Interviews
Relationship with S.I. Hayakawa
When Hayakawa was in Chicago and after that, he was kind of thought of as a liberal. And as a matter of fact, his wife was a board member of the Berkeley Co-op for a long time. Then they started a branch in Marin County. And she of course was the one that’s a relative of Frank Lloyd Wright. And it’s her brother that eventually inherits Townsman West, the architectural school.
And anyway, Hayakawa and I both lived in Mill Valley. And he, as a matter of fact, would invite me to his New Years’ cocktail party. It was attended by upper-middle class people. And I spent most of my time in the kitchen with his maid...raiding his pickle jar. He made Japanese pickles. And then comes the strike year and I don’t get my invitation. But after the strike… during the strike, we did debate each other in the community. And we kept it strictly on issues, so we never had the personal animosity.
Date: January 7, 2004
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Art Hansen
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
