Ishibashi Family Collection

Kumekichi Ishibashi was born in Hidaka, Wakayama in Japan in 1874 and came to the U.S. for the purpose of dekasegi (labor abroad) in 1899 when he was 26 years old. Kumeichi started farming in the Portuguese Bend in Rancho Palos Verdes, near San Pedro in 1906. In 1910, along with C. Hayashi and K. Ozaki, Kumeichi started leasing a 50-acre land parcel from the Palos Verdes Company, at a rental of $6 per acre for one year. Kumekichi married Take Hanaoka who was also from Hidaka, Wakayama in 1911 in San Francisco. Kumekichi and Take had five children, Masaichi, George, Yasuko, Kay and Akira. Take died in 1928. The eldest son Masaichi took over the business and worked with Kumekichi. Masaichi married Miye (May) Washimura from San Jose in 1937. Miye’s father Kumataro was a fish merchant. After World War II broke out, the company from which their land was leased ordered them off of the property.

On Feburary 1942, Kumekichi was taken to the Bismarck, North Dakoda .The rest of the family moved to Starthmore, Central California and started farming again. In July 1942, the family was interned in Poston (Colorado River) War Relocation Center, Arizona. In 1943, the family received permission to move out from the Center to farm in Utah. After Kumekichi reunited the family in Poston, they moved to Utah to farm for the duration of the war. After the war, they came back to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and started farming again. They leased more than 500 acres on the hilltop Peninsula and they grew strawberries, garbanzo beans, celery, and peas. However, after housing development began in the 1970, they had to minimize the farming area. The farm was known for the vegetable and fruit stand near the Torrance Airport in the 1990s. After the passing of Masaichi in 2004, the farm was taken over by Masaichi’s cousin, however, the Ishibashi farm closed for good in 2012. There were approximately 40 farms operated by Japanese American families in the 1930s. The Ishibashis had 2 ranches among them on Portuguese Bend near where the Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles is located. Their former farmland was included in Palos Verdes Nature Reserve and the Ishibashi Trail was named in honor of the family.