<Begin Segment 7>

RP: So you were one of the first groups to leave San Francisco?

MK: We were the first group to leave San Francisco.

RP: And where did you assemble at?

MK: On Venice Avenue. I can't remember exactly the block it was. We were bused to the trains. And they were miserable trains. I could remember that. And all the way down to Arcadia.

RP: And can, can you go back to that day in your mind and sort of recall the atmosphere and the feelings of people? What was their body language like?

MK: No, you know... I think... so much time has lapsed. You just kind of forget a lot of things that happened. And I think if we didn't turn out all right it would have made a big difference. Say if we had come back and having nothing and having to start all over again, I think if we had been in that miserable state forever it would have made a difference. But we all worked hard to do better. And I know I went to some places, like summer vacation from college, and they'd say oh, well we're not, we don't have a job for you they would say. The employment office would send me out and then they'd say, "Oh, we don't have a job for you." Like that. I wired, one summer I wired lamps for government housing. I learned how to wire fluorescent lamps. And another one, it was a greeting card company and they hired Japanese ladies. Because we were good with our hands, putting, assembling ribbons and all this kind of stuff, decoration on greeting cards. Because we got paid by how many boxes you finished that day. So you learned to work fast for one thing. But I got turned down quite a few places in Chicago when I tried to get a summer job. But you know you just keep pushing along and you find something. Because working in a factory doing those lamps was kind of rough. The language was bad, the manners were bad, and that was the first exposure I had to working in a factory.

RP: Factory work. Originally you said you thought you were going to Manzanar. Not, not Santa Anita.

MK: Well, that was the rumor that we were all supposed to go to Manzanar, that first group. But the barracks weren't finished. But...

RP: So you ended up at...

MK: You figured all those southern California people that might have gone to Manzanar, they were in Santa Anita. But you know, L.A. had a big harbor there and everything and I think they were just kind of anxious to get people gathered up.

RP: Right.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.