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TI: And let's ask first about your father. How did he come to the United States?

FS: Demand for laborers, contract laborers, 1905, contract laborers for the Great Northern Railroad, he signed up for the railroad, two years.

TI: And how did he end up in Chicago of all places?

FS: He got released from the railroad on a two-year term, over. The foreman was an Irish guy, according to my father, and his business partner, they both said the same. That they could stay with the railroad or go wherever they want, and they get all their money, paid, and a reference letter. So he, lot of Issei, like people in camp, they didn't want go out. They didn't want to leave the railroad because outside is foreign, so they stay with the railroad, you see, going right back to the camp. But then, anyway, my dad and his buddy, Mr. Sakamoto, they went to Detroit first, and they learned cooking. So my dad, in short time, was head of, one of the head chefs at the Detroit Athletic Club, and Henry Ford was one of his clients.

TI: That's a good story.

FS: I had the menu, and you know how we travel around, everything got lost. But there was a proof, a menu. And I often, when I was young, I'd just look at the menu, but as I got older, I was thinking, you know, my old man, people say he's stupid, but that guy could write a French menu, and there's the proof.

TI: So he was a chef.

FS: Chef, head chef, one of the head chefs.

TI: In Detroit.

FS: Detroit Athletic Club.

TI: And then after that, did he go to --

FS: He went to Chicago, that's when I was born.

TI: Now, why did he go to Chicago?

FS: I don't know. [Laughs]

TI: So some opportunity was there...

FS: I think I know why; I think there was more Irish people there.

TI: And why Irish people? Why was he...

FS: Chasing, he was chasing Irish girls. See, he was single. My dad was, he was a loverboy. And he didn't tell me, but his business partner would tell me that my dad liked Irish girls, he liked Polish girls. There was no Japanese girls, so you can't blame 'em. And you know what a lot of Japanese menfolks did that was in Chicago in all those areas? They couldn't associate with white girls, they got black girls. So there were a lot of marriages in my early childhood.

TI: So interracial marriages between Japanese and...

FS: Yeah, because no Japanese. And they had no money to go to Japan.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.