This is an interview for the Columbus Jewish Historical Society and it’s being conducted on August 10, 1999, as part of the Columbus Jewish Historical Society Oral History Project. The interview is being recorded at 2877 E. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio. My name is Don Shkolnik and I am interviewing Ethel Goldberg. Joyce Bloch is also here, my sister, and she is in charge of paper work and seeing that everything is in order and that we have a terrific interview this afternoon.
Interviewer: Okay. All right. The first question is when and where were you born? I see that you were born in Columbus, Ohio. I didn’t know that. And the year was?
Goldberg: 1919.
Interviewer: 1919. Okay. And where, what street? Do you remember?
Goldberg: Stanley Avenue. 562 Stanley Avenue. House is still there.
Interviewer: Is that the South Side?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Stanley Avenue, near Whittier?
Goldberg: Past Whittier . . . .
Interviewer: Okay. And I see on this sheet also that you went to Heyl Avenue School.
Goldberg: Right. Just a year or two.
Interviewer: That’s where Joyce and I went to school. We lived on Wilson Avenue.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Yep. 1282. So you just went a couple of years then to Heyl and then you moved to where?
Goldberg: Well from Stanley Avenue, just born there, I think we moved to Parsons Avenue when I was little.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: That didn’t include school I don’t think.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: The school I went to was Livingston Avenue School.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: And then Roosevelt Junior High.
Interviewer: Yeah. You lived on Parsons? Was it near Livingston or further south?
Goldberg: On Parsons and was it Forest? It was 840 Parsons Avenue. 827. Then I must have been north of Livingston, probably closer to Main.
Bloch: It was between Livingston and Whittier I would say.
Interviewer: Well it was south then of Livingston. Okay. All right. Okay and the next location after Parsons was what?
Goldberg: We lived on Washington but that was when I was very young and I don’t remember . . . . But from Parsons, we went to Ann Street, Ann Street, 777. I remember all those numbers.
Interviewer: 777 Ann.
Goldberg: From there, went to 698 Ann Street.
Interviewer: Okay. So you stayed in the same . . . .
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: general area there south of Livingston?
Goldberg: Uh huh. And from 698 we went to 838 S. 18th Street.
Interviewer: 18th Street is real close also. Yeah.
Goldberg: Uh huh. And that’s where I was married from, 18th.
Interviewer: And you went to Heyl Avenue and then to Roosevelt . . . .
Goldberg: To Livingston Elementary.
Interviewer: Oh I’m sorry, Livingston Elementary. Okay.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And then?
Goldberg: Junior High.
Interviewer: Roosevelt Junior High. And South High School?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Do you remember anything about your school days, bad times, good times?
Goldberg: I know I was afraid to go to school. If I was late, I was afraid to go to school. I would run back home I think.
Interviewer: You were afraid that the teachers would punish you?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Well that’s interesting. Okay.
Goldberg: I remember having a very tough teacher that, we just shook with fear. Violent.
Interviewer: Yeah that was a grade school teacher?
Goldberg: Uh huh. Ruth Ellman. Uh huh. Livingston Avenue.
Interviewer: Okay. Okay, I see from this sheet that you have a nickname which I didn’t know, Eddie?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Is that what your friends call you?
Goldberg: Well most of my family call me that. Yeah.
Interviewer: How did you get that nickname? Do you remember?
Goldberg: No. They just started calling me Eddie or Ettie.
Interviewer: Oh it was with a "t" but you spelled it with a "d"?
Goldberg: Well it was both names.
Interviewer: Both names?
Goldberg: They called Ettie or Eddie.
Interviewer: Huh. Okay. Interesting. Do you know who you’re named after?
Goldberg: I don’t know if it’s from my father’s side. I really have no recollection.
Interviewer: Okay. Okay.
Goldberg: Might have been from, I know, I’m pretty sure it’s from my father’s side.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. All right. Did you hear your parents or grandparents talk about . . . . .
Goldberg: I never knew my grandparents.
Interviewer: You didn’t know your grandparents at all? So were your parents first generation? Were they born in Europe?
Goldberg: In Russia.
Interviewer: In Russia. Okay. Did they talk at all about their life in Russia?
Goldberg: Not too much that I can recall, I mean, you know, it was hard times for them, I know.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Not like here. But my father came here in 1904 and then my mother came here in 1906.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Were they married in Russia?
