<Begin Segment 7>

RP: And can you tell us a little bit about the circumstances of how you ended up in New York from Heart Mountain?

DK: Uh-huh. Okay, well, I think I told you that my sister, Mary, who was living in New York, came to camp to visit. And she found that my brother and I, Paul, were under sixteen so we could, she could take us out without any red tape or anything. So that's what she did. She took us out from camp to New York. And Sachi and my other sister Aki were also there. Sachi had gone from, from camp earlier. But Mary and, and Aki had gone prior to the evacuation. They went to New York to be with, with my uncle who was, who was living there. And, so, as I said, we were all living, five of us, in a one bedroom apartment, sleeping here and there and everywhere. [Laughs] And I started school, high school there too, Julia Richmond.

RP: You go from Heart Mountain to New York City...

DK: Right, right.

RP: How did New York City hit you when you first...

DK: Oh, it was exciting, 'cause something different and all these people and it didn't seem to matter to, to them that you were Japanese. Everybody was Chinese to them, it seemed like, huh? Going into school, nobody, there, there didn't seem to be that much discrimination in New York that you felt here in, in California. 'Cause everybody was different there. So, yeah. So, I enjoyed New York. And being the age I was, I was able to get around and do a lot of things. So...

RP: Where, where did you go? Where are some of the places you went?

DK: Well, I started going to church there, too. And, oh, we used to go see movies a lot and stage plays and...

Off Camera: Perry Como.

DK: Oh yeah, Perry Como was my favorite so we used to go to Perry Como show. He was on every other night, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So, this, these other two girls and I used to go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to see him. And, we became real big fans of his. Yeah.

RP: How about any, any movie stars or anybody that you sort of glommed onto?

DK: No. No, nothing...

RP: Nothing like that?

DK: Yeah, it was like all the singers at that time, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and 'course, Perry. What else did we do? We used to do, we were always busy in New York. There was always something to do in New York, huh?

RP: Did you go with your sisters too?

DK: No. They were older than me so they had their own...

RP: Their own life?

DK: Yeah, their own life, uh-huh, yeah.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.