Joseph "Joe" Manuel Uberuaga

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TAPE

MINUTE                                                         SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Tape 1

Side 1

0-10:00           José Manuel was born behind the Basque Center (in what is today a tattoo shop), in Boise.  He grew up in a little house on Grove Street, where an empty parking lot faces the Basque Museum today.  Both his parents worked in town, his father was a laborer, and his mother tending to the few boarders in the house.  Joe recalls playing with his friends in the street.  Where the Basque Center is now used to be his aunt Hermengilda Uberuaga’s flower and vegetable garden.  She also had a space for lawn bowling!  Joe remembers that his parents used to go to Hermengilda’s to help her make chorizos and morcillas.  This type of food preparation was always a family affair.  The sausages were stored in lard in big pots, and did not last indefinitely.  Joe describes his old house, which included an outhouse.  He recalls being bathed in a big bucket in the living room, and was on display for even visitors to see.  There was a long table in the kitchen, and his father kept a whip by his side there during meals to keep Joe’s rowdy brothers in line (he never remembers his father using it, though).  The house was coal-heated.  An open ditch ran along most of the length of Grove Street, and little bridges allowed access to the houses.  The boarders lived in a different building, attached to the back of the house.  Joe recalls that his brother Phil built a shack out back, where men came over to gamble (Joe lost to strip poker every time).  He reminisces about some incidents in his childhood, including a temporary paralysis (Mary Letamendi would bring him candy) and a fence accident.

10-20:00         A doctor Pittinger in town helped a lot of Basque people in Boise.  Joe remembers some of the boarders that used to stay at his house (only a few at a time).  He then lists a few of his childhood friends and what they used to do together, including watching handball games and observing card games.  Joe paints a verbal map of what is currently the Basque Block, on Grove Street.  He describes the differences between a rooming house (with no huge kitchens, and mostly populated with retired people) and a boarding house.  There were many Chinese immigrants in the area as well.  Joe and his sister Petra remember an old, bald, Chinese woman on the corner who wore the traditional Chinese worker outfit, and was thus called ‘Pantalones’.  She was rumored to be a prostitute and an opium user, but no one was sure.  Joe describes some more of the Chinese community, which he and his friends never really frequented, because the stores scared them.  He recalls making a hole in a stone wall and stealing some Chinese dishes.  Joe had a few Chinese friends, which his parents didn’t mind, because their mother’s tended to be educated and quite Americanized.  He mentions a few of the Greek families that also lived nearby.

20-30:00         Joe’s nickname to a few people was ‘José Malo’.  He describes a few Austrian families who lived further down Grove Street and called themselves Bohemians.  Joe spoke Basque at home, for his parents spoke very little English.  Neither of his parents knew how to read and write, and relied on their children and other, more educated Basque women, to carry out shopping and business.  Joe’s mother never wore makeup and never left the house much, even to watch a movie.  His mother was always home to make meals for the family, without exception, and his father was extremely hardworking, and neither drank nor smoked.  Times were hard, but there was always food at home and they always slept in beds, and Joe’s father even had a car and a motorcycle, which they never would have had in the Basque country at the time.  His parents used to drive to relatives’ houses to socialize (not usually vise versa, because the other people didn’t have a car.  Joe lived there on Grove Street until he was about 7, and began his education at Central School.  His father then bought a big new house further down Grove, which he describes.  It had indoor plumbing and full basement, where Joe slept.  He describes the Basques in his new neighborhood.

 

Side 2

0-7:30             At Joe’s new house, there were also a few boarders who came and went.  He remembers a woman he thinks was named Emma Green, who lived down the street and liked to tell the children that she had designed the Idaho State Seal.  There were Norwegians in the neighborhood, and Basques behind them.  He recalls Basque women forming a society, and learning that other women thought his mother had a sense of humor.  Being the youngest child in the family, Joe never had serious problems with language adjustment at school, since he had learned English from his siblings and spoke it with his friends.  He does not recall any prejudice against Basques growing up, aside from the occasional name calling, since the Basques were respected members of the community.  He describes a letter he once saw from his grandmother in Euskadi, thanking his parents for some money they had sent via a herder.  There were 3 Uberuaga brothers in Idaho: Juan (Joe’s father), José, and Domingo.  Joe’s mother also had a few family members here, including 3 brothers, Felipe Arriola among them.

7:30-17:00      Joe says that while he was growing up, he and his siblings were so caught up in their own lives that they rarely asked their parents about life in Euskadi or their journey over here.  His father would have come around 1905, since he was born in 1884, and his mother came over at more or less the same time, since they were the same age.  Joe was always a very good student, and describes some memories from his school days.  At Central School, there was 1 class for each grade.  Years later, he read a newspaper article about her retirement, in which she listed himself and Frank Church as some of her prominent former students.  There were other Basque kids at school, but Joe’s best friend was a Greek boy.  He lists some of the Basque students.  Kids always went home for lunch back then.  Joe sold newspapers for a while, too, and recalls running downtown to grab his ten papers to sell on the street corners.  He used the money to go to movies—something Joe especially enjoyed.  He describes a bit of what Boise looked like when he was a child.  Many Basque girls worked at stores downtown; their bilingualism was a sought-after skill in the multiethnic neighborhood.  Joe’s brother was a boxer, and was sponsored by a few Basque places.  His father loved to watch him, but the boy quit as a condition for marrying.

