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RP: Now, was your, was your residence in the area of Seattle known as Japantown?

JN: No, it wasn't. If I recall, it was a large Jewish community. We had about five synagogues, incredibly. In Seattle I don't know if they had a large Jewish community, but if there (were) Jews in Seattle, they all lived where we lived. And I recall during the Sabbath, that is Friday, the caretaker or whatever he was called, he would give us a penny to light the fires, light the furnace, for instance. I mean, that was quite an enterprise, I mean, to be able to get three or four of the five synagogues to give us a penny each to light their fire.

RP: You said you had Chinese kids in your elementary school?

JN: At Bailey Gatzert, well, Bailey Gatzert was like twelve blocks from where I lived. And we walked to it every day, so Bailey Gatzert was not in, anywhere near the so-called local school that Washington School was. They had consolidated school districts and we were moved. We were, Washington School became a junior high school and Bailey Gatzert was our closest elementary school that we attended. And that's where the Chinese, there (were) Chinese American kids that, communities, you know, I don't really know if there (were)Chinese American communities as such, but there must have been a place where Chinese American families lived.

RP: Do you remember trips, visits to the Japantown area for special, to go to a restaurant or a special occasion?

JN: You know, my father was a restaurateur. He had a restaurant on Sixth Avenue and King Street, which is in that section. It was probably the ghettos of Seattle at the time, but they now call it the International District and I remember going there as a treat to have dinner or food served. All it was, a counter with stools, and he had two seats, or I can't remember definitely. I've been back there, but it was closed up or it was not, no more, no longer a restaurant. But it was, I do remember going to places like that. And then when we went to sell the fish that we caught, there was a company called King Fish Company, and I remember going there. You know, when I think back about a quarter for a whole box, almost a box of fish, crazy. Exploited, even by our own people. [Laughs]

RP: Your father's restaurant was a Japanese restaurant?

JN: No.

RP: What was it?

JN: It was a regular hash house.

RP: Hash house.

JN: Yeah, oh yeah, and then the weekends I helped him write the menu out in longhand. I remember things I had never tasted before, ham hocks and black-eyed peas. [Laughs] And he was quite innovative. He sold meal tickets. Can you imagine? He would sell meal tickets for... I don't know whether it was two dollars or a dollar and a half or whatever, and it had denominations of five and ten cents, and one cents. And as people, and you could buy a meal for like a quarter. Stew for instance, and he would sell that, sell the meal tickets. I thought, my god, he was way ahead of his time. He took, made money on the float. [Laughs]

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.