Mystery of the Cover Solved

Tets Furukawa of Santa Maria has solved the mystery of our book cover!

Furukawa, who grew up in Guadalupe, west of Santa Maria, visited the small town this week to compare the storefronts along Highway One with the storefronts on our cover.

They matched. The windows are all the same. The only thing missing is the "Noodles" sign.

He also figured out which parade appears on the cover. We had previously learned that the older girl shepherding the children is Midori Suzuki. And we had learned that the first girl on the left is Yo Hozaki, daughter of the photographer.

Since the photo was mixed in with others of the Lompoc Fourth of July Parade of 1933, we believed that this one also was a shot of that parade. But at the Montrose party two weeks ago Yo Hozaki Hongo said she thought that was wrong. She remembers her father taking the picture.

"It was in another town," she said. "It was for a church opening or something like that. Our outfits were for church."

Tets Furukawa's research shows that there was a parade in Guadalupe in October of 1933 to celebrate the placement of an altar at the Buddhist Temple. People came from all over the region including Lompoc.

Almost certainly that explains the story of our cover.

Thank you Tets Furukawa.