17-25:00         Joe remembers many of the boarding houses holding dances, with a mix of live and recorded music.  It was not uncommon for people to go to 2 or 3 dances a day.  Joe describes some of the things he used to do in high school.  He never wanted to go to Boise High School because he didn’t think he could compete with his handsome, popular brother.  He eventually got more confident as he got involved in student government and the student president.  He was not a very good Spanish student.  Joe went on to Junior College, but had some complications because of his sensitive skin.  He decided to join the army.  In Boise, he himself had never felt the strong sense of community he felt later when he went to work for the embassy in Mexico City in 1944.  He met some guys there who would be his friends for the rest of his life.  Joe describes his initiation into the Mexican Basque Community, which included a beautiful Basque Center and several handball courts.  He met some very wealthy Basque refugees from the Spanish Civil War, and since Joe didn’t speak very good Spanish, they were thrilled that he spoke Euskera.

25-30:00         A good friend of Joe’s was a doctor who had studied under Madame Curie, and he brought over tutors from the Basque country to teach his children Basque.  Joe had a lot of disposable income at the time, and had a lot of fun with it.  His two original Mexican Basque friends have since passed away.  Joe is still a member of the Basque Center in Mexico City, which he describes.

 

Tape 2

0-8:00             Joe recalls that there were almost 2 factions of Basques in the community in Mexico City, which he never really knew much about.  His first trip back to the Basque country was in 1949, when the region was still under Franco’s harsh rule.  He talks about meeting his relatives.  Joe remembers the poverty he saw, but he enjoyed his visit, even though he thought it was quite backward.  He has been back a total of 5 or 6 times, and says it is another world now, what with all the modernization.  Joe thinks the Basque culture is still going strong in Mexico City.

8-19:00           Joe mentions that his friends the Belaustegigoitias rented an apartment in Mexico City to lend to the Basque soldiers who came to Mexico until they had found jobs.  He describes the Basque social scene in Mexico, which is under threat from disinterested younger generations.  Joe mentions that every boarding house sold liquor during Prohibition when he was growing up; a way to make extra money and have some fun.  He then discusses prostitution.  He remembers one prostitute in particular people called “Crooked Nose Billie”.  There was also a building called Belmont Rooms, where prostitution went on.  Basques didn’t generally run these things, although Joe has heard rumors.  He continues listing some of the Basque families who lived around the area.  Boise seemed a lot quieter back then.  He recalls visiting friends and relatives out in the country when he was a boy.

19-30:00         Joe lists some of the occupations Basques held, including in the quarry, as barbers, sheepherders, boarding house owners, cobblers, etc.  Many Basques, including most of Joe’s family, are buried at Morris Creek Cemetery.  His family was largely anticlerical, but the kids still went to catechism and attended several parochial schools.  They started church at Good Shepherd, then moved to St. John’s, where many of his family members (who wed other Catholics) were married.  Having their children get an education was important for Joe’s parents, although they could not afford to think about college.  They instilled hard work ethic in Joe and his siblings.

 

Side 2

0-10:00           Joe and Patty chat for a bit about the Oral History Project.  He then continues talking about the different professions Basques held, including the Garatea taxi service, clerks in department stores, food service, bartenders, custodial work, ice makers and deliverers, etc.  Many Chinese delivered fresh vegetables, and Joe’s parents bought from them.  His mother always made bread, which Joe describes.  His aunt Hermengilda bought French bread for time reasons.  Lunch was never a social hour; people just went home.  Joe describes a typical lunch, as well as other foods.

10-18:00         Joe mentions his horrible skin allergies, which made him very unhappy as a child. He always wanted to be healthy, which he finally thinks he is now.  Joe plans to visit Boise a lot in the coming years, but doesn’t think he’ll move there.  Joe has always been very independent, and loves to travel.  He describes once renting an apartment in Mexico City with friends.  He has had a live-in maid for years, and so can’t cook now.

 

 

NAMES AND PLACES

NAMES:

‘Crooked Nose Billie’: Boise prostitute

‘Pantalones’: nickname for an old Chinese lady who lived near Grove Street

Arriola, Felipe: family friend

Belaustegoitias: family friends

Church, Franck: Idaho senator and presidential candidate

Curie, Madame: taught medicine in France

Franco, Francisco: Spanish dictator

Green, Emma: designed the Idaho State seal; lived on Grove Street

Hormaechea, Jay Uberuaga: Joe’s sister

Letamendi, Mary

Pittinger, Dr.: tended to many Basques

Uberuaga, Domingo: Joe’s uncle

Uberuaga, Hermengilda: Joe’s aunt

Uberuaga, José: Joe’s uncle

Uberuaga, Juan: Joe’s father

Uberuaga, Petra: Joe’s sister

Uberuaga, Phil: Joe’s brother

 

PLACES:

Basque Center (Boise)

Basque Center (Mexico City)

Basque Museum (Boise)

Belmont Rooms: housed prostitutes in Boise

Boise High School

Boise Junior College

Boise, ID

Central School: where Joe went as a boy

Good Shepherd Church: Boise Basque Church

Grove Street (Boise)

Mexico City, Mexico: Joe’s place of residence

Morris Creek Cemetery

St. John’s Cathedral (Boise)

 

THEMES:

Boarding houses

Bootlegging

Boxing

Clubs and organizations

Cooking

Education

Language

Prohibition

Prostitution

Religion

Spanish Civil War