00:00:00Lucy Wheeler: Today is November 16th, 2022, on behalf of the North County Oral
History Initiative Project. We’re here at the Nagata Farm, in Oceanside
bordering on Fallbrook and Bonsall. My name is Lucy Wheeler, and let’s go inside
and meet them! (Lucy is initially on a balcony or deck, then moves inside to
meet the Nagatas)
Lucy Wheeler: Good morning.
George and Alethea Nagata (both nod) Good morning.
Wheeler: It’s so nice to be here, and I’d like to introduce you to our audience.
Um, on our left we have Mr. George Nagata.
George Nagata: Yep. (nodding)
Wheeler: And Alethea Nagata, Nagata. (Mrs. Nagata nods) Um, they are second
generation of four generations—
George Nagata: (nodding) Yes, correct.
Wheeler: —and we would love to hear your story, about how your families came to
America, to the United States, and mostly just about how you’ve managed to live
to your age. So let’s begin by where
00:01:00you were born, and what year, and then just briefly an introduction about how
your ancestors came here. It’s your story, but predominantly setting the stage
with your history. Do you want to go first, George?
George Nagata: Alright. I was born in Gardena, California, in 1924, April 24th.
Um, um, my father came over in about 1900, from, uh, a city of Kumamoto, Japan,
which is in the south, southern Japan. And, uh, the family were, uh—they loaned
money and, loan sharks I guess you’d call ‘em.
00:02:00And, um, they were pretty well off, and they would, uh, uh, have the rice as a
collateral for the loaner to bring in. So, they would pile up a lot of rice and,
and then they couldn’t pay, they took the rice. But they didn’t know what to do
with it. So, after a while they decided to start a sake factory, and they
progressed in it, and, and they were pretty well off. Uh, my father just went to
school, and, and in fact he graduated from university and he was well educated
for, um, people at that time. And so when he―he said that he used
00:03:00to get up in the morning and he had nothing to do so he would go out hunting for
birds and he would bring it home, and, and eat those birds. But he got tired of
it, and he wanted a, a more adventurous so he decided to come to United States
and at first he landed in, uh, uh, Seattle, then came to San Francisco, and he
went to night school there and he was a house boy for some old people. And, uh,
uh, he didn’t—he learned his English, so he went into various business because
if he needed money he would just send a letter to Japan. They would send him
money to do whatever
00:04:00he wanted to do. So, he did some farming of cotton in Arizona, and then in
Texas. But he wasn’t successful. He said he went to work for a railroad, and uh,
and, uh, uh, in Arizona, and uh after a while he said he got tired of that. So,
he, uh, come down to Los Angeles and he was just moaning around and doing a
little farm work for people and I guess he did some joint venture with other
people. But, he wasn’t successful so he decided at age, about, uh, forty-eight,
he thought “Oh, I’m getting old. I’d better
00:05:00go find a bride!” (Mrs. Nagata chuckles) So, he went to Japan and married my
mother, and they came over in about 1920. And their first child was born in, in
1921, but only lived for nine months. She had diphtheria and she died. And so,
next child was myself. In 1924, I was born, and my father bought a, a farm from
some friend who was, uh, uh,―made enough money to go back to Japan. So, my
father bought this farm, and they were working it, but they weren’t that
successful. So, um, they decided to move from
00:06:00Gardena to Torrance and I was about four years old, and, and, and my mother
would take the uncooked rice and they’d build a little pot, a fireplace, and
then they, they asked me to watch them so that a fire won’t go out and I, I kept
feeding the wood in there to keep the uh, rice cooked. By 12 o’clock the rice
was ready, We would have a lunch. And then my mother would go back to work. And,
uh, from Torrance, uh, we farmed there for about three years and my dad decided
to go to Heinz, which is uh, uh, near Bellflower,
00:07:00California. And we were, uh, farming there and he planted uh, uh, strawberries
and some melons and I was about six or seven years old. And dad would say that
“I’m going to teach you how to drive a horse.” (Mrs. Nagata chuckles) So he made
a little sled, and, and he wanted me to pick the melon and put it in this box,
and haul it back to the shed, so he could pack it. And I did that for a while.
But, you know, being so young that I, I wanted to play! I did not want to work.
(chuckles) Uh, he used to tell me “You gotta help me.” And,
00:08:00my brother Harry was born in 1925 (turns his head towards his wife) and that was
in, um, Torrance, and—
Wheeler: Let’s, uh—
George Nagata: And uh, huh? (turns to look at his wife)
Wheeler: Oh, I was just going to say, let’s let her tell her part up to that point.
George Nagata: Okay.
Wheeler: And then we’ll connect how you met each other. So, tell us about your—
Alethea Nagata: I was born in Bonsall, California.
Wheeler: Very close!
Alethea Nagata: October 15th, 1926. And my parents had moved from, from Orange
County to Bonsall, to change a little bit of their f—their, you know—to a new
land, sort of. And so that’s where we, um, settled for a while. And then, uh,
00:09:00he moved to San Luis Rey where he started farming again.
Wheeler: What were your parents’ name?
