<Begin Segment 4>

KL: And then when were you born?

MS: 1928.

KL: Okay, so two years old. Did your parents ever tell you anything about your birth or her pregnancy with you?

MS: Afraid not.

KL: What are your earliest memories?

MS: In San Francisco I don't have much. It seems like my conscience woke up after we moved to Burbank, because I don't remember anything about San Francisco.

KL: When was the move to Burbank?

MS: It had to be... okay, just my guess...

KL: Or how old were you?

MS: About six years old, between five and six. Because when we moved to Terminal Island after that, I think I was about six or six and a half.

KL: Oh, so it wasn't very long in Burbank.

MS: I either started either kindergarten or the first grade in Terminal Island.

KL: What are your memories of Burbank? Are there any that are...

MS: Only where I went with my father early in the morning, early meaning about four-thirty, five o'clock in the morning to buy the produce for the store that he was working for again, taking care of the vegetables and fruits.

KL: What was it like?

MS: All I know is that I was very sleepy but I wanted to go with him, so I did go with him. And only one time I believe. I don't remember any second or third time that I did the same.

KL: Yeah, that's neat that it registered.

MS: One other memory in Burbank was that I got too close to a monkey where... you know, they used to have monkeys perched on top of, I don't know what you would call, one some kind of a t-shaped stand as a pet. However, they had the monkey tied to the post. But I got too close to the monkey and got bit on my knee, and I still have that scar from that experience.

KL: They were just out on the sidewalk or on the street?

MS: It was either in front of a store or in front of a house, but I got curious and I got too close to that monkey, and the monkey jumped on me and bit me. I think it was just on one knee. So anything traumatic like that. [Laughs]

KL: Yeah, that'd be memorable. So you were just in Burbank for a year or a year and a half or so.

MS: Yeah, not too long, as I remember.

KL: Do you know what prompted your folks to move to Terminal Island?

MS: I guess that grocery business that he was engaged in wasn't working out. So for another employment, I guess he must have known something about fishing, so he went to Terminal Island and became a fisherman.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.