Danny Nobuo Ogawa

Danny was the pillar of his family, a cherished friend, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Though he is gone from our sight, he lives on in our hearts. May his soul find eternal peace.

Eulogy given by Paul Morales:

Danny Nobuo Ogawa was born on March 20, 1945, in Denver, Colorado. For much of his life he lived in Los Angeles and recently moved to the city of Gardena. He was raised by his mother, Shizuko “Sue.” He had a younger sister, Carol, who passed away in 2021. His Aunty Aline and Uncle Hiroshi both played pivotal roles in his life. He has one daughter, Vickie, 4 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. He is survived by his cousin Sharyn. He was godfather to Nicole. He worked at Hughes Aircraft Company, which later became Boeing, in El Segundo where he eventually worked his way up to project manager. He served in that capacity until he retired after a career that spanned many decades.

When he was younger, Danny’s uncle, Uncle Hiroshi, took him and his cousin Kent to L.A. Dodgers games. Danny played several different sports including baseball, basketball, racquetball and golf. Despite his laid-back demeanor, he was ultra-competitive when it came to playing sports.

As a young adult, Danny enjoyed going to the beach, parties, car shows and the annual Nisei Week carnivals. He would play pool at the Holiday Bowl bowling alley in the Crenshaw area. He had a 45 rpm record player mounted under the dash in his car and owned a huge collection of Motown and soul records. The music would frequently skip as he drove. Although one would seldom hear him singing along to his favorite songs, Danny actually had a good singing voice.

To many, he was affectionately known as Uncle Danny and was a loving and constant presence. He attended graduations, weddings, ballet recitals and innumerable other special occasions. He was present for birthdays, holidays and other celebrated milestones. He would even come along on trips and vacations. Danny knew many of you here today for a very long time; some of you he knew for over 50 years. To his closest friends, he was viewed and treated like he was a member of the family. Although he may never have said it directly, he cherished all his friends dearly.

Danny was caring, softhearted, thoughtful and selfless. He took great joy in giving and sharing what he had with others. Few things made him happier than seeing the look of joy on the face of the person who was the beneficiary of his kindness. He was more comfortable giving than receiving. For birthdays, Christmas and other celebratory occasions he would give the most perfect, beautifully worded greeting cards that expressed the thoughts and feelings he wanted to articulate but found difficult to say directly. Danny was dependable. When he committed to something, he could always be counted on to follow through and could be relied on for whatever was needed. He was quiet and reserved, never wanting to be the center of attention. Those who knew Danny well were cognizant of the fact that he was steadfast in his ways and was resistant to change. He was resolute in his beliefs and could be characterized as “old school.” This was simply who he was.

Three things were prominent and consistent whenever one saw Danny: his choice of clothing, his hair and his cologne. Regardless of the occasion, he was impeccably dressed. His attire of choice was a button-down collared shirt paired with dark slacks and boots. In more recent years he began wearing joggers and tennis shoes but the button-down collared shirt remained a constant. He wore his hair slicked back with nary a hair out of place. This was the hair style he had worn since junior high school. Lastly, Danny could be distinguished by the smell of Brut cologne. I could always tell when he had visited by the lingering scent of his cologne in the house. He even sprayed it on his money. Whenever receiving a greeting card with money inside, the smell of cologne wafted out as soon as the envelope was opened.

During his time at Hughes one of Danny’s favorite pastimes was heading to a night club after work to socialize and drink with his friends and coworkers. Popcorn’s (later renamed Pizazz) in Marina del Rey and C.J. Barrymore’s in El Segundo were among his favorite spots. Tequila and Dewar’s Scotch Whiskey and soda were his drinks of choice back then and remained his current favorites. Whether drinking or not, Danny always maintained the same demeanor.

Danny loved to gamble. He often made trips to Las Vegas where he would stay and gamble at Main Street Station and the California Hotel and Casino. While in Las Vegas he would regularly take in one of the many shows playing on the Strip. His trips to Vegas became less frequent after he discovered the much closer Harrah’s Rincon. At Harrah’s you could always find him sitting at one of the bars, smoking a cigarette, sipping a Dewar’s and soda cocktail and playing video poker, which was his game of choice. Whenever he won, he would share his winnings. My sister Kristen loved going to Harrah’s with him. He would give her his tickets with small dollar amounts to cash in and keep for herself. She always came home with more money than she went with.

