The house was six years old when we moved into it in 1958.
It served us very well. You can have it for only $497,000. You know, my mom paid only $7,000 for it in 1958.
She paid $30.00 a month for about 30 years. So, she must have put down a payment.
Well, back then, you could buy a decent used car for a little
over a hundred dollars! I bought a 1955 Chevy in 1967 for $150 from Steve Devey. Of course, I was only making
$1.00 an hour at my uncle Norman Tamura's car wash in Garden Grove on weekends and during summer vacations. In fact,
I saved up over $1,200 dollars by the time I was sixteen. Then, I spent it all in six months after my sixteenth birthday.
Dum Dee Dee Dum Dum
That concrete put my mom in debt for about $50,000. We never knew why she had it done. That's
what I paid for my first house in Japan in 1995.
We never made much use of our back yard. There was once a Japanese miniture garden made by Ichiro
Tamura, our mother's father.
We once made a fallout shelter, well it was a home made one. I remember I was trapped in it once with
my brother and his friend, Kenny jumping on the top while dust was suffocating me underneath.
Also, Joe Avilla taught me how to throw my first curve ball here. He convinced our little league manager,
Hank, to let me pitch in our last game of the season. I pitched a hitless three innings before I walked two
batters. Hank took me out of the game. That was the end of my pitching career.
On Saturday mornings, Howard used to pitch baseballs towards that brick thing on the left. He used
to wake his mother up on many a Saturday. And, he did quite a lot of damage to the aluminum siding.
Howard used to ride on a skateboard on that little piece of a concrete driveway. He never invested
in his own skateboard. He used the one left over in the garage.
Remember when Howard used to play with Victor's younger brother, Kiki? One time, I told him I wasn't
going to play one day. Later, I heard some "thud" noises on this side of the house. It was Kiki. He was
throwing bricks at our house. He was trying to hit the window of the bathroom. He was a rascal, wasn't he?
The best thing about my mother's kitchen was her spagetti. She made the best spagetti in the world!
The train stations is just 15 minutes down the street.
There used to be sand in the Santa Ana River Bed. We would sometimes swim in there after the rains.
I once almost drowned, but my friend's brother pulled me out. My mother then decided it was time that I learned how to swim.
So, my brother and I took lessons at Santa Ana College for two weeks. We learned how to kick our legs.
I thought this was on Hazard Street near Hazard Elementary, but they tell me it's on Newhope Street, Santa
Ana. I passed by it many times on my way to the Garden Grove Car Wash to work.
My wife, Keiko spent some time at the Ahner residence. She thinks it's a nice place to live.
I don't know which room this is. Maybe it's the garage.
There is a lot happening in these pictures.
My grandfather, Ichiro Tamura used to live in this room. Then, it was my brother Ed. I stayed
there a couple of nights in 2005. I remember we had to go into the closet to dig out the dirt that some golfers pushed
up there. The bathtub rested on dirt. I always wondered why it didn't rest on concrete. Well, that's how
they made the house in 1954 in Santa Ana.
Fritz. He was my favorite dog. He got run over a few times. He liked to chase cars.
A lot of people visited the Ahner house.
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