<Begin Segment 6>

RP: And, interesting, I think what you said about your father being a successful farmer, enabled, being able to, to buy, purchase land, really essentially in the middle of the Depression is when he bought that ranch.

YW: Uh-huh.

RP: So he must have been successful with his, with his packing house as well.

YW: I think so.

RP: With enough money to...

YW: I think we had a pretty good life then. Because we used to take vacation. In the winter we used to go to San Diego and go fishing. I don't ever remember taking a vacation after we left California, being on the farm.

RP: Is that the winter or the summer?

YW: It was during the winter when we went to San Diego to fish. I guess it was during the break of the crops when one was finished and before the other one was ready. My father, I think was a very talented person also 'cause he built, he built the shed, the packing shed on the farm and he also built the house we lived in. And the house we lived in had canvas shades. And, like I was telling you, when we went on this trip back to the Imperial Valley, we went back there, was it 'bout two or three years ago, we went with a retired Christian minister's group. And we went back to the museum and they had pictures of these houses. And I said, "Oh, I used to live in one of those houses." And they're hoping to be able to build one there for people to see. And because the Japanese people couldn't lease farms for more than three years, they built these homes so that they, they were very mobile and they could put 'em on wagons and they could move 'em from field to field. But I don't ever remember my father ever moving our, our house. But you can see that in the, in the museum where this house is on a wagon where they're moving it.

RP: They're moving it.

YW: And I thought that was kind of interesting.

RP: Interesting. A mobile home.

YW: Uh-huh. A mobile home. And I remember my... for the longest time I wondered why we had... this part of the house was like the living room and the kitchen, the dining room. And then there was a space in between which you can drive through and then the bedrooms were back there. And I thought, for the longest time, I thought the earthquake came and separated our house. But that's how they built it, in different modules.

RP: I see. You could actually drive between the two modules.

YW: Uh-huh. And they're independent so you can lift this one, move it. And you can life this one, and move it. You can put 'em together or you can put 'em separate. Very creative.

RP: It is very creative. Is that... do you think that's something that Japanese American farmers came up with there or was...

YW: I think so. I think, because I think the families helped each other.

RP: 'Cause of the restrictions and... and did you, did you share a bedroom with your sisters?

YW: I can't remember. In Niland, I can't remember.

[Interruption]

RP: What do you recall about living -- I know you were a young age -- but do you have any recollections about the heat of the summers in Imperial Valley and what you did to try to, you did to try to cool off a little bit?

YW: Being small I guess the heat didn't bother me. 'Cause I used to be out in the field with my dad. And I had a dog and I used to feed my dog sugar. But I don't remember it being hot. He was my playmate, I guess. My dog.

RP: You, your father would occasionally hire additional labor on the farm, predominately Mexicans or Hispanics?

YW: Uh-huh. He had a lot of Mexican workers and my dad, my mom would, they would bring us some tortillas for lunch and then my, my mother would give them rice and whatever we were eating in exchange. I can still remember the tortillas were so good. I think beans were wrapped in 'em. I've never had anything like that since, that I could remember. It was so good.

RP: Did they, did you have quarters for them on the farm or did they, would they just come every day and go...

YW: I think they came and went because I don't remember them living near us. But my dad spoke to them in Spanish. So I think they taught him. I don't know whether they learned Japanese, but my father learned Spanish.

RP: As, as somebody said, all the choice words.

YW: Yeah, right. [Laughs]

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.