Vol. 4

No. 24

Restaurants:

The Temple Restaurant, Part 2

The Jewish Encyclopedia:

The Branch

Yahrzeit Plaques:

Punxsutawney

Calendar:

TODAY: Alex Calzereth

through Aug. 13: Green Book

Community:

"How We Got Here"

Under the Dome of Rodef Shalom

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Mystery portraits

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Newsletters

Restaurants:

The Temple Restaurant

Black and white photograph of 636 Penn Avenue looking south near McKains Hat Store and the Roosevelt Hotel. Also seen are the Temple Restaurant and Loew's Theater, Aug. 17, 1947.

—from Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection 

University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections 

[715.4776963.CP] (online—Historic Pittsburgh)

Last week, we told the story of the Temple Restaurant using advertisements published in the local Jewish press between 1916 and the mid-1950s.

This week, we’ll tell the same story using an oral history that Helen Spirer recorded in 1986 for the National Council of Jewish Women’s Oral History Project, held at the University of Pittsburgh's Archives & Special Collections.

The Temple Restaurant was located on the ground floor of the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge No. 46 temple at 632 Penn Ave, in the theater district of downtown Pittsburgh. “And that’s on the block between where the Stanley and the Penn are. That’s the part that’s being torn down now for the new development there,” Spirer explained in 1986. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Temple Restaurant was popular with visiting stage stars like George Jessel and Milton Berle. Spirer recalled how her father, Louis Bart, would send dinner backstage when these actors couldn’t make it to the restaurant. “We had all those stars come into our restaurant to eat,” Spirer said. “And my little sister Ethel, she was taking cash, she would take cash in the evening, and she would always get their autograph. And I would say, ‘What are you going to do with their autograph? What are you going to do with that stuff?’ And she would say, ‘Nothing, I’ll throw it away, but it makes them feel good.’”

(Left) Advertisement for the Temple Restaurant at 632 Penn Ave. downtown. Text reads, "Good Food Means Good Health." Proprietor, Rose Cohen. (Oct. 20, 1916); (Right) Advertisement for the Temple Restaurant at 632 Penn Ave. downtown. Includes High Holiday greeting. Proprietor, Joseph Klein. (Sept. 14, 1917).

—from Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

The Temple Restaurant opened as early as 1916 under proprietor Rose Cohen. She sold the business the following year to Joseph and Hannah Klein.

The Kleins had become well known on lower Fifth Avenue with Klein’s Kosher Café, which they sold to brothers-in-law Alex Schulberg and Louis Bart. Under Schulberg and Bart, “It was never a kosher restaurant, but it was a kosher-style,” Spirer explained. When the Kleins left Penn Avenue in the early 1920s, they sold the Temple Restaurant, again to Schulberg and Bart. Sometime in the 1930s, “there was a family misunderstanding, you know.” Schulberg went to Squirrel Hill, and Bart remained downtown at the Temple Restaurant.

The Temple Restaurant was a family operation. Louis Bart oversaw the front of house. He ran the bar and the deli counter. His wife Rebecca Bart ran the back of house, the kitchen. “My mother was just a wonderful, wonderful woman. Didn’t have any education but she was as smart as a whip,” Spirer said. 

Advertisement for the Temple Restaurant at 632 Penn Ave. downtown. Includes details of business men's specials. Proprietors, Schulberg and Bart, June 6, 1930.

—from Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Running the kitchen meant overseeing the nightly menu and managing the kitchen staff, of course. But running the kitchen also required a grace and sensitivity toward the people who came by the restaurant every day for meals.

“There were two doors to the kitchen from the restaurant, an ‘in’ and an ‘out.’ And on these doors were little windows, you know, my mother could come and see what’s going on out front. She would be busy, you know, in the kitchen.

“My mother and father, they would sit down to eat about nine o’clock, when things were slow. They were open ‘til about eleven. And as they sat down and ate, they would talk about the customers that came in. ‘You know that customer that sat at Marie’s table that ordered the goulash?’ They had a kind of connected way. They knew all the customers. My mother would look out the window and see a family come in, she would tell the waitress, ‘Take out this stuffed cabbage, because he likes stuffed cabbage. Give him one to start with.’"