Goldberg: I think they were married in Russia.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Do you know what town or city?
Goldberg: I should have had Fagel here. She would know. It’s something the two of us . . . . But she sort of knew . . . . But the older ones, they knew, like my older sister and my brother Pat.
Interviewer: Uh huh. You were the youngest in your family?
Goldberg: No the next to the youngest.
Interviewer: Next to the youngest? And how many brothers and sisters?
Goldberg: There were three girls and three boys. Well it was really four boys. One died a year before I was born.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. So the others were older and they talked to your parents more about their early lives and . . . .
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Did you hear anything about the . . . .
Goldberg: I know my father used to always send money to his family you know, over there.
Interviewer: He still had family once he was over here?
Goldberg: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Interviewer: Did you know anything about their trip over here, how they came and did they go through Ellis Island? Most people did.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: But they didn’t really talk about that?
Goldberg: You see I hardly . . . . you know. I guess there were things brought up but I don't seem to recall them very much.
Interviewer: And do you know if they came straight to Columbus from New York?
Goldberg: Well my father came through Circleville.
Interviewer: Circleville?
Goldberg: Uh huh. He had an uncle there. He had an uncle.
Interviewer: Okay. And do you know what kind of work he was doing there?
Goldberg: In the auto parts . . . . junk yard, stuff like that. Wait a minute. I don’t know if that was there or not. It might have been just a . . . . or two.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: I don’t know if he had a junk yard there or not. I don’t . . . .
Interviewer: So do you know when he came to Columbus?
Goldberg: Well it must not have been there very long because all the children were born here in Columbus.
Interviewer: They were? Uh huh. Uh huh.
Goldberg: Uh huh. So he must not have been there very long. I don’t even know if my mother came to Circleville or not or if she came straight . . . .
Interviewer: Because she came a couple of years later?
Goldberg: Yeah. Uh huh.
Interviewer: She might have been in Russia while he was in Circleville?
Goldberg: Yeah. Uh huh.
Interviewer: And then when he came to Columbus, do you know what kind of work that he did?
Goldberg: He always had a junk yard and auto parts.
Interviewer: Junk yard? Uh huh. Do you know what end of town? Was he on the South Side of it?
Goldberg: No, huh uh. He was on East Fifth Avenue.
Interviewer: East Fifth Avenue? Okay. Not too far then. And he was, is that downtown?
Goldberg: No, it’s past downtown.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, I mean in terms of how far east. Was it, it must have been fairly close to downtown I would think?
Goldberg: It was, well Fifth Avenue and like in between High Street and Fourth Street.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Uh huh.
Goldberg: . . . . that.
Interviewer: Yeah because the town wasn’t that big that many years ago. Okay. And I remember my father had a very thick accent. I don’t know if you remember that.
Goldberg: Huh uh.
Interviewer: Did your father also in . . . .
Goldberg: You know, my mother did. I can’t remember my father having too much of an accent.
Interviewer: Really?
Goldberg: As much as my mother.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So they spoke Russian, Yiddish?
Goldberg: Yiddish. We didn’t understand Russian then.
Interviewer: Okay. Did you pick up quite a bit?
Goldberg: I can answer back in Jewish but we mostly, the younger ones, answered in English and the older ones answered in Jewish.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: But we didn’t, the younger ones.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Goldberg: Three younger ones and three older ones.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: But we understood everything they said in Jewish.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: But not in Russian.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay.
Goldberg: When they wanted to keep something from us they spoke in Russian.
Interviewer: (Laughs) I think that’s what our folks did too. Yeah. Okay. So let me see, what’s next here. Well let me ask what you, you say you went to South High?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And do you remember if you worked at all while you were going to South High School?
Goldberg: We baby sat most of the time.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And that.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: And yeah, we did, while we were in school we worked at Gilbert’s Shoe Company.
Interviewer: Did you?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Well I’ll be darned.
Goldberg: I think that’s while we were in school.
Interviewer: Okay. And then you graduated and well let me ask you this, when did you meet Hy?
Goldberg: Hy? I met Hy in ’3-, let me see, in my last year of school, ’37 I think it was, in high school.
Interviewer: Okay so you did, now you spell Hy H-Y?
Goldberg: Yes.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: Hyman.
Interviewer: Hyman. So you were a senior in high school?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And . . . .
