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We moved from Honolulu Hawaii in 1947 for several reasons. First of
all, all of my brothers and sisters were on the mainland United States
and wanted Mama and Papa to be with them. I followed to have an architectural
education. I was no longer enamored of engineering. So in 1947 November
my wife and two boys came to Los Angeles. My biggest endeavor was to find
a job. Thats right! Thats kind of... was an interesting experience. In
1947 there were no Asians in architect offices in downtown Los Angeles.
As far as I know, in most of the United States! So I met with some engineers
that I worked with in Hawaii and after chatting with them I realized that
there was not a ghost of a chance that I could get a job simply by applying.
So I hit on an idea quite prevalent today but at that time unusual. Which
was a resume. Sort of a resume! It was a hand drawn and hand written document
of about six pages, which illustrated my drafting abilities in electrical
engineering, structural engineering, architectural details, and some civil,
and introducing myself and my family, and so on. I just dropped these at
the architectural offices, eight or ten of them. And they would always
say, Mr. Hyun! You look like a very fine candidate, but unfortunately you
lack local experience! So wed like to hire you but its not possible for
your lack of experience! Anyway I left them this brochure which would be
in their hands. And lo & behold! In about a week or ten days I started
to get phone calls! Asking me to come in! I took a job with the then American
Institute of Architects Los Angeles chapter. I practiced my employment
by getting into office about 20 or 30 minutes early to get ready for work
and meet everybody. I beat the president to work every day, and he left
before me. So as a result of my attitude, I persuaded him to get me into
the USC School of Architecture. And then I persuaded him to help me with
my problems. there were some evenings when my problems had more architects
working on it than the regular jobs!
So I say this to indicate that... We dont have to rest with prejudice. That we can change things. That we can do it without fuss and bother. We can do it in just an ordinary human way.
Copyright 1996 Korean American Museum |
ReViewing
Our Past: Tracing Family Histories