Imagine driving to Disneyland along South Harbor Boulevard in the 2000s and encountering a quaint farm stand amid towering hotels and bustling restaurants. This picturesque scene was courtesy of the Fujishige family, who for decades defiantly stood their ground against one of the world’s most powerful corporations—Disney.
Hiroshi Fujishige, born in Los Angeles in 1922, experienced immense hardship during World War II, even enduring poisoning by a dentist seeking vengeance for a relative. Despite this, he and his family settled in Anaheim in 1954, purchasing over 50 acres of farmland. Little did they know, their neighbor Walt Disney was transforming his nearby orange groves into the iconic Disneyland.
With Disneyland’s 1955 opening, the Fujishiges found themselves adjacent to a global sensation. As years passed, Disney’s offers to purchase their land grew more insistent, fueled by expansion plans that would eventually lead to Disney California Adventure. However, Hiroshi’s tenacity was legendary. He famously dismissed a $2 million per acre offer and remained unmoved even by a personal appeal from Disney Chairman Michael Eisner…