Goldberg: He was out of school.
Interviewer: He was out of school? Did your families know each other?
Goldberg: I don’t think so, no.
Interviewer: So how did you meet?
Goldberg: Well he just called me for a date.
Interviewer: (Laughter) So it wasn’t a fix-up with your friends and his friends. He just . . . .
Goldberg: Just called me.
Interviewer: Just called you? Okay.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: All right. And so you were probably 17, 18?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And he was?
Goldberg: About a year older.
Interviewer: Just a year or so older. Okay. And then how long were you going together before you got married?
Goldberg: Well I got married in 1940. But I was going off and on with him, you know, not, I was dating other fellows.
Interviewer: Yeah, okay. So you got married in 1940 and where did you get married?
Goldberg: In Covington, Kentucky.
Interviewer: Covington, Kentucky? So you went there because that was a . . . .
Goldberg: . . . . like we ran away and got married.
Interviewer: resort?
Goldberg: It wasn’t a resort. It was a place where you could go to get married right away, you know.
Interviewer: Okay, okay. What . . . . there, nightclubs and . . . .
Voice: . . . .
Goldberg: Well that nightclub in Kentucky. Everybody used to go there.
Mixed voices
Goldberg: Beverly Hills.
Interviewer: Yeah that’s what I’m thinking about. Was that Covington or was that . . . .
Goldberg: No it wasn’t Covington.
Interviewer: Not Covington? Okay. Okay. So you just went to Covington because you wanted to get married quickly? So did lots of people go with you?
Goldberg: Just my cousin, Louie Gurevitz and his wife. They went with us and they were supposed to be like our witnesses but they couldn’t because they were cousins.
Interviewer: Okay. So did you have, so you didn’t have a Maid of Honor, a best man and all that sort of thing?
Goldberg: Just when I came home, they belled me. With pots and pans.
Interviewer: Oh on the car?
Goldberg: No in the house when I came in the house.
Interviewer: On the house?
Goldberg: In the house.
Interviewer: So what did your parents say about this?
Goldberg: They didn’t care.
Interviewer: They didn’t care?
Goldberg: In fact my mother and dad were in New York at the time I believe. Yeah, I mean, I’d been going with Hy for a number of years.
Interviewer: Yeah. So everybody got along and okay. You remember anything else about the wedding?
Goldberg: Well when we were driving up to Cincinnati, or to where we were going, we got stopped by the cops for speeding. Not my husband but Louie Gurevitz and, but my husband talked them out of it. He showed them the ring and told them we were going to get married.
Interviewer: Oh . . . .
Goldberg: Got my ring.
Interviewer: Yeah. So you ran into a sympathetic policeman?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: That’s very nice. Okay. Well from the time you graduated high school, did you continue to work at Gilbert’s Shoes or somewhere else?
Goldberg: I worked at Blonder’s. Well I was working at Gilbert’s in the office when I got married and because I didn’t tell them I was going away to get married, so they let me go ’cause I didn’t let them know.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And then I worked at Blonder’s Wall Paper in the office, different places. But after I got married, my husband didn’t want me to work.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: So I didn’t work.
Interviewer: Okay. Okay. So you married in ’40 you say? Did Hy go into the army?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: He did?
Goldberg: Yeah he went in either ’43 or ’44, if I, it might have been ’43.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Let’s see, I got pregnant with Billy and when he left, I didn’t know I was pregnant but I was. And I didn’t see him until he was almost three years old.
Interviewer: Wow. So where was he stationed?
Goldberg: He was first stationed in Florida and then he went to, they sent him right away to Italy and also to North Africa.
Interviewer: Hmmm. Uh huh. Do you know what he did with his . . . .
Goldberg: Worked in the office most of the time.
Interviewer: Okay. Supplies or clerical?
Goldberg: Clerical.
Interviewer: Clerical? Uh huh. Okay. Okay. So he left and for the army and where were you living at that time?
Goldberg: Well I went back, I think I was living with my sister Ethel at that time or no, it might have been an apartment and then I went back home to stay at home.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: With my parents.
Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. Where were they living?
Goldberg: On 18th Street.
Interviewer: On 18th? Okay. All right. So what do you remember about the war, if anything?
