Mr. Chapralis: My name is Costa Chapralis. I say, I say it slowly because my experience’s been that most American people, Costa doesn’t. . . . It’s not a very common name and in Spanish it means “coast.” Costa Chapralis. And I’m a schoolteacher. I have taught for over thirty-six years. I have an elementary and a secondary credential. And I have many experiences in teaching.

Interviewer: OK. Uh, well, since you’re from Greece, can you explain a little bit about the different cultures, Greece and the United States?

Mr. Chapralis: I came when I was almost fourteen. And I only knew two words: “milk” and “water.” And God knows how I pronounced them. Uh, I really only knew that we’re going to go to California. And we, we were on board the ship for seventeen days and then we were on the train for another six or seven to come to Los Angeles. Uh, I had, from sharing with people in Greece, I, from what they’re, people’s, what people were saying and their actions, that it was a fabulous place to move to. And being that I was an American citizen because my dad was an American citizen, I was really looking forward to come to the United States.

Interviewer: And were you very happy to be here from the start?

Mr. Chapralis: It was a big shock.

Interviewer: It was a big shock.

Mr. Chapralis: It was a big shock, it was a big shock. I was born, because of the war, in a small village so that . . . we lived in a village because . . . so that we could have, uh, we could raise our own crops and have food to eat because. . . . Uh, it was during the war and then after the war Greece had its own civil war with the communists, and if it wasn’t for the Marshall Plan, uh, it would have been very difficult. Greece may have become a communist state. When I came to the United States, just at the train station in New York, I was amazed! The lights, the. . . the, just it was daylight twenty-four hours a day! The people! Uh, I didn’t hear very much people because people received us. And we went to Chicago. We stayed for a couple of days in Chicago with relatives. And then we got on board the train to come to Los Angeles. Uh, I had never been that long on the train. I saw different climates. I saw very cold, very, very cold, uh, then very bleak it gets. It was trees, no leaves and it was in March. And then finally we arrived in Los Angeles. And we were amazed, I mean the reception was wonderful because. . . . The green, the wonderful,uh, the relatives. The train station in Los Angeles, not as big as the one in New York, but it was, it was wonderful.

Interviewer: Was it the Union Station?

Mr. Chapralis: Union Station. Uh, we were received by relatives. We went to their house, which was South Central Los Angeles, which now has changed.