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BN: And then how old were you when the family did go back to California?

NN: I was... let's see. I was to enter the first grade, so I guess that would make me about six or seven.

BN: You entered the first grade in California?

NN: Yes.

BN: And then before coming to L.A., you said they spent a year in Hanford?

NN: Oh, right.

BN: So you went to first grade there?

NN: Yes, out in the country. And I guess what happened was that my pop, he received an offer to work in the defense industry in Los Angeles, so I guess the El Segundo area where they have Lockheed and Garrett and all of that. So he worked for a company for, I think, called Garrett Air Research, and before we could actually set up residency in L.A., I guess he wanted to get things established, like his work, job and whatnot. So when we came from Chicago to California, and we drove across, and we went straight to Hanford to stay with my grandma. So my dad would, during the week, he would work in L.A., and at that time, he stayed with some of his Nisei buddies in an apartment, and on the weekends he would drive back to Central Cal to be with family. So again, he did this commute for like a year, and maybe half a year, I'm not sure. But I remember I went to school in Hanford, California. And then he was able to purchase a house out here in Crenshaw area, Seinan area. So that's where we moved to, and Hanford was nice because next door to my baachan's house where we lived, my uncle Roy, he had two kids, my cousin Denny and my cousin Jerry, and across the street, Uncle Ray had three boys. So there were seven Nagatani boys, but no girls. And my younger brother eventually was born in Hanford, so there'd be eight of us.

BN: All boys?

NN: All boys.

BN: What was the age range?

NN: Let's see. The oldest was Mike, who was a year older than Patrick, so that he was four years my elder, my brother was three years, my cousin Tony, he was like two years my elder, then I'm right there, and my cousin David's a year younger than me, and my cousin Gerry is a year younger than David.

BN: So you're all... but then you left that after not too long.

NN: Yes. But during the year, we'd always go back for, they had a picnic, Hanford picnic, because there's a pretty big JA community there.

BN: In Hanford?

NN: Yes. Or that area. So we'd have like a JA picnic that we went to every year, and we'd go back there for New Year's, special occasions. So I knew my cousins and my baachan.

BN: Were your parents active in, kind of, community organizations or their churches or kenjinkai or anything like that?

NN: In Hanford?

BN: Well, in either place, or in any of the places they lived?

NN: No.

BN: Or JACL or anything like that?

NN: No. My pop didn't join anything. The one year ago, I guess I was playing in the JA Japanese American Athletic Leagues, and I was, the organization that I was part of was like the Tiger organization, so I guess he felt that he should contribute, so he became president of the Tigers for one year. It was only until after my baachan passed away that they became temple members at Senshin. My mother, who is very, very social, I think it was like a, if it was up to her, she would have probably been starring at East West. She liked to perform, but I think all that was pretty suppressed, because my dad, my father, as far as he was concerned, that there was no one but my mom. And I guess that could be kind of suffocating at times.

BN: So did she work outside the home while you guys were growing up?

NN: You know, he wanted her to be at home at the time, but when we, I guess, finally when Scott, my younger brother, graduated high school, like mission accomplished, so she went and worked as an office manager for L.A. Unified.

BN: This is quite a few years later.

NN: Yes.

BN: And then you said your dad had gotten this job with Garrett, you said?

NN: Yes.

BN: So is that what he did, pretty much, in L.A. when you were growing up?

NN: Uh-huh.

BN: Was he still doing the draftsmen type work?

NN: Yeah, I think he called it, like, being a tool designer.

BN: Okay.

NN: And they would design tools for the aerospace.

BN: Sure. And he worked, he commuted to El Segundo from Crenshaw?

NN: Yes.

BN: And did you have family also in L.A. at that time?

NN: No.

BN: So you're kind of down here, just your family? But even then, right, Crenshaw has a large Japanese community.

NN: Huge.

BN: Is that part of the reason, I assume that had something to do with them choosing to live there?

NN: From what I know, is I think the first place my father, my pop, looked into for our residence was Westchester. But because of the redlining and the covenants, residential covenants, that we ended up in Crenshaw, which is the same for just about everybody, Crenshaw/Boyle Heights.

BN: Gardena.

NN: Gardena was even later.

BN: Because Westchester would have been more convenient for him work-wise.

NN: Yes.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.