Interviewer: {NS: Papers} Alright I got it. Um, now. {NS: Papers} Close that down. The um {NS: Microphone adjustment} {NS: Radio} {D: I gave you that sheet, right?} {NS: Radio} Today is what, the fifteenth? 289: Fourteenth. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Time's been flying by so fast. 289: um I just count to Disney World September the fifth. {NW: Grunt} Interviewer: How many times have you been there? 289: It's been open four years and it'll be my fourth time. Interviewer: Do you really like {X}. 289: Well when you go there, as soon as you get to the gate, you know you give them your reservation, if you're staying at their hotels, you enter a new world. You don't have any worries, no problems. You don't know anyone there, other than the person that you're with. And the people there, they're kind they're courteous, they'll go out of their way to help you in any way. Because my old nephew last year, we had him with us, And he got sick and we thought we might have to use the hospital, you know we was wondering how to get there. And the nurse on the phone says, "Well ma'am," she says, "If you need any help what so ever, you phone down for the desk you tell the guy that you have to take the baby, to a- to a hospital," you know. "There will be a courtesy car waiting at the front door for you. The car will take you to the hospital. It will wait there until you are finished to return and it doesn't cost you a thing except your own hospital bill." That was it. So really really can't go wrong. I've seen people there that's just had major surgery and a doctor says, "Well go somewhere where you can relax." At Disney World. Interviewer: Huh. Well I, I never would have thought that people in Florida would have found a place to uh, go in Florida {NW} 289: Well let's put it this way for us right now, since my father's death it's just my mother and myself. So that is the nearest place that we can go, that we can stay, for a while, And can afford it, it's not too- The most expensive thing is your hotel room. Everything else inside of Disney World itself is cheap. Interviewer: Is it? Now that's the thing that's keeping me away more or less, you know. 289: Well I think you get a tick- you can get enough- you get two admissions and enough tickets for two days I think it's for about eight dollars. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: So where can you go to get tickets, you know, for entertainment. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And I've been there four time- three times, And I still haven't seen everything yet. I'm still waiting to see it all. Interviewer: They're building more too. 289: Well it's just that- you get- to where you like one thing so much that- "Small world" last year I went to about three different times. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: And while I had my nephew with me, and he wanted to see "Small World." So we can- and you enjoy it so. {NS} Interviewer: Do um, Do they have a lot of acts and things, you know like? 289: Well they have one that's put out by Frito-Lay and Pepsi, that's real live entertainment, And it's free. You don't need the coupons. And all you have to do is, when you go in they set you to a table, you buy a coke- I mean not coke, good heavens. You buy a Pepsi. Interviewer: {NW: Laughing} 289: And uh, potato chips or brownies and eat it and while the entertainments on it's free Interviewer: #1 {NW: Laugh} {X} {NW: Laugh} # 289: #2 That's free, uh huh # {NW} Thirty-five cents for a soda and, you're in there for an hour in air condition. So it's worth it, that, that one's free and I think uh, Eastern has a free one. Monsanto had one. They're free, period, well this year they got um, the Hall of Presidents for the Bicentennial, it's free. And you can go in, you don't need to use your tickets for that and that's nice. But the one they have in California they have just of Lincoln. Interviewer: Mm. 289: And he'll be sitting down when the thing opens, when the curtain opens and he'll move his head around and you see his hand on his chair moving, and then he'll stand up and his fingers moves, his feet moves, his eyes move around, and his mouth is going, and then he'll take a step forward and back. And I get more- I get- Just remembering the one in California from the one visit gives me more of a thrill than this one. Interviewer: Oh yeah? 289: But everytime I go there and see one with President Kennedy, {X} I think he's standing, he looks at you and nods, I can Barely cry anyway, when I see him. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: That's nice. Interviewer: Yeah well I just eh, I might be able to stop by there on the way back down. 289: Well it's nice because, While the Ca- before I went, two times I went, I just paid for The straight hotel room. And well, but since then, this year they've raised the prices for the hotel room. {X} Cheapest one. But forty-two dollars isn't cheap. Interviewer: Alright. 289: But for forty-two dollars you can have two adults and three children in your room, that's it. Interviewer: Yeah, so it's better if you had a family. 289: Yeah. But then uh, and to that, is any kid under seventeen years of age can stay in your room free. Interviewer: Um. 289: With their parents, so that's where it comes in good too. Interviewer: Yeah, and you couldn't do that with uh, some place else. 289: No. Interviewer: So, okay {NW: Laugh} so, um. What- what county- what does- fir-first off give the city and the county that- 289: Key West, Monroe County, Florida. Interviewer: Okay, And your full name. 289: {B} Interviewer: L, A, E? 289: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: {NS: Radio} {X} 289: Right. Interviewer: Okay and your address? 289: {B} {NS: Radio} Okay, and your birthplace? Key West. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Okay, mind if I ask your age? 289: {NW: Laugh} Thirty-four. Interviewer: Okay. 289: Female Interviewer: Yeah well I- {NW: Laugh} 289: And white. {NW: Laugh} Interviewer: Okay. um, and your occupation? 289: Assistant Librarian. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: {X} {NS: Radio} A, R, Y, that's it. {NS: Radio} And your religion? 289: Episcopalian. or Protestant. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: When can, well, {D: With all them kind of churches they have} ain't a lot of churches {D: of this kind}. 289: Jewish, Catholic, Methodists, There's a congregational, They have that, What is it, "Liebman Memorial" then they have that- I call it, "Holy witness" {NS: Radio} Episcopal, Um {NS: Radio} I call them other ones I call them "Lig" I call them holy roller churches but I know that's not what they- what they call them now. Interviewer: And what is it uh- uh, immerse? 289: Yeah. Interviewer: What are those? 289: Well you have a baptist church where they, dump you in the water. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And then th- that um "Glad Tidings Tabernacle," they, dump you in the water too. {NS: Radio} Just a little bit of everything, and they have that Uni- they have that Unitarian church, too. Interviewer: That's one of the few I've seen around here that has about twice as many churches as bars. It's usually the other way around {NW: Laugh}. 289: Well some of these bars need to be uh, closed up anyway. Interviewer: Oh yeah? 289: I would- let's put it this way- {X} I'll go to- about the only one I'll go to now is the Inner Circle Because you know they have people there to see to it that if other people get too rowdy it's, the door. Interviewer: Oh. 289: Just leave. Interviewer: Some of them get pretty rough? 289: Well I've heard the big daddies have had some knife fights. Interviewer: Knives? {X} from outsiders or city people or? 289: No I couldn't take this, I don't even go that much out. Not in Key West, I'll wait and Miami bound and then I'll go out. Interviewer: Okay. and uh, um, when was the last uh, The highest, education you went? 289: The highest when I finished high school and took one course at a junior college. Interviewer: Okay, so, uh. W- did you go to high school here? 289: Mm-hmm, Key West High. {NS: Microphone adjustment, Radio} Interviewer: And now is that the junior college here? 289: Florida Keys Community College. Interviewer: It um. The uh, how big is that school? 