Densho Digital Archive - Fred Oda Interview (denshovh-ofred

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TI: Okay, so, Fred, we're going to start. So today is Wednesday, November 19, 2008, and we are doing an interview with you in Kizuka Hall in Watsonville. Running the camera is Dana Hoshide.

FO: Dana.

TI: Dana. And I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda. And so Fred, let's start off, and can you just tell me when and where you were born?

FO: I was born in 1923 in Watsonville, California, by a Japanese midwife.

TI: By any chance, do you know the name?

FO: Yeah, Mrs. Enomoto.

TI: Now was that a pretty common thing, to be...

FO: Yeah, those days, yeah.

TI: And when you said you were, you had a midwife, so were you born at your family's home?

FO: Home, yeah.

TI: Okay. And where was that home located?

FO: It's 186 Main Street.

TI: And was that pretty much where the Japanese community was?

FO: Yeah, that's... well, they used to call it Chinatown, but the Chinese, Japanese, and later the Filipinos.

TI: Oh, so that's interesting. They called it Chinatown because before the Japanese, did the Chinese live there?

FO: Yeah.

TI: So both, they were there before and...

FO: Well, before, the Chinese used to live near where city hall was now, but they chased them across the bridge, yeah. [Laughs]

TI: And you say "they chased them," who chased the Chinese across the bridge?

FO: Well, you know, the Caucasian people. Then Mr. Porter, he had a ranch over there, and he told them, "Come to my place," so Chinatown was formed on Porter Avenue, or Porter Street, I guess.

TI: Oh, that's interesting. So why did Mr. Porter do that?

FO: Well, I guess he was a good-hearted man. Then after that, the Chinatown caught fire so they came back, back to town again. Lower Main, just nearby the river, and that's where they started, and the Japanese settled in there, that area.

TI: Okay. That's interesting, I didn't know about that. So when you were born, what was the name given to you at birth?

FO: Utaka.

TI: And then the spelling's a little bit interesting, it's U-T-A-K-A, Utaka.

FO: [Laughs] I don't know on my birth certificate how it's written.

TI: Okay. And then siblings. Do you have brothers and sisters?

FO: Yeah, two brothers...

TI: Let's do it in order. Let's start with your oldest, I guess, sister.

FO: Yeah, my sister Jean.

TI: And she was born in 1921?

FO: Yeah, someplace there.

TI: And then you were number two, and you were born in 1923. And then after you, who was next?

FO: John. I don't know when he was born.

TI: I think 1926 was John. And then after John was...

FO: Jack.

TI: Jack, and he was born in 1927. And then after Jack you had Jane.

TI: Jane, and she was born in 1936. So there are two, four, five kids.

FO: Yeah, five.