<Begin Segment 2>

MN: What year, and what is your birthday?

FH: November the 19th, 1925. That's when I was born in Spokane.

MN: And were you delivered by a sanba-san?

FH: No, went to the hospital there, and there was the Catholic hospital right on the foothills where you go up to the park up there.

MN: Was this a segregated hospital?

FH: No, it was not. I heard nothing like segregation in those days in Spokane.

MN: So you were basically in with hakujin people.

FH: Correct.

MN: Now, at one point, your family managed three hotels. Do you remember any of the addresses?

FH: Yes. One is called the Raymond Hotel at 325 1/2 Main Street. And I visited that hotel later on, and that hotel is still there with a big sign, Raymond, yes.

MN: These were, what years, what year did you visit this hotel?

FH: Well, that was when they had the Spokane Expo. The year I don't recall, but...

TI: 1974?

FH: Yeah, something like that, yes, correct. The whole family, we rented one of those camp, what you call that, just drove up there.

MN: Now, Frank, what is your birth name?

FH: It's Hironobu Hirata. Hironobu, H-I-R-O-N-O-B-U, Hirata.

MN: And how did, when did you get the name Frank?

FH: When I was going to the elementary school, it's on the outskirts of Spokane, and the school name was Arlington Elementary School.

MN: Do you know how you got the name "Frank"?

FH: That I don't know, but my dad named me Frank, yes.

MN: And you're saying he just started to call you Frank?

FH: That's correct, that's correct. 'Cause going to the American school, I think, you know, cannot even pronounce, can have a Japanese name, especially long one like Hironobu. And so I think he just gave me that name Frank.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.