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MN: How long were you at Mandeville Canyon?

HF: Two years.

MN: And then from there you went to Pacific Palisades?

HF: Yes.

MN: And you were saying your father was able to somehow move the house from Mandeville Canyon to Pacific Palisades, is that correct?

HF: Yes.

MN: And your father used to strap lima beans and zucchini onto his Model T touring car, and you would go downtown with him. Is that what you used to do?

HF: Yeah, down to the market.

MN: Now, on the way back from the market, your father found some palm seeds on Wilshire Boulevard. Tell me about that.

HF: Oh, on the way back from the market, I saw this pile of palm tree seed under the palm tree. This is not the palm tree that you used to, palms, this is a, what they call a cocoa palm, and the seeds are about the sides of your thumb. I don't know how many hundreds of seeds there were under the tree. So he went to ask the lady if he could have the seeds, and the lady said, "Yes, you could have the seeds." So we filled up the boxes and brought the seeds home. And then my father planted the seeds in a flat, one next to the other, and I guess it takes about a couple months, and they sprouted. So then my father decided he was gonna quit farming. He was gonna, he was gonna go in the nursery business. So we were able to stay in the Pacific Palisades another about two years. And then he moved the house from the Pacific Palisades down to Chautauqua, along the Pacific Coast Highway, along California Incline, and along Wilshire Boulevard. And then made a sharp turn on Lincoln Boulevard, and went south on Lincoln Boulevard 'til we got to Marine Street. And when we got to Marine Street, we made a left turn and went about two blocks, and we came to the property that my father found that the Japanese had, was growing flowers. And they vacated the property, so my father was able to lease that ground. So he had five acres of ground to start a nursery. So after the palm trees got large enough to transplant, they transplanted them into flats. Then they put them in small pots, then from small pots, they planted into gallon cans. Then from gallon cans, they planted the palm trees in the field. So I don't know how many hundreds of palm trees he planted out in the field, but when the nursery started, got to be a sellable size, it was the Depression. So he would load up the truck with nursery starts and sell them, but he would come home with a full load. So in the meantime, I was... the first thing he did after they moved to, after he got settled, they got settled, they plant azaleas, I mean, asters along the road between the house and Fruitland Avenue. And then that was their first cash crop. And he took the, he got the asters and bunched 'em, and then there was a growth of asparagus fern on the roof. So they must have trimmed them and bunched them, and he took them to the flower market to sell them. He took 'em in a basket, and he came back. (Ed. note: Jimmy Fukuhara said, in this explanation, that his brother was reverting to an earlier time, even before the parents started farming in Fruitland.)

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.