<Begin Segment 11>

MN: So since your family was actually living there and you have your clients coming in, what was your involvement in the running of the hotel?

KM: My early involvement was, I was a shoe shine boy. Very early I used to shine shoes for some of my customers. And, of course, my earliest occupation was as a newspaper delivery boy. And as such, I think I must have done that from seven years old or eight years old, for about seven or eight years. And as a delivery boy, I knew exactly what was going on throughout the whole town of Kahului. Because although I would not deliver a newspaper to every household, I would have to pass every household to make my deliveries. So there was a route that took me though every, just about every household. Whether I delivered the newspapers or not, I would pass by. So for seven years I did this. So I knew just about... any unusual thing that was going on in camp, I was aware of.

MN: And what newspaper were you delivering?

KM: This was a Maui Jiji, I think it was called. Mr. Yasui was a very learned, educated man, he was the owner and the publisher of Maui Jiji. And my father was one of the reporters, too, I think, for the newspaper. And as such, I was forced to deliver the newspapers. Well, it was a, rain or shine, you had to deliver the newspapers.

MN: Was it morning? Afternoon?

KM: And then Japanese school was in between. Remember, I was seven, eight years old, I was still going to Japanese school. So it had to be worked out with my schedule with Japanese school as well as with all my athletic this and that. Training program, practice program, I did it for, until I was seven through fourteen, I delivered newspapers.

[Interruption]

MN: Okay. Before we leave the topic of the carnival sideshow act people staying at your hotel, I was wondering, did you talk story with these guests?

KM: You know, my recollection is that I always had a wonderful relationship with these people. I felt like I was their pet project, they took so well, they took so good care of me. In some cases they would take me along for short walks and whatnot. But my recollection of different individuals has always been pleasant memories of getting to know these so-called odd people who were enough to be members of the sideshow attractions of E.K. Fernandez.

MN: And you were saying something about a clown a being your favorite?

KM: Yeah, there was this Freckles. Just before World War II, Freckles was a very popular clown. My recollection is that even after World War II, he still was performing with E.K. Fernandez. One time, years later, I met him and he still remembered me. Yeah. He became a businessman in Honolulu. I forgot exactly what kind of business he was involved in. But for a short while, I remember him doing business in Honolulu.

MN: How did your parents react to these carnival guests?

KM: Well, they were very important guests that my mother went out of her way to take care of, to treat them very kindly and make them feel at home. We had a, kind of like a veranda area where we had this garden and whatnot. It was pleasant for them to sit around the tables, card tables, sit down and relax because they basically had no -- they couldn't go out because they were so-called freaks. You know, you had the bearded man or the World's Tallest Man, you couldn't go out and give the people a free show, so they have to stay indoors.

WN: Did they eat Japanese food?

KM: I don't know if we fed... I think we had to feed them because all of our guests, we fed them. So in the case of these sideshow people, I guess my mother went out of their way to prepare Western food and whatnot.

WN: Okay, so not namako then? [Laughs]

KM: NO. Like in my case, when I was going to, from high school, my mother was always busy. And so I had a standard breakfast all prepared, which I had to not only eat in a rush, had five minutes to catch the bus, you know, you're always making, just catching the bus. But my standard breakfast was egg rice, bacon, and it was always prepared for me so as soon as I was ready to go, I would sit down, eat, and rush out. But every morning I had that, bacon and egg.

MN: You know, you said that it would be prepared for you. Who did it?

KM: My mother, usually my mother. Usually my mother. Had this all prepared outside there, I would eat on the run.

MN: And, you know, when I asked you about your involvement in the hotel, I was just wondering if you had any chores to do in the hotel, like the furo or anything?

KM: When I grew a little older, I did the bedsheets and whatnot, too. I did room cleaning, I cleaned the rooms and changed the sheets and bedding. I did, it was so-called housekeeping tasks.

MN: Who generally did the housekeeping work?

KM: We had this live-in, not maid, but worker. But she was also too busy, involved doing other things, so whenever I could, I was asked to do those things. We started out from shoe shining, I got promoted to housecleaning.

MN: And that shoe shining, was that something that the individual clients would ask you to do, or some service that was given?

KM: It was something that I did and we got tipped. If the shoes were dirty, I would clean the shoes for them and I got tipped. I didn't do it, there were some kids who were doing it on the sidewalk as an income-producing effort. But in my case, I was limited to doing it within the hotel, only for our guests.

WM: Was there a chair?

KM: No, no, small little box.

WM: You had the box?

KM: Yeah, I had a small box with all the paraphernalia, shoe shine paraphernalia.

MN: How much would you get tipped?

KM: Oh, those days was five cents, at the most, five cents. At the most. Because you could get a plate of lunch, I think, for five cents. So it must have been way less than that. I don't recall monetarily what kind of tips that I used to have. Because that was when I was real young.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.