<Begin Segment 27>

MN: Now, you know when you were in high school, you and your friends also formed a club. How did you come up with the club name called the Royal Knights?

YK: Oh, well, yeah, my friend Moose was a big guy, and this younger guy named Takemi who had the only television in the (neighborhood), they had various Japanese friends, so they approached me and said, "We need to form our own Japanese American club," because various other ones were being formed, and in fact, the main one was called the Long Beach Royals, and they had anywhere from twenty to thirty members, they were older, and they were either seniors in high school or out working. They were pretty tough guys. They were nice guys, but they wouldn't back down on anybody who wanted to fight. So they would go around to all the (dances). It would be Japanese American dances sponsored by various clubs throughout Los Angeles, so we used to also go to all the different dances (...).

MN: So how many members were in this group?

YK: Well, at first there were only about a dozen (that) showed up and then we said, well, we're trying to organize the club. And then I said we need at least a president, vice president, and a sergeant of arms. So Moose, I said that Moose should be the president, 'cause he was kind of the boss and knew everybody, and he was big. And he said, no, no, he's too dumb, he'll be the sergeant of arms. So I became the president or the gang leader of the Royal Knights. Some of the people wanted to name us the "Royal Babies" because some of them had brothers in the Royals, and the Royals were the big feared group. But in the end, it became Royal Knights.

MN: Who came up with the Royal Knights?

YK: The name?

MN: Yeah.

YK: Well, it was the Royals, and then somebody came up with Knights, so then the two got combined together.

MN: I know you have a jacket also?

YK: Oh, yeah. We had our own black jackets with the emblem saying Royal Knights, and we'd have to wear that everywhere, to all the dances and other (places). When we had our own sports team, football, basketball, baseball, and we always had to have our Royal Knights jackets.

MN: Who came up with the colors and the emblem design?

YK: Oh, I don't recall. There were some people who worked on it, and they ordered them.

MN: Now you said you had the softball and the basketball teams and the hardball teams. Did you compete with the other Nisei clubs?

YK: Oh, yeah, we did, but we were the younger kids. So we weren't expected to win, so (if) we got one or two wins a season. It was a major victory.

MN: Did you get into a lot of fights?

YK: Did we what?

MN: Get into a lot of fights?

YK: Oh, no. We were the good guys. Only minor skirmishes.

MN: How about dances? Did you sponsor dances?

YK: Yeah, we sponsored some dances, but it was mainly my younger sister who had the Hardells, they were called, and they would have dances and we would also, they would have jam sessions where we learned how to do the jitterbug and cha cha and other things.

MN: So what did the Hardells, what was that short for?

YK: Well, they said it was Harbor Dells, but, of course, we called them "Hard Ups." [Laughs]

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.