japantown

May 25 2010

Lunch in Japantown

On Sunday we went to Japantown for lunch. Before settling on a restaurant, I gave the girls a quick walking tour and pointed out some places I remembered from my youth.

I dig this picture (left) that Jill took of the Filipino Community Center. It looks like a giant Pocky box is peering in, trying to gain entrance. Alas, in reality the scene wasn’t nearly so cool. Just a normal, non-giant Pocky box we had in the car being reflected in our car window.

I recall going to this center a few times a long time ago, when I was around ten, usually tagging along with my sisters. I’m fairly confident of the timeframe because I vividly remember hearing Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died” on the car radio for the first time when leaving the center one day. The ten year old me loved that tune.

The building on the right, Okida Hall, is next door to a restaurant I worked at as a teenager. I remember the hall being used as a martial arts school back then. The front doors would be wide open during the day and I could see the students in their Gis practicing. The teenage me though it was very cool because it reminded him of the scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee first steps foot onto Mr. Han’s island.

This is the restaurant I worked at. A friend who waitressed there got me the job. A day after I started, the friend had some kind of falliing out with the place and quit. I worked there for a couple of years as a busboy/dishwasher/kitchen helper. I remember the family that ran the place as friendly and kind.

Jill took a picture of the alley next to the restaurant (right) after I pointed out the sewer drain and mentioned it as the place I’d dump my bucket of dirty water after mopping up the restaurant each night. The teenage me had awful looking hands during this time. I was always going back and forth between cleaning tables and doing dishes and would never spend the time to put on any kind of gloves while at the sink. It was too much of a hassle for a teenager, I guess. As a result, the skin on my hands was always peeling and falling off from doing dishes.

Here we are doing a little grocery shopping. This brought back memories of a few occasions when I had to grab cabbage or pick up fish for the restaurant. I’d be running through the streets, apron on, trying to get that big fish back to the restaurant. In these pics Lucy is absorbed in a box of “tiny special” dolls her mom picked up for her at Nikaku earlier in the day.

We ended up having lunch at a hawaiian place. Lucy was especially excited because she got to order french fries, a favorite she hadn’t had in a few months. Her parents split a plate of Kalua Cabbage and Pork. The middle-aged me thoroughly enjoyed his Sunday.

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By mike • by Mike, The Kid, Time Capsule • 2 • Tags: family, Food, japantown, jobs, memories, restaurant