<Begin Segment 18>

SY: So did you just hang out with those people in the club or did you have friends...

CI: Oh, no, I had friends, because I was one of the younger ones. It happened that one of my friends lived in my block and so she invited me. So I was really kind of too young for that group.

SY: So it was kind of an honor to be invited? Was it kind of a...

CI: Gee, I don't know if it was an honor. [Laughs] You just joined.

SY: And I assume that there were boys groups that were like the girls groups?

CI: I don't know.

SY: You don't remember that?

CI: Well, I do remember, in our block, there were a lot of bachelors in my block. I don't know how that came about, but anyway, they were the Royal Dukes and they were really tops as far as men went. All I know is that I lived in the block where the Royal Dukes started.

SY: And how were they so great? They were nice-looking, athletic?

CI: Well, I think so. I think they were nice-looking. I'm not sure if they were athletic, but all I know is that they were the Royal Dukes.

SY: And they were how much older than you?

CI: They weren't in high school, they were out of high school.

SY: They were out of high school. So did some of them go on to join the army?

CI: I think so, yes. Because right now I see some are in the MIS, they go to the reunions.

SY: You remember them then?

CI: Oh, yes, I do. They were in my block, so I remember them.

SY: So now did you graduate from high school in camp?

CI: No, no. We went to Chicago because my dad was only in camp for less than a half a year. He was a citizen and he got... I think they called it "eastern clearance." Anyway, he was able to leave camp, and so he was in Chicago. And I think if you had a job and a place for your family to live, then you could call them out, which is what he did. So we were only in camp for about two and a half years. And so in '44, 1944, we went out. We went to Chicago and lived on Clark and Division where a lot of the Japanese lived, which was notorious for the gangsters in that era. But anyway, we went to school on the north side, found out that we were going to the wrong high school because across the street was another school, you know how they divide it. And so we went to that one high school, and I don't know the name of it, for only about three weeks and then we had to change high schools to go to the right one. And we went there for maybe about another maybe six months and then my dad found -- and this was a boarding house where we lived. It was very... not a real good situation. But anyway, my dad found a house on the south side, so that's how I ended up at Hyde Park High School, which was probably the outstanding school in Chicago.

SY: So at that time, the south side was considered the more upper crust?

CI: Well, I don't know about upper, but anyway, the high school among high schools in Chicago was probably the outstanding high school. Be like Uni High here.

SY: In West Los Angeles, yeah.

CI: Feeding into UCLA? Well, Hyde Park High School fed into the University of Chicago, and so it was predominately Jewish. I told you about that girl with the red hair. And it was a very good high school. So when I graduated, when we came back to Boyle Heights and I went to Roosevelt, to get a diploma from L.A. Unified School District you have to go for a whole semester, and I was short by several weeks. Because, you know, we came in the middle of the semester like October and school had started in September, a couple of weeks before. And so Chicago, my high school diploma is from Hyde Park High School, they sent it to me from Hyde Park. So I'm not a Roosevelt -- I graduated and went through the ceremonies and everything from there, but my diploma is Hyde Park.

SY: So you were able to finish high school there, then? You went through all of your... at Hyde Park in Chicago?

CI: No, I only went through A-11.

SY: Oh, but yet they gave you a diploma?

CI: A-11... yeah. No, almost A-12 I think, a semester.

SY: So only half year, and then, but they still gave you a diploma?

CI: Yeah, 'cause I went almost a year. From A-11 to A-12.

SY: From A-11 to A-12.

CI: Yeah. But I lacked not quite a semester of finishing, and then we moved again back here. So because it wasn't a full semester that I went to Roosevelt... anyway, I was looking the other day, and yeah, my diploma is from Hyde Park.

SY: Well, at least you have one. At least you have a diploma. So you really did move around a lot then, right? From camp. You moved at least...

CI: Yes, twice.

SY: Twice and then back here.

CI: So it's five high schools. I went to high school in camp, three in Chicago, two by mistake... well, anyway, and then Roosevelt.

SY: So what was that like for you? You had to make friends at each place and you were sort of the stranger, right, at each...

CI: Except for Roosevelt.

SY: You knew people when you...

CI: Roosevelt was like coming back, coming back home because my classmates...

SY: But going to Chicago, what was that experience like, do you remember? Was it pleasant, unpleasant?

CI: It was quite pleasant. Chicagoans are very homey people, that's all I can say. And that's the reason why so many Japanese went to Chicago, because they were welcomed as workers. I'm not sure if it was the mayor that expedited that or not.

SY: But as a young girl, were you welcomed by the other kids?

CI: Oh, yeah. Remember that they were predominately Jewish in Chicago. Well, you know, they're ostracized and discriminated against, and a lot of my teachers were Jewish. So oh, no, they were very welcoming.

SY: And were you one of the few Japanese?

CI: I think so. I didn't see too many Japanese at Hyde Park.

SY: At Hyde Park.

CI: No. I think they were gradually coming out because someone I met, neighbor said, "Oh, I remember you. I remember you at Hyde Park." I said, "Oh my gosh, I didn't know that. [Laughs]

SY: So did you meet very many other Japanese while you were there, any other young Japanese kids that you might know today?

CI: Some, yeah.

SY: What was the study like there? Was it hard?

CI: Very competitive. At Hyde Park? Very, very competitive.

SY: And you managed to do okay.

CI: I did. I started studying there. Because I remember this one teacher that I had for literature, I think it was English literature. She said -- and there was a little Japanese girl in my class. She said, "She did better than you. That's not good." And so I think she's the one that really kind of woke me up.

SY: So you got a little shove there, huh?

CI: I did, I did.

SY: And then you were still, your family was still all together.

CI: Yes, uh-huh.

SY: And in the meantime, in camp, my aunt married my uncle Gary who was a soldier I told you. So she married in camp and then she went to San Antonio, Texas, where he was stationed. So my aunt Eleanor was no longer with us.

CI: So that must have been hard, huh, to lose your aunt?

SY: Well, yeah, she's close like a sister. Because my mother was only, she was nineteen and then my aunt Eleanor was only twelve years older than me. So she had lived with us most of my life.

CI: So you really didn't have anybody your age that was going through this all with you? You were sort of the oldest one in your family, right?

SY: Oh, you mean among the children?

CI: Yeah.

SY: I mean, you were kind of, had to do everything on your own? Were you pretty independent when you went to Chicago?

CI: I guess so.

SY: Your parents were probably... what were they doing during this time? Your mother worked?

CI: No, she wasn't working any longer. And my dad was working at Smith's Paper Company, where a lot of the Japanese were working. And then my mother wanted to come back to Los Angeles because the weather was terrible in Chicago and she was having to shovel the snow and she's only five feet tall, four feet eleven. Anyway, the weather was really getting to her.

SY: So she's the one that kind of decided.

CI: Yes, she wanted to come back.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.