<Begin Segment 8>

MN: Now, how long did you live in San Leandro?

SO: Probably a couple years.

MN: And then from San Leandro your father moved to Southern California, and then you went to live with your aunt and uncle in San Francisco, is that right?

SO: That's right. My father was asked to help a contractor build nurseries, and he set off on his own and sent me to my aunt's place. And my brother was just starting college. Or he may have been, still been at, in Oakland, but I went to live with my aunt and my father moved to Southern California.

MN: Now, your aunt and uncle, where did they live? Did they live in a house?

SO: No, my aunt and uncle had a restaurant in San Francisco, and right across the street is where they lived, in a hotel. They had rented three rooms, one for their own bedroom, the center unit was for their, like their parlor, and then the next room adjacent was a bedroom for my cousins, male and female. They were older than I.

MN: So when you went to go live with them, where did you live?

SO: I lived in a separate room. They rented a room for me.

MN: Now, you're in this room by yourself? Is that right, in this hotel room by yourself?

SO: Uh-huh.

MN: What was that like?

SO: Very lonely. You know, my brother was, often commented that I was the one that was able to go to San Francisco and have fun, but really I didn't want to go. But I was sent there and, being that I had to sleep in the room by myself, it was very lonely. Listening to the foghorns, that was a very, to repeat, lonely sound.

MN: So when the family gathers in the evening together, were you not part of that gathering?

SO: For a while, but they'd send me off. I'd have to go to bed early.

MN: Now, your aunt and uncle, you said they had a restaurant business? Where was this located?

SO: That was on Kearny Street. I don't know whether you know San Francisco very well, but Kearny was one block off of Chinatown, and it was right near the, I guess the city hall. It was in the area where the International Settlement was, close to Chinatown, close to Italian Town.

MN: So who were your aunt and uncle's customers?

SO: They were the neighborhood people. I mean, they had regular customers, but they also had a lot of people coming that were merchant seamen. They'd, they came from Hawaii, and what they'd do is they'd come to my aunt's place and they'd let her take care of their money. Otherwise they'd blow it all in one night, you know. So she'd dole it out to them.

MN: So it sounds like there was a lot of trust and your aunt was sort of a mother figure for --

SO: Yeah.

MN: And, and I'm assuming a lot of these merchant seamen from Hawaii were Japanese American?

SO: There were, I can only remember a couple of them that were Japanese American. In fact, one of them married my cousin. But most of them were Samoan or Hawaiian. That's why my aunt used to talk like them. She'd pick up their pidgin. And for a while I kind of talked like them too. [Laughs]

MN: Did your aunt do anything special for them during the holidays?

SO: Yeah, she used to make Japanese gotsou for them. And they'd bring frozen poi. We'd have to, I'd have to stir it, and I think the fumes must've been intoxicating because it made me a little woozy. But having made that stuff, I never could enjoy it. It looked like paste, and according to some people it tastes like that too.

MN: So how often did you help out at your aunt and uncle's restaurant?

SO: By helping out...

MN: Did you have to work there?

SO: Well, yeah, I used to wash their dishes, or wash dishes, help them wash dishes, dry the knives and forks. But other than that there wasn't that much that I could do, but being a kid, I tried to avoid it. I'd be out playing and my cousin used to really get mad at me for avoiding work. [Laughs]

MN: You mentioned how they served poi on the holidays and your aunt had gotsou, but on a regular basis what was on their menu? What kind of food did they serve?

SO: They served stew, curry, roast pork, roast beef, I guess things that a restaurant would serve, steaks, pork chops.

MN: Mostly American food, then.

SO: Yeah.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.