<Begin Segment 26>

DG: But then there was something in Yoshito's papers about how the Japanese didn't know how to be business-like and they gradually learned. So did the hotel association, did they talk about that at all?

TH: I'm sure they must have.

ET: But we were scared. We didn't want to chase customers away, but the Chinese were different. When somebody complained, they say Mrs. So-and-so, maybe you should find another place.

TH: Elmer, when did you start running the anou Eclipse?

ET: I started that in 1950.

TH: Well, Eclipse and Benton is two different type of trade too.

DG: So we're talking about before the war they were cheap hotels and you could barely make a living, and it had to be run by family or else you couldn't make it.

TH: That's right.

ET: You had to almost wash the laundry yourself if you want to save any kind of money. We did everything: plumbing, painting, even changing the rugs.

DG: So probably a lot of people got into the hotel business and there were a lot of hotels, but they also probably went broke.

TH: That's true. I wouldn't say a lot of hotels, there were some that did.

ET: One reason why if you run a hotel or apartment, you're so busy you got no time to spend money.

YM: You can't hire anybody (because you couldn't afford to).

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.