Alethea Nagata: Wor Tasuke and Kane Yaskochi
Wheeler: Okay.
Alethea Nagata: And (clears her throat) they were both married already in Japan
in about 1919. And they, they came to America separately. My father came about
1920 with his father, and my mother came about a year—I believe, about a year or
so later. And, uh, they settled in Orange County.
Wheeler: And your father was here in—what year did you say? 1920?
Alethea Nagata: About 1920.
Wheeler: But his father—
00:10:00Alethea Nagata: Was here earlier.
Wheeler: Earlier.
Alethea Nagata: He arrived in the U.S. 1905, right after the San Francisco
earthquake. And that’s where their journey sort of began. And he―um, my
grandfather did various jobs along the way, and then―in 1905―and then he landed
in Orange County, where there were, a few, I believe, a few Japanese already
there. And so, he started the, the growing peppers.
Wheeler: And became the Pepper King?
Alethea Nagata: Well, (smiles) that’s what they called him.
Wheeler: (laughs)
Alethea Nagata: Anyway, that was sort of the beginning of the peppers.
Wheeler: Very good. Well, how did you two meet?
George Nagata: Well, uh, that was after, after the World War
00:11:00II. Well, uh—
Wheeler: So, it’s a substantial difference then—
George Nagata: yea, (nods)
Wheeler: —in the time that you came and when you met.
Alethea Nagata: Yes! Well this was after the war, so—
Wheeler: Okay.
Alethea Nagata: So, there—
Wheeler: In the, in the interim, tell us where you went to school then, um. Were
you in school in, um?
George Nagata: Oh, I was a, a, in school in, in, Oceanside, before evacuation.
The problem was that, uh, when we moved to Oceanside in 1940, my father got
sick, yeah. We were building a house so we could move to Oceanside from
Bellflower, California where he had farmed,
00:12:00and I was about fifteen years old. And he was building his house and then he
said “I got a backache, and it’s really bad.” So, I took him to a doctor, and
the doctor says “I can’t help you.” He said “You gotta go to a specialist.” And,
uh, we were, uh, uh, broke because we just moved and we put all the money into
building the house and, and preparing the land and so, uh, my dad went to the
doctor and they found out he had pleurisy and so they put him in the hospital
and uh,
00:13:00uh, he was in the hospital for three months! And, uh, we had to commute from
Oceanside to the Los Angeles every day. So, my mother said “Let’s, uh, live with
a friend in Los Angeles where it’s closer to see dad.” So, we, uh, my mother and
I went to live with this friend of our family and we commuted to the hospital
every night from there. From Downey to Los Angeles. And so, I was living in
Downey, so I had to still go to school, so I registered at Downey High and went
to school there a while. But,
00:14:00before we moved—when we moved to Oceanside, I started school in Oceanside and
went about a month, or a month and a half to Oceanside. Then I transferred back
to Downey and then once my dad got out of the hospital I went back to Oceanside
and my dad couldn’t work. So, my mother did all the work. And, uh, I went back
to Oceanside but my studies all messed up because of moving all the time, and,
uh, so—
Wheeler: Were you farming at the time?
George Nagata: No, um, my mother was doing the farming. But we helped out as
much as possible. We were
00:15:00absolutely broke! When my dad got sick, it cost us a lot of money to take care
of him. So, we were—so, my mother had to go see friends to borrow money from
them, because we couldn’t get any money. We didn’t have any property, anything
to— We had an old automobile and an old truck, (Mrs. Nagata chuckles) so—
Wheeler: What kind of farming did you do, what—?
George Nagata: Uh, just had five acres of strawberries.
Wheeler: Oh! That’s exciting.
George Nagata: With strawberries, you plant the first year, and take the runner,
and plant the runner, so you don’t harvest till second year! So, when we were
farming there the first year, we planted a little bit of Italian
00:16:00squash, and we sold it to San Francisco, because the market was better there,
and that’s how we were able to feed ourselves, and also, we went to work for
other farmers. We did a bit of harvesting, but they, uh, wanted me to drive a
horse with a cultivator—
Wheeler: (laughs)
George Nagata: —because my dad taught me how to do it, and they needed a person
to drive the horse. So, I was assigned to do that every day! I had to harness
the horse and get the cultivator, and cultivate the crop!
Wheeler: And now, how, how old were you then when the second world war started?
George Nagata: Well, I was sixteen.
Wheeler: And tell us a little bit about—since you had not met each
00:17:00other at that time—
George Nagata: No, no—
Alethea Nagata: Not yet.
George Nagata: No—
Wheeler: Tell me how you—
George Nagata: No, that was before the war. Now, uh, come May, I think about the
15th of May of 1942, we were evacuated. We were ordered to go to the Santa Fe
Train Depot, and load, get on this train. And so, they said that you could only
take two suitcases each. And so, we went and bought a suit—suitcase for each of
us. And, and we packed up our suitcase. We went to the train depot and we
boarded a train in the morning, and they had NPs on the train. They wouldn’t let
us open the window or anything. It’s all shaded.