Goldberg: Well I know I used to bake a lot of stuff to send them and everything. I had bad teeth and I was all broken out and I used to do those packages for my brother and him and one time I sent him two Cokes over to Italy. Instead of drinking them, he raffled them off to make money off of them. (Laughter) Then he also took pictures of a lot of the fellows that, you know, went up in their planes and were killed and I used to, he used to send them home to me and I’d develop them and send them to the people that he, the ones in the pictures.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: He made money that way too.
Interviewer: Hmmm. Okay. Was he ever in combat?
Goldberg: No, he was, you know, near the lines but he was never in combat.
Interviewer: So he never was really in danger or unless a real disaster might strike? So he wrote you routinely, I assume?
Goldberg: Oh yeah. And then I had a code with him of knowing where he was. That’s when he was sent over, you know.
Interviewer: You’re saying that you’re not supposed to know where he was but you had some kind of a code that he would write in a letter and you could tell? Do you remember how that worked?
Goldberg: It was the first letter of each paragraph. That would spell it out.
Interviewer: The first letter in the paragraph would spell what? The country or the town?
Goldberg: Well it would spell it out like North Africa or Italy.
Interviewer: I’ll be darned. And that’s how he . . . .
Goldberg: . . . . or wherever it was.
Interviewer: that’s how he got by the censors? Well I’ll be darned. That’s interesting. So okay, so he came home in what year then?
Goldberg: Well he was gone almost three years.
Interviewer: Three years? So that would have been ’45, ’46?
Goldberg: Uh huh, uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. So Billy was born in ’43? Right?
Goldberg: Uh huh. See Billy’s 56.
Interviewer: Fifty-six? He’s two years younger than I am. Okay. And were the twins next?
Goldberg: No, Gary.
Interviewer: Gary?
Goldberg: After Billy. He was born about two and a half, three years later.
Interviewer: Okay. And was ’4-?
Goldberg: ’4- . . . .
Interviewer: ’46, ’47?
Goldberg: ’46.
Interviewer: Okay so that’s the first child after Hy got back from the army?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. And Sherry is next?
Goldberg: Yeah. Uh huh.
Interviewer: And she was born?
Goldberg: In ’48.
Interviewer: In ’48? And then the twins are the youngest?
Goldberg: Yeah, they were born in ’56.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay.
Goldberg: I lost a baby too, well a miscarriage I had.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. All right. Now let me go back here a bit. I see that I wanted to cover something that I didn’t. The Depression. What do you remember about the Depression?
Goldberg: Well I’ll tell you . . . .
Interviewer: You were . . . .
Goldberg: Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as with the elders ’cause we were young, you know, younger, and we didn’t really suffer too badly. I mean I guess we did in a certain sense but not knowingly. And, you know, the burden was more on the older ones and . . . .
Interviewer: Uh huh. Well how did it affect your folks? Your dad had a business.
Goldberg: Yeah, he had a business . . . . You know I can’t say that it affected him very badly but I know he bought this house on 18th Street and we lived in there. And as I say, I don’t remember being, having a Depression so badly.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Do you remember, you mentioned your dad might have been a peddler? There were peddlers all the time. Now there might have been more peddlers but . . . .
Goldberg: Well he . . . . I don’t know if he was a peddler here in Columbus.
Interviewer: Oh that might have been . . . .
Goldberg: Might have been before or maybe even early, you know, before we were even born . . . . he might have been a peddler.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: But I only know him from being on Fifth Avenue.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. All rights. Okay, let’s see. So you were in Columbus on the South Side for most of your early life. Did most of your friends live in the same area?
Goldberg: Yeah, all my life.
Interviewer: There was a Jewish Community Center?
Goldberg: Yeah, Jewish Center. Well that was on Rich Street.
Interviewer: It was on Rich Street?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: What was the name of that?
Goldberg: Schonthal Center.
Interviewer: Schonthal. Yeah. We’ve got some pictures of that.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. And were there any traditions or celebrations like parades or something that you can recall?
Goldberg: I just remember when I was little, when we lived on Parsons Avenue, it wasn’t really a parade exactly but it was the Klu Klux Klan marching down the street.
Interviewer: I’ll be darned.
Goldberg: And I think that’s what, I always had a fear of ghosts, you know, mother, and I was always frightened by that and I used to see them, you know, the ghost doll covered in white and I think I related it back to that ’cause my parents, my mother always put this out of the street, you know, to get away from there. And I always, I hadn’t even realized it, but I think that’s what maybe did that to me.
