<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Okay. So let's talk about growing up in, your earliest memories of Oakland. What can you remember?

NH: Oh, yeah. The, my, I have a son, one son, he works in the Sacramento, well, he lives in Sacramento, he works at Davis. Anyhow, we went to -- must have been a couple years ago. I said, "Paul," that's my son's name, "let's go see where I grew up," so we went to my childhood home. It's still there, it's in Oakland.

TI: And what's the address?

NH: The address is -- I know it's Piedmont Avenue, and I think the address is 4429, but I'm not really sure. But I know where it is, the cross, the nearest cross-street is Mather, M-A-T-H-E-R. And if you go, I think if you go easterly on Piedmont Avenue, you'd run into the cemetery.

TI: And so what was that neighborhood like when you were growing up?

NH: Oh, fine. It was a nice neighborhood.

TI: So who were some of your playmates?

NH: Most of the kids were older, and they all spoke English. And I spoke Japanese, but somehow we got along. [Laughs] And of course, lots of it has changed now, but for some reason, that house that I grew up in is still standing. It's still pretty straight. [Laughs]

TI: That's amazing.

NH: It's amazing.

TI: It's fun being able to go back and see your, the house you grew up in.

NH: Yeah. I wanted to go up and knock on the door and say, "Can I look around?" but I thought, "No, I guess I better not."

TI: So I'm curious, since we're on this, what does the neighborhood look like now? When you compare...

NH: Oh, well, across the street used to be an empty lot, and then we could run across the street, kids could run across the street 'cause there was no traffic. The only traffic there was was funerals, 'cause the cemetery was right there, and so we'd have these long processions of cars going by every day. Not all day long, but you know, one long. And there was a streetcar, the streetcar doesn't run there anymore, but there used to be a real nice streetcar. And the thing that I remember is that there was a lady who had an electric car, and it was square. The front and the back were exactly the same like this, a square car. And she sat in there, and there was no steering wheel, but there was a steering stick. And somehow or another, I don't know how she did it, but she came to the cemetery every day, and then would drive up Piedmont Avenue, go to the cemetery, and a little while later she would drive back home. I don't know where she went or anything, but I remember that.

TI: It's interesting, though, that they had an electric car back then.

NH: She had an electric car, so she must have been very wealthy.

TI: 'Cause it must have been like, it made huge batteries to power that.

NH: You could see those models, they're not, they're not huge, they're not big. About... well, they're... anyhow, I've seen them. Oh, I know where I saw it. If you go to Los Angeles, there's a Peterson's Automotive Museum, I saw one there. And I said, "Wow, this looks like the car that lady used to drive. [Laughs]

TI: That's interesting. And so you mentioned that the kids you played with, they spoke English, you spoke Japanese.

NH: Yeah, and then I picked up English, of course.

TI: Right. But I'm guessing, so that, they weren't Japanese, your playmates?

NH: Oh no, they were all Americans, the kids were mostly Italian kids, 'cause the florist lives, there were quite a few florists in, leading to the cemetery, so there were florists all over. And the one on the corner, I forgot his name, but anyhow, it was an Italian name, florist.

TI: So as a kid growing up around the cemetery, any stories about, like, did you guys worry about ghosts and things like that?

NH: We didn't, we didn't worry about ghosts. [Laughs]

<End Segment 5> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.