There was a period of time when Danny took an interest in horse racing. He and I would go to Santa Anita Park a couple of times a month to watch and bet on the horse races. One year, we went down to the Del Mar racetrack for my birthday. Between races he would diligently study the Daily Racing Form in the hopes of picking a winner. On a few occasions my mom would come along and bring a book to read while taking in the picturesque views of the track and the San Gabriel Mountains.

When my sister was attending grad school at UCLA, Danny would bring her dinner. When she started teaching, he would bring fresh cut cantaloupe and pineapple for her to have with her lunch because he knew those were her favorite fruits. He would shop for the freshest fruit. Because pineapple was often hard to find, he would go to different markets in order to find it. When it became more difficult for him to drive across town, he began buying and sharing his fruit with the family dog, Luna.

Danny was an avid collector of movies and television series and had a vast library of VHS tapes and DVDs. He would make regular trips to Target to browse and purchase the latest new releases on DVD. And like a video store, he would lend movies to friends. Some of the highlights of his film collection include: all 27 James Bond films, all 26 Zatoichi films, all the Star Wars films, numerous classic Japanese samurai films and nearly all the Marvel films. He especially enjoyed action movies. In recent years he discovered a wide range of Asian language television series on local television. He started off watching Japanese television dramas before turning to Korean-language dramas and music shows which he would watch daily. His favorite K-Dramas were action and period dramas.

For many years Danny purchased mini plans for performances at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center to see an assortment of Oldies groups, Doo-wop bands and magic and comedy shows. He also attended a number of concerts at the many venues around the L.A. area. Despite the loud music and the sound of the audience cheering and applauding, my mom would often notice his head nodding and the next thing she knew, he had fallen asleep. The same thing would happen at the movie theatre, sporing events and especially when watching TV. For over 20 years he also purchased 6-game mini plans for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team which he and I attended together. We attended championship games, playoff games, witnessed amazing goals, experienced the ups and downs of the team and had the privilege of seeing numerous celebrated players. During this time two things remained constant: Danny would always arrive at the game extra early to make sure he got a good parking spot and he would always leave the game early to avoid the rush of exiting fans when the game was over.

One thing that may come as a surprise was that Danny was an animal lover. Despite never wanting a pet of his own, he had a habit of befriending his friend’s pets and would even dog-sit whenever his friends were out of town. One could always find an assortment of cat and dog treats in the trunk of his car. When he lived in Los Angeles, the owners of the local dry cleaners that he patronized owned a small dog that always looked forward to Danny’s visits. Many years ago, my family owned a dog who didn’t take kindly to strangers but over time Danny was able to win her over by giving her dog treats whenever he would come over. We also owned several cats and whenever Danny would come over the cats would approach him and ask for treats.

More recently, between Danny’s many appointments and other commitments, you could find him in the drive-thru line at McDonald’s getting his morning coffee, at Tokyo Central buying sashimi and fruit to share with the family dog, Luna, or at Sakae Sushi. He especially enjoyed sashimi and sushi dinners. While at home, he would spend his time watching either a TV show or a movie while snacking on his favorite snacks. Other times, he could be found sitting in the patio with Luna sharing his fruit with her and talking to her. He would regularly visit friends and go out to eat with them. A couple of times a week he would go over to his good friends Joe and Mary’s house to watch sports and K-Dramas. Sunday night football get-togethers were a weekly occurrence. Without fail, Danny and Joe would fall asleep while watching TV. He still made occasional trips to Harrah’s Rincon.

Danny will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him but his memory will live on in the hearts of all those he touched. Thank you, Danny, for all the wonderful moments you shared with us, the acts of kindness and generosity you demonstrated, the friendship and love you have bestowed upon us all, and the countless beautiful memories you gifted us.