<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So describe the barber shop for me. What, so in the front, how many chairs did your dad have in the barber shop?

FO: He had two chairs, but he just worked by himself. He had a few helper once in a while, yeah, but mostly by himself.

TI: And how large was that front room with the chairs?

FO: It wasn't all that big, maybe twelve feet by twenty feet maybe, yeah.

TI: And is it kind of like the traditional, in the front, was there, like, a barber pole?

FO: Yeah, yeah. In fact, I still have that barber pole. It's a wooden barber pole, wooden one, sitting there.

TI: That's, and so is it painted, like, red and white?

FO: Yeah, red, white a blue, yeah.

TI: And on the front, what was the name of the barber shop?

FO: Oh, I guess he just went by his name, I guess.

TI: So like Oda or something like that?

FO: Yeah, probably. Let's see now...

TI: And was it again, like I look at those pictures of barber shops, was it like a big mirror?

FO: Yeah, a big mirror in the front, in the back, yeah, in the back.

TI: And then what, and so a barber shop, what were the services that your father would do at the barber shop?

FO: Haircut and shave, yeah.

TI: And were there any other things like baths?

FO: Yeah, yeah. They had bath, too. My mother used to have bath for the working people, yeah.

TI: Okay. So in the front, you would have the barber shop area, and then there'd be like a back room?

FO: Yeah, for bath, yeah.

TI: And how many baths would there be back there?

FO: Had two tubs and two showers, I guess.

TI: And so you say two tubs, so were these like those old, like bear claw, those big tubs?

FO: Yeah, yeah, they had that type. Big tub, yeah.

TI: And then that would be something your mother would sort of take care of? She would heat the water and get the baths ready?

FO: Yeah.

TI: Good. And going back to your father, you talked about him wanting to be an artist. It sounds like in some ways, he was an artist already, with the poetry. Personality-wise, how was he?

FO: Huh?

TI: What was his personality like? Was he a talkative person?

FO: No, no. [Laughs]

TI: And so I always think of barbers, though, because when they're cutting hair, so was he a pretty quiet man or did he talk about things?

FO: Well, I don't know about that. [Laughs]

TI: I always think of barbers, they talk about politics or they talked about different things because, with their customers. But personality-wise, your dad was pretty quiet?

FO: Well, I guess he carried a conversation, yeah, that part.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.