<Begin Segment 10>

AR: Did you go back to work for the Japanese diners?

MM: No. That's when I went for Fred Harvey.

AR: Fred Harvey?

MM: Yeah. I went out there and...

AR: Was that during the war?

MM: Yeah.

AR: You went to work during the war?

MM: Yeah, we used to feed the troop trains there. Yeah, and I got to see Clark Gable and I got to see a lot of movie stars there.

AR: Why? What were the movie stars doing? Making movies around here?

MM: No, they were going through on the train.

AR: Oh, like recruiting.

MM: They'd get off for a break. They get off for a break and whatchamacallit, we'd go to the bar and there they were. We were just thrilled over the fact that we saw so many movie stars. One time they called out and said there was a troop train coming in. They called us all out at three o'clock in the morning so we could feed them. Two people got off of that train and the whole place was set up for, I don't know, everybody. Because they claimed I don't know how many were coming in. It was all set up and there we go. [Laughs]

AR: Now, again, of the people that knew you were half Japanese at the Harvey House, was there any trouble? Was anybody concerned that you were serving troops and you were part Japanese?

MM: No, not there.

AR: Nobody gave you any trouble?

MM: No. They didn't show any... I think it was the only place that didn't show any prejudice or anything like that. So, and they were very good. I mean, I was promoted. Well, I went through the training like everybody, you know. You didn't get on there. You went on there, they put you on serving the workers. You'd have to stay there I think six weeks or something like that. Then, once you finished there, then you went and you served the counter, just the counter.

AR: Just the counter customers.

MM: Yeah. And if you made it there and you became good enough, then you went to work on the dining room.

AR: I see.

MM: The restaurant part, the dining room was special. Well, I made it to the special where there was only, you know, you'd get about six customers and you'd have to give them service. The water couldn't go down this way. They have it down to the... so, we went through a lot is all. But, at the end, Albertina was their number one for a long time and then she passed away and I got the number one and I got my pin, where they put me number one. They gave me the tie and the number one pin. Somewhere around there.

[Interruption]

AR: Okay. And we were talking about your career as a Harvey girl. So we'll continue there. Now you just recently were interviewed and they did a wonderful write up, so I'm not going to ask a bunch of questions.

MM: Oh, yeah.

AR: But I do want to ask, as a historian, I've read and heard that the Harvey Company, at least in the '30s, they didn't tend to use people who were minorities as waitresses and stuff.

MM: Yeah. No.

AR: And I wondering if it was different here in Gallup or if you were the only person, you know.

MM: No. They just, they just brought all nationalities here. There's some from Albuquerque, some from Winslow, but there was a lot of Spanish girls there.

AR: Is that right?

MM: Yeah, yeah And there were some Anglos. But the one that was a waitress here, and a head waitress and a bar girl, that was Albertina, and then I was next to her. I used to work the bar and also, you know, the dining room.

AR: Did you ever have any trouble with customers complaining because you weren't white and you were serving them or anything?

MM: No, we didn't. Well, once we went into the dining room, you had to be perfect. And they only gave you about four or six people to wait on. They didn't give you no big tables and you have to be right on it. I mean, to the dot. Nothing empty, everything right, and you didn't cross across to give coffee. No, you had to walk around.

AR: Did you enjoy that experience as a Harvey girl?

MM: It was... yeah. I learned how to do it right.

AR: And your supervisors were good people and nice to you?

MM: They were strict, but they were, they demanded that, you know, you do it right. They weren't there to do anything or to try to get anything out of you that they couldn't, anyway.

AR: Okay, now I get the sense that you're kind of grown up and you already have your husband and your family started when the war broke out.

MM: Yeah.

AR: And you really weren't that involved with the Japanese community at that point, except for your father was connected.

MM: Yeah.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.