WHO'S MINDING THE STORE?
A exhibition of photographs celebrating 150 years of Jewish Business and Commerce in the Pacific Northwest AND a concert by the UW Klezmer Band.

"I talk about Who’s Minding the Store? everywhere I go. And, I haven’t gone anywhere in the last 8 months where someone didn’t say, 'You know, my grandfather had a men’s clothing store in Tacoma,' or 'My father and his brothers worked at the family grocery store in Greenwood,' or 'You need to talk to my grandmother – she remembers hearing from her mother who, at age 12, was the runner for the grocery store that was in their living room.'

I couldn’t have imagined how excited people would be to tell their stories. And we have 150 of them from around the state! We tell of businesses from Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Spokane, Elma, Walla Walla, Bellingham, Toppenish, Aberdeen and more. Families met to write their stories together. Sisters had coffee to sort through their photographs. And now we know the words to the advertising jingle for the Bi-Rite drug store in Toppenish, as well as the secret behind their famous special ointment!

As the stories poured in, the threads of the tapestry that is the history of the Jews in Washington State began to weave together. The store that one family lost during the Depression was purchased by another Seattle family. Ben Bridge worked at Schwabacher’s in the tobacco and candy department. A family business in Toppenish led a friend to a long lost Chicago cousin, whose family also had a business in Toppenish.

It’s the little details that make the history come alive. Sol Amon, who joined his father Jack, in the Pike Place market, is now known as the 'Cod Father.' Ralph Mackoff, who had men’s wear stores in Spokane, was known as '2-Pants Ralph.' Morris Rosen, who became the founder of Alaskan Copper Works, worked on the construction of the Panama Canal, earning 68 cents an hour. Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones shopped at Myers Music. When Bert and Sid Thal bought Fox’s Gem Shop in 1948, they couldn’t afford to change the name on the store, and that’s why it’s still Fox’s and not Thal’s. Jack Richlen learned how to pickle meats while working as a clean up boy at McIntosh’s meat market. It was Johnny Cohn’s job, as a 12 year old, to walk down the line of hanging chickens and chop off their heads." -- Carol Oseran Starin

The UW Klezmer Band performs Jewish music from Eastern Europe as seen through the lens of the American Jewish experience. This lively and danceable music includes traditional songs and dances from Moldova, Romania, and the Ukraine, learned from original sources, historical recordings, and master musicians. Now in its third year, the ensemble is an opportunity for UW students and community members to learn the repertoire, theory, style, and history of klezmer.

The band will be joined by clarinetist Jack “Yankl” Falk -- a longtime member of the Budapest-based Jewish roots ensemble Di Naye Kapelye. A Master’s candidate at the UW Information School, Jack has previously performed in Washington with Hora Tzigane, Don Byron's Music of Mickey Katz, the Black Cat Orchestra, the Mazeltones, and other ensembles.

THE MUSICIANS.

Josh Epstein, Devin Zimmer (banjo), David Miles (accordion), Sara Mayo (trombone), Devin Ensz (tuba), Masha Khavin (piano), Maren Haynes, Alex Ho (cello), Adina Scott (violin), Meagan Albright, Aaron Azose, Roger Goosey, Robin Kallsen, Lisa Rosenfeld, Wallis Thompson (clarinet), Jack Falk, clarinet soloist

Ethan Chessin, piano and bandleader


Who's Minding the Store? is sponsored in part by Humanities Washington.






WHAT IS KLEZMER?

Germans have the polka, Brazilians have the samba, and Americans have the limbo and the electric slide. Klezmer is music for dancing, but it is also the musicians and the dances, the Jewish equivalent of hip-hop culture in the Odessa ghetto and the cowboy hats of country music in rural Romania. Etymologically, klezmer comes from the Hebrew words k'lai zemer, or "tools of song", implying instrumental imitations of vocal melodies. These melodies came from synagogue prayers, wordless mystic songs, and popular music. Tunes were appropriated by traveling musicians en route from village to village to play for weddings, holidays, and other celebrations. These itinerant musicians traveled to make a living amongst villages too small to sustain a group of professionals, and, as such, their styles were heavily influenced by a variety of local genres. Ukranian, Polish, and Romanian folk musicians (among many others) recognize Jewish tunes within their own national repertoires, just as many polkas (from Poland), bulgars (from Bulgaria), sirbas (from Serbia), and terkishes (from Turkey) are standards for klezmer musicians today.

The wave of immigration that brought Eastern European Jews to America in the early twentieth century was well-timed to coincide with the birth of the recording industry, and klezmer found a tremendous audience here both amongst immigrants hungering for tastes of life in the Old World and amongst mainstream Americans curious to hear exotic new sounds from afar. Today, these recordings of early American klezmer giants such as Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein are the primary sources on which many of the genre's contemporary practitioners base their interpretations. Benny Goodman subsumed the yelps, trills, and whines of the klezmer clarinet into jazz ornamentation, while assimilation drew many Jews into mainstream American culture and away from klezmer. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that klezmer began to establish a foothold in American popular music once again, in a resurgence of interest partially spurred by West Coast bands such as The Klezmorim and Seattle's own Mazeltones. The UW Klezmer Band was formed in the spirit of this renaissance of American klezmer. Two years after its founding, the group has provided an opportunity for dozens of musicians to learn and perform klezmer, informed by the traditions of the Old World and the master musicians of today.

Hooked? Here's a link to all things klezmer.



OUR PARTNERS.

The Whidbey Island Jewish Community (WIJC) is a grassroots, non-profit organization aimed at celebrating and promoting Jewish community and culture on Whidbey Island. As such, community support is vital to WIJC’s success. We welcome people who are willing to volunteer to host Shabbats, plan and organize events, work on fundraising and grant writing, and simply offer their presence to the community... more.

The Washington State Jewish Historical Society is dedicated to discovering, preserving, and disseminating the history of the Jews of Washington State. This unique history is shared through publications, exhibits, displays, speakers, and tours. The material for these endeavors is gleaned from the Jewish Archives Project, a joint program of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society and the University of Washington Libraries.

The archives are housed at the University of Washington Allen Library in the Manuscripts, Special Collections, and University Archives Division. Archives consist of organizational records and individuals' papers, photographs and oral histories dating back to the earliest Jewish settlement in Washington State... more.



LEARN MORE.

American Jewish Archives

American Jewish Historical Society

Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History

History Link

Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle

Jewish Genealogical Society of WA State

Jewish Women's Archive

Judah L. Magnes Museum Libraries/Archive

Museum of History and Industry

Seattle Jewish Guide

Seattle Public Library

Tacoma Historical Society

UW Libraries-Special Collections



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