00:18:00And we didn’t know where we were going. And about three o’clock in the
afternoon, uh, we went and the train stopped in Barstow, and they gave us a
sandwich so that, you know, then we continued to Poston, Arizona. And when we
got to Arizona, they put us on a bus and transported us to the concentration
camp, and at first we had to stuff the mattress with straw because there was
nothing there. They had to make―we got there at 8:30, 9 o’clock at night and we
had to make our own bed. They gave us a cot and
00:19:00for each of us and so we went to sleep, and—
Wheeler: How long were you there? (clears her throat)
George Nagata: We were—Well, I was, I myself, was there only for a little over a
year. And I, I was a, a—my friend said―he was going to Chicago―“Don’t you wanna
go to Chicago?” I said “Yeah, I’ll call along, tag along with you, because I
don’t know the country. I want to go.” So, I went to Chicago myself, with this
friend and I, I learned how to be a auto mechanic, because I worked in the shop.
There is a lot of people who were experienced mechanics and they taught me how
to do all this repair. So, we had a full garage and
00:20:00all these people would teach me. So I was pretty confident that I could make a
living. So, I went to Chicago and got a job as a mechanic. And, and I worked
there for about four or five months, and, uh, my dad said that they gotta leave
the camp, because they’re asking everybody to leave. So, my dad says “Meet me in
Colorado. I’m going to see if we could do a little farming there.” So, um, I
gave my job up and I went to Grand Junction, Colorado, and my father―the reason
my father said that we could do some farming was because his nephew
00:21:00was from Hawaii and Santa Fe, New Mexico in a concentration camp, and his assets
were frozen because he was an enemy Asian. But that money will be released if
you want it for farming, and he said you’ll loan us the money, whatever you
want. So, he said that he could come and live on the farm with us. So, my dad
took him up on it, and we borrowed the money from him, and we started a little
farm and I went to work for some man that owned a seed company. And he said “Why
don’t you farm for me?” And he said
00:22:00“Go drive a tractor.” Well, I never drove a tractor, but anyway he says “You
know how to drive?” I says “Yeah, I know how to drive.” So, I went there then he
looked at me and he said “You don’t know how to drive.”
Wheeler: (laughs) How long were you in Colorado?
George Nagata: I was in Colorado ‘til 1944. From say ’43 to ’44, was it ’45 that
I came to California? (turns to his wife)
Alethea Nagata: (starts to laugh, as does Linda) I think so. I’m not sure what
happened with you.
George Nagata: We were farming and this man who owned this seed company was a
crook. We never, I never got paid for working for him or then he
00:23:00said that if could grow some onion seed, that’s (unclear) to England, and he
said “I’ll pay you for growing that thing.” And when it come to the end, we
harvested it and gave him the seed, and I never seen a dime of it.
Wheeler: Oh my! (Mrs. Nagata chuckles)
George Nagata: And I asked the farmer that was next door who was also a evacuee
that come out of a concentration camp to do a little farming. There was about
five or six together and they were farming and, uh, they grew the onion seed for
him. There was four or five other farmers. They said “Oh, that’s a good deal.”
They all grew onion seed. And the company
00:24:00in England sent a check directly to those farmers. And the guy in the seed
company, he really got mad and he said “They were supposed to pay me. And they
said that if I sent it direct, that I was supposed to get a commission.” And my
friend says “Okay, I’ll pay you commission, whatever you want.” He says “No,
that won’t do.” He says “I want the check and that’s the only way I’ll accept
it.” So everybody took the check and signed it and gave it to him, and they
didn’t see a dime! (shrugs his shoulders incredulously and laughs)
Wheeler: Oh. Wow!
George Nagata: They said “We were stupid, because there’s no recourse because we
signed (gestures with both hands to indicate signing a document) off the check.”
(raises hands to indicate giving something up) So, uh, and this guy had a big farm
00:25:00in, uh, in Gilroy, California. And all my friend says is “Hey, forget it.” He
says “You’re not going to get paid,” and sure enough―
Wheeler: So, you left and came back to California, then?
George Nagata: So, uh, after the war, we were allowed to come back to
California, so I came to California to see how we could get back and where we
could go. And, a friend of ours, uh, had a friend in Vista and he was a doctor
and he―they own an avocado grove, and there was a house on it with a little
shack there that was a chicken coop converted into a room. So, when we moved to
California, he said “Stay in this chicken coop for a while.”
00:26:00(Mrs. Nagata chuckles) So, what we did―we just―I loaded the truck up and a
little pickup and we brought all of our stuff over. And we lived in the chicken
coop and we were looking for land where we could farm a lease. We don’t have
enough money to buy any property, so we, uh, uh, found, uh, uh, thirty acres of
land that he wanted to sell. But, he said “I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll lease,
lease it to you, uh, and, uh, you have to buy the property after one year.” So,
we decided we’d better go ahead and get that land. So, we went there. There’s no house
00:27:00or anything. So, we put up a tent and lived in the tent and the houses were hard
to get because right after the war there was nothing. There was a pre-hab house
that was on sale. It’s not made out of, uh, wood. It’s, it’s, uh, the wood is
hemlock, but it’s more of a composition material and we bought that and put it
together and we lived in this house. And then, uh―
Wheeler: This was in 1945?
