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Thursday, March 6,1980, Adar 18, 5740, The Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh-9 H' 'N J Desegregation & the Schools but to encourage peaceful im­ and synagogues for discipline, esegregation and the Pitts­ hand were Father John "Unger, support, and guidance." burgh Public Schools—how Dean of the Catholic Central plementation of such a plan when Dto do it smoothly, peacefully, Deanery of Pittsburgh; The Rev. adopted and to encourage con­ The school desegregation issue efficaciously? Alexander Seabrook, represen­ stitutional rather than destructive has torn many cities apart, ting the Episcopal Diocese on action on the part of parents and disrupted neighborhoods, and af­ That is the question—and has Christian Social Relations; Dr. school persons." fected the lives of both school been the question before the Harold Scott, Executive Each clergyman spoke of the children and their families. Care nation for nearly a quarter of a Presbyter of the Pittsburgh moral and ethical problems and consideration of all the century, Dr. Walter Jacob of Presbytery; and Rabbi Jacob of facing a city of varied religious elements of society here must be Rodef Shalom, reminded a press the Pittsburgh Rabbinate. with given consideration and no child, in- groupings when wrestling conference here with five other this divisive issue. black or white, should not be terfaith leaders who jointly called • Each addressed the press con­ denied or deprived of quality for peaceable implementation of ference, with both the print and There was concern that quality education. whatever desegregation plan is the broadcast news media out in education be made available to every child in every neigh­ The clergyman espoused no finally out into effect here in Pit­ strength on one of the most ten­ particular "ways or means", but tsburgh, which is approved by sion-laden news and human in­ borhood. Human Relations Com­ they did urge wise application, the State terest stories swirling around Pit­ obedience to the law, and goodwill mission. tsburgh and many other They were clear and careful not cooperation of any approved plan. American cities trying to recon­ to espouse any particular plan or All communities and neigh­ They set up an Interfaith Com­ cile the, various human, parental, any particular method. borhood's parents and children mittee to this very purpose. legal, social, and educational con­ Their aim was to "make people have a great stake in the preser­ Convener of the Pittsburgh cerns involved. aware that the religious com­ vation of communal peace as the religious leaders press conference Aim of the religious leaders in munity is present in the whole process unfolds. AH take care! on desegration was Bishop Roy C. setting up an Interfaith Com­ process of desegregation." Fur­ The leaders could not ask for Nichols of the United Methodist mittee was "not to support a par­ ther to urge the people of Pit­ more; the community at large Church. Other clergy leaders, on ticular plan or course of action, tsburgh "to turn to their churches can do no less. • , The neighborhood of nostalgia First of a Two Part Series By SUE MALONEY Pittsburgh, 1910. William Magee was mayor. Although the area was 533,905 of whom 25,000 were mostly Jewish, Italians lived The population was on Washington Street and a Jews. Escaping bloody pogroms and shtetl pov­ few blacks on Wylie Avenue. erty in Europe, Jewish immigrants sought sanc­ Residents could safely stroll tuary in the Steel City. Although most of the new­ down Fifth Avenue at any hour. comers were penniless, they ^Editor's Note: Sue Maloney no bars. Eight were industrious and their is the former public relations There were dreams drove them on. synagogues were scattered director of Vocational Rehabi­ Home, these was Abraham in the around the district. One of litation Center, located temple were in­ Lewis Kelson. A young man area described in this business and Uptown termingled. On Satur­ with thick, dark sideburns article) worn long in the Jewish day—the Sabbath—shops tradition, he strode up Fifth were closed and men in European Jews to Pit­ striped prayer cloths walked • Avenue past the wholesale tsburgh." district where Mitapolsky,. down the street. Because one of Pittsburgh's Soon Abraham fell in iove Jewish law forbids riding on wealthiest merchants, had with Bessie, a dark haired the Sabbath, homes were his dry goods store. beauty. At their wedding, near synagogues. Around him, Jewish res­ friends gathered .round, Since Jews were escaping toasting mazel tov to the new persecution as well as star­ taurants served chopped girls couple. They had three vation, their scholars SOCIAL hub of the area was the Irene Kaufmann Settlement. liver and noodle kugel. Fifth Their son Jack Avenue High School with its and two boys. arrived with them on the surrounding areas were tur­ (Kush) was born in 1918. crest of the immigrant wave, illness and Phil's