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MN: So you're living in Yolo County, did you go to, did your father take you to the kenjinkai picnics?

SO: Yeah. We used to go. In fact, I guess our outing was going to Sacramento, and he'd go to the Buddhist church or we'd go in and see a movie or something, if we can afford it.

MN: What kind of movies did you watch?

SO: Well, there was a theater called Nippon Theater just on the outskirts of J-town that, for a nickel they featured, they had two, two feature movies. They had the news, they had a short subject, then they had a serial, like Fu Manchu or Buck Rodgers, some cowboy things, you know. I think that's what kept us coming back. We had to see the next serial.

MN: Is this the same theater you were talking about, about getting those bubblegums?

SO: Yeah, they had a bubblegum machine out in the front, and normally we had about ten cents, so in order to get into the movie it cost a nickel, so the other five we changed into pennies and we tried our luck at the bubblegum machine. If we got a star then you got into the movie free, so you had extra money for candy. But if you didn't get star on the bubblegum, you had bubblegum anyway, plus a nickel to get in.

MN: Now, did your father take you to see Japanese movies?

SO: Yeah, we used to go see Japanese movies at, it was a boxing and wrestling arena. It was called the L Street Gym, or the L Street Arena, and we'd go to see movies there, Japanese movies.

MN: Did you understand the movies?

SO: No. But if, if they were samurai movies you kind of got the action or understood what they were doing. It was always seemed like a revenge theme behind all of the Japanese samurai movies. But when they were a drama more or less, what we'd do is we'd go under the stands where the people used to sit and look for fallen change.

MN: What did you do with the money?

SO: Well, we'd buy, they'd have a tortilla with a dab of chili inside and we'd buy that, or a snow cone or whatever they had available.

MN: That sounds like a very mixed kind of a neighborhood. You know, the tortillas, you have probably like a Latino influence.

SO: Yeah, L Street was primarily Latino. Then you go further down to, like A, B, C Street, there was Chinatown. K Street was a main business area, I guess, clothiers and five and dime stores.

MN: So I think this is the era when your family, you and your brother and your father were moving back and forth from Sacramento to Yolo County?

SO: Yes.

MN: Now, when you were living in Sacramento, can you share, like you were talking about the Fourth of July, and you remember, how did you spend the Fourth of July?

SO: Well, we spent the Fourth of July, they allowed you to sell firecrackers at the time, so we'd buy firecrackers and they'd have these, what they call Roman candles, do you know what they are? They'd shoot flames, and every year I know the kids would shoot it up into the palm trees and cause a fire, and my particular recollection is that it was with this one Chinese place that sold firecrackers that always burned down. I mean, every year they'd burn down. At least it seemed the case. And the palm, palm tree fires, those are the things I remember.

MN: So what did you play with? What kind of fireworks did you play with?

SO: Firecrackers.

MN: You mentioned ladyfingers. What are ladyfingers?

SO: Ladyfingers are real tiny, tiny firecrackers. They're only about that long [indicates an inch or two] and maybe about an eighth of an inch diameter. We used to try to hold 'em in our fingers like this, and if you didn't, if you held too much of it you probably could blow your fingernail off. But you know, kids were dumb at the time. [Laughs] Or daring.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.