<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Why did your parents decide to move down to Santa Monica?

FN: Because that lumber mill was gettin' kind of depression and was kind of, wasn't running full force. So that's enough to support the family. So my cousin told us to move down to Los Angeles, Santa Monica.

RP: And what was your cousin's name?

FN: George Nakatsuka. That's my mother's brother's son.

RP: So you kind of had an interesting trip down to, to Santa Monica. You, you had an old Essex?

FN: Yeah.

RP: And how did that work out? There was nine of you. Did you all fit in there?

FN: We did. We had to fit in there. Yeah, then we had the big stuff packed in the back and on top and Depression, like in Grapes of Wrath. I mean, that's how I always, what I thought. And our big, big family like that the kids they want to, they want to stop over here and there so it took us a week to get down to Santa Monica from Washington.

RP: And you said that you lived, you worked for your cousin for a while.

FN: Yeah.

RP: And did you live at his house?

FN: Yeah, uh-huh.

RP: What kind of a change was it for you from going from Washington, a little wetter, a little cooler, down to Santa Monica?

FN: Oh, I don't know. It's sort of a country to a big town. It's, it was nice.

RP: Fred, did you do the driving on the way down from Selleck?

FN: Yeah.

RP: And can you, did you have a license?

FN: No, but, well, I had a license before we were leaving Washington I was close to sixteen, but we went to Olympia to get the license, but they say you have to be sixteen before they can give you a license. But I say I found a good guy that says, "You lie to me that you're sixteen and I'll give you a license." So I don't think you'll find good guys like that anymore. So I was sixteen and my mother and the kids didn't trust my dad's driving so I did all the driving myself.

RP: Wow, a lot of driving. That's about...

FN: Huh?

RP: That's about a thousand-mile trip.

FN: Yeah.

RP: And so you, you attended Santa Monica High School?

FN: Uh-huh.

RP: And what kind of student were you?

FN: Oh, I think I was smart. I think I was one of top two, one or two people. I think they all looked up to me being one of the smartest so I don't think I was a dumbbell.

RP: Did you participate in sports in high school too?

FN: No. I had to come back and help with the...

RP: The market.

FN: ...market, yeah.

RP: And where was the market located in Santa Monica?

FN: On Pier Avenue?

RP: Pier Avenue?

FN: Uh-huh.

RP: Was there a, was there a significant Japanese American community in Santa Monica at the time that you were here?

FN: No.

RP: How about Venice?

FN: Well, there was a Japanese next door. There was about two or three families in our vicinities but, as I say, they all mind their own business so we never did associate too much. We all too busy working or...

<End Segment 5> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.