Densho Digital Archive - Ann Sugimoto Interview (denshovh-sann-01-0008)

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RP: During the Depression you moved out from the city to Venice.

AS: Yeah. And my dad, for a man, Japan and all, he was kind of far-sighted because, well, the farmers in this area, they just kind of lived in the, like little better than the camp what do you call, like the house. But we always lived in the city, and so he thought, "Why pay rent?" You know, it's high rent, so he looked in the paper and saw this house. It's a craftsman house right on Venice Boulevard there, widening it. And the two of 'em there, still remember, he says, "Gonna go, there's two houses you could buy it for," with five hundred dollars, I think. So he's gonna let us choose. Imagine, craftsman? So we went out there and we chose a house, but what was expensive was moving that to...

RP: The farm.

AS: Yeah, because you know how big, with the gables and all. And for a Japanese man, he's really kinda, kind of up there. So he moved it there and I know he had to, that was costly. I don't know, I guess he had some money left after he lost all those building. He lost those twenty-three building, I mean stores, but he must have had something, and he had to pull there, then he had to have electrician. And he did part of it himself. I guess they're not that strict yet. It was Venice then.

RP: What was Venice like then? What do you remember?

AS: Oh, it...

RP: One big farm?

AS: Yeah, Venice was okay. We were... and he put my mom's, she had to have lawn, so my father put a lawn in front and put trees so we don't get all that dust around. And the people around thought we were rich. I said, "No, we were poor. That's why we had to move there (...)," but my mom, she's that way. We had a lawn put in the front, all that. She didn't like dirt, even to farm. And so I said, "Oh, no," but my father knew we couldn't... there is, there was little shacks there that farmers lived in, but he knew that he couldn't put, put city people right into there, so he bought this craftsman house. It was such a nice house, but imagine doing that. (...) Venice Boulevard and to, god, they had to cut couple of things. I don't... a person that's from Japan, but I guess he was that way, my father. Later on in life he, since they would not let people, I mean Japanese people into the country here, he wanted his relatives to move to South America, Brazil. But of course we were in school, we weren't gonna move to Brazil. He went down there. He helped, he helped... and the country, Japan, helped a lot of people, citizen, move to Brazil, which they did. And we did go visit my father's nephews and stuff down there.

RP: I guess one of his younger brothers moved to Brazil.

AS: Yeah, and those kids, too, they did... like here, because they were not prejudiced down there. All the kids, when my sister and I, we went to, she went there a couple times, we went to see them, and right away those kids, they got brains, so Brazilian government, long as you, they provide the food, you know, stay in dorm, those kids got to go to university free. University of Sao Paulo. And, gee, they're either doctors or engineers. See, they weren't like here.

RP: They embraced the race...

AS: Oh, yeah. In fact, my sister says Brazil, all the Japanese people that went there, they, they're the one that provided all the food, not only coffee, but produce and orchards. Isn't that something? I didn't know that. People there... well, Brazilians, I mean not all, but they're lazy. I guess... all that land there.

RP: Did your father put money up for them?

AS: Yeah, he helped them. That's how -- I mean, that's why I was wondering why we never lived, like, real rich or anything. [Laughs] But we lived okay.