Licensing

Japanese American roots at Cal State University, Northridge

The Muranaka family settled in San Fernando Valley after the war and started farming. Shortly after, they Muranakas were forced to sell their land to Los Angeles City schools at a fraction of its value. Parts of California State University, Northridge and Porter Middle School was formerly their farmland.

"My father was arguing about whether the school needed all the ground or not and, he said they wanted all of it. My dad wanted to keep that[part of their property] to keep the equipment and stuff because it was still home base to the farming operation. He said no, no, no, no, the city wants that, the school wants that. As I understood it later, the city, the school never took title to that ground that the procure man guy did and he turned around and sold it to the developers for a profit. Which is pretty bad you know, but that’s the way it was. I asked my dad about it later and he goes hey Roy, he says, that was only 10 years after the war, you got no chance to stand up to anyone then."

~Roy Muranaka