THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Maxwell St. Memories — Such a Deal!

By EDWARDE F. RERLSON

ing how each merchant
could — if he did — eke
out a living from the tur-
moil and strife which was
Each chapter hurtled me the "businessman's" life
back into memory. Ira Ber- here. It was inspiring and
kow's "Maxwell Street" elevating to see how
(Doubleday) was, as he had these immigrant Jews of
himself subtitled his book, Russia and Poland, en-
"survival in a bazaar," a dowed with courage and
compendium of names and desire to be their own
people of an era long ago. masters, fought with
They were living reminders their native wits and in-
of a time and place no longer stinctive skills in barter
theirs. But the time and and trade to succeed in
place rekindled a bit of their own businesses —
Americana brilliantly told and survive in the gen-
by Berkow.
eral melee against their
It brought back for me a neighbor and competitor.
time, a rainy afternoon in
I roamed aimlessly
Chicago almost six decades through the street, crossing
ago, when I found myself from one side to the other as
gamboling on that pictures- my fancy and curiosity dic-
que and bustling tated. I shook off the "pul-
thoroughfare of Jewish en- ler," who tried to wheedle
trepreneurs known as me into his store, and the
Maxwell Street. I've seen "pusher" at the cart, who
flea, thieves and floating was forcing his goods into
markets since — in Paris, my hands at "Such a bar-
London, Hong Kong and gain, take it!"
Bangkok — but none in-
I wended my way, eye-
trigued and fascinated me shopping and resisting all
more than did Maxwell who tried to entice me —
Street a half century ago.
until suddenly, suddenly
In those halcyon days, an there was what I wanted.
auto trip to Chicago was not Pretending disinterest, I
a one-day excursion. Motels casually asked the man at
were unknown and tourist the stoop, "How much for
homes few and far between. the raincoat there?" I had
Unless you were rich — or a spotted a glossy, tannish,
drummer on an expense ac- rubberized military trench
count — you couldn't afford
coat hanging on the brick
the hotels and "high-priced" wall near the stairway into
restaurants. You stayed the store's entrance.
with relatives or friends,
He quoted me a moun-
who somehow always found tainous price, much beyond
room to put you up and feed the few dollars I had in my
you. Of course, that visit pocket. I didn't even
was always later repaid in
counter-offer, and began to
kind with room and board.
walk away. Wait!" he com-
Thus, one weekend in manded, "for you I'll take
the mid-20s, with my fam- less." How much less?
ily safely ensconced at a Whatever it was, it was still
friend's home in a beyond my paltry assets. He
neighborhood that was
BB Aged Study
fast becoming the Jewish
sector, I made off for my Gets U.S. Grant
safari to Maxwell Street. I
WASHINGTON — The
walked, of course; my
father insisted that Max- National Endowment for
well Street was no place the Humanities has
to take and park the fam- awarded a $7,500 prelimi-
ily iron-horse, our Dodge nary planning grant to Bnai
Brith for a research project
touring car.
Maxwell Street — whose in programs in the
fame for infamous bargains humanities for senior citi-
had spread far zens.
Bnai Brith is involved in
and wide — was not only a
market place: it was also a a variety of projects for
senior
citizens including
challenge. What prospec-
tive buyer did not believe sponsorship of housing
himself to be the equal in units in .apartment com-
bargaining eclat and savvy plexes in Wilkes-Barre and
as that ignorant, un- Harrisburg, Pa.; Albany,
N.Y.; St. Louis, Mo.; and
schooled, store merchant or
Baltimore, Md., all of which
pushcart peddler on Max-
well Street? How under- it planned and developed.
Other centers are now in
rated!
Everybody came to out- various stages of construc-
smart the seller and to get tion in Houston, Texas;
the BIG bargain! Six de- Silver Spring, Md.; Reading
cades ago the street teemed and Allentown, Pa., and
with tourists and Peoria, Ill.
townspeople looking for
"steals." If Fifth Avenue in A Mensch!—Nu?
New York City had the
NEW YORK (JTA) —
fashions, Maxwell Street Colloquial Yiddish, long
had the treasures.
part of everyday New York
Now, some 60 years later speech, has finally made it
it is not easy to recall in de- as Presidential jargon.
tail, but I remember Max-
President Carter, speak-
well Street: it was exciting, ing from the steps of New
amazing, beguiling, offend- York's City Hall last week
ing and enticing. It was also before signing the govern-
cheap, tawdry, smelly, alive ment loan guarantee bill for
and inspiring.
the city, praised New York
Its very existence was Govenor Carey, saying he is
the struggle of life. It was "what we Southern Baptists
anuniPg.avd.cgittormd - call a real menscli.7,

(Editor emeritus, Wisconsin
Jewish Chronicle)
(Copyright 1878, JTA, Inc.)

was no student of psychol-
ogy, but his sense of
economics deserved a docto-
rate. "How much you wanna
pay?" he asked kind of irri-
tated. I shrugged my shoul-
ders hopelessly. "How much
you got?" was his next in-
quiry. Timidly, I confessed.
"About $5.00." "Awright,"
he nodded, "take it," and
reached up to give me the
coat. I fumbled in my pocket
as I became the surprised
owner.
The National Recovery
Act (NRA, 1933 et seq)
changed all that. No more
could there be price-
gouging, haggling or
bargaining. A price was a
price was a price. The
Maxwell Street mer-
chants adopted a code of
fair competition — and
willingly or not, abided
by it. In the years follow-
ing, the old Maxwell
Street, as I knew it, died.
Died, did I say? Not re-
ally. On a sunny day last
summer I visited the old
place. The street sellers and
shopkeepers, with their
bazaar-like atmosphere, are
still there. But they are of a
new vintage, nurtured by
an old custom and born of a
new breed. The immigrant
of yesteryear — with his
Jewish nuances, influences,
aromas — has mostly
absconded, leaving in his
place a distinctly Latin es-
sence.

Jewish merchants are
still around, but their Yid-
dish has almost completely
disappeared. In the main,
Italian, Mexican, Spanish
and Black vendors have
pre-empted the blocks and
streets.
It is as one writer phrased
it "The best free show in
town." And as Ira Berkow
more recently observed "...
this remarkable area, a
microcosm of America"
from which sprung such
famed men as former Sup-
reme Court Justice Arthur
Goldberg, William Paley,
president and chairman of
CBS; Hyman Rickover, in-
ventor of the nuclear sub-
marine; Barney Ross,
Kingfish Levinsky, Barney
Balaban, Benny Goodman,
Meyer Levin and many
another bright names.

Friday, August 18, 1978 17

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