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RP: And, you eventually took this, this very special trip to New York in 1939. Tell us about that.

MS: Yes, that was, because my sister was in New York, and then they were asked to, to what, to manage the Poughkeepsie Golf Course. And he would be doing the, the cooking there. And, and then Florence would take care of the rooms and, you know, the keeping up the ladies room and whatever. So they asked me if I would like to come and work and then go to the New York World's Fair on my day off. And so I did. And that was, let's see, I must... what was I, nineteen or something, about that time? So I did. I left and it was very, very interesting. I know there was one interesting... oh, yeah, actually and I had a boyfriend before I left. And, but I decided that I needed to go to New York so I did leave. But, one thing, in terms of the work, and mostly it was very little. They had a shower and then a base, what, washbasins for the women. And so I made sure that those were kept clean. And then I was there to assist anything. And the assistant chef, let's see... oh, and then there was a bartender, okay. And the bartender asked if I wanted to try any of the drinks or anything. I said, "No, I don't drink." And he said, "Well, you could just taste anything." So I tasted them all and didn't like any of them. [Laughs] So, I never took up drinking.

But, it was an interesting experience. Especially when I went to New York on my day off and saw the New York World's Fair. The person that I went with to the New York World's Fair, was a person that I had met in New York at the Japanese church. And he was interested in art, particularly in art. But he asked me if I would like to go and so I went. Now, I was not, at that time, interested in art and so I was interested in the social and some of the other aspects. And I was drawn to the Robert Moses' large project of the clover leaf and the freeway system. And that was very new. And now I can hardly remember all of the different exhibits that we went to. We went to all the ones I was interested in first and then I said, "Well, you know, we need to go to the art exhibit." Because that's what my friend was interested in. And by that time I was getting tired. But we went to the art exhibit and it was so incredible that I became completely rejuvenated. And it was the first time I had seen any real art. It was, here I had seen Pinky and the Blue Boy at the Huntington and Renoir and, I don't know, a couple of others, Degas maybe, at the Los Angeles museum. But here, the first thing that really impressed me was the Rembrandt room. And it was, they had lighted Rembrandt's paintings so beautifully that the faces coming out of the darkness were just incredible. I don't think I've seen any of Rembrandt's paintings lit as carefully or as beautifully as that was done. It was such a, psychological quality in all of his paintings just coming out. And then I saw just rooms of Titian and Tintoretto, and just so many of the great masters. Then I later saw in Europe a huge, huge amounts of... but this was my first time that I had seen real art and what it can do, so... that was one of the great experiences in my life. And then New York itself has a very vibrant quality and energy level which is far above that of Los Angeles, where I grew up. And they had... I was trying to remember, no, I didn't hear. Later, when I came back to New York, I heard Pablo Casals and many of the, of course, the musical and the theater and so much was going on.

RP: How long did you spend in New York?

MS: Where did I stay?

RP: How long did you stay in New York?.

MS: Oh, well, the first time of course, when I was in Poughkeepsie and then I came, we came down, stayed, well, we stayed a few months in New York and I don't know when they closed the, the Poughkeepsie Golf Course for the season. And then he was... and, and I returned then to Los Angeles, and here again I can't remember was it, at, near the end of 2000... oh, 2000 [Laughs], let's see, that would be 1940 or the beginning of 1941. But, I did come back then. And then later that year, my mother became ill and passed away in October of 1941, before the evacuation. And in one sense, that was a really great loss for me. And, but in one sense, I thought, well, at least she's spared being, you know, being evacuated and having that kind of a trauma. But on the other hand, afterwards, when I saw the Nisei here and all, I thought well, that would have been the first time that she ever had a vacation in which she wouldn't have had to work, you know, too, so it could have been either way. But, and then my sister and her husband, who were still in New York, came back to see my mother and attend the funeral and all. And stayed on, became caught up in the evacuation, and so... so they went to camp also. Even though they had spent the last, I don't know how many years, in New York.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.