289: I have no idea I went there in nineteen seventy-one, in the summertime, for six weeks, just to take one course on, business management, that was it. Interviewer: {NS: Radio} I was just noticed, curious, because I haven't seen it yet but- 289: Well I assumed to think they had around three hundred kids that uh graduated. Interviewer: Three hundred. 289: From there this year. Interviewer: And it'd probably be around, three- that'd probably mean about two thousand I guess, all together. 289: Well I know- I know they added- they supposed to be adding on but I don't- Interviewer: #1 Well I guess n- # 289: #2 I don't know how much. # Interviewer: The uh. {X} do you know when the- the- see they're closing down the bases aren't they? 289: Most of them are cl- well see the naval station, is pretty well closed, they have a sonar station going there. And I know the galley, is open, cuz they have a lot of people. See there's a lot of government housing down there, so they put the- the higher ranking officers get the better homes. So that's open for that and I know they can feed two or three hundred at that galley. Now at Bogacheeka, they have, Air Force. Army. Marines. Navy. There. And I know at their lunch time which is uh, they call it dinner they feed- they can feed anywhere from four to seven hundred people. And I know, I've worked there. Interviewer: Oh. 289: So forget it I know they got that there. Interviewer: So it's still going on. 289: That one's still going I think they going to keep that, a-mainly for a um, Training- thing because, a lot of times Pensacola is where they teach the- you know the pilots to fly and how to land on a small, landing strip For carriers. And a lot of times, when Pensacola in the winter time it has bad weather, they send the, planes to Key West and they practice landing here cuz we have a short strip that is about the length of a carrier. Interviewer: Oh, I see. 289: So they always coming in and out. Interviewer: I know there was some over there {X} make a lot of a noise. At least that's what uh- 289: Well they've cut down since they've had that fuel, shortage, thing. They've cut down and they used to be flying, all over. And we used to see the big Air Force b- um, SAC Planes from Homestead. You'll see them. I guess they have to come down so low to get ready to go into uh- homestead because you could really distinguish them. Interviewer: Oh. They were flying very low? 289: Yeah. And they used to have, see they used to have um. B, F, One oh One. V, X, One. V, S, Thirty. And I think now they only have B, F, One oh One, and they have that R, V, A, H Squadron and- Interviewer: So they were fi- fighter squadrons. 289: Mm-hmm. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: You belong to any, uh, clubs or social groups or? Anything like that? #1 You know, professional groups? # 289: #2 No. # No, mm-mm Interviewer: Okay. How about uh, your- your parents' uh birthplace, your mother and father? 289: My mother was born in Punta-Gorda, Florida, Punta-Gorda. {NS: Radio} My father was Key West. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Okay. Uh now, you said your mother was born in Punta- Punta-Gorda mainly because uh, uh she went up there- I mean her parents went up there and came back? 289: Yeah. Well she, her mother was- bo- Her mother- {NS} Is there, but she was supposed to be adopted by another family, and she was brought and raised here, but she lived in Philadelphia some and she lived in- Interviewer: #1 That's your grandmother? # 289: #2 Tampa, then she came to Key West. # No my mother. Interviewer: Alright, your mother. 289: But she's been here most- Since she's about, I guess about six years old, five or six years old. Interviewer: Okay, but she was born there? 289: Yeah. Interviewer: And what, where were her parents from? Your grandparents from? 289: I have no idea where hers came from. Interviewer: Okay. And um, but she was born there and she lived in Philadelphia but she came here #1 After you were born, # 289: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: #1 For a while. # 289: #2 yeah. # She's been here ever- ever since she was a- I say since she was around five, six years old she's been in Key West, and this is where she's lived. Interviewer: Okay. And uh how about your uh, father's grandparents? Are those the one- those the ones that- 289: They're the ones- that- came to Key West from the Bahamas and England. Interviewer: And that was back, what- what do they trace that back to, The landscape that {X}. 289: Eighteen Sixty Four. Interviewer: Sixty Four? So that'd be uh- 289: Over a hundred years. Interviewer: Yeah- you- your great- that's your- your great grandfather. 289: This way, I know of, my grandmother, my great grandmother, and I've heard of my great- Great grandmother, and when my grandmother was alive- Back a little bit more but that's about it. Interviewer: Yeah but the ones that were born, or lived here you know, uh, your great grandmother lived here? 289: My great grandmother lived here, yeah. Interviewer: And uh. And your grandfather was born here. 289: I think so. Interviewer: And then your father. 289: I- I've never been really interested in that family tree thing, maybe as I get older. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: I will but, I know they was- They all came- my father's side of the family was all came from here, or was born here. Our C- Our house one of those old Conch houses, that- and the main section of the old house- of the house, instead of using two-by-fours they used four-by-fours. Interviewer: Mm. 289: And they have uh- you try and cut that wood it'll spark out fire. That's how good it still is cuz it's that, good mahogany. {X} And it has the wooden nails in it. Interviewer: Mm. You mean the pegs? 289: Mm-hmm, the wooden pegs. Interviewer: The um, what- what was the- what- what's been your um- well what was your father's occupation? 289: He was a carpenter. Interviewer: Carpenter? Okay. And um- How about- did your mother, work? 289: Well she works- she's worked for the Navy, and she works right now for a bookstore. Interviewer: So she's been like what um, well she's been employed but um- 289: She's always been working ever since I was little. Maybe a year or, two here and there where she didn't, but she's always been working. Interviewer: Okay {X}- So it's like a Clerk, or? 289: Yeah, Clerk. Interviewer: Okay. Um- How about uh- Do you know your mother and father's education level? 289: My father went as, high as the, eighth grade I think it was then he had to quit because his father had died when he was little, and my grandmother thought where she had to sons and my father being the ol'- oldest, that my father was the one that had to quit the school first, and go to work Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: And my mother I think she went to about the seventh- Seventh or eight grade. Interviewer: Okay. 289: That's about it. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: The um- And, you say you didn't- you said you didn't know where your uh maternal grandparents were from. 289: My Ma Annie- my great grandmother was Key West but any of the others. They ca- All I know is they all came from England, to the Bahamas, and then- Interviewer: Now this is the one from your mom's side? 289: No, her side I don't know, I don't know nothing about them. Now the ones she calls her grandparents, that, you know, she referred to uh, were from here. But see they wouldn't be her real- Interviewer: #1 Oh they were the adopted- oh. # 289: #2 The adopted- grandparents. # Interviewer: Oh I see. 289: Because the adopted ones are Spanish- No Italian, Spanish Italians. Interviewer: Are there very many factions, uh national factions, what- what factions do find in the {X}? 289: Uh, Spanish. Cuban. {NS: Radio} Yeah some Ital- Italian. {NS: Radio} I guess a little bit of about everything- there's some Indians here. {NS} There's some British a come over. You know, that's moved here. There's one my girlfriend's, she was from England. She met a service man now she goes here, she's from England. There's some French here. Interviewer: Are there any Haitians? You know from Haiti? 289: Yeah. I think we got a little bit of about everything. Interviewer: {X} How large is the, Do you know how large the population of the city is? You know, approximately. 