Densho Digital Archive - Roy Murakami Interview (denshovh-mroy

<Begin Segment 31>

RP: You mentioned, you know in your very clear story about this guy who had a sake still under his barrack. What else do you remember about Block 4? Were there, was there a basketball court there?

RM: Yeah. Basketball court, half court. Oh, I think it was a half court, no maybe full court. Full court. Just two poles, that's why. Yeah.

RP: Anything else? Gymnastic equipment or...

RM: No gymnastics.

RP: Gardens...

RM: Yeah, they had gardens all between the backs of the barracks they had it. Young kids used to go around and say, "Don't go step in Georgie and Papa's garden now." The little ones would say... my brothers, you know. Because I wasn't there early part, I used to go run across the two blocks and the firebreak and go to 16.

RP: Oh, is that where your friends were?

RM: Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. So who did you hang out with?

RM: Oh, guys that you know around here.

RP: North Hollywood?

RM: Yeah. We met, we met some... Izumis?

RP: Izumis?

RM: Yeah, he was our Grace Bakery.

RP: Yeah, George?

RM: Yeah, he was there.

RP: [Laughs] Gimp, yeah. Did you, do you remember George working in the chicken ranch?

RM: No.

RP: He left his name in the concrete up there.

RM: Oh, could have been that, laid the concrete but...

RP: You know, you knew the, the Izumis. What other families did you...

RM: There were, there were none I know up there because they were fairly older. They're all in their late fifties or so when I was working there.

RP: So other than judo, did you, did you participate in other sports?

RM: Oh yeah, we played a little bit baseball, football a little bit. Didn't make it. Too small.

RP: Huh. Now baseball, you having roots in San Fernando, the Aces were the team.

RM: Yeah.

RP: You go to watch their games?

RM: Oh, once in a while. I wasn't interested in that that much. We used to play on our area is different guys, so.

RP: You played different blocks?

RM: Yeah. There was... used to play kids games. Hide and seek, things like that.

RP: Did you play marbles?

RM: Yeah. I had to get rid of 'em all before I left.

RP: You did? What did you do with them?

RM: I threw them all away.

RP: You threw... what did you?

RM: Yeah, throw them all over the place.

RP: Oh, you just tossed them? Well we've been finding your marbles for the last ten years.

RM: Yeah. [Laughs]

RP: So when somebody brings a marble into the visitor's center we'll say, "Oh that's Roy's. Sorry, we gotta take it back." [Laughs]

RM: Yeah, I used to play.

RP: So how many marbles did you have when you, when you left?

RM: I don't know. I had a full jar, probably like that.

RP: A jar. [Laughs]

RM: I was big for my age at that time. Because I had sprouted up to 5'5" when I was fourteen. So, my mother said, "What you doing with those little boys playing marbles?" So I had to play with them, you know. They liked to play.