Densho Digital Archive - Margaret Stanicci Interview (denshovh-smargaret-01-0004)

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RP: So your father, did he start a nursery in Inglewood?

MS: Yes, yes. And actually, I have a book, hmm, which, which had pictures and I guess short resumes of a lot of the Isseis and what they were doing and he was part of that. But it was all written in Japanese, so I couldn't...

RP: I wonder if it was Rafu Shimpo, the Japanese newspaper in Los Angeles, every couple of years would publish like a directory --

MS: Oh.

RP: -- of all the Japanese communities in Los Angeles and southern California. It would list the businesses, it would list like the nurseries and...

MS: With a little description?

RP: Yes.

MS: And then the picture. They must have compiled them.

RP: That might have been that.

MS: Yes.

RP: What do you... this was before you were born that this nursery was going on?

MS: Yes. That was all in Inglewood.

RP: And you said that he, your father built a house there.

MS: Yes, yes. That's all I could remember was that...

RP: And then from there...

MS: Oh, after Inglewood then he was hired by Mr. Bissell and so he was, that was where I was born. And...

RP: Well, did you live, on... the Bissells have an estate? Like...

MS: Yes. We lived actually on a little house above where the Bissells lived. And I had a lot of fruit trees which I just loved. I can still remember the luscious peaches that they had. Yeah, you know, tree ripened peaches? And I feel so sorry for the young people of today because they have never tasted real peaches. Yes, that's... and sweet peas, the peas, if you eat the peas right off the vine they're so sweet. And, yes, that's something. Oh, and my father had bees because it was such a large place, I mean, you could put... so I don't know how many hives he had. But I know that we had honey and, yes, many, many things. And of course we grew things. So it was kind of a shock. We moved when I was six, I guess, to Hollywood. And then we had to buy everything.

RP: So you were pretty self-sufficient at the Bissell estate.

MS: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: Can you describe the, the estate to us? You mentioned the, the orchards or fruit trees.

MS: Yeah, well, I think I was probably too young to have seen the full estate because I heard about the, the grape, the vineyard in, I guess it was Sunland or someplace. But, I remember the walnut orchard which was right there. Because we picked walnuts. You picked them up off the ground after they'd fall. And we're paid a penny a pound. And it was, well, six children and it wasn't real work. We didn't really have to fill so many bags a day or anything. We would just fill the bags. And so I remember the walnuts, that orchard particularly.

RP: What do you recall about the Bissells? Did you...

MS: Yes, you know, it was kind of unfortunate because in the sense, the oldest daughter was Dorothy, and the daughter that was my age was Molly. And... Molly unfortunately died when she went to, I think it was a camp. And since Molly and I had played together all the time it was very difficult for the Bissells, you know, to see me after Molly died and, yes. But Dorothy Bissell had a horse, so we all rode the horse. And they had a horse and buggy and all, everybody had horses at that time. And I remember the wagon wheel. The wagon wheel was taller than I was, so I thought that was huge. And that's another thing, too. Since we, everyone still had horses and then there were a few cars, but I remember the first airplane. We all, anytime we heard anything we would run outside and we'd look up and, you know, just to see the airplane. And now of course you would not, you wouldn't.

RP: What did your father do for Mr. Bissell?

MS: I think he took, helped take care of some of the orchards and all, and check them and see when they needed, I guess, pruning or, I really wouldn't know much of the details, I was too young. But, probably a lot of the help around, whatever needed.

RP: Did you go outside the estate at all as a, as a kid? Do you remember taking any...

MS: I don't think we did, because the estate was so large. I think he owned a couple of mountains or something because I remember going into, it's like a tunnel. And there were little railroad tracks and little... so I think they had done some mining. And, let's see, where was... and that was one of the... we explored a lot. And I don't think I ever went to the whole estate. But, that was a, a very good time of my life. Because I would, we all ran around barefoot and nature was such a comfort and, oh what, it was like that's our natural habitat. And we, I can still remember if there was any tension in the house, I could just go outside and, you know, you sit on a rock or climb a tree. And then nature was always so soothing that it got you back to normal. It was...

RP: A natural tranquilizer.

MS: Uh-huh. It was, it normalizes you so that when you get off center, you know, you can... And I'll just never remember, I'll always remember that part. It's... and then there were little arroyos, little dry creeks that we would go in so. And I think going barefoot gave a very special, kind of a direct connection to the earth. You know when you wear shoes you're insulated. And I can remember the warm sand in the arroyo, and that was good. So, and then of course we climbed the trees. And we had a pepper tree that was next to our house, and there was a, let's see, there must have been a little shed or something built next to the house. And we could climb up and grab the, I guess somebody must have pulled some of the long pepper tree branches, and we would swing on them and just swing and then jump off. So there was, and we'd climb trees. It was just... later, when I saw the elementary school shifts that had taken place and they had paved all of the playgrounds and they had moved... everything was static. You had, you had to climb, what do they call them? Monkey bars or something. But, you see it's static and so when you learn the distance, you know, to grab, your body is learned and you don't learn anything else. But if you're climbing a tree there's always a different way of climbing a tree. And you can hang onto different branches as you go up and you can do different things. And I just felt that there was a, hmm, creative... well, there was a loss of exploring potential maybe, of a child, a young child, growing child. And...

RP: Did you start school while you were at the estate?

MS: No, because I was too young. But one day I remember, I think my mother must have been, I don't know whether she was ill or busy, but my oldest sister had to take care of me, so she just took me to school. And I slept... I remember sleeping under the desk and it was... and we walked. It was two miles down and two miles back. So, they had a good -- now that's good exercise, too, which young children today don't have. You're taken in a car, so... I think a lot of the natural things are lost now, uh-huh.

RP: The house that the family lived in on the Bissell estate...

MS: Uh-huh.

RP: Did you have indoor plumbing or electricity?

MS: Yes, that one did, uh-huh, yeah. In, I know in... and I don't know in the older house. But my I know my brother knew some of the other ones mentioned.

RP: Were there any other families that also lived on the estate?

MS: No.

RP: Just...

MS: Oh, I think there were other workers but I didn't, yeah, I didn't see them or... I must, or maybe I saw them but I didn't pay any attention to them. Yes.