<Begin Segment 30>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So back in Seattle, the store, there's a curfew, and the store would actually stay open right, I think, up to the curfew.

SA: To ten.

TI: To ten, so how would you get home?

SA: Well, that's it, the King Fir people, the cafe, one of our cafes that we used to supply, they had stayed friendly with us, but they didn't buy from us, but they were friends with us. And so they sent their car down, and it's marked "I am Chinese," I mean, they got a "Chinese" sticker on it, they got "Chinese" buttons on. You've probably heard that.

TI: And so they sent their car down...

SA: We'd sit in the back, yeah, we'd sit in the back and they'd drive us the block up, block and a half.

TI: And so it was even difficult to walk just a block and a half because there'd be --

SA: Well, yeah, if you get caught, if we had a hostile Chinese, they'd call in and we'd get picked up.

TI: So why did the police let you guys stay open 'til ten? I mean, I would think that if the curfew's eight...

SA: We're not on the streets.

TI: So as long as you stayed...

SA: You gotta be off the streets.

TI: Off the streets.

SA: Ten o'clock to eight... is it six? Is it six a.m. to eight p.m., that's how it... off the streets.

TI: So King Fir, were they, they were taking a risk to help you like this, to actually send their car to pick up...

SA: Well, we just figured, well, yeah, but nothing happened, we were lucky. But we weren't there that long, you know, by then, we were getting evacuated. And then the only Chinese that came to Puyallup was the one that was on the corner, and it was Mamie Chin, and she brought me a blouse, a checkered blouse. That was the only visitor I had. No Caucasians because -- it's partly our fault, too, because we stayed segregated in that little bit of the Japanese Nihonmachi. And races weren't mixing.

TI: Okay, before we leave Seattle, any other memories or stories during this time period?

SA: Well, my brother sold the car, which was fortunate, and that brought in quite a bit. Enough for us to get our suitcases, so we all got new suitcases. And then we had to buy -- no one knew what to pack at that time. So then it was what we could pack. But I felt sorry for him, he had to let go of his car.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.