Densho Digital Archive
Preserving California's Japantowns Collection
Title: David Matsuoka Interview
Narrator: David Matsuoka
Interviewers: Jill Shiraki (primary); Tom Ikeda (secondary)
Location: Sacramento, California
Date: December 10, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-mdavid-01-0012

<Begin Segment 12>

JS: So can we back up, and before the war, before World War II when your father, you said your father had to sell all of the shoes, someone came, what else happened after the evacuation?

DM: After we came back from camp?

JS: No, before. Before, what did your family have to do before they were sent, you were sent to camp? What did you do with all your belongings?

DM: Oh, okay. Like I said, we have a small, two-car garage, and we rented to the family that we know, this Portuguese family that had, Enos'. One section of the garage, he boarded it up and we put all our stuff in there and then pound it up. And that's all our stuff, was in that two-car garage on one side. And when we came back, everything was intact. The guy kept that house real nice.

JS: So how did the arrangements made for the Enos to stay in your home? Your family knew them?

DM: Oh, yes. They were real close friends. Well, not real close friends, but real friends. So he knew that. So naturally, he didn't charge for rent or anything, just let him stay there. And we let him know that we're coming back, and then they were ready to move out.

JS: And at that time, the Enos family had a restaurant. Did they have a restaurant when, before you went to camp?

DM: The Enos'?

JS: Uh-huh.

DM: Uh-huh. And then he had a small restaurant and a bar, but later on, he had a, just a bar, and they served food, too, later. But he was well-known. Enos, they called that bar, it was famous in Walnut Grove.

JS: So your father was friends with them?

DM: Well, not really friends, but close... well, yeah, I guess --

JS: Associates? Business, because of business they knew each other?

TI: I had one question about your father's work. I'm thinking of shoe repair. So they worked a lot with leather and their tools. Did he ever do other things besides shoes, like other leather work? I'm thinking about maybe farmers who might need work on leather type of things. Do you recall whether or not he ever did any leather work for farmers or any other kind of work like that?

DM: No, he was very good with wood, too, carpenter work. In fact, those neighbors, extra room for him. That's, all by himself, he made that extra room for the neighbor that we had three doors down. (Narr. note: He made belts and some pouches with leather for one of the neighbors.)

TI: Okay, so he was pretty handy with his hands.

DM: He was handy with, (yes), lot of things, yeah.

TI: How about things like belts? Did he ever work on belts or anything like that? Yeah, like leather belts, I was just curious about the leather.

DM: Not like that. Mainly repair and, you know... so as far as repairing the shoes, that's about it. He didn't go into making leather jackets or leather... no. (Narr. note: He could make belt leather pouches, etcetera, but not for sale. I'm sure if someone asks for it he will make it.)

TI: Okay, yeah, I was just curious if any of that happened.

DM: Good thing he was handy with that, 'cause the shoe store, without that repair, I don't think he would have made that (store last). 'Cause small town, they don't buy shoes back in the '30s. Nobody had money. When you say seven dollars, that's a very expensive shoes, you know.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.