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TI: Okay, so Bacon, the way I start this is I just describe where we are and the date, so today's Tuesday, August 31, 2010. We're in Los Angeles. On camera is Dana Hoshide and I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda. And so, Bacon, I'm just gonna start with a real basic question. Can you just tell me when and where you were born?

BS: I was born on August 23, 1929, at El Monte, California, which is about twenty miles east of Los Angeles.

TI: And were you born in a hospital, medical facility, or at home? Do you know where you were born?

BS: I'm a home delivered baby.

TI: So was this, like, a midwife that did --

BS: Right. In fact, I do recall a midwife on my birth certificate.

TI: Okay, so I'm curious, I started off the interview calling you "Bacon," but when you were born, what was the name given to you at birth?

BS: Harumi.

TI: Okay, and is there any meaning to that name, Harumi?

BS: It's just, it's more feminine, probably three quarter of the time it's used for women, and depending on how you spell it in Japanese, so I hardly ever use it.

TI: So tell me how you got the name Bacon.

BS: Well, there's several stories. The one commonly told to me is that when I was a little kid I was strung over a bonfire and cooked like a piece of bacon or something like that. Several other people have told me different stories, but...

TI: So it looked like there was a little fire and you were kind of, like, strung over like you're a piece of bacon being cooked.

BS: Yeah, I guess. [Laughs]

TI: That's good. Do you know who, who gave you that name?

BS: No, I don't.

TI: So you said there other stories. What were the other stories?

BS: Well, one old man neighbor said he gave me the name, another Nisei neighbor said he gave me the name, so I don't know.

TI: So from a very young age you were always called Bacon, then.

BS: Yes.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.