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FO: And then I went out to... no, my brother went out to Chicago to work. I went out later on to Chicago to work. My brother, my younger brother went to Kalamazoo College. And then my youngest brother and sister went with the folks to Seabrook. So that was an ideal place for teenagers to grow up in, because they were free to go to Philadelphia, fishing, and all that stuff.

SY: So the young people were, benefitted from it.

FO: Yeah, they did. So I came back from Chicago, I did domestic work in Chicago. Miko Taka's brother first went to Chicago from Gila, and he was a houseboy for thirty-three or four guests. And then he wanted to go to school, so he called another friend, Tosh Matsumoto, and they worked together. And then Tosh wanted to go to school, he wanted to go to MIT, he ended up as an engineer. So they went to see Grandpa Yamazaki who was in Chicago helping people get resettled. And Grandpa Yamazaki wrote to my dad and he says, "You want to go to Chicago?" "Yeah, why not?"

SY: He asked if you wanted to go. Your dad if...

FO: Yeah, so I said, what I wanted to do, I thought about it, and I wanted to go to Northwestern. But when you're working, I did all the dirty work because I was the low man on the totem pole. I cleaned the bathroom, I cleaned the bedrooms and I made all the beds, thirty-something beds every day. And the people who lived there, they were secretaries and models and stuff. You know, some of those gals were good-looking gals. And we had a good time there.

SY: This was the boarding house that this Miko Taka's brother...

FO: First started.

SY: ...had started. So you each then took over when they left, then you would...

FO: No, they didn't leave as such, they went to school. But they came back each day to have dinner and serve dinner. That's the first time, like us, getting served by a waiter and stuff. So they served the dinner, and then we all did the dishes together. And I helped cook, the old lady to cook the various meals.

SY: Because you were not going to school, so you had more work to do all day.

FO: Yeah. So you know... you ever lived in Chicago?

SY: No.

FO: In the winter, it's cold. And the wind blows, and everything, heater was all coal. You had to burn coal to get the heat. So we had to bank the heater with coal every night so that the people would be warm and then we'd have some hot water. So I got tired of that.

SY: Now, can we back up just a little bit? 'Cause you ended up in Chicago after your brother went, because you decided to leave camp because you had nothing to do?

FO: I had nothing to do.

SY: So that was open to you once you graduated from college?

FO: No, from high school.

SY: I mean, from high school, I'm sorry. And was it... you remember how long it was after you graduated from high school that you left?

FO: About three months.

SY: So you were in camp for a while and then you realized that it was...

FO: Yeah, there was no future.

SY: And you remember what you did for those three months?

FO: No, I had a good time.

SY: You just mainly goofed off.

FO: Yeah. You see, we played ball in camp. And when we played baseball against these guys from Central Cal. That was real interesting because we had our Levis and boots on, these guys come marching out with banners and uniforms. Baseball was a big thing for those guys. And we played against each other.

SY: This was the Central Cal, the very famous team?

FO: Yeah.

SY: The Zenimura team?

FO: No, Zenimura went to Gila. But the other, Florin and other small towns, and Sacramento people came into our camp.

SY: And this was common, that all the camps had each team, and then they would play each other?

FO: Well, each block, so to speak, had a team, or a series of blocks had one team. So they set up a league, you know, to keep us busy.

SY: I see. So within the whole camp, you played kind of intramural baseball. So you enjoyed that, that was kind of your sport, then?

FO: Yes.

SY: And it didn't matter what age you were?

FO: No. Anybody that wanted to play, if you're good, you get picked. So we had our own team and this and that.

SY: So that's what you remember mostly then besides working in the mess hall.

FO: Well, we had baseball and we had softball leagues, so we played in both.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.