Those Little History Connections

I heard a great story when I was doing research at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum last week, courtesy of Kevin Hallaran, archivist extraordinaire at the museum. He was part of a small group of people who were interviewing Judge John Gabbert for the oral history portion of the Harada Family Historic District project in the City of Riverside. It seems that Judge Gabbert (who is over 100, by the way) was a young judge, recently married and beginning his family during World War II, when he was approached by a man who wanted to borrow $500. Jukichi Harada, a Japanese man who owned a restaurant in Riverside, was preparing to be sent to an internment camp along with his family. He was trying to sell the kitchen equipment from his restaurant for the bargain basement price of $1000. The man and his partner had $500, but they needed to borrow the other $500. Judge Gabbert just didn't feel he could loan them that much money. The fellow and his partner went on to borrow the money somewhere else. They began a Mexican restaurant over on Jackson Street in Riverside. They later moved it over to a spot on Mission Boulevard, where we all got to enjoy Gay and Larry's for another 50 years or so. To learn more about the Harada family, a facinating story I think, that impacted history in this country on a national level, go to     http://www.riversideca.gov/museum/haradahouse/