“We got a lot of salesmen coming into our restaurant," Spirer said in a different part of the oral history. "My mother got to know all of them. Because she would come out of the kitchen: ‘Now what would you like to eat today?’ You know, typical Jewish mama. And they would tell her all their love problems, who they were going out with… And when these customers would come in…the waitress would come to take their order, and they would say, ‘Tell mama I’m here…’”

For years, the Temple Restaurant was open every day, for long hours. In time, the Barts treated themselves to one day off: Tuesdays. Spirer had to schedule her wedding for a Tuesday in order to ensure that her parents could attend.

Louis and Rebecca Bart retired in the late 1940s. Around that time, Nick Nichols took over the Temple Restaurant. The restaurant stayed downtown on Penn Avenue until 1957, when Nichols relocated 2306 Saw Mill Run Blvd.

Next Week: Schulberg

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting Jewish restaurants in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate a material from a Jewish restaurant, or just reminisce, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

The Branch

Black and white photograph showing dedication of the Leonard Staisey House of the Jewish Residential Services located at 2021 Wendover Street, 1992. Pictured from left to right: Jack Buncher, County Commissioner Tom Foerster, Jewish Residential Services President Kathy Hurwitz, Nancy Staisey, Herman Fineberg, and Corinne Krause.

—from Jewish Chronicle Records [MSS 906]

Jewish Residential Services Inc. was formed in 1989 to create opportunities for adults with psychiatric disabilities, chronic illnesses, and physical or developmental disabilities to live in Pittsburgh within a Jewish community.

A 1985 report from the United Jewish Federation had called for creating culturally based residential options for Jewish adults in the Pittsburgh area who were unable to live fully independently. Rep. Ivan Itkin secured $70,000 in state funding in 1990 toward the creation of the Leonard Staisey House, which opened in 1993. Jewish Residential Services expanded over the years to include Charles Morris Hall, the Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse, the Goldberg House and the Solomon Family House, and the Seymour and Corinne Krause Commons. Jewish Residential Services became The Branch in 2022.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaque Project update:

121 records added

Memorial board from the former Chevra Agudas Achim in Punxsutawney, Pa.

The Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques database now contains 2,029 records from seven institutions. We recently added 121 plaques from two memorial boards from Chevra Agudas Achim in Punxsutawney. The plaques were originally transcribed by Richard Levine and updated by Eric Lidji.

We are actively transcribing yahrzeit plaques from congregations from throughout the region. Each month, we’ll use this space in the newsletter to report on additions to the database. We are currently working through a backlog of more than 20,000 individual records.

The more help we have, the quicker we’ll go. We’re currently looking for volunteers who can read and transcribe Hebrew names and Hebrew dates. Work can be completed remotely or in-person at the Archive.

To volunteer, email us or call 412-454-6406.

TODAY:

JGS-Pittsburgh presents:

"Mapping Your Family History"

with Alex Calzareth

Create maps with your own data on Google MyMaps.

This presentation will teach you how to create a custom map, import location data associated with family history events or source records and then customize the appearance of that data on the map. Custom maps can be used in many ways, including visually conveying family migration patterns, showing the location of regional cemeteries, or which towns hold certain vital records. Resulting maps can also be imported into Google Earth.

The program is Sunday, June 11 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET. This is a virtual program, occurring exclusively online. The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members.

“Mapping Your Family History with Alex Calzareth” is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. Please register online. 

The program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and receive a free membership code for this program, please visit its website.

This program is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Alex Calzareth is a genealogist focusing on Southwest Germany, the Czech Republic and Southern Italy who began researching his family roots twenty-five years ago. He is a board member for Reclaim The Records and the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island, serving as JGSLI’s webmaster. Alex is also the JewishGen Research Director for Germany. He lives in New York City and works as a CPA.

through August 13:

The Negro Motorist Green Book

“The Negro Motorist Green Book” was a travel guide listing restaurants, gas stations, department stores, and other businesses that welcomed Black travelers. In an era of Jim Crow laws and “sundown towns,” the Green Book offered critical, life-saving information and sanctuary for Black individuals and families traveling the country. Harlem postman Victor Green started the publication in 1936, based in part on a similar volume published in Yiddish for Jewish travelers. The Green Book continued annually through 1967.

