<Begin Segment 26>
SY: And your parents', your family farm, then, continued their relationship with the Southern California Flower Market? That was their main source of income, going to the flower market?
BW: Right.
SY: So was there, did you feel that you guys had a strong tie to this downtown -- 'cause it was located in downtown, right? So how did that work? Did your father go there every day? Did he still travel by, bring his stuff by truck?
BW: No, my father didn't. After the war it was all done by my uncle Tomio, and I think my other uncles may have driven their own trucks into the market. But my father didn't do that, so it was just my uncle Tomio, so he would come into the flower market, so he had a pretty set routine. But my parents did come to Little Tokyo at least once a month, drive in and do some shopping, we would eat at a restaurant maybe, then go home.
SY: So you remember Little Tokyo fairly vividly as a young boy.
BW: Yeah, right.
SY: And do you remember how you felt about it? What was it like?
BW: I remember one of my early recollections, there's a few times I can remember seeing streetcars and so they were going up and down First Street, and people would wait for them right in the middle of the street. There would be a small island. I thought, wow, 'cause in the valley you never saw anything like that. And then I remember one time my father and I were walking down the sidewalk, and there was a black fellow standing on the side of the sidewalk and then my father all of sudden grabbed my hand and started running off. And I wasn't sure what was going on, but he said something about, have to be careful or something. 'Cause back then there were a lot of blacks living in Little Tokyo.
SY: So it was kind of a city experience for you.
BW: City or seedy?
SY: [Laughs] Both.
BW: [Laughs] It was a little seedy in the city. And the city was definitely different from the farm.
SY: Did you feel a closeness to Little Tokyo? Was it someplace you wanted to go, you enjoyed going to?
BW: It was always like an adventure, something different. My father would get a haircut at the barbershop here, so we, my brother and I, of course we'd get bored and we're running around and stuff, but it was right here on San Pedro Street in the Firm Building, which Little Tokyo Service Center now owns. But we would go there and he'd get a haircut, and he would talk to his friends. The barber, they'd known each other for many, many years. So that kind of thing, and then go shopping at the Asahi Shoe Store or pick up a shirt there or something, then go to the grocery store and pick up food. And then it'd be dark and have dinner somewhere, then we'd make our way back home. So that was probably at least a monthly trip.
SY: And so very, kind of pleasant memories of that whole time. I mean, was it, it was a sense of, did you feel a sense of community with, when you went there, Little Tokyo being all Japanese?
BW: I think so, yeah. A sense of community, and it became quite comfortable.
SY: Okay.
<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.