music In 1945, Kush took over the tall Gothic spires and tile delicatessen with his ning black. In 1949 there offering leadership to the business were part of the roof beckoned him on. With Bessie's help menu. The restaurant brother. When his father, were only 206 Jewish Abraham opened his own community. By 1932, there Logan Street, glowed with a patina of Abraham, died four years children left in the Hill He turned up restaurant in 1930. Five were 150 Jewish District compared to 6,000 in a curving roadway filled organizations in Pittsburgh. memories polished by later, Kush and Betty, whom years later he opened a large generations of families he had married, moved to 1924. Kush and Betty moved with pushcarts loaded with one on Fifth Avenue across Hills in 1952 silk and calico dresses next The Irene Kaufmann Set­ sharing triumphs and the apartment over the out to the South from the high school. tlement House, the social tragedies over bowls of bor- store. so their children would grow to carts of plumbing fittings neighborhood. hardware. Wagons with Bessie Kelson and other hub for the area, sponsored scht. up in a good and sport events, dances, Slowly, the metamor­ pins, shawls and pans jam­ housewives shopped on Many patrons came from phosis began. First, the Then the film industry while barrels Logan and Clark streets English-speaking classes died because of television med the street and the first kindergarten in the film exchange located on residents who supported the of herring lined the curbs, where the smell of bulkies the Boulevard of the Allies. area began to move out to competition, the invention of mingled with the odors of Pittsburgh among its ac­ and crates of chickens young Kush Over 150 companies, such as Squirrel Hill and East End nonflammable film and the the chicken, freshly killed by the tivities. When of the squawked in Kelson wasn't playing foot­ United Artists and Warners, because they wanted to im­ centralization background. shoichet's razor under had representatives in the prove themselves through business in other parts of kosher ritual. ball, he was eyeing a pretty Old men with long white who had area who talked about ex­ education and better en­ town. The big buildings with young girl, Betty, tremendous vaults beards sat on stoops, and Roving photographers lively gray eyes and a quick citing new releases like vironments. their sons and grandsons waited harangued shoppers to buy "Love Finds Andy Hardy" . were sold to Duquesne smile. As early as 1940 Fifth radio on the trade. cheap tintypes while with Judy Garland. Avenue High School and University and'WAMO mothers, fathers and grand­ Kush and Betty attended among others. Abraham was home. parents gossiped about Fifth Avenue High School These were his people run­ children, jobs, education and which was 90 percent Jewish ning the shops and peddling ailments. Down at the Pearl in the twenties and thirties. produce. Although there Theater on Fifth Avenue, Leading educators, were 155 mills and 77 mines families were enthralled by businessmen and musicians in Pittsburgh, few Jewish Shirley Temple in "Little were graduated from Fifth immigrants were miners or Miss Marker." Avenue, including former Jewish 1 Chronicle millworkers. Abraham Mayor Cornelius Scully, On Lower Fifth Avenue PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA dreamed of having his own Judge Anne X. Alpern, Coun­ BOARD OF TRUSTEES there were over 145 EVERY THURSDAY BY THE PITTSBURGH JEWISH store or restaurant. ty Commissioner Cyril PUBLISHED wholesale businesses. Many PUBLICATION AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION GERALD OSTROW, President After finding a waiter's job people started out as ped­ Wecht, violinist David 31S S. BEUEFIELD AVE.. PITTSBURGH, PA 15213 at a nearby restaurant, he dlers, pushing their carts Rubinoff and industrialist PHONE 617-1000 Stanley Levine, Vice Fns. took a room in one of the Others Samuel Levinson. Robert Paul, Treasurer around the city. Albert W. Bloom, Executive Editor dank, crowded tenements began working for their was out, Kush Mrs. Bui Reicher, Secretary When school Manager which lined the streets relatives in the Fifth Avenue crossed the street to Albert D. Zecher, Business Philip Baskin surrounding Fifth Avenue. neighborhood. Kelson's Delicatessen where Joel Roteman, Assistant Editor Harold Bigler In the tenements, refugees Merchants would come his family lived in an apart­ Ruth Altshuler, Asst. Business Manager Harvey J.Eger Mrs. llene Fineret struggled to find jobs, from as far away as Erie to ment over the store. In the Combining Th« American Jewlih Outlook Master a new language and buy goods. Since there were restaurant, his father had and tt» J*wl»h Criterion Dr. Ellen Frank' Preserve family traditions. no blue laws, Sunday was the four waitresses and two Dr. Michael Friedberg Their social, economic and busboys to help serve 200 Dr.

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