<Begin Segment 6>

TI: You mentioned how the Alex Brown Company brought lumber in for you to build the place. I wanted to ask you about your, did you know any of the Alex Brown, or the family?

EI: Yeah, yeah.

TI: So tell me who you knew, who you saw.

EI: My dad used to know, when he used to farm in Staten Island, they're the one that supplied the money, money for my dad. And put all the crop in the mortgage, and he sell crops to the market and get the money to farm again, keep on doing that. My dad says, "We never go right, we get tired, so we're moving to the Canal where the big company is," we'd work, Libby.

TI: Okay, but then when you're now in Walnut Grove, like your bar, did any of the Brown family, like John Brown, did he ever come to the bar?

EI: Used to, when we met him. And John Brown and my dad was good friend, come to buy, he did. They'd drink sake together, friendly.

TI: So your father and John Brown, so John Brown was the son of Alex Brown, they were friends. They would sit and drink. How often would, how often would John Brown come to the bar?

EI: Oh, maybe every ten days or something like that.

TI: Okay, so about every ten days. What was John Brown, Mr. Brown, what was he like?

EI: Whiskey.

TI: Oh, he liked whiskey? [Laughs]

EI: One shot of whiskey.

TI: And when he was in the bar drinking whiskey, was he a quiet man or a loud man? How would you describe him?

EI: Quiet man like my dad. Talked with my dad, was still talking about the future.

TI: And did your father do much business with John Brown?

EI: Huh?

TI: Did your father do business with the bank?

EI: Yeah.

TI: And what kind of business did your father do?

EI: Farm business.

TI: Farm business.

EI: Yeah.

TI: How about with the businesses, I mean, like the bar, did he ever borrow money from --

EI: Yeah, yeah. After that, yeah, we had a bar, store account, all those accounting there, and they were supplying us. When we do import business and everything, he's the one that supply us the money, running, working capital.

TI: So the Brown, the Alex Brown bank was very important to your family and to you, because they supplied the money, the working capital to grow the businesses, to buy businesses, to help the export/import business. Interesting.

JS: So the Inaba Building, the new store you built in 1937, was that Alex Brown property?

EI: Yeah.

JS: I see.

EI: Dye property.

JS: Oh, that was Dye property.

EI: Yeah.

JS: But Alex Brown provided financing to help you.

EI: Yeah, but I paid it off, though.

JS: You paid it off.

EI: After three or four year, I paid him off. We all made money, too. [Laughs] Then we get into camp.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.