<Begin Segment 6>

KB: So you hung out with your friends, Bones, and Kenji, and your brother Terry and another little guy named Ben, and I understand you were known as the "Railroad Rascals." Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SO: I don't know why they called us the Railroad, I guess because we lived close to the railroad and their parents were working for the railroad, too. We have a picture of the five of us, I guess, one, two, three, four, five, yeah. I'll bring that in and let you have it.

KB: Who gave you the name, do you remember, of the Railroad Rascals?

SO: I think Bones' older sister. It's just we're in overalls, and we look like rascals. [Laughs]

KB: That's fantastic. And your home at the Beaver Apartments, you lived there starting around 1937. Do you remember what that looked like, were there kids in the neighborhood there? What was it like living in the apartment?

SO: Well, that's a big apartment on the first and second floor, I believe. The structure was for, I think it used to be a hospital or something before it turned into apartments. It was a pretty big place, and I used to ride a trike in the hallway.

KB: Down the hallway to the apartments? So you had friends that were in the apartments also that you played with?

SO: Yeah.

KB: Is that apartment building still here?

SO: No.

KB: It's gone.

SO: Yeah, it's gone.

KB: And then it looks like you moved to a house?

SO: (Yes), by 1940, (yes), we rented a house on 1527 (NW) Kearney Street, and we were there for two years until the war broke out in 1941, and we were there for that.

KB: And it was northwest or northeast?

SO: Northwest.

KB: Northwest Kearney. And is that house still there?

SO: No, the freeway took it out, so it isn't there.

KB: What do you remember about that house?

SO: It was just a two-bedroom house.

KB: Did you have to share it with your brother?

SO: (Yes), I did, with my brother and my sister.

KB: And who did you rent that home from?

SO: His first name was Ben, but I don't remember... he had a six-plex right next to it. I guess he had, that whole house was his before he moved into a six-plex right next door on the corner.

KB: And did you have playmates there also in the neighborhood?

SO: No, I don't think we had playmates close by. School was about fifteen blocks west.

KB: That was still Couch that you were going to?

SO: Couch school, yes.

KB: And then you, there was some big event in 1937, what was that in Portland?

SO: In Portland in 1937, that was the most snow that was, fell, I think it was about three feet.

KB: And what did you, did you love that as a kid?

SO: Yeah, we didn't have to go to school. [Laughs]

KB: Snow day.

SO: Snow day.

KB: Did you have a sled or did you build a snowman?

SO: Probably built a snowman, but I don't know if I had a sled.

KB: Do you remember how long that snowstorm lasted? Did you miss lots of days of school?

SO: No, but the snow didn't melt that fast, so I guess we were out for several days, anyway.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.