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Sugiyama, Kimi (audio interview #1 of 2)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Kimi Sugiyama was interviewed in the home of her son and daughter-in-law with whom she lived at the time of the interview. The home was located near Virginia Country Club. TOPICS - family background; Japanese School; Japanese farmers; oil wells; and Rancho Los Alamitos;Huntington Library; family background; immigration; Japanese Association; oil wells; the Pike; childhood; anti alien land laws; Bixby Ranch; and 1933 Long Beach earthquake; 2/6/1980
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- 2022-10-20
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- SUBJECT BIO - Kimi Sugiyama was the wife of the leaders of the Japanese Association and helped him operate a Japanese language school on Signal Hill. She also helped Japanese immigrant and Japanese American farmers deal with the changes that occurred in the area when oil was discovered in 1921. She served as a translator and negotiator when oil drilling operations ruined crops and threatened the farmer's livelihood. In these two interviews, Sugiyama talks about coming to the United States at an early age and growing up in Pasadena, although she was born in Japan. When she married, she moved to Signal Hill with her husband. When World War II began, she and her family were interned in Arkansas. There she helped organize activities for visiting soldiers and sent her daughter out of the camp to continue her education. When she was released from the camp and her husband died, she had to support her children and rebuild their lives in Long Beach. This interview was conducted as part of a project to study the impact of oil on the development of Long Beach. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Kimi Sugiyama was interviewed in the home of her son and daughter-in-law with whom she lived at the time of the interview. The home was located near Virginia Country Club. TOPICS - family background; Japanese School; Japanese farmers; oil wells; and Rancho Los Alamitos;Huntington Library; family background; immigration; Japanese Association; oil wells; the Pike; childhood; anti alien land laws; Bixby Ranch; and 1933 Long Beach earthquake;
- *** File: shksugiyama1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:40)... Introduction She came to Long Beach in December, 1921 and her husband first came to teach at Japanese school on Signal Hill. There were 115 students and 5 teachers instructed them in Japanese language and culture. The Long Beach Board of Education sponsored a reception and dinner for her husband at a school on the westside. The host was the principal of that school which had no electricity at school, only kerosene lamps. (1:40-4:30)... When oil was discovered on Signal Hill, oil operators disregarded Japanese farmers' agricultural contracts. They drove all over the fields. The hill was beautiful with flowers on one side and vegetables on the other. The frenzy of drilling was crazy so farmers go to the school for help. Her husband helped interpret between the farmers and the oil companies, but it was too late to save many of their crops. The farmers depended on their crops to live and it would have been too expensive for farmers to hire lawyers to represent them. So she helped the farmers contact the oil companies and negotiate settlements out of court. (4:30-6:15)... Many Japanese farmers on Signal Hill raise cucumbers in beds covered with white canvas. This allows them to demand high prices by marketing the earliest cucumbers on the eastern markets. When oil companies bring in gushers, the spray oil all over and ruin canvas covers. Laundries won't wash the canvas covers. (6:15-9:26)... She also helped the 5 partners who ran a hog ranch north of Signal Hill. The farmers went to city hall and bid on collecting garbage from hotels, restaurants and cafeterias downtown. The farmers had to install a special scale to weigh city garbage and follow other rules. When foot and mouth disease broke out, farmers had to follow rules set out by the health department. They were quarantined and had to leave shopping lists on their fences for others to bring them supplies. (9:26-10:25)... The Japanese School was private and it taught Japanese language and culture. Most of the farmers on Signal Hill were Japanese. Most of the land on the hill was divided into small lots. (10:25-12:23)... Japanese farmers leased land to farm. Fred Bixby had 6 or 8 Japanese families living and farming on Rancho Los Alamitos. Some Japanese businessmen owned markets. Children came to the Japanese school from all around the area. Some came from downtown, others from the westside where there were lots of farms and some from as far away as Dominquez Water Company land. (12:23-14:08)... After WWII many Japanese families although she's not sure what happened to those who lived on the Bixby Ranch, Rancho Los Alamitos. Mrs. Bixby was very helpful to the Japanese families and taught the girls to cook and can, American style. The Japanese parents were thankful for this. (14:08-16:02)... Most of the Japanese farmers around Long Beach had not been farmers in Japan but farming was the only job they could get here. Some of them raised celery on the Bixby land where there was rich soil. Women sewed 4 thickness of newspaper together to make a band to wrap around the celery so it would be fashionably white and they could sell it for a higher price. When oil was discovered, the farmers moved to Westminster and Torrance. (16:02-17:49)... When oil was discovered, Signal Hill farmers moved to Westminster, Santa Ana and Torrance. Few Japanese benefited from the oil discovery. One owned land on Cherry Ave. where they drilled 2 wells. The money went to the owner's head; he bought a Cadillac, a house in east Long Beach with hot, running water and sent his children to college. (17:49-23:26)... The Japanese school was in the oil field, so it was moved onto 2/3 of an acre near Molino where they leased space. There was a big yard where the children enjoyed played. She served as the clean up committee and baby sitter. Smaller children were sent to school with older children. Class always began with the Pledge of Allegiance because students were American citizens. They taught them about American history along with Japanese culture. As adults, former students told her how school helped them become successful. They wanted to buy school site, but