<Begin Segment 19>

SY: And you had, you kept, you were living still, you had an apartment still in Los Angeles?

RN: Oh, yeah. So...

SY: And so when you came across Gidra and maybe you should sort of explain what Gidra is.

RN: Oh, okay. Gidra, I think it was the first or second issue. So I read Gidra which turned out to be the, at least, in southern California would be the Asian American movement newspaper. So I read a couple articles and saw the graphics, and it was like... yeah, it was like I had to go talk to these people.

SY: Who was it that was involved in that original initial Gidra?

RN: Who?

SY: Who was it?

RN: Oh, well, I went down there and said, "I have all this experience, I really like what you guys are doing. If I can help out, volunteer, I have a darkroom," I said all this. And, yeah, so some of the early people there were Warren Furutani, there was a Owen Watanabe, Mike Murase, Steve Tatsukawa, Alan Ota, I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of people.

SY: So it was a pretty well-organized group.

RN: Yeah. Or the principal activists during that time were pretty much focused at Gidra, at the early part of the movement.

SY: And they have an actual headquarters or office?

RN: Yeah, they had an office on Jefferson Boulevard, there's a small mall, and there was a Cobys right next door, Cobys, C-O-B-Y-S drug store. And they had an office there, so that's where I went.

SY: And they were all... okay, so this was, they were all post college age?

RN: Oh, they were all in UCLA. They were mostly all UCLA.

SY: That's where it originated then.

RN: Yeah.

SY: Then you were a total stranger.

RN: Yeah, I was a little older, and yeah, I didn't know anyone. So anyway, I started, I was so enthralled with everything, I actually moved to the Crenshaw area, 'cause that's where all, everything was happening, that was in that Crenshaw area, so I moved there. I started, and I was still working, I was still working at, I was a color printer, because I decided to give up my studio. I was freelancing, I was printing for a former professor of mine, and then I was working as a photographer for Lackma, I had these two part-time jobs, and so I just moved to Crenshaw.

SY: So you were making a good living and saving money by now?

RN: Yeah, I had sold part of my... I sold my business to my partner, so yeah, I could afford to become part of the movement. Oh, and I should -- I don't want to dwell on this too much, but I was married and had a... it was not to Karen, this was my first marriage. And so I had a wife and a child at that time, too, so anyway...

SY: Luckily you had enough money to support them.

RN: Yeah. So I kind of... yeah, I kind of joined the movement as it were. Let's see now, so I did some stuff at Gidra, then I... so I was accepted fairly well at Gidra, being older. But I know I went to one of the first Asian American conferences at SC... I'm just telling you things that I remember. And I attended a workshop on communications, thought I could add to that. And then I remember I was met with hostility at this workshop, couldn't figure that out. So later, after a long time, Eddie Wong explained that I was wearing these white corduroy pants and a blazer, and I had short hair. Anyway, but I got that...

SY: Saw you as establishment.

RN: Yeah. So later I dressed in my... got out my old fatigue jackets. You've got to see some pictures, I have really long hair. And then I think one of the things I did at Gidra that I was really happy with, I did that whole first pilgrimage to Manzanar shot and with all the faces around it. And so I did things like that.

SY: So what was the primary goal of the organization?

RN: Of Gidra?

SY: Of Gidra when you first...

RN: Oh, I don't know if they had articulated clearly, 'cause it kind of grew, the paper kind of grew organically. But I think they felt they needed some form of print communication to announce events and have people do creative work like poetry and artwork.

SY: Very pan-Asian.

RN: Yeah, although the initial Gidra people were pretty JA. In fact, the early movement was either JA or CA. And like Gidra, except for I think Eddie Wong and his sister, everyone, I think it was predominately Japanese American early on, I mean, like the 1970s.

SY: Right, it was founded in '70?

RN: '70, I think.

SY: 1970.

RN: Oh, no, I'm sorry. It must have been earlier because Manzanar pilgrimage was in '69, and I shot the pilgrimage. So it must have been early '69.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.