<Begin Segment 9>

RP: And when did your parents come out of Heart Mountain?

DK: Oh, yeah, they came out about a year after we did. Yeah, I think so, yeah. So, of course, we couldn't all live in the same apartment so he found us this rooming house that he leased and there were four floors and so I guess, I guess he had it in mind that we could accommodate the people coming from camp, too, so that's what happened. We had about four, five, six, maybe about eight people there?

Off Camera: Six. Oh, maybe yeah, uh-huh.

DK: Yeah.

RP: Eight people in the rooming house?

DK: Yeah, from camps.

RP: Did you have any, any, was there any jobs that you had involved with the rooming house? Did you have any...

DK: No, jobs? No, no, no. No, after I graduated from high school then I started working at the telephone company. And I worked there about a year before I went to, moved to Hawaii. But...

RP: Was there any type of an established Japanese American community in New York the time that you were...

DK: Oh yeah, I think so, yeah.

RP: What was it? I mean, what did the community revolve around?

Off Camera: Well, our experience was with the church. 'Cause a lot of the ex-internees would go to church to, to meet people and just mainly... but they, they did have a, athletic groups, uh...

DK: Oh yeah, Church of All Nations, uh-huh.

Off Camera: Church of All Nations, uh-huh. But that's also church related.

RP: When you say church, are you talking about a specific denomination?

DK: No.

Off Camera: No.

RP: Church of All Nations?

DK: Yeah.

RP: Anybody.

DK: Right. Right.

RP: So did you...

DK: But there were, there were a lot of Japanese in there.

RP: Did you have other groups as well?

Off Camera: Yes. Right.

RP: Other ethnicities? Who? Who else was, who else was in it?

DK: I don't... well in, in their group there was just, just the Japanese.

Off Camera: There were a couple of Japanese Americans too.

DK: Yeah.

Off Camera: In the Church of All Nations.

DK: But the Church of All Nations was, they had their headquarters downtown or something?

Off Camera: Yes, downtown. Uh-huh.

DK: Yeah. But we didn't know the other people.

RP: So the church was a big part of the community. Did you have any Japanese oriented stores in the area or...

Off Camera: Not that I know of. You mean where they taught Japanese?

RP: No. Merchants, selling Japanese foods or...

Off Camera: Oh, oh yes. There were stores. Not, not many. But there was, there was one near Columbia University I remember where they carried Japanese goods, groceries. Uh-huh.

DK: Well, Kuni's folks too. Huh? They had their own business there.

Off Camera: Yeah. Our, our sister-in-law, her parents had a gift shop. So...

DK: And then there was that Japanese store by Emi Kujo's place.

Off Camera: Uh-huh.

DK: I forgot the name. But, anyway, yeah, there were stores.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.