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RB: I'm kind of curious, so what ages were you when you worked there, and what was the date range?

LR: Oh, geez, good question. I think that I was in my... I must have been there, maybe from nineteen, and I think I went back and forth working there for at least three or four years. Well, maybe three years, must have been 'til I was in my early twenties at least, at least until I was about twenty-two. And I remember it was, also the other thing that was really great was it was a great rapport amongst the young folks that worked there, too. So there were other folks who were, like me, students or just out of school. And we would sort of gather together and go out and do stuff socially as well. So it was a really nice group of people who worked there. And I also learned... many of them were not Asian, so it was kind of like a real mixed group of people. I remember there was an African American, young African American woman working there, there was a guy, I can't remember his name, but he was a white guy, spoke fluent Japanese, it was just really incredible, he would blow everybody's mind. And there was a young woman there who was an art student, yeah, there was just really great people to hang out with and be around. And so there was that, and then there was the... it was located within that horticultural center. And I was also friendly with the folks who worked over at the horticultural center as well. So there was a great rapport with them, too, so it was just like this whole, it was like my whole social world just opened up because of Japanese House and Garden. So it was really a very, I really have very fond, fond memories of being there. And I remember sort of like... and there was something about, I would follow, I remember the process, I would sort of follow Michiko or Taiko-san around and listen to their tours. And they said, "Just follow around, take some notes, and just sort of listen in, and I would sort of follow them around. And then they started me off slow just working with tourists who came in individually, and then after a while, I started taking groups of people as I got better at understanding things. So they also taught me little things like how to be a guest at a tea ceremony, I did some origami. Yeah, the whole process of the making of the tea and all that, that was really wonderful. And I love the Obon festivals and all that came up, and was just really... I loved going there. It was probably, at that time, I was not a person who liked to work. [Laughs] I did not like to work, I did not like having a job, but I don't think there was ever a time that I did not want to go to the Japanese House and Garden.

RB: So this was in the 1980s?

LR: Yeah.

RB: Do you have a sense, was it in the late '80s?

LR: I would say it would probably be mid, probably mid to... early to mid? I don't know if that makes sense.

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