Tomiye (Tomichi) Muneno Oral History

Tomiye (Tomichi) Muneno Oral History

Tomiye Muneno was known to most as Tomichi, a nickname given to her by her Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Gladys Curtis. Tomichi was born April 1, 1914 near the corner of Anacapa and Canon Perdido Streets and grew up in the Presidio neighborhood. In 1933, she married her husband at age 19 and moved to 129 East Canon Perdido Street where they operated a store selling Japanese merchandise. Tomichi, along with most of the Japanese American community, was relocated to the Tulare assembly center and eventually Gila River internment camp during World War II. However, after the war, she and her family returned to Santa Barbara and moved back into their old house on Milpas Street. Clip 1: Tomichi recalls the ethnically diverse Presidio neighborhood, conjuring up old Japanese American businesses and Chinese American community members who lived across the street in the Whittaker building Clip 2: Again illustrating the ethnic diversity of the Presidio, Tomichi recounts how one of her Italian American friends introduced her to Tuna Salad sandwiches. A snack her mother seemed to have a little trouble making. Clip 3: Tomichi tells the story of how Mr. Frank, a mechanic with a garage on Milpas, took care of her family’s house while they were interned at the Gila River internment camp.

March 30, 2009

SBTHP

Barbara Lindemann

Tomiye "Tomichi" Muneno

Santa Barbara, CA

Clip #1- “Neighborhood”

Interviewer: What do you remember about that neighborhood?

Tomiye:  Okay, I mean, no trouble 

Interviewer: who lived near where you were had the church on one side of you did you have on the other side of you?

Tomiye: Mother boarding house and there's a Japanese conversion of church soccer. Girl, I must say sokos father had a barbershop there at the corner was, there was a grocery store in there, too. At the corner, the Kakimoto had the big produce across the street. And that's pretty cool building Chinese people. And that was before there wasn't Whitaker building their building was always there. That's why building a lot of Chinese people. Chinese stores were there.

Interviewer: How did what did your store sell? Definitely is things like any groceries, so yours was retail Nakamoto store was wholesale? Kappa and state scream? And what did they sell?

Tomiye: It was a little grocery store. This little Japanese things? I guess. So.

Interviewer: It was were you selling the same things? Or were you selling different things? Different things? I think maybe it wasn't just to go speak. They saw other things too.

Interviewer:  I read I know they had a big produce plethora and how were your friends in these early years of your marriage?

Tomiye: Who did you saw cool, you know and I also thought okay, we went to school together and definitely school together.

Interviewer: Did you did you see much of the Chinese who were across the street?

Tomiye: not too many but there are more mostly speaking of any of the Chinese come and shop at your store that based upon the real friendly and everything they had their own food they like I guess revealed him the closest Street from this kind of apartment building I guess love

Clip #2 - "Tuna Sandwich"

Interviewer: Did you have a lot of Italians living in the neighborhood around up the street?

Tomiye: The Italians pecking away Italians, you know they had ever took lunches to school and then one one time when my girlfriend, she handed he was so good. So I went home and told my mother, I want make tuna sandwich get to LA. Okay, she said that but one big powerful tuna. And mother didn't know you had to put mayonnaise or anything. She just put to learn and that's terrible. I didn't know for years what they did. That's how it was.

Clip #3 - "Mr. Frank"

Interviewer: "The man that took care of Mr. Frank, that was the house on 22 South Memphis."

Tomiye: "Yes."

Interviewer: "Did you rent that house from Mr. Frank?"

Tomiye: "No, no, no, he we own that house. And Mr. Frank, he took care of the house for us, Mr. Henry Frank. He had a garage. Newspaper, he was a mechanic. Sir Frank was a kid. My mother and father had that pool hall there. And my mother would say that Mr. Frank would be there. He was a teenager then I think, got to know each other like that, after the war, found out that he that Mr. Frank had a garage on milpas Street. So they got to know each other again. And my mother said that he was such a nice by a boy and whether it was so happy to see him but anyway, to take care of the house for us to clear the house on notice."

mp3

38 min