks, tractors, whatever, tools, I don't know.

VY: Do you know if they paid a fair price?

NH: I would imagine not, I would imagine not.

VY: Okay. And at this time, what were the other growers like? Were they all Japanese American, were there Italians?

NH: I believe, I don't know why, the East Bay seemed to cluster a lot of Japanese Americans. I don't know the reason why. On the other side, there tended to be a lot more Chinese Americans, west side, I guess. And the Italians growers were, tends to be over there, too, Daly City area.

VY: Did that change over time?

NH: I think just the emergence of the growing population in Oakland, you're kind of forced to leave. And some people did not have such family succession to take over the family, so they just quit outright.

VY: Okay, we'll talk more about that later.

[Interruption]

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.