Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: John Young Interview
Narrator: John Young
Interviewer: Rose Masters
Location: San Gabriel, California
Date: May 22, 2015
Densho ID: denshovh-yjohn-01-0003

<Begin Segment 3>

RM: So did your parents live in San Francisco from... well, excuse me, did your dad live in San Francisco from when he immigrated until 1906?

JY: 1906 when he married and brought her back here. And he had a business established here, too, a Chinese herbalist store called Hung Wo Hong.

RM: Can you spell that?

JY: Hung, H-U-N-G, W-O, Hong, H-O-N-G. Herbalist store, we have drawers, about a hundred, behind me, separated by four, and dividers. There's four drawers and one drawer, there's four dividers in each drawer. So had to remember where everything is, it's amazing. [Laughs] If he had an empty one, I would put my toys in it.

RM: Did your parents ever talk about the challenges of living in California during the 1880s?

JY: No, because they live in the ghetto, and that was their protection. We had the Ung family, U-N-G, they had twelve in the family. Nobody messed with our family or their family because we had so many boys. [Laughs]

RM: And that kept you from anyone who was prejudiced who might have wanted to...

JY: Well, living in the ghetto, they kind of protect themselves. And my brothers were real strong and all that, so nobody fooled with them. But they did have a police lieutenant, Sterling, I remember the last name, and he was friends with my brother Bill, and we kind of got protection from him. Because we lived right across the street from Jerry's Joint, that was an old restaurant. It used to be a gambling place, they opened up the place across from us. We used to get a lot of knock on our door. But we were kind of protected, my brothers would answer the door and then they'd leave.

RM: Did your dad talk about the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882? Did that affect him or his friends or communication with his family or anything.

JY: No, he didn't seem to communicate with his family in China, or his friends up in San Francisco. Although they had a plaque for him when he donated the hundred dollar, and all my cousins used to take me to see it, I said, "Gee, I'm tired of seeing that, I've seen that about ten times." But that's dissolved now, there's no Young Association up there anymore, so it was an alley.

RM: Would you tell me about... you mentioned to me earlier that you have siblings. Could you, if possible, list your siblings from oldest to youngest for me?

JY: Yes. One brother, Fred, and our brother Frank, and our brother Bill, and our brother Ted, and two girls, Emma and Dora, and myself, that was the entire family.

RM: And you were the caboose of that family?

JY: Yeah, I'm the baby.

RM: Yeah. When was Fred born?

JY: (1907). Fred died early... probably in the seventies. And Frank in his eighties, and Bill, and Ted lived to eighty-five, I believe.

RM: Was Fred born pretty soon after your parents were married?

JY: Yeah, they were like brother and sisters to the mother. Even brother Frank, they were only less than twenty years apart.

RM: How old was your mom when she was married to your father?

JY: Fourteen. My dad was forty-nine, and outlived her by five year, I told you, she died in '49 and he died in '54, at ninety-seven.

RM: What are your first... well, actually, let me ask, when and where were you born?

JY: I was born in Los Angeles. We were all born 212 Ferguson Alley. We were all born there.

RM: And what's your birthday? Oh, well, I know it's today.

JY: My birthday is today, May the 22nd, 1923.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.