the price was too high so they moved to the north side of Signal Hill and built a school building and a clubhouse which was sold while in camp. The money went to the Japanese Americans Citizens League to get started after WWII. (23:26-30:07)... After oil was discovered, the farmers on Signal Hill moved away and so did Sugiyamas. In 1929 they bought a grocery store from an older couple who returned to Japan by borrowing money from her father. They formed a partnership with her brothers to run the store. Mr. Yamaguichi took over the school. There were also 3 other teachers who were college students. They came to Signal Hill on the Pacific Electric street car. The school was operated by the Japanese Association which also cared for welfare cases and helped in emergencies. When someone was sick, Dr. Montgomery came to treat them in his Ford pickup. calls for community, helped Dr. Hill in delivery, interpret, husband made $150/month and housing. End of tape *** File: shksugiyama2.mp3 (0:00-6:33)... Sugiyama's father put a burnt his name in wooden plaque and left it in the building in the Huntington Library's Japanese garden. Her husband came to the US in 1914. A cousin who had come before told him the weather was nice in southern California. When WWI broke out, he took a chance on coming to the US. He landed in Philadelphia then took a train to Pasadena. He started the first Japanese school in Pasadena. Her younger brothers went to the Japanese school and that's how she met him. Her parents invited the new school master to dinner. She was working in a Japanese bank. Her father didn't believe girls should go to college. A minister helped her find the job. Her husband asked her parents if he could marry her. then he went to Japan and spent a whole year checking her family background. Her grandparents were landowners and there was no insanity or criminality in her family. So when he returned to the US, they got married. (6:33-10:28)... She was still working in the bank when he husband found a job teaching in Long Beach. The former teacher had moved to Santa Ana to be secretary of the Japanese Association there. When they arrived in Long Beach, Buffum's was the only department store. There were some other stores on Pine Avenue, but none north of 6th St. Charles Buffum was the mayor and Mr. Henderson headed the Chamber of Commerce. On Signal Hill, sump oil ran down the street gutters. There were shops along Anaheim, a bank and the Dale Theater. The Pike was popular. (10:28-19:28)... Japanese people ran vegetables departments in larger stores. Many Japanese immigrants were single men who had no training in agriculture although the Japanese government required immigrants have a high school education. Some worked on building railroads and others worked art good stores. They were eager to find places where they could speak Japanese and eat Japanese food. Her father's family raised cotton in Japan and her father's mother was sent to a temple to be educated. He wanted to travel so he went to a port city and apprenticed in a shipyard. After that, he signed on to work on a British ship. He admired the officers and wanted to learn English. On Saturday nights, her mother and father entertained guests. Her mother loved to cook and he father told stories of his travels and drew sketches on paper meat came warped in. Often their guests stayed the night, then they helped with household chores the next day. She had a happy childhood with many friends Many of the visitors brought presents for their hosts' children. (19:28-22:23)... In the summer, her father made hammocks. Her brother was born in Pasadena after she and her mother and she came to California. Her father bought property in Pasadena for $350. Then he built the house,where brother was born,. In that house, they entertained visitors, often single men, on weekends. Her mother enjoyed celebrating American holidays. At first her mother was lonely in California but later she came to like it here. All of Sugiyama's brothers went to college. (22:23-27:21)... Japanese immigrants in Long Beach operated vegetable markets in downtown but not on Pike. One Japanese man on the Pike was a famous landscape painter. There was also an oriental goods store that, at the time of the interview, had just closed; the Pike had become "too dangerous." There may have been a restaurant on the Pike operated by Japanese people. Most local Japanese were farmers. When the anti alien land law was passed, Japanese immigrants could no longer buy land. Her father bought his and in Pasadena in 1904 before, that law as passed. Japanese farmers on the Bixby Ranch leased their land. Bixby liked the Japanese farmers because he believed they were industrious and he was interested in the methods the Japanese used for agriculture. (27:21-30:41)... Bixby got a tax break when the city built a road through his property. Bixby's house at Rancho Los Alamitos is now a historical landmark. Japanese immigrants could buy land in the names of their American born children. One family, who farmed in Orange County, were expecting a baby and on their way to Seaside Hospital in Long Beach, when the mother went into labor. They stopped at Bixby's home on Rancho Los Alamitos and they baby was born there. Mrs. Bixby called a doctor to get advice about what to do. (30:41-38:13)... When the 1933 Long Beach earthquake struck, husband, who was already sick, was hit with bricks causing his lung to collapse. He had got tuberculosis, but she cared for him at home. He passed away before war. The person from whom they leased their market sold it after the earthquake. but her brothers kept their liquor license; later they sold that as well. She became the family breadwinner. She worked as a bookkeeper for a French Hand Laundry. In school, she had majored in business administration. After WWII, she returned to that same job. For a while, she worked in a Los Angeles garment factory, but then returned to office work. Her two boys who went to Poly High School were studious. One became a dentist and the other an orthodontist. She sent her daughter to a religious college in Ohio while they were still in relocation camp. She was taken in by a couple of professors. She won a college scholarship. Later she transferred to Minnesota and interned at Stanford. Now she's a clinical dietitian. Her two oldest sons helped support the family, one in army the other a realtor. End of tape
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