Interviewer: Uh huh. So you were what, ten or younger at the time?
Goldberg: Younger. Yeah.
Interviewer: Younger than ten?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And was their target blacks or Jews or both?
Goldberg: I guess at the time I really didn’t know who they were targeting.
Interviewer: Well they hate lots of people but . . . .
Goldberg: This was the Jews and the colored.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. So this was on the South Side or was it?
Goldberg: Yeah, when we lived on South Parsons.
Interviewer: On South Parsons? I’ll be darned. So this had to be in the 1920s then?
Goldbeerg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Hmmm. I never heard that.
Goldberg: Well they’d been in power for a long time.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting. Well okay. Was your family involved, I’m not doing this chronologically as well as I should be but let me ask you, was your family involved with the synagogue extensively?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: And . . . .
Goldberg: My father at one time was President of the synagogue.
Interviewer: Was he?
Goldberg: Yes.
Interviewer: And what synagogue is that?
Goldberg: Agudas Achim.
Interviewer: Agudas Achim? Okay. So you did lots of things, suppers and activities for kids you’re involved in that the synagogue organized?
Goldberg: We used to, yeah we used to go to the synagogue every Saturday.
Interviewer: Every Saturday, yeah? And during the week also?
Goldberg: No.
Interviewer: But every Saturday?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. Okay now we’re skipping ahead a little. 1948, the State of Israel was established. Do you remember that?
Goldberg: . . . .
Interviewer: Was that an important event in your family? Did they celebrate?
Goldberg: We were very happy for it ’cause my father had one nephew that migrated to Israel, that he found.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: He did come to visit my dad, my dad and his brother. But my parents, I don’t know if my dad went with my mother or his second wife to Israel. I don’t remember. Might have been his second wife.
Interviewer: So he went to Israel in ’48 or . . . .
Goldberg: No after that.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And he was a Zionist?
Goldberg: . . . .
Interviewer: Okay. Okay. All right. Do you have any memories of Presidents of the United States? Truman?
Goldberg: Roosevelt. Yeah.
Interviewer: What do you remember? Who’s the first one you remember? Truman or Roosevelt?
Goldberg: Roosevelt.
Interviewer: What do you remember about him?
Goldberg: Well we always used to listen to him and always thought highly of him.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: He was a good President and always used to listen to his speeches and everything.
Interviewer: Uh huh. The Fireside Chats?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Yeah. Listen. Okay my sister wants to know, since you’re mainly living on the South Side for so many years, who were your friends on the South Side?
Goldberg: Oh I have to, the Calloway girls, Fannie Feldman Nussgard . . . . Esther Pass.
Interviewer: Esther Pass?
Goldberg: It’s not the one that’s living.
Interviewer: She’s such a good friend of Joyce’s.
Goldberg: Is she?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Goldberg: This is another Esther Pass that I knew. Passed away when she was very young. . . . related I would think? But and, had a lot of friends really. Sippy Kroll was . . . . .
Interviewer: Maybe we ought to get some spellings here.
Goldberg: Kroll. Sippy, well Sylvia Kroll.
Interviewer: And the last name is?
Goldberg: Kroll, K-R-O-L-L.
Interviewer: K-R-O-L-L.
Goldberg: They had this Jewish delicatessen. It was the best corned beef in town.
Interviewer: Hmmm. And what was it called?
Goldberg: I think Kroll’s.
Interviewer: Kroll’s. And this is what, before the war?
Goldberg: Oh yeah.
Interviewer: Okay. I don’t remember that.
Goldberg: Uh huh. Yeah ’cause I think we lived on 18th Street then.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. Now who, you mentioned a Feldman?
Goldberg: Feldman.
Interviewer: And the first name was?
Goldberg: Fannie.
Interviewer: Fannie Feldman. Okay. And there was someone else that I didn’t . . . .
Goldbereg: Calloway, Sarah Calloway.
Interviewer: Calloway. Well that’s easy to spell. But there was someone else that, whose name might have been difficult.
Goldberg: Esther Pass?
Interviewer: Well that’s easy. Okay. Okay. And then our Aunt Lill, you were good friends.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Right?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. And okay. It’s time to turn over the tape.
Joyce: Not yet.
Interviewer: In five minutes? All right. Okay so let me move back to Hy and, he came back from the war in ’46 probably and what kind of work did he do?
