<Begin Segment 9>

DG: So you said then you went to Los Angeles.

HS: From there to Los Angeles.

DG: Both of you?

HS: Both of us.

DG: And how did you find the work in L.A.?

HS: Our friend had gone there before us, and then she called us. So we lived with our friend in Los Angeles for maybe a month or so, and then we each worked in a home, childcare. My sister worked for O'Connors, Frank O'Connor. He was a producer on the Jack Benny Show. And I worked in Beverly Hills for Jerry Wald. I don't know if you're familiar with him or not, but he won the, his, one of his movies won the Academy Award, Johnny Belinda. Have you seen it? Yeah, he produced that. And he produced a lot of others too.

DG: So the friend who called you and your sister and said, "There are jobs here," was she a friend from Sacramento, Clarksburg, Tule Lake?

HS: She was a friend, old family friend. My parents and her parents were, came from the same area in Japan.

DG: Okay, so then you're living in Beverly Hills. [Laughs]

JS: After the tent.

HS: That was really a fun time, for me.

DG: Yeah. Do you remember the name of the street that you lived on?

HS: Beverly Hills Drive, North Beverly Hills. In fact, I still communicate with the family.

DG: And their name was Wald?

HS: Yeah, Jerry Wald, Connie and Jerry Wald.

DG: So they had children and your responsibility was to take care of the children?

HS: Yeah, just play with 'em.

DG: How old were the kids?

HS: Bobby was just born, and -- no, Angela was just born and Bobby was about four, I think.

Off camera: Why was it so fun for you? What was fun?

HS: Why was it fun?

Off camera: Why was it fun?

HS: Well, I didn't have to work hard. And they were very nice to me. In fact, they treated me as one of their own. I don't think I did much work. [Laughs]

DG: So you lived in the house.

HS: Uh-huh.

DG: It was probably a nice house.

HS: Very nice. It's on, as I said, on North Beverly Drive. Do you watch... one of the TV shows, I can't remember the name of it, but the frontage on the house looks exactly like theirs.

DG: And where was your sister's job? Close?

HS: No, she lived in Hollywood, downtown Hollywood.

DG: Did you, and how, so you said in Salt Lake City you had one day a week off. What was your time off like in Los Angeles? Do you remember?

HS: I know we had, it was still probably Thursdays off, and maybe every other weekend.

DG: Do you, what would you do then?

HS: Well, we would take a bus, go downtown, Griffith Park.

DG: Did you ever go to Little Tokyo?

HS: I don't recall going to Little Tokyo again.

DG: It was different then. Or West L.A.?

JS: Sawtelle?

HS: There was a social worker there that would take care of us, give us some activities to do every, on our day offs.

DG: And where was that social worker? In Los --

HS: In Los Angeles.

DG: So they were helping, like, re-acclimate Nikkei.

HS: Uh-huh.

DG: What kind of activities? Do you remember?

HS: She'd take us to the park and she... we did all kinds of things.

DG: Were there dances?

HS: No, I don't remember going to dances.

DG: Did you ever go to the beach?

HS: Yes, we did.

DG: Do you remember which beach?

HS: Santa Monica.

JS: So was she the one that helped find the jobs for you? Or she just was...

HS: No, she's, the one that found was my friend.

JS: Your friend.

HS: Uh-huh, in Los Angeles, because she went out first.

JS: I see. Do you, was there, was it like a club, like a young women's club or something, that you joined?

HS: Yes.

JS: Do you remember the name?

HS: Of the lady?

JS: Uh-huh. And of the club.

HS: You know, I can't think of her name. She was very nice.

DG: Did you ever get to go to the, to a movie set, or the studios? Like to see the, what your...

HS: Yeah, we did. I recall going to Warner Brothers. I think Jerry Wald was with Warner Brothers at the time. I think.

DG: Do you remember ever talking with them about camp and what your family had just been through? Did, do you remember whether...

HS: No, I didn't.

DG: And they didn't ask, probably.

HS: They probably didn't ask.

DG: How long were you there?

HS: Let's see, '48, probably a couple of years.

DG: So you became a young woman by then, in L.A. You were probably in your early twenties, like just over twenty?

HS: Probably before twenty, because when I started working for the state I became twenty.

DG: And where was that?

HS: State? In Sacramento.

DG: So what made you leave working for the Walds? How did that end?

HS: I think my parents called me home. They needed us... I'm trying to remember.

DG: So your sister and you moved back at the same time?

HS: No, I did, but she stayed on for a while. And her family was very nice to her. One of the children that she took care of comes to see her, even now.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.