Tom Ikeda:So tell me a little bit about what the Japanese community was like in Bellevue during this time. So you're... it was like...
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:We didn't have any special place. We just walked, everything was walking in those days. And we'd go visit our friends, but they were all a distance away. But the Takizakis lived right close to us.
Tom Ikeda:Now, describe where you lived in Bellevue.
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Bellevue, right now is where Bellevue parking lot 1s, we lived on that corner. This corner and the parking lot's over on this side. So I think it's First Avenue.
Tom Ikeda:So the parking lot to Bell Square? That parking lot?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Uh-huh, yes. Just kitty-corner from the northwest corner.
Tom Ikeda:Okay, northwest...
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:There was farm there.
Tom Ikeda:That's amazing. Just within a block or so from the current Bellevue Square, which is a large shopping mall.
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Yes. Of course, I don't know how far, maybe it was city blocks, I don't know how many. In those days, they didn't have any blocks. Laughs
Tom Ikeda:And during that time, do you know if your parents owned the land, or were they leasing It?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:No, we had to lease it. Fortunately, we had a very nice, people that used to lease it to us. And I remember we lived in a log cabin, that was quiet, it's about a mile north of where we lived.
Tom Ikeda:So explain that again. You said you lived in a log cabin?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Uh-huh, my brother was, I think, born there at the time. It was about a mile north of where we lived.
Tom Ikeda:So describe the log cabin for me. How large was it, what did it look like?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:It was made out of logs, and they had, I don't know what they had in between, but I remember we were cold because wind would come through those cracks, you know, between the logs.
Tom Ikeda:Now, do you know who made the log cabin?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:No, I have no idea.
Tom Ikeda:And what kind of farming did your family...
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:We didn't do much there, but mostly strawberries. I don't know what they did at that time, but after that we moved and went to a better place where Lakeview Is now. Bellevue's richest place right now, we had a better farm there. And that was just before the accident.
Tom Ikeda:So when you moved to Lakeview, how large were these farms? How large was your farm?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Oh, I think it was like three acres or something, I don't know. But as a child, not interested in those things. Laughs
Tom Ikeda:Before we get to the accident, I'm just curious what a typical day was like in Bellevue for you.
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:It was nice, we were just, you know, no prejudice or anything like that we got along with everybody. We had lots of hakujin neighbors, very nice.
Tom Ikeda:Now, do you remember, if you could think back who some of your best friends were back in these...
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:I did have very good friends. They used to live, from where we lived, it was about... I don't know how many blocks it would be. But had a girlfriend there and they were very good to us. To this day, I don't know where, she left, they moved to Yakima eventually. I don't know where they are now, but she was my best friend.
Tom Ikeda:Do you remember her name?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Evelyn Parrish.
Tom Ikeda:And so she was hakujin?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Yeah.
Tom Ikeda:Evelyn Parrish. And what were some of the things that you and Evelyn would do?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:Oh, there used to be a little tree, I don't know what they call that, you know, small trees where we used to go in there and play house and things like that.
Tom Ikeda:So actually inside the tree you would play?
Bernadette Suda Horiuchi:No, no, around it. Those small trees, they're not those big trees. We used to go in there and play house.