<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Have you ever gone back and tried to find the restaurant that your father ran in Sacramento?

MI: We went back to Stockton, but the place has all been rebuilt. But there was a hotel there, and my dad says that is the original hotel. He recognized it. And that's pretty neat. I've gone back to some of the houses that we used to live in, and I could tell you the floor plan of those houses and where we used to hide things, you know and I'd go, "Oh, I wonder if any of those people found some of that stuff that we hid." [Laughs]

RP: What did you hide?

MI: I remember there was a service porch in those days. And you had to buy ice to put in the icebox. And then there was, underneath the icebox was this tray and all the melted ice water would go down in the tray. And I forgot what it was, but that was the only place where the water would leak down to the floor and it was the easiest place to hide anything. Probably like dog bones and things like that or I don't know, what did we hide? In fact, there was a Jewish doctor who lived next door to us, a woman doctor. And that's where we learned about being... her son was such a gentleman. And I remember there was one, of the neighbor's boys came and pushed us while we were skating and he came right over and intervened. It was really, it was a real nice family. So I related to them. But let me see, what was it we used to hide? Oh we used to do all kinds of crazy things. But I remember that house because that's the first time I experienced an earthquake.

RP: That was in Sacramento or Stockton?

MI: No, this was in Los Angeles.

RP: Oh, in Los Angeles.

MI: 3411 East Fourth Street. And then we moved across the street to 3420 East Fourth Street which is a two-story house, much bigger, much roomier. But that's been torn down, made into a condominium.

RP: To go back to your father's business in Sacramento, you had a very powerful story to share about what happened to his business.

MI: Oh, in Sacramento?

RP: Right. Sort of a introduction to the prejudices of the world and...

MI: Right.

RP: The atmosphere that was, that Japanese Americans lived with before the war. Can you share that?

MI: Yeah. My father had a very successful restaurant business, catering to people who were worked for the Hearst paper, the Sacramento Bee. And people would always come and eat their dinner or their lunch or their dinner at my dad's restaurant. And some department head found out about it and said that employees of the Hearst publication was not to go and patronize my dad's restaurant. Why there goes half their, half or more of his business. And so he lost the business, and so there was no more restaurant. But that was the only time -- and I remember I told you about it -- that I ever saw my dad actually weep. After all these years, it must have been so painful. That I never saw my dad ever cry, and he did that day when he told me about it. And he told me it was the Sacramento Bee. And I said well the Sacramento Bee is still in existence. Interesting what... and that's, that's discrimination outright. Had nothing to do with the food. It was that it was run by a Japanese.

RP: As a result of losing his business, is that when the decision was made to move down to Los Angeles?

MI: Right. And I remember, with my siblings, it was late at night. I don't know why I can remember it being real dark when we landed in L.A. And I can't even remember where we stayed that night. 'Cause I remember, remember asking my mother where we were going. Said, "We're gonna have to find a place to stay."

RP: So it was kind of a rather sudden decision to...

MI: I think it was.

RP: ...leave.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.