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TI: So, let's talk about your childhood. What are some, when you think about your earliest childhood memories, where were you living when you can start remembering that?

TH: We were living, I guess, in the same building that I was born in, and again, it was just east of where we're having our interview here. And again, at that time there were more open areas, and I remember just playing (in what) we would call the empty lot, vacant area that my cousin and I played in, so that's about, I guess, about the earliest that I can remember.

TI: And then eventually your family moved when you were about, what, seven years old or so?

TH: (Yes), so my dad (...) decided to start his own business, and so (...) we moved out to the Hollywood area, where I still am. I still live there. And so he started a business in 1932, which apparently was in the depth of the Depression, and apparently he did all right. He was able to provide for us.

TI: And when your father started the, his store, so he was working with his older brother when he first came over... how was that for the brothers, for him to start his own store? Was that something that his older brother supported?

TH: I think my, my uncle was a little disappointed that he decided to strike out on his own, 'cause apparently (...) you have a company and you have a person there working away and suddenly that person says, "Well, I'm gonna go become independent." So I guess my uncle wasn't too pleased, but later on there was support from him on that. And the store he started in the Hollywood area was Fujiya, and with other symbol behind it was cash and carry grocery store. Guess in the Depression he wouldn't go much on credit. [Laughs]

TI: Now, did you ever ask your dad why he decided to start a store in the midst of the Depression?

TH: No. No, I didn't even think about that being in the midst of the Depression 'til much later on, you start thinking back and you realize it was in the midst of the Depression.

TI: And how did the store do?

TH: Did very well, so that by five years later, as I now recall, he had saved enough money to buy a piece of property and then put a home on it, and 1937 was when we moved into our new home. So I think about it and I said wow, five years, he did, saved enough money out of the business to do that. So... quite pleased.

TI: 'Cause then you were about, what, twelve years old, so you could have...

TH: Yeah, twelve.

TI: Remember moving to a new place... let's talk a little bit about the Hollywood area when you were growing up, in terms of, in terms of the neighborhood. I mean, like, let's first talk about your playmates. Who were some of your playmates when you think back?

TH: Well, it was actually -- and as I think about it now -- it was sort of like a ghetto area where we then lived between Melrose and Beverly Boulevard, and then I guess Vermont Avenue was to the west and Hoover Avenue, Hoover Street was to the east, and so we had a fair number of Japanese in there. And I have, then... you know, start naming, that'd be many, many names, so I don't know if you want to go through that.

TI: Well, the question I'm... I mean, I'm curious, you mention, you called it a ghetto. Why, describe why you would... why ghetto? Why the term "ghetto"?

TH: Okay, 'cause I used to wonder why people didn't live outside. Most of the Japanese were within that area. There were a few families outside, but then you could see the borderline and when you cross over Vermont, you're in a completely white neighborhood, and very similarly to the east of Hoover was the same. And so our grammar school that I went to is Dayton Heights, which was right in the center of this, but I guess the (...) district for the school was large enough that we had (...) white kids from the white families also attending Dayton Heights, so we had a mixed type of environment at that time.

TI: But within your neighborhood, within those boundaries you described earlier, what percentage were Japanese in that neighborhood?

TH: I'd say probably ninety percent.

TI: And what would the other ten percent be?

TH: Oh, well, we had a black family next door, and I think there'd be a scattering of the (Filipinos), and Mexicans. So it was mostly Japanese, and then within that area, the Hollywood Gakuen was also started about that time, before World War II.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.