George Nagata: (nods) 1945.
Wheeler: Okay. Let’s stop and, and have Alethea tell us about what―
Alethea Nagata: Well, so this is, this is before the camp.
Wheeler: Right.
Alethea Nagata: And my father was―had a farm in Rancho Santa Margarita. He
rented land. That was before it
00:28:00was turned into Camp Pendleton. And, (clears her throat) and he was raising
strawberries there. And that’s when the, um, when the war broke out and the FBI
picked him up there, um, in Rancho Santa Margarita. Well, he was living in San
Luis Rey, but he was going back and forth to Santa Margarita. He rented the
property from Rancho Santa Margarita, from a gentleman named Whitman. (clears
throat) And, uh, uh, (clears throat) and then, um, he was―the FBI came to this
ranch Santa Margarita and picked him up. And I was in San Marcos, living with my
grandparents. And that’s where they picked up my grandfather, the same day.
Wheeler: Was this Kiso?
00:29:00Alethea Nagata: Yes, Kiso. And they took my father and Kiso to the San Diego
jail, and they stayed overnight there. And then (clears throat), and then they
transferred them to a, I believe it’s a Tohanga, California, in Los Angeles. And
so, we as a family were able to go and see them. And that’s where our journey,
uh, begins with our family getting ready to go to camp. ‘Cuz I was going to
Escondido High School, and then, uh, because the war had broken out, we, uh, we
had to, uh, go to get ready to go to camp. And my uncle was trying to decide
whether to move our whole
00:30:00family to Colorado because, uh, as long as you’re not on the west coast, you
could, you could, uh, you know, farm, uh, in Colorado, or probably in the
Midwest. But, my father, uh, said not to go, but to go to camp. So that’s what
we did. We all got to, got ready to go to camp.
Wheeler: And where was the―
Alethea Nagata: And we ended up in Poston.
Wheeler: Oh.
Alethea Nagata: Um, my experience was not, uh, as, as harsh as his (points to
Mr. Nagata), because, um, other family members had gone a little earlier and did
the beds and things. So, um, I didn’t―I―my grandmother wasn’t in very good condition.
00:31:00So, we probably went a couple of days later. And so, uh, the cots and things,
the ones that went first, you know, got theirs, or got it ready for us. So,
we―we ended up in Camp One in Poston, Arizona and I believe you ended up in
Poston (turning her head to look at Mr. Nagata), but in a different, uh―
Wheeler: Different section?
Alethea Nagata: Block. They were broken up into blocks.
Wheeler: So, you had quite an experience before you’d even gotten married and
established your―
Alethea Nagata: Oh, yes! (laughing)
Wheeler: ―careers in farming. Um, tell us about when you were allowed to come back.
00:32:00What changed your lives after that, besides getting married and meeting each other?
Alethea Nagata: Well, my father and grandfather were sent to, uh, to Santa Fe,
New Mexico and Lordsburg, New Mexico. They were in different facilities from us.
They were, uh―my grandfather was released earlier than my father, was sent to
the Poston camp where we were. And then my father was released, uh, I believe
about 1944, and, um, and he came back to Poston. But, uh, in the meantime, we
were living separately.
Wheeler: Yes. Um, when you came back then, where did―when you came back, where
did you―? You probably came back
00:33:00to Oceanside?
George Nagata: (nods) We came back to Oceanside.
Wheeler: And who―
Alethea Nagata: My, my father and uh, uncle, and uh, my grandfather’s place was
in San Marcos.
Wheeler: Okay.
Alethea Nagata: And my father had a place in San Luis Rey. And so, uh, his―his
farm―we left the farm in, um―my grandfather’s farm was left in charge of a vice
principal of Escondido High School. And he, he took over and―and we hired a, a
family man to come in and oversee the place. And, uh, they lived in my
grandfather’s house. There was a main house and then there was a kitchen area.
And so, the people who, uh,
00:34:00the vice principal hired was a―well their name was Tarbutton. (laughs) I
remember the name. And um―uh, the kitchen area was a―was a fairly large, and so
the family was able to live there. And the main house, uh, was left, just left.
And, uh, so when we came back from camp, that’s where we fir―we landed in San
Marcos where my grandfather’s place. And my father had returned from camp just,
just a―(shakes her head and tries to speak) when he was able, they were allowed
to come back. So, he came back by himself with, I believe, my uncle’s wife and,
and they planted, um,
00:35:00zucchini, I believe, some kind of a early crop. So, then he, then he, then he
came back to Poston and picked us up. So, then we all came back later, just a
little bit later. 1945.
Wheeler: Wow. So, you were just―
Alethea Nagata: But we do have, we had a place to―at least we had a home.
Wheeler: Yes.
Alethea Nagata: Yeah. And, uh―
Wheeler: Exactly.
Alethea Nagata: Mr. Grave, the vice principal, uh, took care of everything for
us. So that was very nice.
Wheeler: So, when did you graduate from high school, then?
Alethea Nagata: I graduated in camp.
