<Begin Segment 3>

RP: Let's talk a little bit about their, your time in Oakland. You mentioned first Alameda and then Oakland.

AI: Uh-huh.

RP: And these businesses that both your mother and father had, your father with the cleaning business and your mom had a dress-making business. Did she, did she pick up teaching in Japan?

AI: You know, I don't know, I don't know how she got her skills. All I know is that as soon as she came to the United States, she started that school. The fact is I have, there's a couple of church members at school that, that actually went to her school and received some training under her. So, yeah, I don't, I don't know how she... but I remember, in Oakland, she used to have these shows where they would show the, the works of some of her students. And, she used to have all kinds of clothes dummies and that sort of thing. I don't know what happened to all those, but, we used, we had a bunch of 'em in Reno I recall, but I think they're all gone. They've all since disappeared.

RP: And your father ran a cleaning business.

AI: Yeah, it was... the store in Oakland was combined. It was a cleaning and dress-making place. And I recall they used to have the steam presses and the, and... I don't remember any cleaning thing. I think the cleaning stuff they, they shipped it out somewhere. And they, when they brought it back they would press 'em and that sort of thing, yeah. And then the, the, in back of the shop was the living quarters. And so, that's why I used to tell people I was born behind the piano. But, that, I recall that we, we had that, that old piano in Oakland. And...

RP: Who played it? Your mom?

AI: Pardon?

RP: Who played the piano? Your mother?

AI: You know what? I think my mother did, but I remember when we moved to Reno later on that piano ended up there and I don't know how it got there. 'Cause I don't recall a van or anything and neither does my brother. Brother doesn't remember a thing about that.

RP: Uh-huh.

AI: But I remember the, the shop was in the back. We were about the third or fourth one from the corner of Seventh and Market.

RP: Is this downtown Oakland or...

AI: Yeah. Yeah, right downtown. Seventh and Market, the, the 880 freeway runs down that way now and where it dumps out at Jack London Square, it's somewhere near there. But Seventh and Market, it's all, it's all gone. It's just all freeway now. But, we... right around the corner was a place called the Market Laundry and a lot of Japanese people worked there. And I remember they used to have a big, big neon sign that said, "Market Laundry." And my cousin, the one whose parents were the ones in Palo Alto, she married a guy that used to work at the Market Laundry and she says he knew me when I was a little kid and he said I used to go over there all the time and bust the neon lamps all the time, throw rocks at it. [Laughs] But anyway, yeah, then on the corner was a grocery store.

RP: Japanese grocery store?

AI: I don't even remember what it whether it was Japanese or not. I don't recall. But then, right next door was a, a place called Brother Star and it was one of those evangelist places where they did the, the symbol tapping or the tambourines and whatever --

RP: Holy roller.

AI: Yeah. We, on Sunday morning we'd hear songs bursting out of the door and everything, yeah. I recall that. And I used to... and then a couple of blocks down, or maybe next door on the other side was a union hall. And I, my mother... let's see, how did I, we had a, we had a violin -- oh, my brother was learning violin and we had a violin. And I would go out and play on the violin while the guys were outside waiting for their job at the union hall and I'd pass the hat and I'd get, sneak off and get money and I'd go to the corner store and buy candy and sneak back and, and hold this candy behind my back and then try to sneak into the house, into the shop. And I was never smart enough to bring my hands around front so I'd always get caught with the candy in the back of my hands.

RP: "What do you got behind there?"

AI: Yeah. [Laughs] But anyway...

RP: So you were playing violin at a pretty young age, huh?

AI: No, not, not -- my brother did. I didn't.

RP: Oh, you didn't. But you held the hat out?

AI: Yeah, I'd get a few pennies. So, yeah.

RP: Well, that's a nice portrait that you just sketched of, of the community for us.

AI: Yeah.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.