<Begin Segment 3>

KL: So your dad came very early in the 1900s to the U.S.

MS: Yeah. So they started an embroidery studio, and I guess embroidery was very popular in those days, especially for the wealthier... because apparently all the men always had their shirts monogrammed, and then the ladies liked little fancy doodads. So apparently the business thrived well enough to open a shop downtown on Geary, and it's where the Geary Theater is now. From what I remember my mother saying, it was primarily because a lot of the clients were people that would come to stay at places like the St. Francis Hotel, so it was more convenient for Dad to meet with them to find out what they wanted done. And he was the artist of the family, so he did all the design work for the monograms and any of the fancier designs that the ladies would want on their clothes.

KL: Do you know where he learned to do that?

ST: I think someone said that his parents, or his father had a business in Japan doing embroidery work, so I'm assuming that's why they learned how to do that.

KL: And can you say anything more about his clients? Were they visitors to San Francisco or residents?

MS: Most of 'em I assume were residents, but then there were also the business customers, and I guess they knew about him well enough to bring their shirts and things and leave them with him to be embroidered.

ST: The military, you know, the stripes and all, used to embroider all that. So he was a pretty busy man.

MS: I think I remember Mom saying that he was also commissioned at one time to embroider the state flag or something, do you remember that?

ST: No, not really.

MS: I mean, that had to be a special one to have embroidered.

ST: Was it for some special occasion?

MS: I have no... I remember her mentioning something like that. But he did all the most, you know, the very intricate embroidery work, and all the design work. But then his father came to visit to see how the business was going, and apparently he decided that our dad should try his hand at farming and leave the business to the other two brothers.

ST: That's not quite the way I heard it.

KL: How did you hear it?

ST: Well, my mother was the bookkeeper, and they were making, that was a good business, but they saw very little of the money, and she found out the others were skimming, you know. And she approached the father, complained about it, and he retaliated by sending his son out to the farm circuit.

MS: Oh, I didn't know that. I'm find out more family dirt here. [Laughs]

KL: So was your grandfather living in San Francisco for a while?

MS: No, apparently he just came for a visit.

ST: But my father was the mainstay of the business, so after he was gone, they lost the business.

MS: She also told us the funny story about the pool hall. In Japanese, tama means "ball," and I didn't know what she was talking about then, but I made the connection later. But apparently he was quite a pool shark. And for some reason, he played against the owner of the pool hall and he ended up owning the pool hall. And he had no use to be running it, so he let the younger brother take it over. And from what Mom said, the younger brother was not worth much of anything, and he lost the pool hall also. Do you remember that? She told us that.

ST: So your dad was good at pool?

MS: Apparently. We never saw him play, but that was all the stories that we heard were from our mother.

ST: But he was no farmer. My mother was the farmer.

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