289: I guess around twenty thousand. Interviewer: #1 So- so it's- # 289: #2 Maybe more maybe- # Interviewer: Yeah with the navy. 289: With the Navy in and out you can never, Keep real count- I say around twenty thousand. {X} Interviewer: Is that counting the Navy? 289: They- I always give a figure so I would say it would have to include the Navy because I know one time it was up to about thirty thousand, thirty five thousand. Interviewer: Hmm 289: Then we have a lot of- Winter residents That- They don't want to stay up north, for the winter so they buy their houses here. Because uh, two houses down from us we have a man that um- A family bought it, and they kept it for their winter house, and then her husband died so she's resold it to another guy from Washington D.C. So they- they come down here and they like it, uh because everything is never today, tomorrow we can do it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm, yeah. 289: And there's no, no rush. So. Interviewer: I've encountered it. {NW: Laugh} 289: We're not going to get anything to far, that's- you know that's one thing I've come to hate here? Interviewer: What, the uh. 289: "Never today, always tomorrow." If you need something that's broken down, "Well I can't get to it today but maybe tomorrow I can be there" {NS} Interviewer: {X} Because um- Everybody always looks like they're doing something, but they always look like they're doing something slowly. {NW: Laugh} 289: Yeah, no rush, and that's what gets me mad cuz If something goes wrong, I want to know- Like a lot of times, okay, something will happen, my sister's in Orlando going to school. Okay she'll phone, and tell my mother something that's happened Well, it's n- it's always on the night that I work until nine o'clock. So by time I get home at nine o'clock, and I take my bath, I walk my dog first and take my bath, and while I'm getting in bed to relax and go to sleep, my mama says, "well this and this happened." And that gets me madder than anything because, why couldn't she phone me earlier, And tell me then that way I could worked out all my madness at work before I got home. Or something will go wrong with- The car. {NS} So she waits until it's too late, everything's closed up so I can do something about it. Interviewer: Mm. 289: Where she as she phoned me earlier I could be phoning people and finding out what, you know, has to be done. Interviewer: Right. 289: I hate it. {NS} Interviewer: Well- You know that's uh- D- well, uh- You don't hate it enough to leave the Island though. 289: If I found- let's put it this way, if I could pay off my bills, and find another job that pays me as good as this one or better, you want to see how fast I'll go? Interviewer: Yea, well uh- do you um. Uh you've been here- you've been here all your life right? 289: Right Interviewer: I mean uh- 289: Except for six months when I lived in Miami. Interviewer: That was just a visit or what? 289: No I had a job up there working for Howard Johnson's- restaurants I was an assistant manager. And I got homesick so I asked for a transfer back to Key West because that had been my first time away. And they gave it to me, um and then when I came back to Key West- mind and in your own home town, you never saw so many backstabbers at that place of business. Interviewer: Oh. {NS} 289: So we departed company. Interviewer: The uh, well the reason I ask that is uh. Um. Uh, I was just curious about uh, you know how much- the tie is you {X} 289: Well I- I get homesick for my parents, From- from- I- cuz I was real- I was close to my grand- to my father. Okay, now that he's passed away it's just my mother and myself, And we're living in our home, and my brother's here. But Oh if I had If I had to move away, if I got a good job, or got mar- and could move away, and whenever I got homesick all I'd have to do is pick up the phone, talk to my mother and hear the complaints, then I'm not homesick anymore Interviewer: Right, mm. Just the sound. 289: Yeah, that'll take care of it. Interviewer: Right, um- Now- uh let me see now, you- you said that you were a uh, uh that the family's been here for, I guess, about four generations. The um- Do you know the educational levels of uh, like your grandparents? 289: No I don't. Interviewer: #1 {X} # 289: #2 See they- # My great grandmother died, I guess when I was around four, so I don't even remember much about here except we call her "Ma Annie." Interviewer: Mm. 289: And I know she insisted when my mother was pregnant carrying my brother, that it was- it was going to be a boy, and it had to be called "Billy Boy." So since my father's name was "William," they just named him {B} the sec- Junior, and we called him "Billy Boy." {NS: Clank} But now it's straight "Billy." You call him "Billy Boy" and you'll get socked. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: But- And other than that, My grandmother I don't know. {NS: Mic moving} {C: Mic moved away, audio harder to hear} We never talked about it. {NS: Mic moving} I have no way of knowing. Interviewer: The uh. Uh- and do you know what the uh, {NS: Mic moving} Occupation was for your uh, grandparents? 289: No. Interviewer: {NS} {C: Mic moving back} 289: Because you see my-{NS: mic} I- My- Father's father I don't know what he did because he died when my father was around six or seven. And he got- to go to school until he was around twelve, I guess, ten or twelve, then he had to quit. And I've never heard my um, father talk about him because I don't think my father knew him, you know, even though he lived to be, you know, he's was around eight or nine. I don't know if he knew that- remember that much about him. And my grandmother never talked that much about him. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: I found, uh, something- the same thing with uh, with the- with the Sawyer family, uh. Like, you know, he wasn't real very- very close at all with his parents #1 uh, except for his mother # 289: #2 No # Interviewer: And uh, it seems like, you know that- the children get closely attached to the mother and the father is either like, uh, working in the ocean or, you know, whatever. 289: Well I guess he more or less did that. I know- in the house we live in belonged, to, Ma Annie's family. I think her last name was "Adams." That whole block, way back when they first came over from the Bahamas, belonged to us. And as things went along and things got tougher we had to keep selling it. Now the houses two doors before you get to us used to be Ma Annie's house, and during the- depression or whatever, they sold that house for three thousand dollars. Think it was thirty-five hundred, something like that. And anyway, they just resold a house about five months ago for thirty-five thousand. So I was close- now I was close to my grandmother. Out of the grandchildren I was closest to my grandmother. But I never heard her talk that much about anything. Interviewer: Yeah I was just wondering if the family- do the families tend to be very close here or do they have a tendency to be more independent, or? 289: Well I- I would say uh, in my family we're close because, uh, my grandmother, my father's mother was my father's, second wife. Now his first children live in Miami. You know, my aunt, when she got into her teens and then they moved to {X} Florida {D: North of Miami} Beach. Alright now with them we're close, because uh between my father and my Aunt, they got along as sister and brother, better than what she got along with her real brother. Interviewer: {NW} 289: So it's close there. Interviewer: {X} You said your father's mother was your, what was that again? 289: My father's mother was my father's, father's, Interviewer: Okay. 289: second wife. Interviewer: Okay because you said your father's mother was your father's second wife. {NW} That could cause a little trouble. {NW: Laugh} 289: Let {D: Them/Him} figure that one out Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: No, she- my grandmother was his second wife and he had two other kids and they lived in- they live in Miami well- my aunt just passed away in February. {NS: Radio} So But we're close because, in my aunt's will she left her home, as a homestead, that any member of her family, meaning us in Key West, you know, my father, me, my mother, it's automatically stated in her will that, any time we want to come to Miami, and stay there at that house, we are more than welcome to be there- we have the right to be in the house too. