<Begin Segment 6>
SY: So when they, okay, so when Dad, Daddy came to Los Angeles, started the Service Bureau, then met our mom and started to have a family right away.
PM: Right.
SY: And then which, at what time did they move to Boyle Heights?
PM: I think it must've been a year or two after, from western, west part of Los Angeles.
SY: Do you remember exactly?
PM: No, I don't remember 'cause I was very young.
SY: Very young.
PM: 'Cause most of my memory is for Boyle Heights, 3456 Eagle Street. [Laughs]
SY: And how --
PM: Near Lorena.
SY: Yeah, how were you born? Were you born in a hospital? Do you know?
PM: I think by a midwife.
SY: A midwife. So you...
PM: I was not in a hospital.
SY: You weren't. So it was somewhere on the west side of Los Angeles.
PM: West side I was born.
SY: It's kind of unusual that you are Sansei, right?
PM: Right, for my age it's a little bit unusual.
SY: Because our parents came over here very early.
PM: Yes.
SY: Our grandparents came very early on.
PM: Right.
SY: So, and then they, once they settled in Boyle Heights, I assume that was a house that they leased?
PM: They just rented, yes.
SY: They rented this house. And can you talk a little bit about that neighborhood, what Boyle Heights was back, this was in the 1930s?
PM: Yes. There were many Japanese families on that block. In fact, we used to have block parties, and some of the families had an outside screen so we could go and watch movies, and it was just very friendly. Almost everybody knew everybody. It was just, I would imagine maybe fifty percent were Japanese, all the way down.
SY: And you grew up, were most of your friends then Japanese, or did you have friends who weren't?
PM: When we went to school, of course, we made friends with some of the other people, but most of them, just because I had so many in my family, we didn't really need to have friends. [Laughs] We had enough friends just among our family.
SY: So you played with your sisters.
PM: I think we were taking care of them. [Laughs]
SY: You were taking care of your sisters.
PM: 'Cause I'm the oldest, yes.
SY: I see. So the oldest, oldest sisters ended up taking care of the younger children. And when you, what elementary school did you go to?
PM: I went to Lorena Street School.
SY: And then from there you went to?
PM: Stevenson Junior High School.
SY: Are they, are they still there now?
PM: Yes.
SY: Really?
PM: As far as I know.
SY: And then you went, you didn't go to high school?
PM: No, we went into camp.
SY: Right. So the people that you met when you were in Boyle Heights, many of those are still your friends, right? Do you still have...
PM: Not really, because in those days we didn't communicate -- well, the Japanese Americans yes, they still are, but not other ethnic groups. We didn't become that friendly.
SY: I see. So you were, but you did manage to stay in touch with some of 'em.
PM: Some of them.
SY: So those people that you met in camp, that when you went to camp, did you, were most of those people from Boyle Heights? Did they stay with you when you went to camp?
PM: Some of them did, yes. So we ended up in the same block almost, but camp was divided into three camps, so we were all kind of sorted out among the camps. But I have some very good friends that were in the same block.
<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.