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VY: Okay, so your parents are now leasing the Oregon Hotel.

KI: Yes.

VY: And this is still before the war.

KI: Yes.

VY: And what happens next?

KI: Well, this is the Depression and my mother is very clever. So when she was a bookkeeper, somehow they collected enough capital to buy the Reynolds Hotel which is on Fourth Avenue. So they moved from the Oregon Hotel to the Reynolds, and the Reynolds had approximately a hundred beds, so it was a substantial deal for them. How they were able to afford it is a mystery to me, but knowing them, they were able to gather enough capital to purchase the Reynolds Hotel. And the irony is I still own it with my cousins, and it still is a great source of income.

VY: Wow. So the Reynolds Hotel has been in your family for quite some time?

KI: Yeah. Well, now it's rented to Washington state as housing for ex-felons.

VY: That's so interesting.

KI: So I don't have to run the hotel, it runs by itself.

[Interruption]

VY: So we were talking about the hotel and the Reynolds Hotel. Do you have any memories of the hotel before the war?

KI: Yes. I remember one day I was running down the hill from the hotel, and by the water fountain, a man was drinking water, and I tripped over his foot. And as a consequence, I stumbled and had a big injury on my chin, and I had to go to the hospital up the hill. Now that I remember.

VY: How old were you?

KI: Hmm?

VY: How old were you?

KI: Oh gosh, I don't know, maybe three.

VY: Wow.

KI: Yeah. But only from pictures do I recall going to the Japanese Baptist nursery, this is before the war. And we were, my brother and I would wait in the back of the hotel where we lived, and a bus would come by and pick us up and take us to the nursery. [Laughs]

VY: Wow, so you remember that?

KI: Well, I have a faint memory of the nursery. Not a strong one, but otherwise, I don't remember much about the hotel before the war. Certain things I do remember like having a fried egg sandwich, for some reason that was stuck in my mind. You know how kids remember things, certain odd things? Well, falling down and having to go to the hospital was a big deal for me.

VY: Do you still like fried egg sandwiches?

KI: Hmm?

VY: Do you still like fried egg sandwiches?

KI: Oh, yeah. [Laughs] I ask for it every once in a while.

VY: Okay. So before we move on to talking about the war, is there anything you want to talk about, about your time in Seattle before the war?

KI: No, except to note that, as we sit here talking, it's been eighty years almost to the day we went to Puyallup from "Camp Harmony." After the war started, before that time, egg sandwiches have to do.

VY: Right.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.