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TI: Earlier you made reference to what is still a quite well-known street, Creek.

RO: Creek Street.

TI: Creek Street. And the store and your home was really close.

RO: Very close.

TI: So explain what, why is Creek Street so famous?

RO: It's because of the houses of prostitution.

TI: So describe that for me. When you say, is it one place, was it more than one?

RO: Oh no, there was several houses. Well, they were all together, but it's someplace that's even well-known now, for the past reputation. But it's not that they were bad women or anything.

TI: My, my research indicates that they were, it was initially, I think, set up for the miners and that when they would come into town it was lots, the brothels and the bars were like a main attraction of Ketchikan.

RO: Oh yes. Right.

TI: But this was early on. This was like the early days of Ketchikan. So when you were growing up in the '20s and '30s, was the, were the brothels still in, in...

RO: [Nods] Because I used to deliver newspapers to a couple of them.

TI: And so who would be the customers of the brothels, because this is after the mining, right? Or is, is there...

RO: Just anybody that knew the reputation of the area.

MO: The fishermen.

RO: Pardon?

MO: The fishermen.

RO: Well naturally, fishermen. Definitely. That's Ketchikan.

TI: So people who were working there. Now, would people come from other towns to visit Creek Street?

RO: I really don't, I couldn't say. I don't know.

TI: Okay, so going back to your, your story, so you used to actually sell newspapers. And so tell me how you would sell newspapers to the brothels?

RO: Well, we had this wonderful old time store called Hunt's, and the lady was actually one of the real pioneers of Ketchikan, and they used to have a wonderful store that had everything that a kid would want to buy, especially, you know...

TI: Like what?

RO: Toys, tootsie toys and whatever else. But what they did was they allowed us to take, say, maybe a half a dozen newspapers, we'd get it for a certain price, and then we'd sell it for more.

TI: I see. So you'd get like a, maybe a small commission for every one you sold and then you'd go back and probably use that money to buy more candy or something.

RO: [Laughs] Yeah.

TI: So you would grab some newspapers.

RO: I only used to take about half a dozen, steady customers.

TI: And so who were your best customers?

RO: Well, there was this one couple that, he used to be the bartender at our, the Welexum Bar was the name of it, but, that was one of our businesses, and his wife was a black lady, but she was actually one of the red light persons. Then a couple of the others in the red light area.

TI: And how, so you would sell these things, and it seemed like there was a pretty good, for you, mixing. You would go to sell newspapers to people in the brothels, you have Native friends, and so it seems like a pretty, what's the right word, maybe accepting community? I mean, is that, is that...

RO: Definitely. Definitely.

TI: That, you mentioned this woman who was black, so like different races. And so how did people treat or accept the Japanese? How were the Japanese accepted?

RO: Just as the whites were. I think they were really highly respected because of their honesty and ability to pay bills. But the small community like it was, it was very tight. They used, they'd come over to the store and visit or whatever.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.