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TI: Going back, you were born in 1928. Did your parents have any other children? So you were the only child.

YK: Uh-huh.

TI: So do you know why they decided to come to Portland and leave like Montana?

YK: I don't know.

TI: So when they were in Portland, what kind of work did they do?

YK: They had a hotel; they managed a hotel.

TI: And so tell me about the hotel. What was the name of the hotel and where was it?

YK: The hotel was the Royal Palm. It's still there, it's kitty-corner from the Chinese Garden. And it was a pretty nice hotel back in those days. We used to, well... yeah, it was kind of on the fringe of Japantown.

TI: And what was the address of the Royal Palm?

YK: 310 Northwest Flanders.

TI: So I'm guessing the neighborhood's changed a lot over the years. But when you were a kid like in kindergarten, describe the neighborhood around the Royal Palm. What was that like?

YK: Well, we were in the middle of Japantown, so we're kind of on the outskirts. I guess my friends, we used to all get together at a garage with a bunch of kids about our age. But demographics, I guess, we're all about the same age, within two to three years of each other. So we have pictures of the kids lined up by the garage. There were more, I guess were still quite a few Japanese around there, not as concentrated as it was in the center, around Third and Davis. That's more where those people all spoke Japanese. I can't tell you much more than that, I don't think. But being in a hotel, basically you have to speak English, so I got used to the people that stayed, tenants, who I used to speak English to them, talked back and forth.

TI: I want to talk more about the clientele, or the customers at the hotel. But before then, I want to go back to your friends. And you mentioned you would get together and go to a garage?

YK: Uh-huh.

TI: So tell me more about that. What would you do at the garage?

YK: Not much. Well, if it was empty, or a few cars, we'd go in there and play with tricycles and wagons and stuff, run around inside, 'cause it's pretty safe. And, well, I guess the kids all came from about three, four blocks area. I guess we had a good time, I don't remember.

TI: Now you said demographically they were all about the same age, and within one to two years. What about the races of your friends? You mentioned you were in a place where it wasn't necessarily all Japanese, but were your friends...

YK: The kids were all Japanese.

TI: Now did you play with other races during this time?

YK: Yeah, the kid across the street, he was Chinese. And the two girls downstairs, on the storefront, they were Chinese. So communicated a little bit, but never to play around. We just say hello and that's about it.

TI: So I'm curious, how did the Japanese and Chinese get along in your neighborhood?

YK: Oh, my place had a Chinese fellow that was a delivery boy at the beginning for New Republican. He worked up, he ended up with a partner in New Republic after the war. But he stayed at our place, and that's the only Chinese I remember. Let's see... yeah, there was a Greek fellow, and that was kind of interesting because he used to work somewhere... I think he was a longshoreman or something. He used to work, he'd come home once in a while, I'd wait for him, 'cause he'd have -- what is it? -- sourdough, which we never had. And he'd slice sourdough and put butter and sugar on there, so I used to like that. He used to call it "sugar butter bread." I used to wait for him to come home from work, not all the time, but once in a while. He was a regular tenant for a long time.

TI: Going back to that story, I love that story about the bread. Where in the hotel would you wait for him?

YK: Oh, I'd wait for him probably in the lobby. Because I'd catch him when he'd just come walking in, 'cause he'd have the bread with him. If he didn't have it, then I wouldn't ask him. That was the first time I ever had sourdough.

TI: Now when you were waiting for him, were there others waiting with you, or were you all by yourself?

YK: No, I was by myself.

TI: And describe when he would see you, when he had his bread and he saw you, what was his reaction usually?

YK: Oh, he'd invite me over to his room. We didn't have any housekeeping, so he just had a knife, just a sink, that's about it. So that was kind of interesting. We had lots of trainmen, most of 'em were, almost all of 'em were Afro American.

TI: So you had Greeks, African Americans, Chinese. But going back to the Greek man and the bread, did your parents know that you would get bread from the...

YK: Uh-huh, I'd tell 'em.

TI: And what was their reaction when you told them you would get sourdough bread?

YK: I don't remember anything about that.

TI: So they thought it was okay for you to do that?

YK: Yeah. Because he was a regular tenant, so it must have been okay.

TI: Now can you recall anything you did to thank him for the bread? Any, like, special thing that you did for him?

YK: No. I didn't see him all that often, because being, I think it was a longshoreman, because when he came home from work, was not always the same time.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.