Densho Digital Archive - Harvey Watanabe Interview (denshovh-wharvey-01-0004)

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SS: Were there lots of other Japanese American kids in class?

HW: Not many. No, we were the, my sister and myself were the only, only two in that school at that time, yeah.

SS: What was that like?

HW: Just more kids, get to know more kids, yeah. Some city kids and some... of course, the city of Visalia that we were in at that time, had two elementary schools, you know. So the Japanese kids that lived in the city were closer to another school, so they were going there. So, we were in the suburbs, and there weren't any other Japanese around at the time.

SS: At this time, you know, before the war, how accepting was the community of Asian Americans?

HW: Well, I didn't have any problems, we didn't. Probably because, partly because our neighbors were immigrant Italian families, having vineyards. So, I think that they felt like they had just come into the country and so they weren't about to... I know that the immigrant family next door, Mrs. Mangini used to have me stop by and have dinner with them. And one day I asked her about what this was, and she said it was spaghetti, and, "Don't you have it at home?" And I said no, and she says, "Well, you listen to me and you tell your mother how to make the spaghetti." And that's how my mother started making spaghetti at home.

SS: Just like in the old country in Italy.

HW: Yeah, yeah.

SS: So she made authentic spaghetti then.

HW: Yeah, well it was a, well, you see, when you, when things are hard to get, you make do. If you don't have hamburger, why, you just mince up some bacon. Things like that, you know. But she gave us, gave me dried tomatoes to take home, cook with and other things. The other Italian neighbor asked me to stay one day, and I couldn't tell my Mom I wasn't gonna come home, so I stayed anyway. But I sat down at the dinner table with them and there were glasses at all our places and the father comes in and he pours everybody a glass of wine, you know, all little kids -- elementary kids. Not strong wine, but I had my first glass -- well, it was a half a glass -- of wine when I was a little kid. Italian red wine. That's the way it was.