Kumekichi Ishibashi, born in Japan, came to San Francisco in 1905 and in 1906 built the first Japanese-American farmhouse on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. After working odd jobs and saving gold coins, he reached Portuguese Bend and leased land that was covered with sagebrush and huge boulders. With no electricity, no water during three years of drought, and water hauled over the hill from nearby cattle ranches, he cleared and cultivated the land and introduced dry farming techniques to the Peninsula. He sent for his young bride, Take, and together they raised four sons, Masaichi, George, Kay, and Aki, and a daughter, Yasuko. The original wooden farmhouse and small structures stood on land once owned by the Sepulveda family and later by Jotham Bixby, in an area called Bay of Smokes by both the Indians and the Cabrillo. In 1910 Kumekichi brought his younger brother, Tomizo, to join him, along with two workers, K. Ozaki and C. Hayashi, who stayed only briefly. As the family grew, Masaichi, known as Mas, took over many of his father's duties, and at one time sixty acres were farmed. During World War Two the original farmhouse was demolished, the land lease was broken, and the family was ordered off the property. On February 1, 1942, Kumekichi was taken to an internment camp in Bismarck, North Dakota, while the rest of the family moved to central California to begin farming again. In July 1942, Mas, his wife Miye, and his brothers George and Aki were interned at Poston, Arizona, and a little over a year later Kumekichi rejoined them there. The family then moved to Utah to farm for the duration of the war. George and Kay served in the 442nd Regimental Infantry Combat Unit, which received more citations than any other outfit of the United States military. After the war the family returned to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and eventually leased over 500 acres of farmland. Take Ishibashi had died in 1928, and Kumekichi died in 1954. In later years Mas, in his eighties, still farmed a few acres not far from the original farmhouse site. Tomizo's family also continued in farming, and James's wife Annie operated Annie's Stand for forty years. Mas recalled that his father grew mostly string beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers without water, reusing their limited supply for people, washing vegetables, and finally the two horses used to cultivate the earth. He also remembered Kumekichi's hardships reaching the Peninsula, including becoming gravely ill after eating castor beans before cucumbers saved his life. Mas, married in 1937, later sold fresh vegetables and flowers with his wife Miye and said, "Farming is hard work, but it is a clean life." The family's motto held that life's obstacles can be overcome by earnest endeavor and patient endurance.