Densho Digital Archive - Arthur Nishimoto Interview (denshovh-narthur-01-0003)

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AL: So could you give us just kind of an idea of your early childhood, some of your earliest memories of growing up in Hawaii?

AN: Yes, I had a very good, I had a very good childhood, I really did. In fact, I was almost spoiled with all the uncles and aunties I had. I had a real happy childhood. My mother used to, at least once a week, took me to the beach and let me play in the sand and get in the water. So I was practically raised on the sandy beach, because we weren't far away from Waikiki, and so I was, I had a very happy childhood.

AL: Where did you live in Oahu, I mean, in Honolulu?

AN: In Honolulu? I lived in a district called McCully, M-C-C-U-L-L-Y, McCully.

[Interruption]

AL: Do you remember your address, approximately?

AN: Yeah, I know my address. It's 738 Hauoli Street, H-A-U-O-L-I, Hauoli Street. That's where I grew up most of the time, that's where my father built a new home there, and it's still standing there. That's where I grew up. It's near, it's very close to Waikiki. I used to walk from my home to the beach all the time, because I used to like to surf, and that's what I did. I just loved the beach.

[Interruption]

AL: So you said you liked to surf. When you were a smaller child, before you were surfing... well, first of all, what is the difference in ages between you and your brother and your sister?

AN: My brother and I were three years' difference, and my sister and I, we're about seven years' difference.

AL: What was your neighborhood like? Was it primarily...

AN: Oh, we had a real nice neighborhood. I lived in a real nice neighborhood, yes. The area I lived in was really nice. My grade school was nearby, it's just a block away.

AL: What was it called, your grade school?

AN: Lunalilo. L-U-N-A-L-I-L-O, Lunalilo school. That's one of the old Hawaiian leaders, I don't know, whatever they called it. So anyway, that was my grade school there.

AL: Who else lived in your neighborhood, I mean, was it, like, ethnically a mixed neighborhood, or how would you describe it?

AN: My neighborhood were mostly Japanese Americans around the whole block. Yeah, mostly Japanese Americans. The people who lived there, the kids were all my age, too. So as I say, we had a good neighborhood, we had a good time together. We did bad things together. [Laughs] And so we had a lot of fun.

AL: What were some of the bad things you did together?

AN: Well, I tell you, some of the bad things we did was like, for instance, we were learning how to smoke cigarettes, you know. We had no business doing it, but said, "Well, let's try it." We thought we were real big boys, we'd try it. But that didn't last long. And another bad thing that I can remember is there was a friend of mine whose dad loved to smoke cigars. So one day we went together, and he went up and stole his father's cigars, and said, "Let's go down to the beach and smoke it." So we both went down to the beach and lay on the sand, and we start smoking. And before long, the whole world was turning upside down on us. [Laughs] Those are some of the things we used to do, you know. But it was fun. We were mischievous, but not real bad, you know. But we tried all kinds of things like that.