<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So, Cannon, we're going to start up again. And we had just talked about your trip to Japan. But before we move on to the war, off camera we talked about some other stories growing up at the hotel before the war. And what's pretty common in many of the Japantowns on the West Coast, it was also, in some cases, the red light district where there's prostitution. So I wanted to ask you, did your, were there ever any, like prostitutes who stayed at your hotel?

YK: Yeah, there were two. You might say they were permanent residents. They didn't do any business there, but they stayed there. And the next block is where the storefront was, and that's where they did their business.

TI: So when you stay "storefront," explain that. So it was just like a regular store that people would just go to...

YK: Yeah, it's like anything on the first, ground floor of a building, these small storefronts, maybe about twenty, twenty-five feet wide, and the windows like this, then it'd go, set in, and the door in the middle. Pretty typical little storefront.

TI: Now if you went inside there, would there be like little rooms or something, or how would they set it up?

YK: Never went inside. [Laughs] But it seemed to me like they had curtains or something just beyond the door so you couldn't see inside. But they would ply their trade by the window, just like they do in Amsterdam, they show their wares right out the window.

TI: Oh, so they would sort of, yeah, I guess, stand by the window, essentially.

YK: Yeah, they would solicit. And back in those days, everybody was pretty free, so they would give come-ons and stuff like that.

TI: Now would they ever get hassled by the police? Would the police ever kind of...

YK: Not really. I don't remember having any police problems. We didn't have any problems either, because all they did at our place was they rented a room and they stayed there. It was their permanent address, I guess. So I remember I went in there a couple times, man, it was smelly, full of perfume. It was strong.

TI: Now how did your parents treat these two women? Were they treated any differently than any other tenants?

YK: No, I guess they just treated 'em just like anybody else. No, no special privilege or anything. Had to clean their room every day, just like all the others. Being that they're sort of permanent tenants, they had a lot of junk in there, pictures on the mirror and all that stuff. Transients don't have things like that, but they had a lot of stuff like that around.

TI: Now before the war, you're a boy, did you understand what they were doing, kind of what their work was?

YK: Sort of. Not really, but I had an idea, that's about it. But they... well, they were nice to me. I got nothing against them. We just didn't have any business in the hotel, so it was, they got along okay, I guess.

TI: And what race were these two women?

YK: One was, I know was Afro American, but the other one, she was light-colored, and red hair, and I think she might have been a mix of... what do you call those people down in Louisiana?

TI: Cajun?

YK: Yeah, it's sort of like Cajun. Is it mulattoes? It could have been like that. She was light-colored, but she had her hair dyed red to make her stand out, I guess.

TI: Now in terms of their schedule, earlier you talked about how the porters would come in about eight, eight-thirty at night. What was their schedule like?

YK: The women?

TI: Yeah, the women.

YK: Seemed like most of the time they were on a regular day schedule. They'd be out there all day, and they'd come home at night. I don't know, I never paid too much attention.

TI: Okay, that's interesting. Any other interesting tenants like these two women, or anything else that, sort of, you remember?

YK: No, that's about it.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.