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: And like, if I had to get another job in Miami, I have the right to live in the house if I want to live, Interviewer: Hmm. 289: as long as I contribute to the household, bills. Interviewer: Oh is it uh, is- oh who lives there now? 289: Well it's her youngest daughter, she's been divorced about- I guess around, twelve years. I mean- uh- he was- He died several years back, but she lives there now. Now if she had to go remarry well then the sisters can say, "We want to sell the house," but it can't be sold because of- I think- because of the- um- homestead, the way it was set up in the will. Because she left- She didn't leave a fortune but she left enough money to keep up the household, you know, keep up the repairs to it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: And now her, brother is living there so he's, having to pay, you know to help keep it up too. Interviewer: Hmm. Okay. Uh, are you married? 289: No. Interviewer: Okay. And um. {NS: Radio} Okay what I like to do here is now- now the old house, the house that's been- that you said that uh, that was in the- that your father's- the one that's pegged. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Um. Did you- did you live in that one? 289: I was born in that one. Interviewer: Okay and, and is that still in the family? 289: Still there Interviewer: Is that the one you're living in now? 289: Right. Interviewer: Okay. Um. I- I'm going to try to get- is it two story or one? 289: It's a story and a half. Interviewer: Okay. 289: Not quite- Interviewer: Do you have an- is there a local name for that type of story and a half thing? 289: No, no not that I know, they just call it a story and a half cuz it's not, you know. Interviewer: Is it like, when you say a story and a half you're talking about the upstairs that slope it's like a- 289: It kind- the walls on the side are maybe is about four feet- four feet up, then it slants a little bit more up, then it's this way. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: You know, it's- like a flat roof, then slants, then slants, then side. So Whereas Interviewer: #1 So looking at- # 289: #2 Uh, you put your bed # to the w- to the wall, you know, to the sides because if you had to put it up against the wall, you know, the main section of it, when you get up the one that was on the other- the right side would bop their head. Interviewer: Okay so it's got the- the ceiling is the roof pitch 289: The- {X} On the outside it looks like a straight, regular house. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Okay you go four feet up no the side the walls, and then it slants for about six feet, and then it's flat across the top. Interviewer: Okay. And- This is on the inside. 289: Yeah it's on the inside. But it's a regular- what, triangle roof? Interviewer: Yeah. Just looks like a regular house on the outside but it's a little bit shorter than a two story. 289: It's not- the only thing is it's not quite as t- you know, high up in the ceiling- a person I would say over six feet, two, might bump there head. Whereas the downstairs ceiling's about eight feet up. Seven or eight feet up. Interviewer: So. Okay. And uh- alright- uh- is it like square- would it be rectangular- and uh- and looking at it from the top like a floor plan? #1 Lets look at the, first floor for a second. # 289: #2 It's- not- the first floor of- okay, it's long. # It's not very. Interviewer: So I'm going to try and draw a- 289: Okay it's around twenty-two feet wide. Interviewer: Okay. {NS: silent} Alright, let's- let's say that- {X}- that would be- it's right down here, right? 289: In right in {D: Flemming} yeah, it's eleven {D: Ten/Tenths}. Interviewer: Okay. So uh, lets say this is the {D: Flemming} out here, okay, what would be the first thing you see? 289: S- Well, as soon as you come- okay wait a minute, facing into it- okay. On the right side of it's a front door. And there's a small little porch area because the rest of the porch we took in as a Florida room. You know, made it all one bigger room. Interviewer: So it's got uh, so you didn't have a- 289: It's a front door, on the right side. Interviewer: {X} did the porch go all the way across the front one time? 289: Yes it used to. Interviewer: Okay, but then there's, like, that much is screened in now? 289: It's all- w- with glass windows, big glass windows. Interviewer: And you call that what? 289: It's probably the porch or the Florida room, added into the living room. Interviewer: Okay. And then y- you had the front door {X} 289: Okay, soon as you go in the front door, there's a hallway. Interviewer: Okay. 289: Okay you step in the- okay you step in the front door, to your left there's a door that goes into the front room. Interviewer: Okay. 289: And- further, you know, what the porch areas, where we took- you know, cut out the wall for that- area make it bigger. Okay. Now facing since you go in the steps leading upstairs. Interviewer: Right here? 289: Right, but not all the way across, just halfway across because we have a hallway. Interviewer: Okay. 289: On the opposite side. Interviewer: Oh Okay. {NS: Radio} How long does the hall go? 289: Now that's my {X} okay you put a- Now draw a line right here. Interviewer: Right here? 289: Uh-huh. Interviewer: Out this way? 289: Yeah okay now stop and come- leave a door space and come all the way over Interviewer: To the wall? 289: Okay yeah, right. Now this and this is all the big- the front room. This is where we cut out the wall to make the Florida room into it's all one big room. Interviewer: So this is the front room? 289: Right. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: You ever call it anything else? 289: No, that's the front room. Interviewer: Okay. 289: Here's the kitchen. Interviewer: #1 Right here behind the? # 289: #2 Uh-huh now this wall we cut out # to make a bar. Interviewer: #1 So there's a bar right here? # 289: #2 Uh-huh # A serving big bar, it's full length, just enough room for the door- frame. {NS: Radio} Okay, now let's see. Draw a- okay all this- now draw a line across here. #1 Okay- yeah. # Interviewer: #2 Is that the wall going?- # 289: No, there's no wall, that's all open to the kitchen. Okay now- dr- start right here, and draw a line this way. Okay, all this area would be the kitchen. Interviewer: All kitchen. Okay. 289: Okay now- we got- three windows along the hallway, Interviewer: Yeah? 289: one window in the front room on the side, and two windows in the kitchen. Okay, cross the front, in the Florida room there's uh, four big windows and two windows on the side, in that Florida section. Interviewer: Is that the type that you uh, crank out? 289: Crank it out. Interviewer: What are those types that uh, they're starting to come back- the old ones with uh, the wooden frames the come uh- 289: Wooden Slats? Interviewer: Yeah what are they called? {NS: Hit something} 289: Jalousies. Interviewer: Are those jalousies? Were those- uh the glass ones are called Jalousies too. 289: They're all called jalousies but it's all according to- You can get the metal- jalousie, you can get the glass, and you can get the wood. Interviewer: Ah. 289: If I had my way, I'd either get the uh Glass- I mean not the glass- the metal, because when a hurricane comes, just roll 'em to, that's it forget it Interviewer: Yeah. 289: As it is now with us, we board up. Interviewer: You board up? When was the last big hurricane you had here? That you can- that you thought was bad enough to worry about. 289: Well whenever it gets too close to us we automatically board up. And, that was when I was a little- shoo- I was around maybe seventeen or eighteen or nineteen, somewhere in there. And it wasn't even bad we were supposed to get it, we didn't get it, Marathon got it. #1 And the only thing that made- # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 289: made it bad was my mother and father was on a vacation, going up to uh, New York and Boston, and that left me in the house. So my brother had to shut up his house, which he could do cuz he had the {D: jalous-} you know the- the aluminum panels to put in. My house you get slats, wide boards, and you nail up the windows. Well I was climbing up and down ladders nailing up, the windows to get as many done as I could get before my brother, got there to help finish boarding up, and the next day I couldn't move from going up and down that ladder. Interviewer: That was, that must have been about Sixty-one 289: Yeah, it's been way back Interviewer: So that'd be Donna? {NS: Radio} 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Was that Hurricane Donna? 