Growing a Community: Pioneers of the Japanese American Floral Industry

Elsie Ogata (Adachi)

The Adachi Nursery was started in El Cerrito in 1905 by Isaburo Adachi and his brother Sadajiro. Together they built one greenhouse a year until they were operating 12 greenhouses by the start of WWI. Isaburo returned to Japan in 1910 where he married Wakako Maeda a year later. Together they returned to the nursery in the United States in 1912 where they started their family. Fujiko Elsie Adachi was born on 20 August 1912. Four siblings were born between 1913 and 1921: Hideyo, Sonoko, Toshitatsu, and Ruby Satoko.

While Elsie and her siblings were educated in Japan between 1919 and 1926, the El Cerrito nursery continued to expand. In 1930 the family opened a floral shop on San Pablo.

The nursery and the floral shop were closed during WWII when most of the family was interned at Topaz and Elsie was in Japan. After the war the family worked together to rebuild and reopen both the nursery and the floral shop. The nursery continued operating until the 1990s and is now the site of Home Depot. The floral shop is still in operation in El Sobrante.