<Begin Segment 26>

MN: Now, when you returned to Little Tokyo there were still remnants of Bronzeville and you went to the African American run Cobra Club. Can you tell us about that experience?

BK: The American run...

MN: African American, the club, Cobra, Cobra Club on First and San Pedro. Your friend Shap Kuwahara worked there.

BK: Oh, you're talking about the (Club Cobra) which was a nightclub on First and San Pedro in the Taul building. When we were in Manzanar we had the Manza-Knight Club and people from the Manza-Knight Club came from downtown Los Angeles, and one of the fellows was Shap Kuwahara. And his sister, we didn't know, but had married a black person from the Jefferson area, and he was in charge of a photo lab at the Cobra Club, which was a nightclub. And so Shap, who was in our Manzanar group, was doing some work in the photo department of the nightclub. The customers would come in and listen to the music and this photographer would go around and take pictures of the customers and then they would bring the photo back and (process it and) charge so much, and that's what he was doing. But he invited us into his lab, and his lab was below the stage and the stage was where the performers performed. And he did his work, taking pictures and developing. They would come out and deliver it. So he invited us to his lab, which underneath where the performers performed, and we could hear all the music. And so we got to hear the music. We didn't see the guys, but the Club Cobra was very, very busy, and the night club was very busy after hours, not during the light hours, but the late hours. The black people liked their music. Oh, man.

MN: Well, you joined a band, too. Which band did you join?

BK: That's from Manzanar. We were in a band, so when we came back there was various groups. They wanted to form a dance band, and so I heard about it from several people. I don't know how it came about, but the dance band was formed with, with Tetsu Bessho, and Tetsu was able to contact people like Lane Nakano to sing, other people that played musical instruments and the girls to sing, and we wound up with different kinds of gigs, assignments for college dances, high school dances, and Japanese (group) dances. And we used to practice as a orchestra and to perform, so we made a little money, but it wasn't great. It was just more for personal pleasure.

MN: Do you remember which dance you were performing at that you met your future wife, Frances?

BK: No, we were practicing at the church (...) as a band. Learning a new song (as a band), and that one church was in the West Side. (...) The girls' group was meeting there and they were having regular group dances, and I was invited to one of the group dances, so I met Frances, there. That was my first meeting with her. And I didn't see her then for a couple of years because I was busy with school and we were also performing at weekend dances. I had no time to date, no time for women. [Laughs]

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.