Derwood Tatum Interview, 23 May 2013

Derwood Tatum grew up in Hazard, Kentucky, and moved to Cleveland due to his father's newest ownership of a grocery store on East 65th and Woodland, called Tatum's Grocery Store. Tatum paints a picture of the Cleveland music scene during the late 1950s and early 1960s, an era which he owned Tate's Place, a record store (which later turned into a record store/ice cream shop/deli) selling mulitple artists' 45s like Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday, to name a few. The record/deli/ice cream store went out of business once urban renewal ensued in the Woodland area, because the area was being torn down to create project housing, thus robbing his business of its customer base. He tells an interesting story about the 3 best shows he ever went to. In the second half of his interview, Tatum provides good information about the "holding the border" issue, blockbusting, and recalls the incident where Rev. Bruce Klunder was backed over by a construction tractor.