Browse Interviews

Lifelong Clevelander Chuck E. Hoven recollects his early life growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and attending St. Ignatius High School. Hoven attended John Carroll University as an undergraduate and later attended Cleveland State University for graduate school. Hoven shares his involvement as managing editor for Cleveland's Plain Press, which is a vehicle for many people to raise awareness on community issues like affordable housing. Hoven highlights the imbalances of community…

John Nosek (b. 1949) and Leon Stevens (b. 1948) are native Clevelanders who grew up on the east side. They discuss the Cleveland gay community in the 1970s and '80s, including managing the Gay Educational and Awareness Resource (GEAR) Foundation's High Gear newspaper in its early years and their gay activism in the mid- to late 1970s. Nosek and Stevens detail the early history of GEAR, its Gay Hotline, and its long struggle to establish what eventually became the LGBT Community Center of Greater…

Charles V. Williams is a longtime advocate for the Black Deaf community at both the local, state, and national levels. In this second of two interviews, he discusses his advocacy in the Black Deaf community from the 1970s to the present, including volunteering at the Cleveland Society for the Blind, his efforts for greater inclusivity in the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, getting closed captioning added for the 1980 Democratic National Convention, creating an interpreter training…

Rob Pryor, co-owner of Record Revolution, provides a history of the legendary Coventry store and describes Coventry's youth culture in the 1980s and 1990s.

Robert Madison was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1923. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University and Harvard, he was the first black man to become a registered architect in Ohio. He opened his firm in Cleveland in 1954 and has worked on major projects locally and worldwide. This 2017 interview was collected as part of a yearlong, community-wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Carl Stokes' election as mayor of Cleveland.

Ruth Rubio-Pino is a Mexican-American and long-time activist. She has worked closely with Club Azteca and provides a detailed history of the formation and evolution of this Cleveland Mexican-American landmark. She discusses the plight of Mexican migrant workers and urban dwelling Mexican immigrants. She remarks on how the heightened consciousness and enforcement of immigration has affected the Mexican-American community as a whole and in Cleveland. Throughout the oral history, she comments on…

Virginia Tanno McMonagle, owner of Rickey C. Tanno Jewelers in the arcade of the 925 Euclid Building at 925 Euclid Avenue. Born in 1918, she recalls weekly trips downtown with her father to watch the 1923-24 construction of the building, which was originally built for Union Trust Bank and later anchored by Union Commerce Bank and then Huntington National Bank. She relates the story of the origin and evolution of the business that her future husband Rickey Tanno started in the nearby Swetland…

In this 2006 interview, 58 year old Cleveland native Buck Harris, a prominent member of Cleveland's gay community for decades, talks about his life in Cleveland as a gay man and his residency near West 52nd Street and Bridge Avenue in an area of the west side of Cleveland known as Ohio City Heights. Mr. Harris discusses his experience of "coming out" in the late 1970s; some of the prominent gay bars in Cleveland in the 1970s, including, Twiggy's; and his development and activities as an activist…

At 91 years old and having lived in Shaker Towers for more than 45 years, Taffy Epstein is one of the oldest and longest-standing residents of the towers. Professionally Epstein produced and sold dance and gymnastics apparel. In this interview Epstein relates her many of her experiences she has had living in the towers and how they have changed over the years. Of particular interest are the descriptions she gives of the large parties that she used to throw and her involvement in the integration…

Isaac Haggins was born in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1930. He grew up in Tennessee and Asbury Park, New Jersey. After graduating from West Virginia State College in 1949, Haggins moved to Cleveland to join his brother in the Glenville neighborhood in 1953. In 1956 he bought his first home near Rockefeller Park. After a stint selling shoes, he entered the real estate business, opening an office in Glenville and later in Union-Miles. In 1968 he was the first black real estate broker to open an…

In this interview, Celestine Beasley describes her experiences growing up in a sharecropper family in rural Mississippi, migrating to Cleveland's Cedar-Central neighborhood, and her career as a nurse at Mount Sinai. The interview also relates information about race, farming, food culture, and cuisine.