Goldberg: Well he had saved up enough money that he went in business with his friend George Goldberg. They opened up a tavern.
Interviewer: Goldberg?
Goldberg: George Goldberg.
Interviewer: Okay. And where was the tavern?
Goldberg: On Barthman and Parsons. That was right near where Schottenstein’s are now.
Interviewer: Oh okay.
Goldberg: The department store.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Uh huh. And how long did he have that?
Goldberg: He had it five, six years, I can’t remember.
Interviewer: Oh that long? Okay. And then after five or six years?
Goldberg: He went in business with, I don’t know if he went, he had a place that he bought that he used to steam clean parts of the car. I forget what parts they did, whether it was the mufflers or what. They used to do steam cleaning. Then he had that, he went in business with Alex Clowson also. They had a nightclub like and a tavern also together.
Interviewer: Now this wasn’t the place on Broad Street?
Goldberg: No.
Interviewer: No?
Goldberg: This was on Hoffman Park and Third.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: Across the street from where he used to be on Parsons.
Interviewer: I remember Alex Clowson had a place where Wendy’s is now.
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: On Broad Street. And then that’s . . . .
Goldberg: No Hy was . . . .
Interviewer: much later. Much later. This was earlier?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: This was the 50s probably you’re talking about?
Goldberg: And then Hy went into a muffler place.
Interviewer: So did he start the muffler store himself or with someone else?
Goldberg: By himself.
Interviewer: Okay. So what year would you say he started the muffler place?
Goldberg: Late 50s. Probably was or later.
Interviewer: Even might have been the 60s. And that’s the business that he kept for really the rest of his life.
Goldberg: Uh huh. Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay so he did well in business? Each of the businesses or were the others kind of difficult?
Goldberg: Just that one steam cleaning place. He lost money there on that.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: But that’s really the only one. He always did well.
Interviewer: Okay so when, when he came back from the army, where did you live?
Goldberg: I lived on 18th with my parents.
Interviewer: Okay but when he bought a house?
Goldberg: Yeah. Well we stayed there for about a year I think.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And then we bought a house on Geers Avenue.
Interviewer: On Geers? Still there on the South Side. And how many years did you live there?
Goldberg: Not too many. About three years or so.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: . . . . another house on Chelsea. In fact, each of my kids were born in different houses.
Interviewer: Is that right? Okay. So you moved around quite a bit?
Goldberg: Uh huh. We did.
Interviewer: So is that also on the South Side?
Goldberg: Where? Chelsea? No, that’s in Bexley.
Interviewer: Okay. So you moved to Bexley, do you remember approximately when?
Goldberg: No, I’m afraid not, in ’4--- . . . .
Interviewer: Oh now I know what street you’re talking about.
Goldberg: ’Cause Sherry was born there. She’s 48. Yeah, I mean but she was in ’48 so I was there before ’48.
Interviewer: Okay so ’4--, 7 or so. Okay. You moved to Bexley in ’47 or ’48? Were lots of Jews moving at the time from the South Side to Bexley?
Goldberg: Yeah, uh huh.
Interviewer: Or were you one of the first?
Goldberg: No there were others there.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Did any of your relatives or friends move to Bexley and that sort of got you thinking about that move?
Goldberg: No, but because of the, I don’t know, just the idea that the schools were best, you know, and that’s where the Jewish community was going . . . .
Interviewer: I think we moved, what was I, fifth grade? It seems that that was a pattern from the South Side to Bexley.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. And what was your next move?
Goldberg: From Chelsea?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Goldberg: That’s when he lost that money in his business. We went back to, my father had a double on Berkeley Road. We moved there. And we were there for a few years and then I moved back to Bexley on Bryden Road.
Interviewer: On Bryden? Uh huh.
Goldberg: And then from Bryden, we went to your house.
Interviewer: Bryden to Roosevelt? Okay. Gee I ought to know when that move was. I think . . . .
Goldberg: My children were about six years old ’cause they were going to start school.
Interviewer: . . . .
Goldberg: Yeah. And they’re 43 now I think or, wait a minute, 44, 43, 43, they’re 43. So that was well six years later, so it would be ’49.
Interviewer: ’59?
Goldberg: ’59.
Interviewer: Right. ’Cause I graduated high school at Bexley and then I think we moved shortly, shortly after that, ’59 or ’60, or around there. So you were on Merkle until when?
