Browse Interviews

Janet Thomas was born to Italian immigrant parents and lived in the Gordon Square neighborhood. She describes the neighborhood's bakeries, theatres, drug stores, and ethnic shops. Thomas mentions how the Depression impoverished her family, but notes that the Depression brought the different ethnicities of the community together. Her family never fully recovered financially from the Depression, therefore the family's leisure activities included going to church and visiting nearby parks like…

Frank Murphy describes changes in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.

Gerald Meyer describes changes in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.

Longtime resident, Mary Jane Yuhas, describes changes in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.

In this 2005 interview, Matt Zone, Councilman for Ward 17 of the City of Cleveland, discusses his family's history on the west side of Cleveland and his political career. Zone is a third generation Italian-American. His grandparents came to the Detroit-Shoreway area of Cleveland shortly after WWI ended. His father and mother grew up on West 65th Street and were both Councilpersons for the Ward--from 1960-1982. Matt has been Councilperson for the Ward since 2001. Zone talks about neighborhood…

In this 2005 interview, Raymond Pianka, Judge of the City of Cleveland Housing Court, discusses the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. He first discusses the historical ethnicity of the neighborhood, including the immigration of Irish, and then later Italians and Romanians, into the area. He also discusses his own Polish heritage, and talks about his father and grandfather's industrial employment in Cleveland for a large part of the twentieth century. Judge Pianka also talks about the architecture…

In this very brief 2005 interview, Jeff Ramsey, Director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, provides a short history of Gordon Square and its redevelopment, and refers the interviewer to several other persons with knowledge of the Square and its history.

In this very brief 2005 interview, Jeff Ramsey, Director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, provides a short history of Gordon Square and its redevelopment, and refers the interviewer to several other persons with knowledge of the Square and its history.