Wheeler: Oh, did you?
Alethea Nagata: Uh-huh.
George Nagata: Well, I didn’t get to go to school.
Wheeler: Okay, that―and that was probably not uncommon.
George Nagata: Yeah.
Wheeler: So, then actually―
Alethea Nagata: And it wasn’t accepted either, or―
George Nagata: So,
00:36:00when I was in Chicago, I wanted to go to night school. And I applied there, and
they said that, that concentration camp I was in was not an acclaimed school, so
you’re going to have to start over again. So, I says “Oh, I can’t start over
again.” (both he and Wheeler laugh) So, uh, I didn’t get any education at all.
Wheeler: No, but sometimes it’s not just all education in the school. So, what
happened then after ’45 that you came back and started again?
George Nagata: Uh, it was very tough (shaking his head). We didn’t have any
equipment, and so, so (cell phone starts to ring). Excuse me. (reaches into
pocket for cell phone) I don’t know who is calling. (looks at screen, and shakes
his head)
00:37:00 Scam!
(Wheeler and Alethea Nagata laugh)
George Nagata: So, when we got back to California, um, I went to the bank to
borrow money and they laughed at me and said “You know, to tell you the truth,
I’m not loaning you my money. He says “The bank has a depositor. They all
deposit the money, and I’m responsible for it. So, I gotta have a collateral,
whatever you own. But, I don’t own a thing, ‘cuz I can’t loan you any money.”
So, in order for us to farm, we had to have a little bit of backing and so, uh,
the L.A. produce market was loaning money to the growers, to advance the money,
and they get all
00:38:00the produce. So, we borrowed the money from them, and started growing and
sometimes it pays, and sometimes it doesn’t, because the market was, you know,
some oversupply of tomatoes and things. And I would go over there and I would
borrow money from, uh, for uh, buy fertilizer on credit. And they would just
loan me the money, and one company there, I owed about three thousand dollars,
and they wanted to get paid. I said “I don’t have any money right now. So, can
you wait?” But what happened was that I planted, uh, twenty acres of
strawberries and it was ready to harvest when I got hailed
00:39:00out. Because all the hail was just deforming the whole plant. And never produced
a single berry! And so, I had all this money tied up into strawberries. And I
can’t harvest anything. And the supply companies, this was, uh, uh, the
fertilizer and insecticide I bought, I couldn’t pay for it. So, they wanted to
sue me. And they reported it to the Credit Bureau that I haven’t paid for one
year and they’re going to, uh, to file a lawsuit against me. And so, uh, when
they had filed, I went back to the produce house, and I begged
00:40:00them to loan me some more money. I gotta pay that guy, or he’s going to sue me.
And so, uh, I was able to borrow enough money to pay the, that fertilizer
company off. And there was more, other companies, the seed companies. And I owed
them money. They said they would hold off. And so next year I figured well, what
I’m going to do is double the acreage of strawberries, and try to get the money
back. And I planted forty acres of strawberries and we started harvesting in
April and there was a beautiful crop! My God! Everybody was envious. I was
harvesting 4,000 boxes a day. And all of a sudden it started to rain. (Wheeler
and Alethea Nagata chuckle) And for two weeks straight! And it just destroyed
00:41:00the whole berries. And so, uh, his uncle (he points to his wife) was familiar
with some freezer company in Fallbrook there and they talked him into starting a
strawberry freezer! And, uh, he come to me and said “Hey, why don’t you invest
in this. All the growers will put up money, and we’ll go ahead and process the
strawberries.” And we were, before that we were sending our frozen berries to
Smucker’s. Well, they paid pretty good. Well, I said “Fred, I think we shouldn’t
go into this business. It’s a risky business.” He says “No, it’s a sure thing.”
But, his company went bankrupt so
00:42:00he got a job in Oxnard or―
Alethea Nagata: Ventura.
George Nagata: Ventura, for his chili company. And he let us go and left his
freezer go. But we were members of the Freezers so we had to ship it to him. So,
I―the second crop, the rain had stopped, so we sent all of our berries to this
freezer, and, and, uh, to buy the can and buy the sugar, well, somebody has to
guarantee the payment on it. See? And so, about four or five of us volunteered
to go ahead and sign the agreement that we’re responsible. Well, at the end of
the season, they can’t pay for the cans, they can’t pay
00:43:00for the sugar. And so, they froze my bank account! Because I was one of the
guaranteers. And hell, I couldn’t―I had workers, and I couldn’t―and my brother
said “Hey, they froze the account. We can’t pay the, the help. We’ve got to pay
the help.” So, “Oh, my god.” We went back to the produce house and borrowed some
more money, and, and we were able to pay American Can and sugar. All of us
growers put up the money to pay this off. And then the company went bankrupt.
The strawberry in a frozen can, we―W.H. Ruth Company
00:44:00is a marketing (unclear), and they put it in a cold storage. And they couldn’t
sell it, so they had it in cold storage so long that the storage fee ate up all
of it. (chuckles)
Wheeler: Right.
George Nagata: And so, you know, we were out of―
Wheeler: And there’s the―
George Nagata: We took a beating. Oh my God.
