Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Sam Ogo Interview
Narrator: Sam Ogo
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Spokane, Washington
Date: April 25, 2006
Densho ID: denshovh-osam-01-0003

<Begin Segment 3>

MA: So you mentioned that you moved from Millwood to Spokane when you were about...

SO: Seven.

MA: ...seven years old. What did your, your father do after he moved to Spokane?

SO: Well, he bought the furnishings of the U.S. Hotel at that time, called the U.S. Hotel, and that's how he got into the hotel business. He didn't buy the building, now, we just, he just bought the furnishings.

MA: And where was this hotel located?

SO: On Main Avenue, it's on about... Division, First... I think it's on the 200 block of Main Avenue, that's all I remember.

MA: How did you feel moving from Millwood to Spokane? What was that transition like for you?

SO: I don't remember a thing, not a thing. [Laughs]

MA: I guess about the U.S. Hotel, who were the people that stayed there?

SO: Oh, like I told you over the phone there, mostly lumberjacks and transients, overnighters, things like that.

MA: Were there also long-term tenants as well?

SO: A few, few, uh-huh, that stayed with us, but very few.

MA: How was the relationship between the, the customers and then your parents?

SO: Very good, very good, no problem at all. Even during the war years, we didn't have any problems.

MA: What was the atmosphere like in the hotel?

SO: It was all right, I didn't mind it. Little cramped, but no, it wasn't too bad.

MA: And do you remember, like, how many rooms there were? Was it a pretty large hotel?

SO: Well, I can't remember the U.S. Hotel. (But) the second hotel that he had, I remember about, I think there was about fifty-five rooms, I think, but I can't remember how many -- I think U.S. Hotel was a little larger. I'm just guessing probably around sixty, sixty-five rooms, probably.

MA: And did your family live in the hotel?

SO: We all lived there, uh-huh, we had a room of our own.

MA: So the location of the hotel was pretty much, was it where the other Japanese-owned businesses were?

SO: Pretty much, yes. There was another hotel right across the street from us called the Palm Hotel, run by Japanese. There were, I imagine, oh, probably around twelve, fifteen hotel owners at that time, I imagine, 'cause most of the Japanese Isseis, and that's what they went into, either hotels or couple of hand laundries, you know, laundries, and a couple restaurants, but the majority of 'em ran hotels.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.