289: I think so that- I don't even keep track of them really. When they go to come, when we board up, I figure well that's all that I can do. We see that we have food in the house that we can eat. And um. We generally keep our electricity for a long time unless one of the trees close by falls over. And, you know, knocks a power line. But as a rule, once we get board up, we cook something or fix something there that'll keep, without refrigeration, should we lose electricity, uh, that's it. I go upstairs, and I turn on my air conditioner, watch T.V. until power lines, cable vision from Miami, or put on my stereo and to- go to sleep. Interviewer: Mm. 289: Forget about. Interviewer: Did your parents ever give you any kind of instructions for uh, hurricanes? 289: Just to board up and um make sure everything that was in the yard was, you know, anchored down. And when we had a boat {NW} what was so funny was, we'd bring the boat home on a trailer, we'd take and slide the boat- sometimes, we'd slide the boat off the trailer, and on the handles in the back, you know how they put- so you could tie the ropes onto the boat in the back? We'd tie it to an avocado tree. So in case should we get high waters and it floods, we could go out and get in the boat and sail off somewhere, you know. But the funny part of it is, my street, is part of the high area of Key West. So I think they said the storm in Thirty-five, we got water up to the top step of our house, and that was as far as it went. And our house is maybe about- well, I guess about two- three feet up- you know, off the ground anyway. So I could see us if it got that deep to go out and get in the boat and go sailing somewhere. Interviewer: Might be standing around looking for {X}{NW}. 289: But that was it, bring in the trash cans fill the tub with water, Jimmy would go out- Everybody goes out and buys a new garbage can, and fills it with water- Interviewer: Yeah. 289: in case we had to- you know The water line busted the last time, and they had a real bad one. {NS: Radio} And we buy candles, or Kerosene, lamps, and that's about it. There's nothing else you can do once you get board up and you know you have your food and water, forget about it. Interviewer: Do they ever call uh, you said Kerosene lamps, they ever call Kerosene anything else around here? You ever hear that, people calling? 289: I don't know if they call it, we call it mineral spirits. Can you call it turpentine, kerosene, too? Interviewer: #1 I don't know. # 289: #2 I don't think so. # Interviewer: #1 {X} # 289: #2 Well we go to the {D: Shell} station and say, "we want kerosene," # so they know what to give us. Interviewer: Yeah, uh, that's all you ever call it. Okay, now back to the house. {NW} 289: Okay, you come through this door. Here, okay you draw a line about right here. {NS: Radio} {X} and you got to leave a doorway, this is the bathroom. Interviewer: Okay so the bathroom here. Was that added on or was that? 289: That was- I think that was added on because I remember I was- when I was little, having an outhouse. Interviewer: #1 What- now what- we were talking about the other day- # 289: #2 Okay. # The old people call it, I think- they- a "privy?" but we call it a outhouse. The Navy calls it "john" or "heads." That's it. Interviewer: Is that the one's you remember? 289: I remember out- I remember calling it an outhouse. Or go to the toilet- it was out in the back yard. Okay, this is just the empty room where, we put anything really. Interviewer: What do you call- do you have a name for it {X}? 289: #1 No. # Interviewer: #2 {X} # Go to the- 289: It's the room off the bedroom or the room off the bathroom. Now right through here you- draw a- a little door space in here. And then you add on a big bedroom right here, now that's been added onto the house. Interviewer: All the way- about that much? 289: Yes. It's over fourteen feet long. I mean fourteen feet out and twenty- so high Interviewer: Okay. 289: And, uh, you have a doorway right here. {NS: Radio} That's goes out to the back yard. Interviewer: Okay. 289: And in the back we have a little garage. Interviewer: Alright. 289: {X} Interviewer: Alright, and then, the upstairs is as big as this? 289: No, the upstairs when I first measured it measures twenty, by twenty-four. Interviewer: Now does it have a, porch or uh? 289: No it does not have- it has a the- the roof, but I mean, w- you can't go out on to it, you know, over the porch. Interviewer: #1 So- # 289: #2 So it would {D: Start} back of the porch line. # Interviewer: #1 Okay I'm going to start it here then. # 289: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: And then it- how- would it run to this? 289: It would run as far as this, the kitchen, into the kitchen. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Alright, and it'd be about, would- would it be narrower? {X} 289: Uh. Well, let's see The widest part of it is twenty-four f- no. The widest part of it is twenty feet, wide. And it's twenty four feet long. Okay. Interviewer: So it's as big as the square of this area here? 289: Well no not quite, let me show you. Interviewer: #1 Because the- # 289: #2 Okay. # {NS: Radio} In here, is where the steps comes up Interviewer: Okay. 289: Like that. And then this area over here would be the opening, over the hallway, you know, where we keep stored things. Interviewer: Right. 289: Okay when my father made it- My brother got married- when he was around nineteen, so it was just my sister and I so he made it two bedrooms, upstairs, okay. He figured he'd keep me around the house longer, so. My room is the larger, and it's like, that. Now, this empty space that was open over in here is now a walk-in, locker. {NS: Radio} And right here is one, window. {X} Okay, and this is my sister's doorway and this is the doorway coming up the steps. Now over here in her section she has a smaller locker. And this is her bedroom, with one window. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Okay. {NS: Chair creaking} That's about the size of- 289: It's around twenty by twenty-four feet. You know, if you- if you took out the lockers, closed up. Interviewer: Okay, and now this is just a spare room. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Or just a- 289: It's a junk collector. Interviewer: #1 Okay. # 289: #2 That's what it is. # {NS: Radio} Things we decided we want to get rid of make it as far as that room and then it's another six months before they get out the rest of the way. Interviewer: You got a lot of space for a house in Key West. 289: Mm-hmm. Well we had a long back yard- I mean a nice sized back yard. Interviewer: Oh. {D: Well you got that-} 289: See our property isn't- is so wide, but it's so long because our property goes from Flemming street, To Cur- Curry's lane. So it extends all the way back. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: Okay Uh, you ever hear um. Anybody call lockers anything else? 289: Closets. Interviewer: And uh, yeah. Did uh, um, now what kind of- what kind of things would you find uh- what kind of things do you have in this room? 289: Okay, there's uh- uh- Three piece, bamboo couch thing you put together, you know make it like a, small couch. My- I have a piano that's up against this wall here, and there's a mural with fruit over it. In the front room there are two, big, bamboo chairs. There's an aquarium with guppies in it, in the left corner. There's a TV set underneath the bar and there's two chairs up against- we have a big mural. You know that old, mural, up against the wall, opposite- you know- the opposite- the other wall. Okay that's it {X} and we had two rugs on the floor. Interviewer: Now the uh, couch, did you- now if it wasn't uh- 289: If it wasn't put together it'd be three separate chairs. Interviewer: Alright but it- alright. What do you call one that's just all one piece, would you still call it uh- 289: Couch. Interviewer: Okay you remember- {D: can you} call it anything else? 289: What is it Divan- Dev- Divan sofas? Interviewer: Okay. #1 Alright now uh- # 289: #2 Sectionals? # Interviewer: Yeah. That's what, now- you said it's bamboo is that uh. I think it's- 289: It's bamboo Interviewer: Yeah Is there a name for that type? 289: I can' think of it, not that we call it- we just call it bamboo because it's made from bamboo. Interviewer: Okay. Uh. Yeah, it's kind of a, tropical. