<Begin Segment 26>

TI: So I'm going to move back to December 7, 1941. You mentioned earlier how you were away for basketball. I'm curious, when you got back to Walnut Grove, so people had heard the news, what was Walnut Grove like? What was the reaction, what were people talking about when you got back to Walnut Grove?

LW: Gee, I don't recall anything like that. Because I think we were too young to worry about... not like the older people. Because they have business.

TI: And so do you recall anything your mother or father said about what might happen to the family or anything like that?

LW: No. Only time we had notice was evacuation came. That's the time... we didn't know what to do, the family didn't know what to do, whether to sell the business or take a chance and keep it.

[Interruption]

TI: So, Louie, so we're talking about right after the outbreak of war, earlier we had talked about how all the land was owned by the Dye and Brown families, and that the Japanese were just leasing the land, and they had their operations. So when the orders came, that, okay, so people have to leave, what happened in Walnut Grove? I mean, what did all the businesses, people who had houses, what happened?

LW: Well, the first thing, people didn't know what... so they put a sign, "For sale" sign. Not the house, but the merchandise, because they got to get rid of the merchandise within a couple weeks. But like our places, we got nothing to sell except for the restaurant and rooming house. So we were debating whether to lease, lease it to somebody that you know, but we didn't have anybody that could take that over.

TI: Now, in terms of... so your parents, your business was a little bit different in that it catered to a lot of whites. So I'm guessing, during the war, that still could have thrived, I mean, with boarders, with the restaurant.

LW: Someone was... I'm not, recall, but someone was running the place, but I guess it didn't work out. You know, nobody wants to put in that kind of long hours. Not like the Japanese, my parents, I mean, they didn't make any money, but at least they make a living. That's what the difference is now.

TI: 'Cause earlier you mentioned, I think, that you sold the place for two thousand dollars.

LW: Yeah.

TI: Do you have a sense of what that place was worth? If the war had not happened and they wanted to sell it, how much would it have been worth as an ongoing business?

LW: Well, that's what I can't understand, why my parents didn't ask how much, like you say, how much it's worth. What I found out was they say they sold that place. And we were too little, so we didn't worry too much about it. Because they didn't expect to come back.

TI: Now, do you remember people from outside the area coming in to buy things from...

LW: No, not like, I didn't see anything like that. But, see, some of those people, like Joe Ina's place, the Matsuoka family, they give 'em a rent-free stay there to keep the place. So they came out good. It's just like new when they came back. They got a place to stay. But a lot of people, they just boarded up and took a chance, hoping that the building will be still there when they come back. Because we didn't know when we were going to come back.

TI: But in your case, your family decided to sell the place. Now, I'm guessing that you still had more stuff than you could bring.

LW: Yeah.

TI: What did you do with the extra?

LW: We just left it there with whoever bought the place. Everything, the bed, equipment, everything, went with the house. So actually, when you come down to it, really, you know, we got robbed. Two thousand dollars for a business place, no way.

TI: And when this was all happening, what, how did your parents deal with it?

LW: Well, they didn't talk too much about it. Not to us, but I guess they didn't really know what to do with it. Because we didn't have too many relatives in the United States.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.