<Begin Segment 17>

BN: So what grade were you when you got to Hollywood High?

HK: So Hollywood High was the eleventh and twelfth grade.

BN: Okay, so pretty much two full years there. What do you remember about Hollywood High at that time? What were the other students like and what were the racial demographics of Hollywood at that time?

HK: Hollywood High was still mostly Caucasian. There were a couple of Buddhaheads or Japanese people that I met and friends with. But overall, no problems. And my biggest part of Hollywood High was my sports because of all the sports that I picked up in camp, and it turns out in the twelfth grade, during a PE class, I'm out there, just (playing) football, my PE teacher happened to be the B football coach. And so he comes to me and says, "Come out for the B football team." Never had any idea of going out for a sport, but wow, that was a big deal for me. So the semester had already started for a few weeks, so okay, so I joined the B football team. I was so late, I couldn't even, there were no more helmets, so I didn't even get a helmet, got a leftover uniform. Anyway, that was a good experience, even though I never got to play, because I was probably the last guy on the team, but then that was an experience, I got to play on a high school football team, wow. So the football season ended, and so now I knew about going out for sports. So next came the last semester for me, this is baseball, and I played a lot of the softball, baseball in camp, so I went out for the B baseball team, and I made that team. And so eventually, I ended up playing more innings than anybody on the B baseball team. So that was a big experience for me just playing sports. And I probably would not have gone out for sports if I had gone to Belmont High. And so actually I had go to Belmont High to get permission because once I started playing sports at Hollywood High, now I'm ineligible because I didn't live in (the) Hollywood High (area), so I had to go to Belmont. I went to the principal's office, got an okay to play, and so I ended up playing sports at Hollywood High.

BN: But what position did you play in baseball?

HK: Would you believe, a left-handed third baseman. So maybe that's an indication of how lousy the team was that they would allow a left-hander to play third base, and that's what it was.

BN: But it's hard to... how did you manage that?

HK: Oh, okay.

BN: You could (handle a) bunt?

HK: Yeah, just have to manage, adjust.

BN: You must have been pretty good then, at least, as a hitter.

HK: Well, like I said, I played the most innings, so the coach must have thought I had some kind of ability.

BN: Were you involved in any other kinds of activities or clubs or things at school?

HK: At Hollywood High, no, sports was a big deal for me.

BN: And I don't know if this is even a thing back then, but for earlier generations of Nisei, John Aiso was kind of this iconic figure who went to Hollywood High. Is that still, was that still a thing in your time or something that people knew about?

HK: No, I didn't know anything about Aiso.

BN: Because it was quite a few years earlier.

HK: Yeah.

BN: Okay. Just kind of curious, he's by far the most famous Nikkei alum of Hollywood, I think.

HK: I would think so, yeah.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.