Goldberg: Well he died in ’73 and I stayed for another year there and then I pulled out.
Interviewer: Okay. And then where did you move?
Goldberg: Bexley House.
Interviewer: Okay from there to the Bexley House.
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. All right. Well I think we’ll stop here and turn over the tape and maybe skip . . . .
Interviewer: Okay this is side 2 of the first tape, interview of Ethel Goldberg. My name is Don Shkolnik and my sister Joyce Shkolnik Bloch is doing the facilitation. Okay. Now this question is about travel and what you remember about your experience traveling. So when you were a young child, did you travel with your family?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Where did you go?
Goldberg: I remember going to Magnetic Springs with my parents.
Interviewer: Now how do you spell that?
Goldberg: Magnetic Springs.
Interviewer: Magnetic, Magnetic Springs, okay.
Goldberg: And I’m trying to, different places, to New York, to Cleveland, went to Cleveland a lot.
Interviewer: Did you have relatives in these places that . . . .
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: reason you chose those, or your parents chose those?
Goldberg: Yeah, uh huh.
Interviewer: Yeah. Did you like to travel?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: And . . . .
Goldberg: To this day yet.
Interviewer: Okay and they were good experiences, positive? You enjoyed it?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. And so as a teenager, did you do any traveling on your own?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Without your parents, maybe with friends?
Goldberg: Uh huh. Yeah.
Interviewer: What do you remember? Where did . . . .
Goldberg: Went to Florida.
Interviewer: Went to Florida? With teenage friends?
Goldberg: With my sister-in-law Lill.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: . . . . and we went to, we used to go to Buckeye Lake, if you call that out-of-town.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Goldberg: And Cincinnati, Dayton, and I’m trying to think of some other . . . . I don’t know. Indiana.
Interviewer: Indiana? Okay. So after Hy came home from the war, what do you remember? What are some of the places that you went as a family?
Goldberg: Oh we used to go to, we went to Canada.
Interviewer: Whereabouts?
Goldberg: Toronto.
Interviewer: Toronto?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Drove?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And Cleveland. And we used to take Gary to a certain camp, a diabetic camp. It was oh, outside of Cleveland, I think.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And we used to go to Cincinnati a lot, Coney Island there. Take the kids.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And we’ve been on a lot of trips with the kids.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Different places.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Did you ever, well you mentioned Canada. Did you ever go anywhere else out of the country?
Goldberg: I don’t think so. I can’t recall.
Interviewer: Most of the trips were by car?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Did you ever take a plane trip?
Goldberg: I can’t recall too much?
Interviewer: Okay. All right. Okay. What were some of the more pleasant memories that you have of let’s say, once the kids were, once you had your family? What were some of the highlights of your life?
Goldberg: Well traveling was one of, you know, a good thing. When they graduated to, from pre-school.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: High school and that and their Bar Mitzvah . . . .
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And our anniversary. You know, when we had our anniversary, we always did something. And what else? I can’t think too much.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Did you and Hy go off by yourselves?
Goldberg: Yeah.
Interviewer: Where did you go?
Goldberg: We went to New York, to Florida. Went on a cruise, Puerto Rico and San Juan and those places.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: And then we went places. Went to London, London, England. And I can’t think. But we did travel a lot.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: We used to take the kids, you know, on certain vacations. And then we’d go ourselves.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. I see you’ve worked for Cerebral Palsy. What . . . .
Goldberg: I started a branch. I had a little sorority from school. It wasn’t a regular sorority. But we turned it into a branch of Cerebral Palsy. We started a branch with that.
Interviewer: Did you have an office?
Goldberg: Huh uh.
Interviewer: What sort of things did you do?
Goldberg: We met at girls’ houses and we raised the money and did volunteer work a lot for the boys and that.
Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. And then also for B’nai B’rith and Hadassah. What did you do for those two organizations?
Goldberg: I don’t remember too much. Was active but didn’t do a whole lot. Maybe some fund raising.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Raising money for helping them.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. And you have Council of Jewish Women.
Goldberg: I belonged to that. I did some volunteer work at the State Hospital.
Interviewer: What did you do? Talk to patients?
Goldberg: Yeah we’d talk to them and help them.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Did things.
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: . . . . horrifying experience there.
Interviewer: Yeah. I would agree. And you say the City of Hope. What is that?
