Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Jack Y. Kunitomi Interview I
Narrator: Jack Y. Kunitomi
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: July 19, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-kyoshisuke-03-0012

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MN: Well, Jack, I want to ask you about something a little more pleasant. You had a very active night life. What were you doing at night after work and after school?

JK: Well, we were shooting pool. Pool shooting wasn't acceptable in a Issei house. And Niseis were, well, ashamed to be seen coming out of the basement after shooting pool.

MN: So didn't your parents get upset at you?

JK: Yeah, they did, but since I was working, they didn't... well, they didn't say too much because they were too lazy installing... what was the word I would use? Well, I think of it later.

MN: Tell me about the dances you used to go to. Dances. You used to go to a lot of the dances.

JK: Oh, yes. Well, in gym class, during rainy days, the city... not the city. We were under the city's program to learn dancing. 1930s, about, we were dancing through a program of the city doing this and that. The city changed their mind, changed the curriculum and said, "Hey, we got to change during rainy days." So they said, "Well, yeah, let's try dancing." So on the rainy days, waltz and foxtrot were the dances. Just our speed. So we learned the turns for the foxtrot and waltz, quick step, we were learning the basic for dancing waltz and foxtrot, which was fine for us who were becoming Americanized.

MN: What about the swing and the jitterbug?

JK: Oh, yeah, well, that came later, yeah. So rainy days, we danced. You learned how to turn, you learned how to back up, you learned how to spiral. So we learned the basic foxtrot. And then the wars are coming closer, we did the jitterbug.

MN: Where did you do the jitterbugs and the swing? Did you have dances on Saturday nights?

JK: Oh, yes.

MN: Where did you have the dances at?

JK: What had most was all these foreign nationals. They would get together, they have their own clubhouse. The Germans had their own clubhouse, the Romanians had, the Jewish had their own clubhouse. So they have clubhouse all over the city, became dance halls. So when the war started coming, each group would have dance halls, so we had nothing but empty dance halls to go in. So we were lucky. Our generation, it started around Washington and Grand. We could go anyplace, look for the signs, and see a sign with a foreign, "Hey, they might have a hall." Yeah, let's go ask, "How much for a hall for Saturday night from nine to twelve August 1st?" "Oh, you want a hall? Yes." So we had dance hall with the German clubs or the Romanian clubs, with the Jewish clubs, with all the different nationalities, they had empty halls. So we were lucky, we had a dance, and we had a hall.

MN: So when you had these dances, how far did people come?

JK: Well, we thought we had a local club. But we forgot that people were taking lessons in Norwalk, Torrance, Gardena. So we had people from all over the city. Yeah.

MN: Did any fights break out in these dances?

JK: Yeah, at first. Because natural rivalry. "Where you from?" "Gardena." "What?" So it was like that, I think most of the community.

MN: Did you go out to Norwalk and those places for dances?

JK: Yeah. But our group, like to say, was outgoing, because our downtown group was more advanced. We were, learned the latest dance steps, jitterbug and all that. And people would watch us, "Show me the steps."

MN: So downtown set the trend.

JK: Yeah.

MN: Did you dress in a zoot suit?

JK: Well, we did. We looked like Mexicans. We had three fellows, including me, two others who had zoot suits. They were [inaudible] any Mexican dance.

MN: And where did you learn your dance steps from?

JK: Some of us sneaked into the pay dance halls.

MN: And what kind of pay dance halls? Were these African Americans or Mexicans or hakujin?

JK: Hakujins. So we were accepted because the Filipinos had no choice. They went to the big dance halls. And people think we're Filipinos anyway.

MN: Now, I know the Niseis also did a lot of skating at the shrine.

JK: Yeah. This came... the clubs, there were so many Japanese club, especially those that went to the same high school: Norwalk, Torrance, Gardena, or where else? L.A. Poly, Lincoln, they all had clubs, Japanese clubs. And they had Japanese dolls and Japanese costumes for like Girl's Day. So naturally clubs, you learned to dance. Japanese were good dancers because they had teachers.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.