<Begin Segment 27>

KL: I'm curious about what the climate in Pasadena was like right when you returned in late 1945 toward Japanese Americans. What did you encounter? I mean, the family you stayed with sounds like it was friendly toward you, but beyond that, what was it like in Pasadena?

EY: I don't think I really experienced any prejudice there. The people who hired us were very kind, they were, they treated each of my friends nicely. We didn't feel that we were being used, that we're just there to help them, and they were willing to pay us. And we were live-in housemates, you might call it, so we had a bed and a little room for ourselves. Then we got every Thursday off, so that's where we got together.

KL: It sounds like your employer were mostly Jewish people?

EY: Yes.

KL: Did they ever say anything to you about, you know, what their experience of World War II was or their feelings about anti-Jewish behavior?

EY: No, never brought up the subject. And I think all of us girls, we never brought our situation up either. We were just fortunate to be under a roof where people were kind to us, and so we never so-called, what's the word? Rocked the boat.

KL: What is Jimi's friend George's last name?

EY: Iwanaga. He passed on. He was quite a guy.

LP: What were the names you mentioned? It sounded like there was a man whose kids you were watching that made horror films or something in L.A.?

KL: In Beverly Hills.

LP: Beverly Hills. What was his name?

EY: Watching what?

LP: What was the name of the man who was making films while you were living in, he said, Beverly Hills?

KL: The filmmaker who employed you in Beverly Hills, what was his name?

EY: You know, I can't think of his name. I see his face, but I can't think of... and I don't even recognize it when it's in the, something's written in the paper. I just don't recall his name.

LP: Do you remember, do you recall any of the movies that he made?

EY: All I know is this man makes horror films and he has two kids of his own, what's he doing, doing that? I remember thinking that, but I can't think of his name. It's too bad.

LP: Okay.

EY: It's too bad.

LP: I was just curious if he was famous. And then what was the name of the man that did the pantyhose thing?

EY: Nylon hosiery?

LP: Yeah.

EY: Wittenberg, W-I-T-T-E-N-B-E-R, Wittenberg. Very nice people.

LP: Were you working with, like, an organization to place you in those jobs, or how were you...

EY: I guess it was more word of mouth. Yeah, said, "Hey, you know what? There's a party that was looking for some help, and just go see, apply and see if they want a Japanese houseperson. So just call them up, we get the phone number from somewhere, I don't know how we got it. And said, "I'm a Japanese American, just came out of camp, would you like to interview me or whatever?" We were lucky we were able to get hired.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.