<Begin Segment 41>

TI: And what about the population, the number of Japanese in Walnut Grove?

LW: Well, every year it went down because all the kids that go to college, they never come back or working out in Sacramento, they find a house.

TI: And so if you looked at the population of Walnut Grove Japanese before the war...

LW: Before the war, yeah.

TI: ...it was about, what, five hundred or so?

LW: Yeah, easy. I think so. I don't have a right count, but I think it's roughly, because every place you go is all Japanese.

TI: And then when you came back about ten years after the war, so about 1955, '56?

LW: Yeah, something like that.

TI: About how many Japanese would you say were there?

LW: Well, still, it was not bad, the family was still there. Not too many, but it wasn't that bad.

TI: But maybe, what, half or...

LW: Yeah, I figure half, about half.

TI: Okay, about half. And then you're saying that, but every year, it gets smaller and smaller.

LW: Smaller and smaller, yeah.

TI: And why is that? Why did it keep getting smaller?

LW: Because all the family, the younger generation, they all moved out because, one thing was bad was when they came back, I guess they couldn't own the property.

TI: Well, so that's why I'm wondering --

LW: So that's the reason a lot of people didn't build homes out that way.

TI: Yeah, so was part of the reason it got smaller was that some Japanese moved out just to buy property maybe in the surrounding area where they could buy?

LW: And you figured if there's no younger generation, there's no future there, you know what I mean, business-wise and everything. It's nice for the older people, it's seen as a nice place to retire. Nice and quiet, there's no crime and anything. One thing is, you know, impressed me, is they never locked the door, front door. You know, that seven hundred thousand dollar home, that colored lady? I said, "Oh, did anybody dare to let me in?" Said, "No, the front door's open, just go help yourself and take a look." That's how she was.

TI: Yeah, so that small town. Now, like the school, did it remain as a Oriental School after the war?

LW: No, it was, that school was the same as when I was going to that school. Only thing, they changed the name... what was it?

TI: To just the Walnut Grove Elementary School?

LW: Yeah, they took the "Oriental" out. It was, name was Oriental School, so they took the "Oriental" out.

TI: So it just became "the school."

LW: Yeah, now the white people go to it, so everybody go there.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.