<Begin Segment 44>

DG: Did people start to get out of the hotel business then?

TH: Well, a lot of them did quit the business because a lot of these places were -- they were renting -- they're leasing the building and, therefore, owners aren't going to fix it, the operators aren't going fix it. Like take the N-P, that was owned by Hirano family, but they said they can't afford to do it and Puget Sound owned by Hiromi and he says he can't do it in such a short period. But at that time I guess the Evergreen closed, and the Milwaukee Hotel closed.

ET: I had to close the Eclipse.

TH: Eclipse and then the Ohio closed.

ET: That was in 1971.

TH: So a lot of places closed up. You would have kept operating if the owner had fixed it up for you.

ET: Oh, yeah.

TH: That was the problem.

ET: You couldn't put an enclosed stairway. I mean, it was kind of hard.

TH: No. If you didn't put in an enclosed stairway, you had to put in a fire sprinkler system.

ET: Oh, yeah. That's right.

DG: So what's the Eclipse now?

ET: It's still closed. Just a basement stores are -- not basement, first floor stores are open.

DG: So did the Panama, you enclosed it?

TH: No, I put in sprinkler system.

<End Segment 44> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.