The new exhibit “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” on display in the McGuinn Gallery of the Heinz History Center through Aug. 13, tells the story of this landmark publication and its impact on the nation’s rising Black middle class in the middle 20th century. The exhibit also reveals the world of the Green Book in Pittsburgh with artifacts from hotels, jazz clubs, restaurants, and more than 30 local businesses listed in the Green Book, including the Terrace Hall Hotel, Harlem Casino Dance Hall, and Palace Hotel. The exhibit features images from the Melvin Seidenberg Photographs at the Rauh Jewish Archives and the Charles “Teenie” Harris Archive at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Community

From the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh

"How We Got Here"

Each family is unique. 

Each family has its own traditions, its own spirit, and its own dynamics. 

Despite all these differences, every Jewish family in Western Pennsylvania has at least one thing in common: They all have a story about how they got here.

Perhaps your family sailed in steerage across the Atlanti in the 19th century.

Or perhaps your family drove the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a station wagon in the 1960s to work for the universities and hospitals during Renaissance.

Or perhaps your arrival into one of the many Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania involves marriage, or conversion, or a surprising DNA discovery.

Each of these stories is special, and each contributes to the larger story of our community. To collect and honor these origin stories, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh is launching a new initiative called “How We Got Here.” To participate, just write a short account explaining how you or your ancestors came to settle in Western Pennsylvania. All stories are welcome.

Stories will be eligible for inclusion in the JGS-Pittsburgh’s monthly newsletter Z’chor and also for preservation in the Rauh Jewish Archives. For more information about this initiative, or to contribute, contact Eric Lidji.

From NEXT Pittsburgh

"What's Under the Dome at Rodef Shalom?"

NEXT Pittsburgh's Boaz Frankel visits with archivist Martha Berg to discover the secrets of Rodef Shalom Congregation's historic Fifth Avenue synagogue.

From the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association

"Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania"

The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh has released a new documentary showcasing Jewish cemeteries in Western Pennsylvania.

“Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania” is a one-hour tour of the many cemetery properties overseen by the JCBA, as well as an overview of the organization’s ongoing work to care for these sacred burial grounds. The video is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these special Jewish cultural sites in our region. The video includes many historic photographs and documents from the collections of the Rauh Jewish Archives. 

From Rodef Shalom Congregation

A mystery in primary colors

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reports on an effort by Rodef Shalom Congregation to identify two people from a pair of mid-19th century portraits in the congregation's holdings. Do you recognize these two people?

Research Tools

The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project contains digitized, searchable copies of four local English-language Jewish newspapers between 1895 and 2010. It is a valuable tool for researching almost any topic about Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. For a primer on using the website, watch our video.

Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project in 1998 to preserve burial records from Jewish cemeteries across the region. Over a period of fifteen years, the information was compiled into a searchable, online database containing approximately 50,000 burial records from 78 Jewish cemeteries throughout the region.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project in 2020. The goal was to create a comprehensive collection of burial records from memorial boards at synagogues across the region. Volunteers are currently transcribing these boards and records are being added monthly to our online database. The database currently contains more than 2,000 listings.

Rauh Jewish Archives Bibliography

University of Pittsburgh librarian and Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Laurie Cohen created this comprehensive bibliography of the Rauh Jewish Archives library holdings from 1988 through 2018. It lists nearly 350 volumes arranged by type and then by subject. This a great tool to use early in your research process, as you’re surveying available resources on a given subject.

Jewish Population Estimates

Looking to figure out how many Jews lived in a certain part of Western Pennsylvania at a certain moment in time? This bibliography includes more than 30 estimates of the Jewish population of Pittsburgh and small-towns throughout the region, conducted between 1852 and 2017.

Rauh Jewish Archives Newsletter

The Rauh Jewish Archives has been publishing a weekly newsletter since 2020. The newsletter contains a variety of articles about local Jewish history, including much original research not found anywhere else. You can find and read every issue—more than 150!— in our new index.