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[This transcript has been extensively edited by the narrator.]

SY: And how much younger was your brother?

GN: My brother was three years younger.

SY: Three years younger. So you grew up fairly close then.

GN: Well, we were three years apart, and I always did feel like I was his guardian. And I was little but they used to call me "Mighty." I was kind of the ringleader in the neighborhood. These big kids would do whatever I told them to do. So anyway, he had protection, you might say. And now we have a little granddaughter, and I was watching her in the ballet, and she's so little and all these other kids are just towering over her. And she's saying, "You do this and you do that, okay?" And then these big kids say, "Okay." And I thought to myself, "Oh, my gosh, she's another little me." So then (her father) said, "Gosh, I wonder where Paloma gets all of that." [Laughs] Anyway, we did a lot of things when we were little. It's a good thing my mother moved there. We lived on a hillside, we rented this house, and it was wonderful. In the springtime. There'd be all this tall grass. There were wild animals, coyotes in the hills and there were all kinds of (animals and) rabbits. Wildflowers and oak trees. So we used to play in the hills. We'd dig forts and we'd make these grass bombs, we had these bomb fights with the neighborhood kids, and there were all kinds of fruit trees (in the neighborhood). We have a big loquat tree out here, and that's from our years of going -- we didn't have a loquat tree of our own -- and we'd go to the neighbor's and we'd sit in the loquat trees and eat the loquats. I'm an expert at eating loquats. I showed Gordon Sato how to eat a loquat. And he was looking at our avocados and he said, "Oh, my gosh, what a way to go to have one of those fall on your head." What a way to go. Yosh is safety conscious, so he wears a hard hat when he goes under the avocado tree." But we had trees. Then we got a dog. That was the saddest thing was to have to leave our little dog Spotty (when we had to evacuate).

SY: Where did you leave him?

GN: Well, one of the first jobs my brother did designing was he designed a dog house. And there was a lot of construction going on, and he'd go and salvage the wood. He made this beautiful dog house for our dog. We had this old shed that was kind of leaning over, and there was a loose board and the dog would crawl underneath the loose board and then (to his doghouse in) the shed. My mother made the dog a nice futon and everything. So our dog was pretty spoiled. Now I know, because my son has oodles of dogs, he loves dogs. (One day he ate our) nokori, our leftovers, he ate our gohan, (rice), he ate our okazu, (or vegetables and meat). It didn't seem like he was ailing in any way.

SY: So did someone take care of him when you left him?

GN: A neighbor took care of him, but he died. He had been hit by a car, too, so he was a little crippled.

SY: So you mentioned that your (brother Lawrence) designed this dog house. When did he become interested in cars? Was that something that he...

GN: Well, he became interested in cars when my mother inherited this '32 Chevy. And she said, well, first thing she has to learn is to learn how to drive that car. So Rosemary Sato taught her how to drive the car, and my mother's a quick learn. She drove down to Little Tokyo (to) San Pedro Garage next door to Union Church, Ralph Nakasugi was the proprietor. San Pedro Garage isn't there anymore, 'cause Ralph has passed away a long time ago. But he went to my grandfather's church in West L.A. My mother took the car there, and I can remember my brother (listening when) he was explaining things, (Mother) said, "I'm going to have to lube and oil change the car, too, so you're going to have to (teach) me, because I'm not going to be able to afford a mechanic." And my brother couldn't see because he was only three. So there was a wood Coke crate, they used to have these wooden Coke crates. It was empty and so he pushed the crate over and he stood on top of the crate and he was watching everything that Ralph told my mother, just taking it all in. He has a wonderful memory, visual memory, too. She told him what to do, and then my mother took the car (home). When it was time to lube the car, (my brother) was there (by her side). And he remembered things that my mother hadn't remembered. "You've got to do that first, Mama," he remembered. And so together they took care of that car. And then he wanted to know more about engines. My mother had had physics and all the hard kind of stuff that (she learned) at L.A. High School. She graduated with honors. You should see her chemistry notebook, I have it around someplace. My son has taught chemistry. Well, he said he (never had) students like my mother. So they learned all about cars and engines.

SY: Did (your brother) learn from your mother then?

GN: He had learned everything about cars from my mother. He knew everything about cars.

SY: So by the time you got to camp...

GN: Yes, then he got a job (in high school after camp and Grand Junction). He got a job at City Ford, an after school job at City Ford, and when he was in high school, started working there in the parts department.

SY: This was before camp?

GN: (It was after camp).

SY: He was in high school, so it (was) after camp.

GN: Yes, it was after camp. But anyway, he learned all about engines. Our neighbor across the street became a world famous race driver, Roger Ward, and he was always tinkering around with racecars. He was older. And then my brother ended up building his winning racecars later on. My brother became (a famous) automobile designer.

SY: So this was your neighbor before camp?

GN: Before camp (and after camp).

SY: So he stayed in touch with him?

GN: Oh, my brother stayed in touch with him. I'll show you a picture of Roger Ward. My brother was building and designing his (race cars). He was (also) on his pit crew, he was the head man on his pit crew. My brother is well-known in the racing industry. He's in the racing hall of fame. He's in the Corvette hall of fame, he's in the Mustang hall of fame, he's in the trucking hall of fame. They have these museums all over. So he's well-known in all those.

SY: So his design, and mainly in design, right? Or he raced as well?

GN: He raced as well. In fact, I have a picture, too. I gave one to the museum but I have another picture of my brother on his Chopstick Special. I have a big picture of that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.