<Begin Segment 24>

JS: And what was your mother and father doing during this time?

MN: Here we go again. [Laughs] Yeah, yeah, we had a gambling den.

JS: Where was that?

MN: At the beginning, it was in the banquet room, I believe. Uh-huh, and then we got a basement, so they went into the basement, and then they had tables going, three tables going full-blast.

JS: What kind of games were they playing?

MN: I think they were playing poker. Poker and I think there's another game called ten-card rummy. It's, it's really fun, aces wild. [Laughs] You play with about eight decks, though.

JS: How long did this keep up?

MN: Kept up, oh, it kept up for quite a long time. I can't remember when we... when, I think when it got to be too, too hard on the, too hard on the, you know, the chief of police was easygoing at that time, so it was easy. And then I think when Joseph MacNamara came in, I think it was getting harder for us to, to run the business.

JS: Was it there from the beginning of the restaurant?

MN: Yes, uh-huh, yeah, I think we've always had, had a gaming room.

JS: Now, did, who came to play at this gaming room?

MN: Lot of these bachelors that goes to these, they're migrant workers, they go from city to city.

JS: Hispanics?

MN: Huh?

JS: Hispanics?

MN: No, Japanese. Yes, uh-huh. They're, they, they pick strawberries, and they go from city to city and wherever they get to, they stay at the hostel, and then they'll come in and play, play game couple of hours.

JS: How many, how many... what was the capacity of that basement?

MN: There were at least sixteen, at least sixteen could get to play. Eight and eight.

JS: They what?

MN: Eight people could get to play on one table, I think, or maybe seven.

JS: Okay. Now, did that income from that gambling, did that aid your restaurant?

MN: No. No, it went to my mother. [Laughs]

JS: It's like two separate...

MN: Yeah, two separate, uh-huh. Two separate, uh-huh.

JS: Did you have any problems with the police at all? I mean, you had this gambling.

MN: No, I don't think so. I remember once Mother giving those cops some sake and some, some chow mein and things.

JS: Did they raid the place and did they...

MN: Yes, uh-huh, they raid the place. Yeah, uh-huh. They raided it.

JS: Okay, so it was like a little bribe, then?

MN: Uh-huh, yes, uh-huh. Yeah.

JS: That's interesting; it's really a great story.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.