Goldberg: City of hope, that’s, I don’t know if I was, I belonged to that, yeah, but I don’t think I was too active with that.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: I was more active in that Cerebral Palsy, you know.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: We did a lot of volunteer work for that Cerebral Palsy.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever work with Hy or not in his business?
Goldberg: Not really.
Interviewer: No?
Goldberg: Huh uh.
Interviewer: Okay. So you mainly . . . .
Goldberg: Was at home.
Interviewer: were at home raising the children?
Goldberg: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay. And what did you do for fun at that time? Play cards?
Goldberg: Oh I may have played Maj.
Interviewer: Maj?
Goldberg: Uh huh. And we’d go to shows, you know and dances or group things. What they’d have, affairs.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay. All right. How many grandchildren do you have?
Goldberg: I have eight.
Interviewer: Eight? And . . . .
Goldberg: Two great.
Interviewer: Two great grandchildren? So Billie has how many children?
Goldberg: He has two.
Interviewer: He has two?
Goldberg: Three . . . . from the first marriage.
Interviewer: Okay. Three.
Interviewer: And the other?
Goldberg: Joanie has three.
Interviewer: Joanie has three?
Goldberg: Sherry has none. And Jan is not married. Do you know of a nice girl he’d like to go out with? (Laughter) And Gary had two.
Interviewer: Gary had two? Okay. And the great-grandchildren are?
Goldberg: They’re little.
Interviewer: But their parents are who?
Goldberg: From Gary.
Interviewer: From Gary? Okay. Okay. All right. You mentioned politics a little. Let me ask about religion. Do you still go to the shul?
Goldberg: No.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Okay.
Goldberg: Lately I haven’t gone for a while but I usually did go on Saturday.
Interviewer: Do you still consider yourself religious?
Goldberg: Well I keep all the holidays and I observe in my home. I have a kosher home.
Interviewer: Okay. What advice would you give to your children and grandchildren?
Goldberg: Well I don’t know. I must have given them good advice ’cause the one, he’s always acknowledging me that what I did for him, you know. I don’t know, I was always honest with them. I always liked to be there for them and always listened to them and talked with them. That I did.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Uh huh.
Goldberg: And they could always come to me, you know, for different things, problems or stuff, and I would listen to them.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: I think it helps, I think a lot, by being able to converse with your children in knowing what’s going on or everything like that.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: Big help.
Interviewer: Yeah. What would you say, how was your relationship with Hy together? What . . . .
Goldberg: Well one thing we always did our things together, you know. But seldom he’d like maybe go to a poker game or something like that. But we mostly shared things together, is what we did.
Interviewer: Is this true of your children too with their spouses?
Goldberg: Well two of them are divorced.
Interviewer: Two of them are divorced? But they learned the value of being open and talking to . . . .
Goldberg: Their children.
Interviewer: their children and spouses. So it sounds like you really passed some good things on to them.
Goldberg: Well I hope so.
Interviewer: And they say that they’re proud of you and the way they were raised. Okay.
Goldberg: They’re very good children and they’re very concerned and very, you know, they keep in touch with me all the time.
Interviewer: Uh huh. Well that’s . . . .
Goldberg: On a regular basis.
Interviewer: Yeah. That’s the real test, is what they do rather than what they say.
Goldberg: Oh yeah. They’re there in a minute’s time and like I say, they share with me, you know, everything. I mean just once, in my youngest son, he can get me on the phone for hour after hour and talk. We can talk for hours.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Goldberg: He does. He’s a good talker and he’s a good listener. . . . . a good boy. We never had any trouble with him . . . .
Interviewer: Okay.
Goldberg: The same thing for Billy. Gary.
Interviewer: Okay. Let me ask for your final word for this official record we’re taping now. What would you like your final word to be?
Goldberg: Well I think it’s a wonderful thing that they have records like this, you know, for people to be able to go back to see and to keep your faith up with the Jewish part of it is important, to know that I’m still Jewish and I remain that way and will continue, I guess for the rest of my life. And well now, I enjoy doing this. I mean it makes you feel good that, you know, that someone has come out to care about you enough to find out about you.
Interviewer: Okay. Well thank you very much.
Goldberg: You’re welcome.
Interviewer: This concludes the interview.
Goldberg: Okay.
* * *
Transcribed by Honey Abramson
