The Sign Series: Flowers
or, the Story of a Japanese American Family and a Little Something called Vitreous Marble (with a million flowers, a baby-judging contest, and some 1930s cops who learned yawara-jitsui on the off chance they would stop beating people upside the head thrown in for good measure)
It begins with a boat: the SS Gaelic.
Anna Towata, in her own words.
Anna Matsuyama Towata
Photo from Alameda Magazine, courtesy of John Towata Jr..
California Auditorium, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco
SOURCE: BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY TICHNOR BROTHERS COLLECTION
Selling off the Oakland shop, May 1942
SOURCE: OAKLAND TRIBUNE