Museum of Riverside

Reading the Walls Online Exhibit - Room #1 : Case 3

Harada’s Move to Riverside and Open the "Washington Restaurant"

<p> The Harada’s Washington Restaurant, ca. 1915. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>Staff and patrons of the restaurant. Jukichi Harada stands behind his children, Masa Atsu and Miné.</p> <p> Bentwood side chairs, juice glasses and custard cups. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>All of these items were used in the Washington Restaurant. As the Harada children grew up they helped their parents in the family business. Harold recalled, 'Our first job was to announce . . . That a customer had arrived. We would say, ‘oh ki yaku san,’ which would mean a customer or a visitor. Our other chores were to clean up and maybe sweep up, and, if we were old enough, we could perhaps dish the tables, and wipe up the tables and clean around the area as we became older. And then after that by the time we were in junior high school, we could take orders. Perhaps repeat the menu to the customer and maybe even serve the customer, if we could carry the dishes." [Rawitsch, Mark H., Interviews with Members of the Harada Family, Mark Rawitsch, 2003, pp. 157-158.]</p> <p> Photograph, Jukichi Harada, September, 1910. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>Jukichi Harada wearing his chef’s outfit shortly after opening the "Washington Restaurant."</p> <p> 'Washington Restaurant' Menu, ca. 1910. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>The restaurant served three meals a day of hearty 'American' food mainly to citrus and migrant farm workers. Ken was renowned for her Sunday chicken dinners which featured chickens purchased from another well-known Riverside Japanese family, the Inabas.</p> <p> The Harada’s Washington Restaurant, 1916. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>Waiters at the restaurant, J. Matsuda on the left and unknown waiter. </p> <p> Photograph, Harada Family Portrait, 1908. Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Harada Family Collection.</p> <p>This photograph was taken in the rooming house, where they lived before moving into their new home on Lemon Street. Left to right: Masa Atsu, Jukichi, and Mine.</p>
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In 1905, the Harada family lived in a Riverside rooming house and found work in Ulysses S. Kaneko’s Golden State Restaurant. In 1906 their daughter Mine was born and the following year, son, Tadao, was born. Jukichi sought to increase his family’s income by renting a building to open a small rooming house. In 1910, Jukichi operated the "Washington Restaurant" (named for the United States’ first president), located at 641 Eighth Street (now University Avenue). This restaurant was also located at two other sites during its operation. The Washington Restaurant became known for Jukichi’s patriotic display of framed pictures of United States presidents. The family size grew with the births of daughter Sumi in 1910 and son, Yoshizo in 1912. Jukichi expanded his rooming houses from two to three locations to support his growing family.

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