Wheeler: It was quite an adjustment after the war, getting established. We’ve
kind of skipped over your coming back. You came back to San Marcos. And tell us
a little bit more about how your family was farming and had you married at this point?
Alethea Nagata: No.
Wheeler: You hadn’t met each other.
Alethea Nagata: No. Not yet.
Wheeler: Okay. So, you were living in San Marcos. You were living in Oceanside?
George Nagata: San Luis Rey, at that time.
Wheeler: San Luis Rey.
Alethea Nagata: But, he, he, uh,
00:45:00I’m getting confused now a little bit. But, um, there was so much that went on.
We came back and, um, my grandfathers settled in San Marcos, and we―and our
family were in San Luis Rey. So, um, my―I guess, my father―well, all I remember
was coming back from camp and my father made me drive the Caterpillar and he
was―because we didn’t have any help. And so, he―he got on the back and―and he
wanted me to drive the Caterpillar. Well, I had never driven it before. But
I―that stands out in my mind as an incident that I do remember, that when we
first came back,
00:46:00that’s what he made me do! (laughs, as does Wheeler)
Wheeler: And you had just graduated from high school at that point.
Alethea Nagata: I had already finished in camp.
Wheeler: So that was pretty, uh, different for women at any―
Alethea Nagata: Well, my sisters―
Wheeler: ―any (unclear)
Alethea Nagata: There were three of us girls. The first three. And my sister
drove trucks and, I mean, she did all kinds of things. Both of my sisters. And
so, it wasn’t so outrageous. And my dad was extremely kind to women.
Wheeler: Mmm.
Alethea Nagata: For someone from Japan, he took care of the women. So, I do to
this day remember that for being a Japanese man, that he―he respected women. So,
that’s always been very nice. But, um, uh,
00:47:00the farm, well, he―we grew―he grew asparagus. And he still did grow chili
peppers at that time.
Wheeler: At that time, had they done the diversity that they do now? Or was that
just beginning?
Alethea Nagata: Then―then―then, the diversity began, um, when my younger brother
kind of started taking over. Oh, my father was still involved with it. They grew
romaine, and tomatoes, and things like that. So―
Wheeler: As we look at the farmers now―
Alethea Nagata: Strawberries, also.
Wheeler: ―and the some fields will be waiting, like, some year we’ll plant, but
others have those plants about 6 inches high. Others they’ll be almost grown.
You can see how the
00:48:00changes. How did that all come about, just by trial and error? Or by deliberate planning?
Alethea Nagata: Well, there’s, um―my father and my brother grew cauliflower, um,
and that is not a money-making crop. But, they, they grew asp―the cauliflower
because it kept the workers so that you had to maintain the workers, you know.
That was a part of the problem, also, is to have enough help.
Wheeler: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Nagata: And so the reason for even planting it was, um, to keep the
help, you know. That was quite a, um, problem in keeping―(turns her head toward
Mr. Nagata) you know about keeping the workers.
00:49:00 So―
George Nagata: Getting back to her uncle, Fred. He took a liking to me and he
wanted me to go around with him into like the Farm Bureau, and this labor, uh,
the Bracero program, where we had association. And I spoke with one of the Board
of Directors, and he took me all the places and introduced me to all the things
that, and he was a, a, a U.C. Davis graduate. So, we would go into U.C. Davis
and, and try to get, uh, the university to experiment, develop
00:50:00a new variety of berries for, suitable for southern California. And they said
that uh there was no budget for it. So, we went to the Legislature and had one
of our representatives, um, pass a budget so they could experiment. So, they,
the university assigned a man and sent him down here where and we were trying
new strawberries, grapes, and after a while it was successful that it helped us
all survive the strawberry industry in, in southern California, from Oxnard to
San Diego. We got a new variety and kept
00:51:00improving and improving our, our strawberries. And everybody was able to stay in
business. Uncle Fred was one of the instigators in that. And he says one day to
me “Hey, I got a blind date set up for you.” (Mrs. Nagata chuckles) We’re going
to the Palladium.” (Alethea laughs) So, I wondered who it was? And it was her!
(all three of them laugh) And so that’s how we got together.
Alethea Nagata: Well, my uncle Fred was a, um, he was drafted into the Army when
we were in camp. He was, yeah―
Wheeler: He didn’t (unclear)
Alethea Nagata: He was in the artillery, yeah. And he had, he saw action in
Europe, and― (clears her throat)
Wheeler: Hhmmm. This was quite a―
Alethea Nagata: Yes.
Wheeler: ―with your fam―some of your family back in Japan. Some of you in camp. And
00:52:00then he’s fighting in the―
Alethea Nagata: The people in Japan were, were, couple of children that were
left in Japan were from my grandfather. And, and, um, (clears throat) they were
kind of farmed out. Because of the law, they were not able to come. He was not
able to bring them later because one child was just born when my grandmother
came to this country. She couldn’t handle a two-year-old boy and you know, on
the, on the ship. So, they left two daughters in Japan, my grandfather did. And
he had to, to farm them out and among relatives and, and the, the baby he had to
farm out to a, a woman who would kind of take over childcare. And so, these poor
women that
00:53:00were left in Japan, was pretty terrible, because of the law. And they were not
able to come to the U.S. (clears throat). So that’s a little background but―
Wheeler: Yes. Those are things that are barriers and we have to really think about―
Alethea Nagata: Well, see, yeah. Because it was the Asians that were, were in
that kind of predicament, whereas it did not affect the Europeans.
