<Begin Segment 40>

RW: Talking about how you first started to hear about Greenwood Greenhouses. This site here?

KO: Yes, well, we knew this place was in the area, and we'd heard that the gentleman who was running it was getting quite ill. So he wanted to get rid of the business. And then I heard later, perhaps from you, that there were other people who wanted to just buy the land. But he didn't want to sell a business that he'd built up over all these years to a developer, or whoever. And he wanted someone in the greenhouse business; and he knew us by reputation, from having worked at Columbia. And when we approached him, he readily agreed that he would be willing to take a chance on us. And that's how we got started.

RW: Do you remember what your agreement was with him, if you didn't have a lot of funds gathered, how did you decide what would happen with the transfer of the land?

KO: Well, we... of course at that time, I won't even mention how much we paid for the place. But, we agreed to pay so much a year. Which was a very minimal amount in today's terms, but at that time, it seemed like an awful lot. And I think we made every payment except one year, when we couldn't make it, and he let us go that time. So, here again, we had help along the way. But we got him paid off in the time that we agreed to.

RW: And that family's name?

KO: Nishimuras.

RW: The Nishimuras. The information that I had gathered was that, in the 1950s, this space here, this site, Greenwood Greenhouses, was targeted to be open space for the neighborhood, since this neighborhood has traditionally been under served. And the city of Seattle was very interested in purchasing the property from the Nishimuras. And that, they indeed did not want to sell the property to the city, and wanted the business to continue. So the connection with you and your brother, I think was very timely, and also it turned out to be a positive situation for both families.

KO: Yes, I think so. At least it worked out well for us. Unfortunately for Mr. Nishimura, he was not able to enjoy much of his retirement because he was quite ill. And part of that was due to being in this business and probably applying chemicals -- back in those days, you did not have all the protective equipment. And the other part was that he was sleeping in the boiler room in the winter, with an oil burner or a coal burner, whatever the case may be. If it was, when they had coal, he had to feed that fire, and he was breathing those fumes all those years, and it eventually caught up with him. But that's the part that I feel bad about, that he really wasn't able to enjoy his retirement.

AI: Well, just a little clarification again, for people who don't know -- I guess that the reason why there would be a coal or oil burning situation there, is that he would have to be stoking it day and night, because you would need the heat for the greenhouses. Is that correct?

KO: That's correct.

AI: And that's how the greenhouse was heated in those days.

KO: That's right. It was heated by steam or hot water, whichever system you had. And in the wintertime, with the temperatures getting down to freezing or below, you had to keep some kind of a heat in the greenhouse continually.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.