Dr. John Grabowski, professor of history at Case Western Reserve University, and historian at Western Reserve Historical Society, details the changes that have occurred in the University Circle since his undergraduate days in the late 1960's; the rise of the medical centers, new housing and the new immigration to the area. As a history major at Western Reserve University in 1969, he describes life as a commuter student during the late 1960's and early 1970's, including anti-war activities, and…

News anchor Leon Bibb talks about growing up in Glenville and working in television news in Cleveland. As a young reporter, he dealt with such historic moments as the Tet Offensive and Kent State shooting. He said he was in the first of a wave of African Americans to work at the Plain Dealer. Bibb talks about Carl and Louis Stokes and offers thoughts about Vietnam, voting, civil rights and journalism. The interview contains memorable quotes and moments reflected on by Bibb throughout his career…

Willis Meyers' family has farmed in the Cuyahoga Valley since the middle to late nineteenth century. Willis grew up in Northampton, and has many memories of family, farm, and community life, businesses, technology, and transportation from the Great Depression era forward. Ronnie, Willis' son, currently owns the farm on Steels Corners Road, where he has had a successful horse farming business. Willis, 95 years old, has many memories of the history of the valley, and shared detailed stories about…

John Debo is Superintendent of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He talks about the influence of Earth Day and the environmental movement on his decision to seek a job in the National Park Service. He arrived to take a summer job at what was then the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area having never visited. He discusses the state of the park in the 1970s and the work done there in the 1970s-90s. He discusses the Towpath Trail, Environmental Education Center, the formation and early work of the…

This interview was conducted as part of Cleveland State University's 50th anniversary commemoration. Ed Ferenc is a lifelong Clevelander. Born on the city's east side, Ferenc moved Seven Hills where he attended Shiloh Junior High and Normandy High School. Ferenc initially enrolled at CSU as an Electrical Engineering student but soon switched his major to Communications. He was part of the campus radio station WCSU and began working at WMMS while still a student at Cleveland State. At WMMS Ferenc…

Jearl Walker is a professor in the physics department at Cleveland State University, joining the faculty in 1973. Walker is originally from Fort Worth, Texas and attended MIT in Boston for his undergraduate studies. After graduation he enrolled at the University of Maryland where he earned his PhD and landed a book deal for his technical report titled, The Flying Circus of Physics. Walker became well known for his unorthodox teaching techniques that have involved walking on hot coals, dipping…

John Hemsath provides an in-depth retrospective of the history and evolution of Cleveland's Playhouse Square. Beginning with Vaudeville and spanning through the ongoing renovations and present, most subjects that relate to the theater are touched upon. However, a majority of the discussion revolves around issues pertaining to restoration and revitalization of the various theaters.

Norma McLaughlin Nelson was born in Alcorn, Mississippi on the college campus of Alcorn A & M (now Alcorn State University) where her father was a professor. The family later relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina, when Norma's father took a position as Dean at North Carolina A & T. Norma's mother was a friend of Jane Edna Hunter, the founder of the Phyllis Wheatley Association and was given a job as a dietitian in the cafeteria. Due to this relationship, Norma and her sister attended Camp…

Bernice Thompson Lavendar attended camp when it first opened in 1938. Bernice's experience with camp left a lasting impression on her growing up. As an adult she attended Bible school and after graduating worked as the youth coordinator for a church where she worked to ensure the children she was working with had the opportunity to go to camp as well. Bernice was also involved with the Future Outlook League and became one of the first African Americans to work at the Woolworth's in downtown…

Peter Van Dijk has worked as an architect in Cleveland since arriving in the city in 1961. In this 2006 interview, he talks about some of the architectural renovation projects on which he has worked, including the Huntington Bank restoration and his work in preserving the theaters at Playhouse Square. Van Dijk shares his general thoughts on Cleveland's architecture and development, lamenting the city's development mistakes and stressing that Cleveland's many assets have been misused. Missed…

Chris Ronayne, President of University Circle Incorporated, once served as Cleveland's Planning Commissioner. In this 2006 interview, he extensively discusses the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project, detailing how it came about, how it will function, the groups integral to its success, and what he hopes it will accomplish. Ronayne describes his wish that the project - which connects University Circle and Downtown - will revitalize the area, reconnecting the two parts of the city and diffusing…

This is a follow-up interview to Dr. Goldberg’s initial interview. He discusses in detail his experience in prison as a result of refusing his draft induction physical. He relates the prison conditions, various jobs, and means of keeping busy. While at Danbury prison he helped organize a black history course and a series of guest speakers from local universities, including Columbia. He spent time in three different federal prisons over the course of his 19 month prison sentence. Dr. Goldberg…

Sister Martha Owen is an Ursuline Sister. She served as mission partner to Sr. Dorothy Kazel in El Salvador from 1976 to 1979. In this interview, Sr. Martha discusses her childhood and her decision to enter the convent as well as her mission work in El Salvador. She worked in several villages including La Union, Zaragoza, and La Libertad. She goes into detail regarding the living conditions of the people of El Salvador as well as the conditions she, and the rest of the mission team had to adapt…