Wheeler: Yes. So, after, um, about, say up until 1960, did things start to turn
around then, for the growth and the diversity? When did that really take hold?
George Nagata: Uh, it took hold about ten years after they granted a experiment
in southern California.
00:54:00First it was, uh, U.S.D.A. property and it’s on the beach, where it was a little
too small to do an experiment so the, uh, university had a property there in,
uh, in, uh, Orange County that, uh, belonged to the university so they moved the
experimental plot to, uh, Irvine Ranch. And Irvine Ranch gave them, I think,
about twenty or thirty acres to the university and they started experimenting
there. And they developed various varieties and that’s when we were able to
adapt a new variety of strawberries here, and it was very successful.
00:55:00Wheeler: That is very interesting because we’re known for good strawberries that
we have.
George Nagata: That’s true.
Wheeler: Right now, do you grow a lot, different kinds of crops?
George Nagata: Well, after we retired, in about 1980, we, uh, figured to stop
growing, uh, any kind of crop because it is a gamble and we didn’t want to,
because they’re growing a lot of tomatoes in Mexico and strawberries in Mexico.
And it’s hard to compete with produce from foreign countries. And they flooded
the market, and they just grow thousands and thousands
00:56:00of acres of tomatoes and strawberries, that you can’t compete with them. And so,
we decided we’re going to quit the farming business. We’ll quit. And I asked
Neal and one of my nephews to, if they were interested, and they said they would
take it over. So, I, we gave it to them. And we were operating okay, but the
nephew got into gambling and he, uh, the company money―
Wheeler: But the, um, back to the, the way that agriculture has changed, and how
you survived from one kind of crops to another. What kind of things have you
done that have been innovative in making that
00:57:00happen? Like were you, you were probably growing some asparagus or some other
things besides the cauliflower.
George Nagata: Well, we started to grow the crops, like blueberries.
Wheeler: Okay.
George Nagata: We put in about―
Alethea Nagata: Cherimoya.
George Nagata: ten acres of blueberries, and also the cherimoya, which is a
fruit. I don’t know if you know what cherimoya is. It’s, um, (turns to his wife)
what happened to the one I gave you?
Alethea Nagata: I’ll, I’ll show it to her.
Wheeler: There’s a lot of people that come here from all over the world, and
they’d probably like to know that.
George Nagata: And so, it hasn’t been very successful and the cherimoya takes a
lot of labor, because you have to hand-pollinate those. But, uh, (looks to the
left, off camera, and Mrs. Nagata reaches to the left to grab a cherimoya)
00:58:00Wheeler: Could you show that so―there we go. (Alethea places the cherimoya on
the table in front of Wheeler) Tell us about this little piece of fruit.
George Nagata: This is a small one! They get about this big! (gestures a wider
diameter than the actual fruit)
Wheeler: Oh really!
George Nagata: Mm-hmm. (Alethea pushes the fruit across the table to Wheeler,
and then pulls it back to center it on the table between them)
Wheeler: Okay, there we go. You see that now? Um, well, there’s a lot of us that
don’t know what that is, or how do you use it? And how do you grow it?
George Nagata: It ripens and there’s a lot of seeds inside. You have to sort the
seed out.
Alethea Nagata: And people who love it, love it. They just―
Wheeler: Is it a fruit?
Alethea Nagata: It’s a fruit.
George Nagata: I don’t―
Wheeler: So―
George Nagata: I don’t care for it (laughs)
Alethea Nagata: It’s sort of like a slightly banana flavor, but the people who
grow up with it―
Wheeler: Is it easy to grow in this climate, in this soil?
George Nagata: It’s easy to grow, but hard to set. It doesn’t form a fruit. You
have to hand-pollinate
00:59:00 them.
Wheeler: Oh! Very interesting!
George Nagata: The flower is like a trumpet (holds his hand up to indicate an
open trumpet-shaped flower) so it can’t get the pollen inside, see.
Wheeler: What do you eat it with?
George Nagata: Yeah.
Alethea Nagata: Well, um―
Wheeler: Just by itself?
Alethea Nagata: By itself, yeah.
Wheeler: Like an apple?
Alethea Nagata: Uh-huh.
Wheeler: Very interesting.
Alethea Nagata: Well, you have to remove the seeds, you know. But, yeah.
Wheeler: So, this is very interesting in that we contribute so much to the
agricultural industry in San Diego. It’s the fourth largest industry. So, you’ve
contributed to this in so many ways. I’m fascinated by how you’ve had your ups
and downs, the fact that there were times when the Japanese could not buy land
here. There were times when they could, and how all these things change, and the
incarceration was atrocious. But, you’ve survived
01:00:00it, and what do you see as the future of farming here? Is that a, too big a question?
