Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Ayako Murakami - Masako Murakami Interview
Narrators: Ayako Murakami, Masako Murakami
Interviewers: Dee Goto (primary), Alice Ito (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: December 14, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-mayako_g-01-0006

<Begin Segment 6>

DG: So, like when you were going to school, tell me a little bit about your friends and the neighborhood.

MM: It was mostly Oriental kids, ne? School attendance, ne? I know there was one black girl named Evelyn Peterson, (who) went to school, to Bailey, which was unusual because there weren't any other. It was mostly Japanese and Chinese, huh?

AM: Hmmm.

MM: Hakujin.

AM: Orientals.

DG: So that's how many blocks from here that you had to walk?

MM: Up to Bailey Gatzert School, Twelfth and, Twelfth and Weller.

DG: This is what?

MM: This is Sixth, Maynard. But we were, we were on Weller Street when we went to Bailey Gatzert School.

DG: Okay.

MM: Where the Sun Mae Restaurant is now? (...) My father had a store on the ground floor and there was a Presley Hotel on the upper floors. And there was a lot of Japanese around there.

DG: So you got up in the morning and did you go by yourself or did you meet...

MM: Oh, always a bunch of kids walking up.

DG: Did you play around at all?

MM: No, we had to be in school in time. And then after that, we went down the hill to, for, ano, Japanese School.

AM: 1414 Weller Street.

MM: You know that language school it is now? That place, we went.

DG: So you got up and school started about...

MM: Was it 9 o'clock?

AM: What?

MM: Was school started at nine o'clock? I can't remember if it was 9 or 8. I think school started at nine o'clock.

AM: I think, around 9.

MM: Nine o'clock. And then...

DG: Your father cooked breakfast for you?

AM: I'm not sure.

MM: Did you eat breakfast? 'Cause I didn't care to eat breakfast.

AM: I rarely did. Rushed to school.

DG: And then so, then you met, and then you got out of school around...

MM: American school, about 3, 3:30 kane? And then we trudged down to the Japanese school.

DG: And how long did that last?

MM: Summertime it was about half an hour longer. Wintertime it gets dark quicker so it was only one hour (session) and, but we had to go summer school, though, Nihon gakko.

DG: And summer school was how many days?

MM: Every day of the week. Weekday.

AM: Uh-huh, about an hour.

MM: Summer school? Yeah, about an hour, too.

DG: Did you go to Japanese school on Saturdays?

MM: No. No, after American school, only. Nowdays, it's only Saturday, (...) desho? But we went every day.

AM: I don't know.

DG: What did you do on Saturdays?

AM: Library.

MM: Walked to the library.

AM: That was my favorite place.

MM: And we'd walk...

DG: How far was that?

MM: Over where (...) the library is now.

DG: Oh, on Fourth Avenue?

MM: Fourth kane? Yeah. We used to walk...

AM: On Madison.

MM: Fifth Avenue.

AM: Madison, around there.

MM: Yeah. Tell them about that. You were old enough to know that postage stamps were two cents for mailing and... [laughs] She's smart and, and, she'd ask Dad, "If I'd...," Papa has to pay his bills every month desho? And most of the wholesale stores were congregated...

AM: On First Avenue.

MM: Around Second Avenue, ne? And she says, "Papa, if I walk down there, can you pay me for the stamps no?" [Laughs] So, how much did you used to make?

AM: Two cents each.

MM: Two cents for each envelope. And I think the Jewish owners, they mo, they get a bang out of a little (girl)... she and us trudged behind her. And then we go home and collect the two cents for each of those envelopes. How many? About five or six?

AM: Yeah. So it'd be twelve cents.

DG: So what did you use that money for?

AM: Something.

MM: Candy, and split it. [Laughs]

DG: Tell me about that.

AM: That was the only cash we could get.

MM: I think candy bars were five, was it five cents a bar?

AM: I don't know how much they were.

MM: I think it was about five cents a bar. Baby Ruth bar, was very popular. I remember that.

AM: And popcorn.

MM: And Hershey. Hershey chocolate. Those two I remember quite well.

AM: And popcorn in boxes.

DG: Did you go to the movies?

MM: She loved movies, ne?

AM: Huh?

MM: You loved to go movies.

AM: Oh, Ruth Rolloland.

MM: She's an old-time actress. She still remembers the name. She's always in distress at the very end. You come back to see what happens to her.

AM: Hanging by... hanging by the piece of a string. Oh, boy.

MM: You said, "I gotta go back." But then remember you were saying at one time there was a Bison Theater, they had swinging doors. And so little kids could just march right under.

DG: And that was right up the street here?

AM: Right there, by Jackson Street.

MM: Jackson Street. Where the bank is, around there, huh? Around there. And I guess they needed to chase you kids out, huh?

AM: Yeah. No, the swinging doors. You just go.

MM: So you could just go under it. But I think the kids were well-behaved, so they never chased them out, I think.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.