<Begin Segment 23>

TI: The last topic I have on my list, so I mentioned earlier how I saw your old house, and it's a magnificent old Victorian. And on the sign there, they said they're going to try to restore it. And it's the Hirahara-Redman, I think, restoration project. So how do you guys feel about them trying to restore that old, that old house? How do you feel about that?

EN: I thought it will never get restored, but they at least lifted it up, so it's still in one piece. And they said that the woodwork on the bottom is the, it's made out of redwood so it's just like new under there. Because if it was another kind of wood, it would crumble, the house, when they try to lift it up. So I was happy that, that they did that much so they're gonna, little by little, maybe they'll get to restore that.

TI: Because more than -- I read their pamphlet -- more than just restoring the house, it's the ten acres next to it, they want to make it into kind of this... oh, what's this, like a sort of farm to show people. And make that kind of like a museum kind of place. And I imagine part of that would be the history of your family, that they'll want to also talk about, and Japanese Americans. So it sounds like a pretty exciting project.

EN: Yes. We probably won't see it because we're of age, but the younger ones probably, you know, might. But we're all getting older. [Laughs]

TI: Well, in your, in your dreams, what would you like to see that property be used as? I mean, how would you like it to look like in, say, twenty years from now? What would your hope be?

EN: Well, I hope it helps people at school learn a lot of things that happened in the olden days, living on the farm like that. Hopefully everything turns out.

TI: How about you, Yoshiko, anything that...

YN: You know, at first we were so sad because the house looked so terrible. But as days went by after this interview with that restoration, kind of made me think, gee, maybe we should go and talk about it so the kids will remember. 'Cause we never told our kids any, any of this, what we're talking about.

TI: I think it's really, really a great opportunity because I think, after the house is restored, it's going to be so striking because it's right next to the highway, then they have that demonstration farm. So you're right, I think lots of children will go there to look first at the house, because it's so interesting, they'll learn about the farming. And I think there's a potential there to also talk about your family's history. And I think by talking about your family's history, they can also learn about the Japanese and Japanese Americans in Watsonville and what happened to them. So I think it's a very powerful learning opportunity, so it makes a lot of sense to me.

EN: One day they asked me to go to a third-year, third grade class, to talk about that house. So I went, and then the teacher said they never saw the kids so silent, you know, and listen so much like they do with them, they had to study and everything. But that day, she said they asked all kinds of questions about that house.

TI: And I'm curious, what kind of questions did they ask? Did you have pictures of the house for them to look at and things like that?

EN: Well, they knew where it was, the kids. That why where I was working for a little while, they come there. That's where they give out food to poor people, I was working there, being the pantry manager there for a while. And the kids come and said, "Oh, that's the lady that came to class." [Laughs]

TI: Well, I'm guessing, one question they ask, did they ever ask you if the house was haunted? Did anyone ask that?

EN: Yeah, they did ask. [Laughs]

TI: And what did you answer?

EN: I said, "No." We were all living in there.

TI: When I go to classrooms, those are the kind of questions that I can see kids asking.

YN: Someone asked me that recently: "is that house haunted?" [Laughs]

TI: Well, it looks like it could be a great haunted house for Halloween or something, because it's right there. In fact, that would probably make a lot of money, if you guys were fixing it up. Oh, good.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.