Alethea Nagata: It is a big, large question, because of the laws. How California is.
George Nagata: They don’t want us to farm. Most of the politicians, they want to
get rid of the farms. And that’s why they cut off the water for a lot of―
Wheeler: That’s another thing that you’ve had to deal with, is the water situation.
George Nagata: That’s right.
Wheeler: And how is it so scarce now, and there’s, um, almost rationing. Well
we’re restricted in how many times we can water our yards. So, so all of these
things that impacted your livelihood, and we all want our children and our
grandchildren to live happily ever after but that’s, it changes whether we like
it or not.
George Nagata: It changes.
Alethea Nagata: I believe California
01:01:00was supplying United States with a lot of the, the vegetables and fruits, I
believe. But I don’t know. California is really interesting.
Wheeler: Yes, it is. The citrus fruits have been shipped all over the world. And
yet, at the same time you’re talking about the strawberries and how that has
been impacted, too. But, what other things have you, in your interesting
lifespan, what other things have you―would you like to share with our community,
our, with our future, what, what would you, what is your secret as they famously say?
George Nagata: Well, I don’t think there’s very much future in the farming business
01:02:00because the foreign countries like Chile, and all those South American countries
are growing and shipping all the stuff here, and Mexico. That’s a wide-open
country there. And I farmed there for a couple of years and an associate with a
Mexican partner. I grew, planted 500 acres of strawberries, down there. (Mrs.
Nagata laughs) And, I told my partner that his job was to get the pickers, and,
and make the cooler big enough so where we could handle 500 acres of
strawberries. You have to pre-cool those strawberries or they won’t ship. And
when you cool them down to 34 degrees,
01:03:00just before freezing, there is, the food gets firm, and you could ship it to the
United States without damaging the fruit. Well, when it grows 500 acres, the
facilities won’t handle but pay one-tenth of what they, uh, What I told him
that. Well, he says “my brothers all have coolers.” I said “They’re not prepared
for that. You gotta prepare for that. It’s got to be a cool, cool, 34 degrees.
It has to have kind of a vacuum cooled deal, and you gotta set it up.” And he
said “Don’t worry. I’ll get them to do it.” He doesn’t do it. So, we lost 500
acres of berries!
Wheeler: There’s, yes. Those kinds of things are, um, it’s part of the change
and how we have to look at things more global.
George Nagata: That’s true.
Wheeler: And sometimes we get really
01:04:00busy and forget that. But is there any other, um, things that you think that we
could be doing to enhance the way that food is prepared or grown?
George Nagata: Well, the only thing you could probably grow is specialty crops.
Like tomatoes, they grow by the thousand acres. The farmer down there grows five
thousand acres of tomatoes. And you can’t compete with people like that.
Wheeler: No. So, what’s changing?
George Nagata: So, uh, you gotta change the kind. But there’s very little crop
that you could put in that, that you could sell to the mass market. Um, and, I
don’t know what we can grow. We’ve been
01:05:00studying it for about ten years to see what is profitable. But, at first the
blueberry was a very profitable business, but now everybody grows it, and they
grow in Mexico, and they are earlier than we are, and they flood the market. And
they also come from Chile, and they just flood the market. And that’s why they
sell those blueberries so cheap.
Wheeler: Right. The fact that we have labor and we have water sources that we
are constantly looking at as to how, what we need and what we have to―
George Nagata: Well, the trouble is, the workers don’t want to work on the
farms, and they―
Wheeler: The lack of interest in farming.
Alethea Nagata: There’s the, there’s the politics. Some of it’s about the politics.
Wheeler: Yes, unfortunately that’s everywhere.
George Nagata: All these people they’re coming
01:06:00into the United States. None of them are working on the farms. They want other
kinds of jobs.
Wheeler: Yeah, yeah, that’s true. Well, there’s a lot of things that we’re
trying to work out and I so appreciate your input and to, well, thank you more
for the contributions you’ve made. It’s been phenomenal to hear your stories. Is
there anything else you have to add, beca―?
George Nagata: Right now, I can’t think. (they all laugh)
Wheeler: Well, I cannot thank you enough. It’s been absolutely delightful. Thank
you again.
GLOSSARY:
American Can (pg.10)
Bracero program (pg.12)
Camp Pendleton (pg.7)
Caterpillar (pg.11)
Cherimoya (pg.13-14)
Credit Bureau (pg.9)
Farm Bureau (pg.12)
Freezers (pg.10)
Grave, Mr. (pg.8)
Heinz (pg.2)
Irvine Ranch (pg.13)
Kiso (pg.7)
Kumamoto, Japan (pg.1)
Poston, Arizona (pg.5,7-8)
Rancho Santa Margarita (pg.7)
Santa Fe Train Depot (pg.5)
Smucker’s (pg.10)
Tarbutton (pg.8)
Tasuke, Wor (pg.2)
Tohanga, California (pg.7)
Yaskochi, Kane (pg.2)
W. H. Ruth Company (pg.10)
01:07:00