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TI: How about Japanese community? Was there much in Hillyard?

FS: Well, they were, the Japanese families that we were aware of when I was growing up were in a railroad camp, or two railroad camps across the railroad tracks, in an area that we called "Dogtown" in those days. And they, during 1916, 1917, there was a major railroad strike, and the railroads were really in bad, hurting for workers. So they, they imported or brought these Japanese families into these railroad camps and they worked in the roundhouse and in the place called the car shop and the steam plant. And they housed them in these... well, they were boxcars, basically, that were renovated so that there were sleeping rooms in them, but I can remember that camp had three rows of these cars, they'd taken the wheels off and set them down on the ground, and the families would live in them. Now, they, most of the families were, most of the men were single men, so they lived in a boxcar by themselves, or converted, I guess it's like a single-wide trailer nowadays. They were insulated, but the facilities, the bathrooms and stuff were outside of the, they had a Japanese bathhouse. There were only, at that time, maybe three families that had children, and I can remember we used to, we used to run across the railroad tracks and play with that, those families. It, it was an interesting place because I can remember one of the families, the mother, the mother was a widow. She ran a cook house, so that the bachelor men had a place to, to eat, eat supper and eat breakfast before they went to work. I can remember he, one of the, he was, one of the sons in that family was a good ballplayer.

TI: Now, do you ever recall going down there, like, after work and just watching the men, like, when they're doing baths or talking or singing? Was there that kind of community there, do you recall anything...

FS: Not, not that I recall. They, they would sit around the, the dining room and talk, and they'd be talking in Japanese, of course, and I did, I don't think I understand, understood a lot of it. But they were, they, most of the men were bachelors, and they were lonely, lonely guys, tend to drink too much. They were, there were a couple of alcoholics. I remember my father trying to help 'em out, trying to get them straightened out. But as we now know, it's almost an impossible situation.

TI: And so how did they view your family? Just as another Japanese family? But you were on the other side of the railroad tracks.

FS: We were, we were on the other side of the railroad tracks, my father was independent, he didn't -- of course, he depended on the railroad because of the industrial work, but they, I don't recall that they socialized much. My mother would, my mother was a very gregarious person, so she would, she wouldn't go over there when the ladies, the few mothers that were there would come by, they would, she would make tea and they would jabber away. I'm not sure... she was so involved in, in our family, that she really didn't have much time. She worked the laundry, she took care of the kids, she, she cooked, she sewed for us, and generally worked, worked the laundry.

TI: So did the workers, do you ever recall them coming to your, your father or your parents for help, that they needed help with some, maybe, documentation or something like that? Because...

FS: Not, not that I recall. Although, see, now, my father had a Caucasian friend who, who ran the print shop behind the, around the corner from, and he had some political connections. My father used to have him help. Now, he might have gone, gone to him for help, and there was an attorney here in Hillyard who was just a good guy, and if people needed help, my father used to talk to him, too. But it was like, it was like we have mentors now, and this, this guy was, the guy ran the print shop. He was kind of a mentor, at least to my father.

TI: So it sounds like the race relationships were pretty good in Hillyard. There were lots of mixing, or how would you describe that?

FS: I wouldn't say there was a lot of mixing, but there were a lot of immigrants there, they all moved out to Hillyard and during, even during the Depression there was work available. You could work at the, if you had a job at the railroad, you were a hell of a lot better off than those people who weren't working. And so, but they were Italians and Germans and a few Frenchmen, and I remember an English family.

TI: And these were immigrant families?

FS: They were immigrant families, and we used to, everybody, we used to play with them all. So there was a, there was a fair mix of people and mixing of people. I don't think we... and the kids used to play. There was no socializing between families.

TI: Now, do you recall any... I guess awareness that there were these different ethnic groups? So like the Japanese kids would hang out together versus the Italians versus the Germans versus the English?

FS: Well, we, they were, I think more than anything, they recognized that we were Japanese or Japanese Americans. I don't think we were ostracized or set aside. We were, we played together as kids, but at the next level, the family level, there was no socializing.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.