The Home that Garlic Built
Gilroy's historic Japanese style home built by a family of leaders and heroes went up in flames, but the legacy lives on.
Kiyoshi "Jimmy" Hirasaki built a dream house in the middle of a garlic field in Gilroy, Calif. that would come to symbolize the family's longstanding civic legacy. For over 66 years, the wooden walls of the one-story Japanese style house told stories of war and bravery, but the last chapter may have been written Feb. 11 when flames swallowed it up.
The Gilroy Fire Department responded to a neighbor's call at 1:20 a.m. and fought the blaze at the historic house on Pacheco Pass Highway until dawn. The house is located about a mile south of Highway 152 in a remote area with a mile-long dirt road as its only access route. Its residents Lawson and Mineko Sakai, Kiyoshi's son-in-law and daughter, escaped safely.
"Our family feels very lucky there weren't any physical injuries," said Joanne Sakai about her parents, who are currently in seclusion. "It was declared a total loss."
The cause of the fire is undetermined due to the severity of damage in the fire, said Clay Bentson, division chief of the Gilroy Fire Department. Possible causes include faulty wiring or a wood burning stove, which was lit that night, he said to the Pacific Citizen.
"It's a real shame and a big loss," said Connie Rogers, president of the Gilroy Historical Society. "Jimmy was a real community leader."
Jimmy, who came to Gilroy in 1916, became the original "Garlic King" as the first to commercially farm the crop in the city now known as "The Garlic Capitol of the World." His success afforded him the opportunity to build a traditional Japanese home from original parts of an art exhibit in 1941. The home is registered as a historic site in Santa Clara County, but for longtime residents and community members it's the family legacy that made the place invaluable.
"It's like time travel seeing something this unusual in the garlic field," said Naomi Hirahara, a mystery novelist who co-wrote a 2003 memoir with Manabi Hirasaki, Jimmy's son.
Building a Home Among the Garlic Fields
The Hirasaki's ranch style home needed a touch of old world. Jimmy dreamt of building a traditional Japanese style house like the ones that dotted the memories of his childhood growing up in Kumamoto-ken.
He wanted a garden more than anything, said Manabi, who became a successful strawberry farmer.
The opportunity came at the end of the popular Golden Gate International Exposition in 1941, when Jimmy purchased the Japanese Pavilion, an opulent exhibit built for display by Shinzaburo and Gentaro Nishiura with its own pagoda and kozashiki, a traditional Japanese sitting room.
Jimmy reportedly paid $23,000 for the piece, hired seven carpenters and the Nishiura brothers to reassemble and expand it into a five-room house next to their existing home. It took about 10 months of construction to complete. Manabi had just graduated from high school and left Gilroy to attend the University of California, Davis. When he returned home for the first time for Thanksgiving, it was a different house, he said.
"He was only 41, young and ambitious," said Manabi. "Not many people would tackle a project like that."
After its completion, the Japanese style house became a landmark to the local community and a proud display of the entrepreneur's heritage.
The Peonies Kept Growing
Like other parts of the U.S., effects of the Pearl Harbor bombing rippled through rural Gilroy like a cold snap and Jimmy, a highly regarded community leader, was ensnared in the fervor. He was arrested in 1942 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and sent to an alien detention center in Bismarck, North Dakota before being released and reunited with the rest of his family in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Manabi volunteered for the military and joined the 522nd C Battery while Lawson joined the famed 442nd RCT.
With the Hirasaki family gone, the house was a silent sentinel during the years of injustice. When the family returned, the colorful peonies that had thrived in the garden before the war were still blooming despite the neglect. Mineko would later tell Rogers that the blossoms were symbols of renewed hope and the loyalty of friends and neighbors who watched over the house and property.
Through the years, Jimmy's reputation as a community leader solidified the home as an architectural jewel. His son-in-law carried on the legacy.
The Sakais moved into the house in the 1960s and Joanne has fond childhood memories of growing up in the historic house and poking out the rice paper in the doors, she said with a laugh.
"The house may have had a role in the local community, but its significance was not well known outside the community until Lawson's exploits as a veteran of the 442nd and his personal life became more well known," said Larry Oda, JACL national president.
At press time, renovation efforts have not been announced.
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