<Begin Segment 3>

MN: When you were younger, where were you living and which grammar school did you attend?

YY: I think the first grammar school is Malabar grammar school.

MN: And what was the ethnic makeup of Malabar?

YY: More Hispanic, I think, and Japanese mix.

MN: So you have a Japanese and Hispanic mix. Who were your playmates?

YY: Hispanic children.

MN: What sort of games did you play?

YY: Oh, I don't know. Kick the Ball and Hide and Seek and we climbed trees, cute little things. We didn't have radios or anything like that, so outside sports. I think we had some blacks there, too. I remember calling one, her name was Booboo. [Laughs] I think we were all mixed there.

MN: Did you roller skate?

YY: Oh, yeah.

MN: Where did you go roller skating?

YY: We had a big hill there on our street, so it was kind of frightening, but you go down. We were very fearless, we do what the other kids do, and that was it. We had a lot of fun. We were kids. But we weren't sophisticated like now, you know.

MN: Did you get injured?

YY: Oh, yeah, knee injury. Nothing serious, thank goodness.

MN: So if you get like a scrape, how did your mother treat the scrapes?

YY: Wash it and put a band-aid on it. No big thing in those days. [Laughs]

MN: You know, when you were growing up, did you have sleepovers?

YY: Oh, yeah, my Mexican friends and girlfriend would come and sleep.

MN: And did you go over their houses?

YY: Uh-huh, we did. I think her mother taught my mother how to make tamales from scratch, so she made terrific tamales.

MN: What kind of tamales did your mom make?

YY: All kinds. Beef and pork and, you know, put it in a can and steam 'em, and from scratch. It was delicious.

MN: Did you help out?

YY: Well, if you want to call that help. I helped her eat it, mostly eat it. [Laughs]

MN: So you didn't have to put the masa in the corn husk?

YY: No, I just watched her. But my friend Carmella, she used to teach me how to make tortillas with flour, and we used to make it ourselves. It was fun.

MN: So there's this exchange of cultures, now, did she eat Japanese food?

YY: I believe she did. We ate at each others' house, so we ate what they had.

MN: You shared with me about Mr. and Mrs. Herd. Can you share with us...

YY: Uh-huh, they're a neighbor. They were an older couple and they used to take me to Escondido, they had a rumble seat in the back to they let me ride and it was really a thrill. They really were nice people.

MN: They were African American?

YY: Uh-huh.

MN: So you had a very mixed neighborhood. And I think it was, was it Elsinore that they took you to?

YY: I think it was Elsinore, you're right. They used to go there quite often, but they'd take me with them so it was so nice.

MN: Now did Mr. and Mrs. Herd, did they have children?

YY: Apparently not. If they did, they were all grown and gone, 'cause I hadn't seen anybody. So they kind of treated me like a grandchild. They were really nice.

MN: So I guess your parents weren't worried an African American couple was taking...

YY: No, there was no prejudice among us.

MN: Now you were talking about tamale, so I'm going to ask you a little bit more about tamales again. When did your mother make them? Like was it on a special occasion like Christmas?

YY: Oh, no, just any occasion. We wanted it, she makes it. Gets the masa and wraps it up, and just did exactly what the lady told her how to do. She was a good cook, and she'd try anything.

MN: You know, nowadays I know they sell premade masa, but did your mother make masa from scratch?

YY: It was from scratch. Everything was from scratch.

MN: Did she make the sweet tamales also?

YY: No, the regular.

MN: Beef or carnitas.

YY: With olive in it. I don't think they put olives anymore. I haven't tasted any with olives.

MN: Yeah, I haven't seen any with olives.

YY: She always put olives, that's the way she was taught. And I liked that.

MN: Do you still have a recipe for your mother's...

YY: Oh, no. I never really... I used to help my mother cut things, you know, but I really never cooked, it was only when I got, started living with my sister-in-law, my brother and his wife, she'd say, "Okay, you cook one day and I'll cook the next," so I really didn't know much about cooking, so I started learning to cook.

MN: So other than the tamales, what kind of other food did your mother make for you?

YY: Everything. It was mostly Japanese.

MN: What kind of Japanese food?

YY: Okazu or anything. My father used to have friends in (navy), he'd bring these fellows over and she'd have to cook and entertain. A lot of times he used to bring these people over. So she knew how to cook all kinds of things.

MN: So who did the buying of food in your family?

YY: I think she did.

MN: Where did she go buy food?

YY: Well, I guess there was a neighborhood she could walk to, but I think in time my father used to take her grocery shopping. But he wasn't home too much because nighttime he'd go off to business.

MN: Oh, is that when he was selling the insurance?

YY: Well, that's when they're home, they come home so he has to wait (until she got) home.

MN: So your father was not home at night?

YY: Not too much, no.

MN: Well, what about like perishable goods like tofu or konnyaku or fish?

YY: We had refrigerators.

MN: Did your mother, was there a peddler that came by?

YY: Oh, yeah, we did have people come by, you're right. The fish man.

MN: But otherwise, did your father take her down into J-town?

YY: Most likely. I really don't recall that, but I know we had people come and sell products, so it was very easy for people to get.

MN: So your father you mentioned had a lot of people come over.

YY: He liked to entertain.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.