<Begin Segment 7>

SY: So when you went to elementary school in Sacramento, then you were there for all of your...

CI: Until I was in the A5.

SY: A5. So that was, A5, that was fifth grade.

CI: Uh-huh, high fifth. [Laughs]

SY: And it was all at Lincoln, at this one school?

CI: Lincoln, yes. Lincoln school.

SY: And do you remember your schoolmates and your teachers at Lincoln?

CI: Only the ones that lived near us. I still am in contact with one, she lives in Washington, D.C. She lived in a house behind us, so I know Yuri. I know some of the names.

SY: So do you remember when Pearl Harbor happened? Do you remember what you were doing?

CI: Oh, I remember Pearl Harbor. But we were in Los Angeles at that time.

SY: Oh, so how did you get from Sacramento to Los Angeles?

CI: How did we get there? By car.

SY: [Laughs] Do you know why you moved?

CI: Probably economics. I think that probably the fruit picking and vegetable picking probably had slowed down quite a bit.

SY: So you were in the fifth grade, you had to leave your school.

CI: Yes, uh-huh.

SY: And your brother was also in school, too.

CI: He was in the fourth grade. And I remember writing one letter to my classmates from Los Angeles telling them... and in Sacramento, I think that we were, most of the families were about the same, at the same economic level unless they were in business or something. So then I told them, described, "We live on an avenue, Grande Vista Avenue," which was just so presumptuous.

SY: You moved on up, huh?

CI: Oh, I know.

SY: And where was this? Where was this avenue, in what part of...

CI: In Boyle Heights.

SY: Boyle Heights, I see. So you remember the house that you lived in?

CI: Oh, I do. It's still there, I think.

SY: And your father was still working as a contractor?

CI: No, no, no. He started working at Yano Crate Company. I have no idea what he did there.

SY: Do you think that was maybe the reason you moved?

CI: Oh, yes, economics.

SY: He had a job.

CI: It was hard times. It was still in the throes of the Depression.

SY: So Yano Crate Company, was that owned by a Japanese?

CI: Oh, yeah, Mr. Yano. Big company.

SY: Big company then. And it was packing?

CI: No. Well, they didn't pack, they made boxes. It was a crate company.

SY: And that was in Boyle Heights?

CI: No, I'm not sure. Seems to me it was around Alameda somewhere.

SY: So he got a job working there for, up to the time the war broke out?

CI: Yes.

SY: He was in the same place.

CI: I think so.

SY: And you remember what your life was living in Boyle Heights, what you were doing? You had a, you were going to junior high school?

CI: Yes, Stevenson Junior High. I told you that I met Peggy.

SY: Peggy, my sister Peggy.

CI: Your sister Peggy. And I think the reason is because your aunt Ethel was a friend of my family, and she used to live in Sacramento and then moved to Los Angeles. So I think she was the one that introduced my parents, or my mother anyway, to people in Los Angeles.

SY: I see.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.