Transcribed Audio Interview with Erwin Bloch

Interview with Erwin Bloch conducted by Marian J. Krzyzowski for the Chene Street History project 1/28/03 Beginning of Side A Tape 1 MK: This is Marian Krzyzowski, and I am here with Mr. Erwin Bloch in Royal Oak. Today is January 28, 2003 and we’re here to talk about Chene Street and the Chene Street neighborhood, and more specifically about his memories about his dad’s store and other businesses in the area. But to begin with, I’d like to first ask you a little bit about your family. Do you think you could tell me your mother and father’s names, where they were from originally, and how your family ended up in the Chene Street neighborhood. EB: Alright, my father’s name was Leo, my mother’s name was Jeanette. MK: Do you know her maiden name? EB: Banks. MK: ok EB: And my parents had four children. First my brother, Raymond, then my sister, Louise, then Erwin, myself, and then the baby was Edith. MK: And when were you born, what year were you born? EB: 1924. I was born at Children’s hospital, but we were at that time residing at the corner of Farnsworth and Chene, my grandmother owned the building. MK: What was the address, do you remember the address? Was it a Chene address or a Farnsworth address? EB: A Chene. MK: And which corner was it on? EB: It was the southeast corner MK: The southeast corner, ok. And your dad and mom, where were they from? EB: Mom was from Austria. She left the country when she was a young girl--8, 9, 10, in that age group. It was Austria when they left. It was in the early 1900s, like 1908, 1909, I’m not sure of the year, but right around in there. And then World War I broke out and 1 that part where my mother was from was taken away from Austria and given to Poland. My mother was from the province of Galicia. My father came from Hungary, I don’t know what town. He told me one time, but I didn’t realize how important it was for me to know that. I realize that now. A very intelligent man, he could speak five languages, fluently, and if you lived or especially if you had a business around Chene Street, you better know how to talk Polish. And they did, both of my parents did. MK: How’d they get from Europe, you said your mom came over here after WWI or before World War I? EB: Before. MK: And your dad, did he come before World War I? EB: That’s right. MK: And where did they meet? EB: They met at a wedding somewhere, I believe. I’m not one hundred percent sure of that, but I think that’s where they met. MK: In Detroit? EB: I don’t know. MK: Ok. Do you know when they came to Detroit? EB: Well, Mother came directly to Detroit. In fact, she went to high school, Central High School, which is now Wayne University. So where they lived in that area, it probably was close to the Hasting area. That was a Jewish section, originally. Dad was originally from Cleveland. The Bloch family settled in Cleveland. There’s some relationship in my mother’s family, like my grandmother was related to the Wolf family, which was-- MK: Meyer Wolf-- EB: Yes, and she was my grandmother. There was some relationship with the family. So it probably was at some wedding, and that’s where they met. MK: And they were both Jewish? EB: Oh yes. MK: And were they a particular branch of Judaism? Were they Conservative? Orthodox? Were they observant religiously? EB: They were religious people. Orthodox. 2 MK: Which temple did they belong to, what synagogue? EB: I don’t know the name of it, but it was on Farnsworth and, just above Hasting. Not too far from, like two blocks, or three blocks from Woodward and about two or three blocks from Hasting, and it was on Farnsworth. MK: When did they move to the Chene-Farnsworth address? EB: That was before my time, I don’t know, but-- MK: You said your grandmother owned that? EB: Owned the property, that corner, and we lived above the store. MK: Where did you move? EB: Two blocks, to 5444 Chene Street, and that’s where we stayed. I can tell you, maybe later on you want to know about the day we moved, what I remember. MK: Tell me about it, tell me now. EB: My mother and I were carrying a black shopping bag. That was the big thing in those days. She had one handle, I had the other, my toys were in there, and we were walking. We just crossed Farnsworth, and we were about the second store up, which is where my barber was, when a 1925 black Ford truck went by. There were two men in there, they were moving us, and my dad was sitting like with his feet on the running board, and he was smiling and waving. And I said, “Look Mom, there goes Daddy!” And when I later told that story to my father, he said, “You could not remember that. You were only two years old.” I said, “Dad, I remembered.” He said, “You heard us talk.” I said, “Dad, I remember it,” and I remember it! But from that step on to our house I don’t remember. But I remember in the old house, the Farnsworth house, going up the steps from the kitchen going upstairs, and I remember crawling up the steps, I remember that. But the rest of it is kind of a blank. MK: So your grandmother lived above there-- EB: We lived there! We lived above the Farnsworth-- MK: But she owned the building? EB: She owned the building. And I think my father and my grandmother did not get along too well, especially when he decided to move to another place, I don’t think she liked that too much. So-- MK: What was her name, what was your grandmother’s name? 3 EB: Leah Banks MK: Oh, they owned--yeah, I saw her name in here. EB: Her son took over the store after we moved, Isadore. MK: Yeah, Isadore and Leah Banks, I’ve got them on this list. EB: Yup, they’re the ones. MK: Let me show you--I was going to ask because I just added them on. Yeah, Isadore and Leah 5146. EB: Alright, that’s the address then. MK: Chene, so you originally lived at 5146. EB: Yeah, ok, I didn’t know the address until now. MK: Yeah, ok, so that was Bank’s Tobacco and Novelties. So then you guys moved in 1926 to 5544. EB: 5444. MK: 5444. EB: Right. MK: Ok. Can you describe either of those businesses? Let’s say I’m standing in front of 5444. You know, what do I see when I walk inside? What do I see--where are the counters, where’s the cash register, what’s where, what colors are things? EB: I can’t remember the Farnsworth store. That’s a complete blank. As you walked into 5444-- MK: In front, what would it look like? EB: I gotta picture! MK: That’s ok, for the record I want to have it on tape too. EB: Alright, it had a brick front and the rest of it was frame. The brick front was added in the thirties. MK: What color brick? 4 EB: I don’t remember. MK: I’m gonna ask you all these questions-- EB: Yeah, that’s ok. Uh, and as you walked in the door-- MK: Was it a two story? One story building? EB: Well we lived above the store-- MK: So it was a two story? EB: Two story. MK: And were there show windows out front? One show window? Two show windows? EB: Two. MK: So the entrance is going to be in the middle. EB: Yeah, right in the middle. And there was a row of seats to your right as you walked in there, and there was a row of seats to your left. The shoes, and it was all shoes, were stacked around the store...along the walls. And the register was, ok--where the store ended, our kitchen started. There was a kitchen downstairs, where my mother did her cooking, and where when we weren’t busy in the store, my dad would sometimes relax in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. Then upstairs we had a living room, dining room, and bedrooms. The register was, as you’re walking from the front of the store toward the back of the store, it was on the right hand side, and we had a Mail Pouch radio, I remember that. Mail Pouch was a chewing tobacco and for some publicity they made radios to advertise their product. And my dad got this radio from my Uncle Iz because he was in that business, in the tobacco business and novelties. That’s what he did, but somehow he got the radio and he asked my dad if he wanted it and he said absolutely. And we had that radio for years and years and years. And I don’t know what else to tell you. MK: Was it a wood floor? Did you have rugs or carpeting in there? EB: It was a wooden floor.

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