<Begin Segment 3>

MN: Jack, before we talk more about the school and your sports activities, I want to ask you a little bit about Little Tokyo. And you were sharing to me about Yamato Hall. Can you tell me, number one, what was Yamato Hall?

JK: Yamato Hall was a gambler's delight. It used one stair, which led to their door. Of course, only adults, probably bachelors, only were allowed into the open door. It was so-called "closed" because according to rumors, a little store across the street, half a block from the entrance to the gambling house, was a lookout for our, the hall. And I guess it was the lookout because nobody ever raided the place. But one night, something happened, and all heck broke loose because the U.S. government, revenue, raided the hall. They had the streets blocked off and they woke me and my brother up from a deep sleep -- I don't know what time it was, probably two or three o'clock in the morning. By dumping cases, bottles, jugs, whatever, that they confiscated, and threw them over the wall from the mezzanine. And it was all noise, smell of liquor that permeated the streets. It was just plain old noise, noisy. I don't know how long it took the liquor to dry up or go down the sewer, but the smell lingered on for days.

MN: You said you and your brother heard this. How close were you to this event?

JK: We were across the street from the entrance to Yamato Hall. (Our house was across the street from Yamato Hall.)

MN: And so they were confiscating this because Prohibition had just...

JK: Prohibition, yes.

MN: And this was a federal agents...

JK: Yes. I don't know what department.

MN: Did they barricade the street off?

JK: They had barricades on Central and San Pedro. Of course, there are sightseers, but they couldn't do anything to stop the raid.

MN: So the raid, was it just one night that they came and --

JK: Yes, just one night.

MN: Now, Yamato Hall, let's see. You're talking about, the gambling joint was... was that called the Tokyo Club? If you could explain that.

JK: Well, the Tokyo Club was what they call the door. Of course, I never made it inside. My father took me when I was much smaller, younger, and I don't remember. Bunch of men gambling away. So I don't remember too much about the interior. But it was a lifesaver for the bachelors who did farm work, seasonal work, and they provided work for my father by moving their suitcases and a few of their clothes that they took with them when they went to seasonal work.

MN: So he got hired by people at Yamato Hall. And then didn't Nisei Week programs, weren't there fashion shows at Yamato Hall?

JK: Well, this came much later. Because before Nisei Week, they had to have, like, fashion shows, women had their clothes, the men had their sweaters, trousers.

MN: Did you model?

JK: Yes, we modeled sweaters. And all part of the growing up sequence that we went through with the ladies taking the lead.

MN: What was that like, modeling at the fashion show?

JK: Well, we followed the ladies, because lot of ladies wanted the fashion show. So we tried to carry on. [Laughs] It was funny because the men were trying to imitate the ladies. But we carried on. And, well, yeah, it came out all right.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.