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Look- yeah I think- yeah my folks had some of that. We called it um, uh, Rotan 289: Oh yeah. {X} If you want to be ritsy-titsy you know other people will call it Rotan furniture, but if you go in Florida- in Southern Florida and say you want some bamboo furniture they know what you're talking about. Interviewer: Okay, well see this was way up um, mid-state and uh, I guess- it wasn't that common up there. 289: Well they- they have different words I mean- About as far as I go to mid-state is to Tampa and I haven't been to Tampa since nineteen seventy. Interviewer: Oh. {NS: Radio} 289: I don't particularly care for Tampa too much I mean I have relatives up there and we're friends and, when they come here they stay with us, when we go there we stay with them. But- Interviewer: Is there very much of a connection between Key West and other Florida cities, I mean, you know like, you know what I mean like, because of the fleets or uh or anything do- you know, do you find a lot of people from other cities here uh, predominantly, or do people from here end up in other cities a lot? 289: I think, if they're native Key Westers, They say they may go away from the rock for a little while, but they'll always come back to the rock. {X} But um. {NS: Radio} About the only ones who go away and stay away are the ones who marry servicemen. And more or less they've- they've got less chance of coming back, but you'll see them back here on vacations a lot. And you'd be surprised the number of officers, that after they get finished with Their Navy, the Army, whatever, come back here to retire. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: Because we have a Colonel- I forgot- I think I don't know what branch of service he was in, and my father did- worked for his remodeling his house and everything, and he's retired here. Interviewer: What was his name? 289: {D: Bernett}, Colonel {D: Bernett} And then Captain Eklan I don't know what- I think he was in the Navy- I think his son's in the Navy so I think maybe he was in the Navy too, and he's retired here and he's teaching the school, I don't know if he's still doing it. There's a lot of servicemen. What gets me is they come here, they hate Key West. Can't stand it, they can't wait to get away from it. And then, in later years they come back, and they'll retire here. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: And when they- what gets me with the lot of them too is when they- when I used to work for the dry cleaners, they'd come in, you know, complain about they hate it and all like this, I say, "Well look, this is about the only place you can go- {D: Well let's put it this way} You're here, you can be with your husband. Whereas, if you went to some other fueling station somewhere else they w- you might not be able to go, So at least, while you here, find things about it that you like and enjoy it, because when you go somewhere else you might not be able to. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Because let's put it this way if you don't mind a little bit of cold water you can go swimming three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Interviewer: How cold's the water here then {D: about the worst} 289: It can get hot, and I know up into the eighties. Interviewer: It was- It was fairly- And I went out yesterday and I got a little burnt on my back {X} finally got out a little {D: Scuba diving} yesterday and uh Um. It was- I think it was about eighty-eight or something- very warm. #1 In towards shore, I had to get out {D: a little way} # 289: #2 Yeah, it gets cooler. # I mean- {D: Let's put it this way} When I was little I- when I was in my teens, I went- ah to one of the hotels and I was swimming. And for fifty cents, you could spend the whole day there and you could go swimming in the pool, or you could walk out to the back of the hotel and go swimming in the ocean. So I think I got enough of- swimming when I was in my teens because, I excite with ear infections, and I got Fungus in my ears, and the doctor said, "Well you might out grow it." I haven't outgrown it. So I can't really get any type of water in my ears. Interviewer: Mm. 289: So I really, don't enjoy the swimming that much anymore. Interviewer: I- didn't know you get fungus like that in salt water. 289: You can get- well you can get fungus from salt water- you can get fungus from anything. You can get it from taking a shower and using shampoo or soap, as far as I know of you can get it. Interviewer: Oh. 289: Because I know when I wash my hair- Interviewer: Oh it's just a matter of getting the water out of your ear {X}. 289: -water in your ear and then it- Because I know, when I wash my hair I have to be careful that I don't get the water in my ear. Or if I do, if I think I've gotten too much, then take some uh cotton, and a little bit of alcohol and drop it into your ears and that way it'll kill the uh, any bad bacteria that might have gotten in. Interviewer: {D: I was saying-} The reason why I said that was because uh, um, mid-state, there was a certain time of year where we couldn't go swimming because that was when there was a high fungus count in the water, or a bacteria count of a certain type, that was bad- er it caused a lot of ear infections. 289: No I don't know about that I know we have they call "Spring tide" and if you're an old conch you don't go swimming in what they call "spring tide," because I did it one time when I was little, and we'd wind up with big uh, blotches all over our skin like lumps. #1 And um # Interviewer: #2 from what? {X} # 289: From the water, salt water. Interviewer: #1 Oh it's just the water? # 289: #2 It's a seaweed, I guess, and the irritation and the being in close, and it- not being able to get out # Interviewer: It wasn't like Jelly fish or anything? 289: No it wasn't Jellyfish. And uh, the doctor told my mother just uh- my brother and I both had it. So she propped us both up in the bed and kept a fan blowing on us and put calamine lotion on us, and then if we go too itchy, we took a cold bath. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: But we don't go swimming during the spring tide. Interviewer: {X} No native would here. Or anyone that knew about it. {NW: Laugh} 289: Not- this- Not anyone knows about it- no one in my family would. Interviewer: Yeah. I don't know if I asked this or not- uh- when was this house built? {NS: Radio} Or how old is it, do you know? 289: I would say- let's put it this way- My grandmother would have been eighty- in her eighties if she had lived, and the house was built before her, So I would put it, I guess, least around ninety years or more. Ninety- A little over ninety I guess. Interviewer: Okay, I'll put ninety plus. {NS: Radio} Would you call that a "Conch House?" 289: Yes. It was a Conch House. Interviewer: And it was because of the four by fours and the- and the- 289: Well, a lot of the wood came from the Baham- from there so the Bahamas, and they used uh, mahogany wood, and that's the last thing the termites are going to get into. Interviewer: Was- now was the mahogany- from here? 289: It came in. Interviewer: #1 Yeah # 289: #2 I think, that's the way I always heard they- # See, a lot of houses was built in the Bahamas, and they were brought over by ships in- in sections Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: You know, they was all cut out, Interviewer: #1 Alright. # 289: #2 So that when you got here, all you had to do was put it down and start, putting it together. # There's a house I think on- right down here on William's street on the corner, it's a big white house, that one was done that way. It was made in sections and then brought here. Now I don't know about ours. {NS: Shuffling, Radio} Interviewer: Okay, the reason- well the reason why I ask that is because uh- uh- I don't know if it's one of the people interviewed from the interview- or the- the uh survey or not, or whether it's someone else I can't remember right now, it might have been uh, uh, {D:Mrs. Bruce} Mrs. Bruce that um- uh- said that uh- originally there was a lot of- uh hardwood trees here, and that some of them might have been mahogany. #1 You know because there's a lot of {D: Honduras palm}, yeah. # 289: #2 Yeah. # Well I know- I know, in our house, there's a lot uh- in the old section there's a lot of mahogany. Interviewer: So you got mahogany {D: pieces}? 