<Begin Segment 9>

BN: Did your, did you have an interest in design and architecture and stuff from a young age? Because you're describing...

LH: No.

BN: Not at all?

LH: I liked art. And she actually took us... that was the other thing. They did provide us with these opportunities, so they would take us to, there was an art school at the Denver Art Museum, so both Makoto and I went through that art school, and that was a lot of fun, I really liked that. And I loved libraries, and that was my main love, was libraries. And I was also a modern dancer, so my mom found -- it was just classic Mom -- she found this Martha Graham student, and so she enrolled me in her classes and I took them for a fairly long time 'til I was about... I think six or seven, something like that. And actually, Jose Limon, who was a famous modern dancer, came through Denver to give a workshop, and so she took me to the workshop. And he asked to take me to New York City, and I was... I don't know, I must have been about nine at that time. And my mother asked me if I wanted to go, she let me decide. So I thought about it for a day, and I wanted to go, but I got scared and I said, "I'm not going." And then I changed my mind and she wouldn't let me go. But that taught me, that was actually one of the things I learned as a kid is never make a decision you think you're going to regret. It's not a good idea. [Laughs] You just go with your gut.

So I had... and I also took violin lessons, which, I'm a pretty good violinist, but I never practiced. And I used to practice with (Karen) Nakamura, I think. I used to practice with her, she was very diligent, she was very good. And I could read fairly well, but I was not good because I just didn't practice. And it made my teacher, Mr. Reynolds, crazy. So that was growing up. But I was mostly, my entertainment was the library. I would come back from the library with books stacked up to my chin, I would carry them home. And the swimming pool, because when I was seven or eight, I figured out I could take swimming lessons and then I could teach swimming and I could lifeguard and I could get access to the swimming pool. And I was part of one of the best teams in the region. And I always like, came in second. Occasionally I came in first, but not very often. I was usually second, but I always got the blue ribbons when I was on the freestyle relay team. That was a lot of fun, that was my summertime. That was my thing. And I rode my, that was when I was living on Race Street, and I would ride my bicycle to the University of Denver. But that was the other thing, we were completely free to ride our bicycles everywhere. So that was like my freedom, my bicycle. And I was a terror. I would ride all the way around Denver.

BN: Because you could at that time.

LH: We could, yeah.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.