Browse Interviews

Christopher Hubbert grew up in Cleveland Heights and describes the area. Throughout his adult life he has lived in Forest Hills and he discusses the development of this neighborhood. He discusses the community atmosphere inherent in the Forest Hills neighborhood, which he attributes to strong resident associations.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Judith VanKleef attended college at the University of Wisconsin. She moved to Cleveland's West Side in 1950 and then to Cleveland Heights in 1964. She discusses the shifting color line on Cleveland's East Side in the 1950s-60s and the impact of blockbusting on neighborhoods including her own. She details a blockbusting campaign in the Grant Deming's Forest Hill neighborhood in about 1967 or 1968 that catalyzed the reconstitution of a long defunct block club to try…

Les Jones relates how he obtained a home in the community he had always dreamed about. As a child growing up in the Glenville neighborhood, Jones liked to ride his bike to Cleveland Heights, describing it as "going on a vacation" because it was like a different world to him. He rode his bike past the Forest Hill area and thought the houses were enchanting. He drew a picture of the houses at school and received an "A" on the drawing. Once he settled down and his children grew up, he purchased a…

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…

Reverend John Lentz is the pastor at Forest Hill (Presbyterian) Church, where he has served since 1994. He has a general knowledge of the church, the neighborhood surrounding it, and the city of Cleveland Heights itself. He is from Washington D.C., and a graduate from Kenyon College (in Ohio). He went to graduate school in Edinboro, Scotland, and was first involved as a pastor in Winchester, Virginia. He has a lot to say about the schools and how they are racially divided. He discusses founding…