289: So there's- that's why- When we went to cut out the section of the old house to go into the porch, or the Florida room, there my father would use electric saw and would be spitting out fire and that wood is- was as hard as a rock to try to cut through. {NS: Radio} Well, because that's why- Interviewer: I'd like to find someone that's uh, doing some remodeling {D: and might} throw away a piece of mahogany. {NW: Laugh} 289: Yeah that's- that's good why because I know when was doing ours and that's been- {NS: Radio} In the sixties, I say when we did ours, it was spitting out fire. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: Trying to cut it and my father- some places my father worked over an hour, using electric saws to try to cut it. And what gets to me is you know, in those days, I guess they figured well four-by-four is just as good as a two-by-four, but nowadays they try to, two-by-four is cheaper, than the four-by-four. Interviewer: #1 Now those things were built with like big, huge frames, where like a box frame and then they filled in between them? # 289: #2 Yeah. # Ours was- from what I could see of where we ripped it open, you know it had the big beams going up in the end, but it had a lot of beams coming down this way, In like an angle, and then, knocked in. #1 Because- # Interviewer: #2 And they were all four-by-fours? # {NW} 289: The ones that I've seen where we've cut out are four-by-fours. Interviewer: Hmm. {NW} were there any bigger ones like on the corners? {NS: Radio} 289: Well see haven't cut into the corners of our house, you know, to cut out. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: The only place where we cut out was, we cut out a section going into the- porch. We cut out the section going from the kitchen into the front room because our kitchen used to be a bed room. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: And then we cut out a section in here. you know, because that used the be a petition, or you know, just a doorway in that one space. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And that's it- I mean uh. {NS: Radio} My- thought my father cut- this used to be a window I think. My father cut that in the door, because these two rooms were added on. Now when I was little, my father- this side over here, the back bedroom, used to be the kitchen. And the other side he made into a bedroom for me. But he made it and I didn't like it because he didn't do it the way I wanted it. Interviewer: Mm. 289: So I didn't uh, sleep there, I went to sleep upstairs with my grandmother. Interviewer: Oh, {X} 289: You know, and he promised me- this was use to just be a big open room, he promised me that if I did go upstairs and sleep upstairs, he would fix the upstairs. Okay. The back got to the point when I got mad because he- he always did work for other people so he didn't want to come home and do carpenter work for ours so Mama got mad at him one time and busted out the windows to make him do the work that much faster, you know? Interviewer: Oh. 289: So we finally moved, the kitchen into the other room, where's a kitchen now And in this back- mind this was added on, this would have gotten so rotten and decayed, that it was cheaper to knock it all off, and rebuild it. {NS: Radio} So this section here has been added on twice to this main section of the house whereas this section, not too much has ever been done to it. Interviewer: #1 The mahogany stays there forever. # 289: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: {NS: Radio} Wow The uh Yeah, I didn't know they were made out of mahogany that's- What kind of a- um- you know, what- Does your- the outside of the house, does it have that kind of- #1 Overlay- what do they call it, you know? # 289: #2 Overlay wood, yeah. # I don't know, wa- um. Wall board? No not wall board. {NS: Tapping} I can't think of the name. Because I know the back bedroom now is done um- not overlaid wood. {NS} What in the heck you call it? {NS: Radio} #1 I can't think of it. # Interviewer: #2 Is that what they originally used? # 289: Yeah. #1 The overlay, you know? # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 289: Like that- now the back section where we added on uh- it's got like, plywood like thick plywood with the grooves like you would see like in wall paneling. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: That's- can put them to the back now. You have that in the back section. Weather boarding. Interviewer: Oh okay. 289: I knew I thought of it long enough. Interviewer: #1 Oh what- thats what- that's what- that was the traditional- # 289: #2 That's what they call it the weather- that's what we call it, "weather boarding." # Interviewer: Okay, and um- Better make sure I mark the doors and the windows. 289: Okay the back bedroom has two- big long windows, each windows uh- Interviewer: Like here? 289: Mm-hmm. It's seven feet long. Okay and on this side we have a whole lock up, the whole length of it Interviewer: On that side? 289: Mm-hmm. {NW} Interviewer: Okay. Do most the people around here um- call these lockers, or? 289: Lockers, Closets. Interviewer: Like if you were in somebody else's house you'd expect them to say "locker?" 289: Yeah. Interviewer: #1 Okay- # 289: #2 Or a closet. # Interviewer: #1 What- # 289: #2 Because I call mine- # I call mine a walk-in closet. Interviewer: Can you have uh, um. Like if it's- if it's like a uh- a thing down {D: Hill/Here} with a- with a lid, like under a window like a window seat. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Would you call that a locker too? {NS: Radio} 289: Well if I put things in there to store it, I call it a locker. Interviewer: Like a f- um- 289: I don't think they have window seats in Key West. Interviewer: Oh. 289: At least in none of the houses I've been in. Now in the movies you see them, you know. So. That's what they call them in the movie, "window seat." Interviewer: I just wonder if they might call them "foot locker" or something. 289: #1 No, to us a foot locker # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 289: is what you put at the end of your bed. Interviewer: Okay, cuz it could- it could just be a- something that you pick up and walk around with, you mean? 289: Well to me a foot locker is something like a- like a big metal suitcase, you know, like- I think they call them uh, "wardrobes." You know, when you, pack- it stands up quite big, and it has the shelves and it have the drawers and you hang your suits over for traveling like overseas, something like that. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: To me- or a foot locker is the guys that um, Navy, you know they pack their clothes in it. Interviewer: right 289: And they have that duffel bags in the foot- lockers. Interviewer: Okay. I was just wondering about the term locker cuz it seems that- #1 go with the {D: Seed}. # 289: #2 No- well I call mine upstairs a "walk-in closet" because you have to walk into it. # {NS: Radio} The others you just, reach in, and get Interviewer: Okay. The uh- okay, we- now we talked about the things- and uh- oh what do you call all the things together that are in this room? 289: Just the living room. Interviewer: #1 I mean all- # 289: #2 I mean the din- yeah the living room. # Everything is just the living room. Interviewer: Okay. And uh- what are all the things like the you said the- the section on the T.V. and the- #1 The chairs and all- # 289: #2 The furniture? # Interviewer: Okay. And what would you expect to f- what kind of furniture would you expect to find in here? 289: Okay, along this wall like this and across this way it's ca- it's uh, it's all in cabinets. it's uh- over this window here, underneath this window rather, there's a double, {NS: Moving} -sink, kitchen sink. Then right over is the electric stove. Then right over here we have the table. Over here in this corner is our refrigerator, Icebox. Okay, over here we have one of those metal lockers, you know, for plates and things because, believe it or not with all that locker space we still wouldn't have enough room And up against the wall here we have a long dresser. Interviewer: A dresser? Did you ever uh- {X} The- Then on that dresser is that the type of thing you'd find in a bedroom? 