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SY: This area became known as Oriental Gardens, because you had gardens and a florist shop there, became a business. But what made this area, why did, why was it called Oriental Gardens?

MN: Well, I'm not sure. But I think it was because there weren't very many nurseries in that time. And I think the Oriental Gardens was probably was the one, one and only, maybe. So all the people that were building houses needed to have shrubs and they would come and buy shrubs and the trees, and so they could transplant them into their homes.

SY: Your father's property and business became pretty well-established, so much so that he eventually gave up his Japanese birthright and property in 1918, and bought the Lake City property in the name of his American-born son, George. Why do you think he was so successful in his business?

MN: Well, he was very ambitious, and he had something to sell that customers needed. And I think he, he just got successful. He was a pleasant person, and he got along with his public very nicely.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.