<Begin Segment 8>

JS: So who were the customers that came to Aki? Mostly the...

SK: Most everybody in the...

JS: Japanese?

SK: Oh, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans. Mostly... well, they were all immigrants anyway, let's put it that way.

JS: So you sold cigarette and tobacco, and also groceries?

SK: Well, yes.

JS: Groceries and other things? Ice cream?

SK: No, no ice cream.

JS: No ice cream?

SK: But a little meat, as I can remember. There were really some bargains. Before I forget, I want to mention some of the things that happened. There was... I mean, let's say there's a China Alley, Fagan's Alley, and then that was through Japanese town. Fagan Avenue was through Japanese town. And then to show you what kind of bargain it was, there was a family by the name of Yokota. They made tofu, and they used to cost five cents for one, three for a dime. You can buy three...

JS: Blocks of tofu?

SK: Uh-huh, for a dime. And then there was another store right down, if you went down half a block to Kern Street, which is in front of the church. There was another, another shop, and I'm sure some... I wonder where some of the kids went to. But anyway, they had another, we had two shops that made tofu. And...

JS: And where would people buy the Japanese food?

SK: Mostly, I hope they bought from us. [Laughs]

JS: So you sold a lot of Japanese food product.

SK: Oh, yes.

JS: Uh-huh, rice and shoyu.

SK: Oh, yes, uh-huh, all those. There were, another store named Henmi, and Kamikawa, and that was the big one. And in fact, my friend -- I'm going to jump a little bit now -- I'm on the board of Woodward Park here in town, where there's a Japanese garden. And I had made friends with some people, one was a banker who was an excellent writer. I mean, he'd write the things about different things. And I had to show 'em where some Japanese people lived, 'cause he wrote about the early days, and we went to a Chinese family. I got some history through him, and he's no longer here, but he really was an excellent writer.

JS: And he wrote for the newspaper?

SK: Huh?

JS: He was a newspaper reporter?

SK: No, no. He's a banker.

JS: Oh, banker.

SK: Yeah. I guess he was, he worked in the bank. And...

TI: Sat, I have a question. You talked a little bit about Chinatown, how most of the restaurants and stores were Japanese. Why was it called Chinatown? Why not Nihonmachi or something where... if it was mostly Japanese, why Chinatown?

SK: Oh, I'd say about, at least seventy-five percent, I'm just thinking out the percentage right on top of my head. It was always called Chinatown. I don't know why. When they refer to the west side, that was Chinatown to the rest of town. And... let's see. I just know of very few Chinese. They were my friends, too, but I remember, except for they had big butcher shops, couple butcher shops. And I'm sure there are lottery houses, I knew, but I never knew about lottery anyway, but, 'til quite a bit later.

TI: But within the Japanese community, did you all call it Chinatown, or were there, did you guys ever call the neighborhood something else?

SK: No, we probably called it Chinatown.

TI: And did, was there ever discussions amongst of the Japanese leaders maybe to try to rename it to something else?

SK: No.

TI: So they were fine with just calling it Chinatown?

SK: Yeah. Everybody knows where Chinatown is, too. [Laughs] But that was it. I'm sure they were involved in lot of, in lottery, as I think back. But that was Chinatown, but all the stores were Japanese. You could go from one block to the other, I mean, go around the block, and there'd be mostly Japanese stores, except for maybe a couple of large Chinese-run businesses.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.