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VY: Okay, so let's see. After high school, what was your life like after high school, what did you do? Did you go on to college?

JF: I did. I graduated and I went to... well, I better go back a little bit. At that time, I was dating my, who would end up to be my husband, future husband, George. And he was attending San Francisco State at the time. So I decided I want to go to San Francisco State as well, so I did, I did. I commuted with some friends, we drove every morning, and I did go to State and I majored in art. During my second year, I developed a thyroid condition. It was an acute thyroid condition, which, at that time, the treatment was, well, I had to leave school, I had to leave school and rest and prepare for surgery. Now, today, I don't think that happens, but anyway, that's what happened to me. So I left school and I had to look forward to six months down the road to have thyroid removal surgery, which I did. So that ended my college career, because after I had my surgery, I was working part-time. I had worked for this company since high school part-time all throughout my growing up time. And so I went back and joined them and continued working until I got married.

VY: What kind of work was it?

JF: Well, I started out in high school as a gift wrapper, it was a women's apparel store called Goldman's. And by the time I left, before I got married, we started out with maybe three different stores when I first joined them, and we ended up with seven. It was a chain in the East Bay. So I, all my high school years I worked there part-time as a gift wrapper, and behind the desk. The desk meaning, at that time, folks would bring up their purchases to this long counter and we would wrap them and take the money and open accounts and all that kind of thing. It's different today. So that's where I grew up, in a women's apparel store. After I left school and had my surgery, I went back to work there. I went back to work at that store here in Alameda, and kind of just worked my way up to eventually I became a buyer for the store. I became a dress buyer, so I had the opportunity to go to markets in San Francisco, even to New York and Los Angeles with other buyers, purchase the next big fashion.

VY: That sounds really interesting, I have a couple questions about that. One is an early question about... so you said you started doing this, working at this job as a gift wrapper in high school?

JF: Yes.

VY: I'm wondering, because I know you said before that you didn't have a lot of special clothes and that sort of thing. And now you're working in a women's apparel shop and you're wrapping things that other people are buying, I'm just wondering what kind of thoughts are going through your head?

JF: Lots of different thoughts. [Laughs] I've always loved clothes, and growing up, new clothes were not... we didn't buy any clothes, we didn't have new clothes. That's another story. Because I eventually did get to go to this one store and buy my dress that I always wanted and then go across the street and buy the shoes that I've always wanted. But growing up, back to Goldman's, yes, it was a very nice women's apparel store. And the owner of this store, his name was Bruce Goldman, would come to the stores often just to make his rounds. And he would come in and look at me and greet me. We got along fairly wonderfully. But he would always say, if he saw something that was a little different from what we were carrying, he would say to me, "Loving hands at home." Do you know what that means? That I had made whatever I was wearing. I sewed, because I grew up sewing. I grew up learning how to sew clothes, our own clothes. We took sewing classes in elementary school, and we learned how to sew. So I knew exactly the first time he said that to me, because I was so little taken aback. I thought he was being very mean, and I know what I was wearing. I had made a skirt and I was wearing a white blouse. And I said to him, I said, "Mr. Goldman, if you want me to buy our clothes, maybe you should give me a raise." [Laughs]

VY: That's great.

JF: What else could I say to him? You know, if he's going to say, "Loving hands at home," and make note of what I'm wearing, I think that was his way of saying, "Come on, Judy, spend your money, buy some clothes." We got a wonderful discount, yes, but still. I wasn't prepared to buy my wardrobe at Goldman's.

VY: That's great, I love that story, that's great.

JF: But I did work for them for many years until I got married.

VY: And then you became a buyer and you were able to travel. I'm wondering what that was like. Was that the first time you started traveling?

JF: Yes, that was the first time. Because growing up, we didn't travel, I did not travel. So several buyers and I would go to Los Angeles several times a year to the market. And the one big trip or two big trips that we took to New York, we went with other buyers, and the general merchandise manager, who oversaw the entire operation, so it was quite eye-opening for me.

VY: What was that like? As a buyer, what would you do if you all travel to this one area, and then what would happen?

JF: Well, say, for example, in San Francisco during Market Week when different manufacturers would bring all of their samples, we used to go to the Palace Hotel in San Francisco where they had rooms and rooms of manufacturers showing their goods. And we'd go and select what we thought we could use. So we would do that, and it was really quite an experience for me because I'm not that outgoing. But I did my job and I enjoyed it and met lots of different people and developed good relationships with those that I worked with. So it was nice, had nice lunches. Treated very well because the manufacturers or the representatives knew that we had seven stores, which we are buying for. And then in New York, we would be treated to dinners or lunches, stay at nice hotels. Boy, that was a treat for me.

VY: Yeah, I bet.

JF: Small town girl.

VY: That sounds great. Did you notice any differences between going to San Francisco or Los Angeles or the East Coast? Did you notice any differences in people or how they interacted with you, either as a woman or as an Asian American woman or anything like that?

JF: No, no. Because by that time... well, I was the only Asian working within the company. But no, I was never treated differently. Maybe because I was a novelty or different, I don't know. But no, they were very, very kind and very respectful. There was a difference, though, going to New York. I think they were just more businesslike or I don't know, it's just more, not warm. Not warm.

VY: More of an East Coast/West Coast thing.

JF: Yeah, could be, could be East Coast/West Coast.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.