289: #1 Bedroom, yeah. # Interviewer: #2 {X} # Yeah. 289: We just didn't have any room to put it in the bedroom so it's there. Interviewer: Okay. So what kind of furniture would you find in here then? 289: {NW: Laugh} {NW: Laugh} In our back bedroom, there is a queen size bed and a double bed. There is my color T.V. set that I brought from downstairs. And there. And there's big rack about six feet tall and uh- has spaces on each side of it that you would you buy- find at a news stand where they sell pocket books, you know? Novels? My mother's got one of those at home because she reads a book every night. So she's got one of those there. Okay next to my side of the bed there's a little- table. And on her side there's a little table. Then we have two boxes, and they're Pamper boxes, Pampers came into them. They have my nephew's toys in them, in the bedroom. Because it's so hot, you know, the only rooms that have an air conditioner in it is the back bedroom and the two bedrooms upstairs. Okay, because the condition of the house next door and the city is sitting on their tail-ends, not doing, too much about it, We can't really stay in the other part of our house because one, the odors that come, in, from that house next door was- it's been condemned. Interviewer: Oh. 289: It smells like, you wouldn't want to believe it and I won't say it for that tape either, and also we- never keep the house closed up. So when we come home we just go in the back bedroom, turn on the T.V. and the air- the air conditioner. Interviewer: Okay. Uh and then you said you had a dresser, uh- Did you ever- uh- See any furniture that like, you know like that would- it would be like uh- it would be like a- it have- it'd have drawers like a dresser or maybe it'd have a locker on one side of it attached? 289: {X} I've seen but- it's- Cupboards. Interviewer: Cupboards? 289: {X} Thinking of my Grand- my um- when I was little we had one, a cupboard. Interviewer: #1 And the- # 289: #2 Upstairs, we didn't have any closets upstairs you know, # It's just open, you know, the bed up there. And we had, um, one that had two drawers, the regular way, crosswise and then one little locker door that open up on the bottom, and- it was a wash down really what it was because it had big glass, on top of it. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And my grandmother used to have- you remember any of those old Felix cats? A s- one? She had one of those. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: But I don't know where it's at now. Interviewer: And uh- what the porcelain uh? 289: I don't know if it was porcelain or made out of wood or what it was, but I remember it was Felix, you know, sitting up there. But I don't know what ever became of it. Someone's got it. And she had uh- Her closet, you know one of those kinds you can move around, and it opened up with the two drawers. Interviewer: Yeah, did- did uh. Now- did- what would you call that closet, that movable closet? 289: I don't know what you'd call that thing. To me it was a closet. Interviewer: Okay. 289: Because I remember she broke her leg one time, her knee cap, and she- you know, when they took the- cast off they gave it to her, of all things the doctor to give you they give you the cast. and she put it on top of it. And she used to keep a metal can on top of it. but it was locked up so I didn't know what was in it, but we still got the metal can, that's how old the thing is. She had one of those up there. And we used to have some um, rod iron beds. Interviewer: Rod iron? Does- would they hold up pretty good with the {D: salt here} and everything? 289: Yeah. Because I had one until I was about, twelve- years old. I had one. Then finally you know, we said, "To heck with this old junk," and got rid of it, you know, And then all of the- tourists come down here and buy it up like you wouldn't believe it. Because what we'd do is um, with us, every year around September, October, we start paint the house up getting ready for Christmas. So when we paint the bedroom we just take the bed apart and slap on a- new coat of white paint on the, bed. Interviewer: Oh. 289: You know use- When I was a kid I used to chew the paint off of that bed. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: It used to taste good too. Interviewer: Oh yeah? Was this that uh teething, you mean? 289: No I must around ten or eleven years old and it just- it had a funny taste to it but it tasted good and I did it. Interviewer: Huh. 289: I stopped doing it but I did it. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} Okay. Um. Alright do you have any kind of furniture that'd be different in any of the other rooms? I mean in the other bedrooms? #1 Besides for like, a dresser or? # 289: #2 My bedroom- okay- # No, because- while my bedroom is compact. In the corner- catty-corner I have my bed. {NS: Radio} Interviewer: I'm just going to keep an eye on this if that's okay. 289: With one night stand, next to it. Okay right across from it, is my stereo set. Next to it is a nine drawer- dresser. Then it's the window, the air conditioner is in the window, underneath the window there's two big stacks, you know racks, of L-P's. Okay there's the closet. Then I had a rack with paperback novels in it, then I had my color T.V. set that I bought for my birthday. Then I had the Chester doors, and then there was a door- There's not a room extra in my room for anything else Because I figure that's the only way, you know- When you, you get in your twenties and thirties and you're living at home, that's the only place where you can go upstairs, close the door, lock it, and really have privacy. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And I can turn on my air conditioner, listen to my stereo as loud as I want to, or turn on my television set. Interviewer: Now they were telling the other day that uh. Uh. The- well, before going to that I'll ask you this. What kind of uh- what kind of uh, cooking utensils do you have in the kitchen, or that you're used to having? What you can think of- the older things. Or even now, you know. 289: About the only things we have left over from- my grandmother's time is, {NS: Moving} we got about two or three, rod iron frying pans. They're the heaviest son-of-a-guns, but they're the best things for frying food in, you know if you got to fry chicken or something like that. Because you don't have to worry, they're not going to slip to easily. And we've got- you wouldn't believe it. It's- We call it a meat pounder. But it's round on the bottom and shapes up with a handle like a hammer, but it's not you know, Done down it's just one straight thing up. And we've got that and that poor thing. I bet you they had to test that {D: what is it/wood is} about sixty years old or more. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: Because we've used it sometimes when my father would- wouldn't leave a regular hammer at home you know one of his carpenter's hammer, we'd take that thing and take a nail and bat it into the wall to hang a picture so it's got the dent marks in it from hammering. But we keep that it's a meat- we call it a "meat pounder." And then we have a rolling pin. But everybody has those. Interviewer: How about something you might have uh- did you have a little- something that you heat water in, for tea or something like that? 289: A kettle? Yeah we used to have one of those because before we had a hot water heater, we'd take the kettle, and fill it with water, and heat it, and then we'd take a big bucket, you know a tall bucket, and we'd put that on top of the stove and heat it, so when in the winter time take a hot bath. Interviewer: What about uh um- Uh something that you might put flowers- cut flowers. 289: A vase? Interviewer: Yeah what'd you have- have any of those around? 289: We have some but they're not- Oh we have a- We have a old lantern And it's one of those kind {D: A woman was after} after me to sell it to her but I won't do it. It's you know like a rod iron, I- on the bottom and then it's real bubbled up, and it's a pretty pink glass with flowers in it. Then it has a metal thing under it- When I used to have some more money when I used to have it, and then- And it would be the regular thing that you would fill with kerosene, you know, and sit into it. But the top section of it, that broke, but that thing I bet you is- {NS: Radio} It's just about- that's just about sixty years old or more. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: We used to have an old fashion, wicker, rocking chair. And- I spent one month painting that thing with white enamel paint you know- {X}