<Begin Segment 8>
RP: What prompted your family to move to Glendale? Was it your father's work or...
MI: Yeah, an opportunity to get into this produce business.
RP: That's...
MI: Because there was a living quarters in the back of the market. And I think that was probably one of the reasons why they took that position.
RP: This was in Glendale?
MI: In Glendale, on San Fernando Road.
RP: And you, he worked, was it in an existing supermarket that he managed?
MI: There was a --
RP: A produce market or...
MI: -- there was sections. Supermarket... the produce and then a grocery section, and then the butcher area, whatever, yeah butcher, the meat department. In those days they use a different terminology. And then he, he ran the produce.
RP: Do you remember the store? Market?
MI: No, all I remember was it was on San Fernando Road across the street from the Nishi, or Kishi nursery. 'Cause Glendale was also a very segregated city.
RP: What do you recall about that?
MI: No, at the time I didn't feel... see, my father and mother never told us that, "Oh, you're Japanese so you're different from the white person," or you're different from the Mexicans, or you were different from the blacks. They never made that distinction. So I didn't think anything of it. But I know that like in Glendale, not as, not very long ago, a black person could not walk down Brand Street in Glendale without being stopped. So there were different areas that were like that. Pasadena had its problems, too. 'Cause right after the war when I came down for, to work at the reports office, there were some people that came to Pasadena, and there was a cross burning on somebody's yard that took in a young lady as a boarder.
RP: This was a Japanese American woman?
MI: Girl, yeah. So we had these little incidents, you know. And I know that once when we wanted to buy a house near Eagle Rock, this lady said to me, "Why don't you just stay with your own people?" And I said, "Who's that?" I couldn't figure out what she's talking about because I wasn't brought up in that mentality. But there was one gentleman that I really should mention. And his name is William Carr. C-A-R-R. And has a real estate office, or he did have one. -- he's since passed away -- here in Pasadena. And he was so much for helping the Japanese out. And so I have to really thank him for that.
RP: What did he do?
MI: He was a real estate agent, you know for, so he sold houses and... but he was one of those that liked to introduce people of all nationalities. And he would open up his house every weekend. The swimming pool was open for every nationality in the world to come and swim in that pool.
RP: And you did?
MI: I couldn't swim but my kids went there, you know.
RP: Oh, this was after.
MI: Because even Pasadena, the swimming pool was closed to anybody but Caucasians. And only on the day before when they changed the water was when the blacks were able to, allowed to come. You know, it's so crazy when you think about it.
RP: And what, what time are we talking about here? Is this the late '40s early '50s?
MI: Yeah, early, yeah, '40s. And before the '40s, you couldn't go in.
RP: I've heard similar stories about theaters and other public facilities where either you were not allowed to be there or you were seated in a separate area like, you know, the blacks experienced that in the, in the South.
MI: Yeah, my husband had a same experience when he was in the service. He rode the bus and the back was empty so he sat there. And the driver stopped the bus and he said, "You don't belong there." And it's funny, over in the South he's considered white, then he comes over here and he's not considered white. We humans are kind of mixed up. We don't know what we're thinking. It's almost comical, you know. I can't make up. But I'm just glad that my parents didn't have, or teach us prejudice. I really am glad that they didn't.
RP: I guess both of your parents had a, have a broader perspective on life and culture.
<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.