<Begin Segment 40>

[Translated from Japanese]

But, I was, twelve, twelve, three rooms downstairs, among those fifteen rooms, we used three and a half, and we rented the rest. I changed the sheets once a week and cleaned the room, and the rent was my allowance.

DG: That was the Tacoma Hotel.

AT: No. That was called the Union Hotel. There, now Washington, the Union Hotel on the Washington, it is on the Fourth Avenue. There, just for a while though, he was managing it. The Tacoma Hotel was managed by his brother.

DG: Did friends stay at the Union Hotel?

AT: The Union Hotel was, one of his friends... the other brother was running it.

TY: Then, each of the brothers managed the Union Hotel and the Tacoma Hotel.

AT: Yeah, that's right. The one called the Tacoma Hotel... the rich second oldest brother, he lived in Alaska, and he found a gold mine. He was walking around in the mountain. Like this, he brought the soil back, and he had it looked at, then they said that they found the gold in it. Then, as a token of the appreciation, he received a lot of money. Then, he came over here. He didn't have children, he wanted to adopt one of my daughters, but she said, "Me, I don't want to go," so I said, "You should go back to Japan and find someone to take care of you." [Laughs] In Japan, he passed away already, and I saw my nephew. So he was managing the Tacoma Hotel. At that time, my husband was asked if he wanted to manage a hotel, but he said that he thought it was better to work than to manage a hotel. He worked for the Frye. He worked for the Frye for a long time and finally quit. He retired early. You start receiving retirement money when you work until the certain age, right? Now, he was receiving the money from Union. He was receiving it. When I worked, we always had enough money for food. But, he was so laid back, and he didn't talk about money too much. He liked antiques, so when he saw antiques, he bought them without hesitation.

TY: During the depression, you said that many Japanese lost their jobs. Were you asked for the help?

AT: No, they were running up quite an amount.

TY: Yes. But, Mr. Terao was...

AT: No, Terao was working, right? Back then, he was working for the Mitsui, so he didn't go. Then, me, too, after our children grew old enough, I was working at a place where they made necklaces. So I bought groceries at a Safeway on the way home, I shopped at the Safeway because it was where I could walk in 15 minutes. I went to work with my friend everyday. I worked there. I made necklaces. When I bought necklaces there, I could buy 15-yen-necklaces for 8 yen.

TY: So they gave you almost half off.

AT: So I bought many necklaces for my friends.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.