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TI: So let's start talking about, a little bit about Maryknoll. So where was Maryknoll located?

MI: It was between Sixteenth and Seventeenth on Jefferson.

TI: Okay, so you were on, roughly, Tenth and Jefferson, so about six blocks.

MI: I think we must have walked up to school then.

TI: Except for I know that neighborhood, so you were on the hill. You'd go down the hill and then back up the hill to get up there.

MI: And then we'd go past Pacific school and then the car barn, they used to have a car barn there.

TI: A car barn?

MI: A car barn. I mean, we used to have trolleys, and the trolleys were there between Twelfth and Fourteenth Avenue, I think it was.

TI: Okay. And these were the trolleys that would run, like, on Yesler?

MI: It went up Jefferson?

TI: Up Jefferson?

MI: Yeah.

TI: Oh, so if you wanted to, you could actually take a trolley.

MI: Yeah, but it was just four blocks or six blocks. So we used to walk up, I think.

TI: Now, so the trolley line on Jefferson, where did it go?

MI: It went to downtown. At that time, we didn't have buses, we had trolleys.

TI: Okay. And then going the other way, going west, how far did it go? Did it go to the lake?

MI: That I don't know. Because we didn't go down that far, we just went to Maryknoll and back.

TI: So you mentioned, like, four Japanese families that just lived nearby. When you think of the larger neighborhood, were there lots of Japanese that lived around there?

MI: Well, two blocks down were the Shinbos, Lois Shinbo. And then in back of the other side on Fir, you had the Teguchis and Mary Takeuchi and all those people.

TI: Well, so this makes sense because I know at Seattle University, on their campus, they have a, essentially a garden with a memorial for the Japanese American families who lived there before the war, because their claim was that quite a few Japanese families lived right there.

MI: Well, I know Yogi Yoshino and Eiko Yoshino used to live across the way. And then Pacific school was there, and it was a nice neighborhood. I mean, we used to have fun playing Kick the Can and whatnot.

TI: I mean, it's not that far away, but did you recall going to places like the Collins Playfield?

MI: We didn't go there. We didn't have to go that far. Right across the street from 421, there was a big lot with a hill. So like when it snowed, used to have sled rides or anything.

TI: So you actually had your own kind of playfield?

MI: Yeah. I mean, then the streets were quiet, that we were able to play Kick the Can and whatnot.

TI: And so when you played Kick the Can, how large would this get? Would it get pretty large in terms of quite a few kids coming together?

MI: That part I can't remember. But I know we played Kick the Can. That's how I learned how to play Kick the Can.

TI: Yeah, so these are games that you taught us when we were kids.

MI: Jintori and whatnot.

TI: Because we would play Kick the Can, like I grew up on Beacon Hill, and we literally would have twenty to thirty people playing.

MI: Not that many.

TI: But you didn't...

MI: And then we used to play with the Caucasians that were there, Clyde and Turner and whatnot, I remember him.

TI: Well, so talk about that. So in terms of the neighborhood, the diversity of it...

MI: Well, we played checkers or something, when we weren't playing Kick the Can or anything.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.