Code,990033
Subject,Russell Baron
Date,6/28/2013
Interviewer,Timothy Kypchak
Abstract,"Russell Baron grew up in Glenville before moving to Cleveland Heights. His father owned a haberdashery, a men's clothing store, where Baron worked during high school and college. Baron became a lawyer and worked in his father-in-law's practice before starting his own law practice. He was a member of the Cleveland Heights Board of Education and later, the Planning Commission. While in city governent, Baron worked to integrate the Cleveland Heights schools despite the protests of some residents. He became a substitute judge, a position he still holds at the time of this interview. Although Baron believes that his role in the Civil Rights Movement was insignificant, he is satisfied that he acted on deeply held beliefs and helped make Cleveland Heights a more equitable community."
Tags,"Cleveland Heights, integration, education, Board of Education, Planning Commission, diversity, Glenville"
Special Notes,Sound quality
minutes:,
0,"Russell Baron was born in Cleveland in the Glenville St. Clair area. He describes the area as having ""a warm, cozy atmosphere."""
1,"He attended school in the area and went to Rockefeller Park, Liberty Park, and the Cultural Gardens with his friends. He did lots of things in the neighborhood."
2,"Baron and his friends cooked potatoes in a fire among other things. This was during WWII so he collected scrap, paper, and tried to sell war bonds."
3,"He lived on a farm in Madison for a summer. He went to Cedar Point and Euclid Beach. HE went to Parkwood Elementary and Patrick Henry, Junior High School."
4,He had to take two street cars to school. He and a neighborhood boy started smoking pipes. He lived in his grandfather's house before moving to a two family house up the street.
5,"In 1945, the Baron family moved to Cleveland Heights when Russell was 15. He attended Heights High School, which he enjoyed attending. There were lots of social events."
6,He made good friends there and has a lot of good memories.
7,There were Jewish fraternities and Gentile fraternities and Heights High School just like in colleges.
8,Baron was in Sigma Phi Delta. There was a fraternitiy brother who was a senior who had his leg in a cast so he had Baron drive him around. This was how Baron learned to drive.
9,"After the war, the world seemed to be a better place. This influenced Baron's high school experiences."
10,He and his friends did a lot of dating. They dated girls in sororities.
11,He lived in a house on Oak Road in Cleveland Heights. He and his friends played cards in the attic. Baron lived in that house till he was 25.
12,There was a lot of kids on Baron's street. It was a friendly neightborhood. There was a nearby commercial district and parks.
13,Cleveland Heights was mostly white and Jewish.
14,Lenny's Drive In was on the south side of Cedar Road to the west of Warrensville Center Road. They served milkshakes an burgers. It was a popular spot to hang out for high school kids.
15,Baron graduated high school in 1948. His father owned a haberdashery (men's clothing store) on the west side so Baron worked there while he was in high school.
16,The store was at 89th and Lorain but when I-90 was built the store moved to 97th and Lorain. By this time Baron's father was in his 80s and Baron was in law school.
17,"The store closed when Baron's father retired. Baron became a lawyer. Most of the store's clientel were from the neighborhood and largely German and Hungarian, . It was a blue collar area."
18,"They didn't by nice clothes like white shirts and ties too often. Baron's father was 5'1"" and very popular in the neighborhood."
19,"Tony's Spaghetti House, a hardware store, and a drugstore were on the street next to Baron's store."
20,Christmas and Father's Day was very busy. Next door was an old farmhouse and a large field which was owned by the Murphy family.
21,Baron's father jsut sold clothes; he was not a tailor.
22,"The winter of 1950, the store carried four buckle boots and five buckle boots."
23,"One night, 20 inches of snow fell so Baron anticipated selling a lot of boots. So Baron wanted to get to the store even though driving conditions were bad. The truck got stuck in the driveway till the snow plow came."
24,"When they got to the store the next day, there was a line to buy boots.  There were two operators for each street car. the seats were sicker and they ewre run by coal."
25,"You paid your street car fare when you got off. Baron rode the street car to go to junior high school. He rode with his friend, Doug Williams, with who he smoked pipes."
26,Baron describes street car routes. He rode the street car to his dad's store.
27,Baron never got on the wrong street car. Baron worked in the store after graduating high school. He worked while he was in law school.
28,Baron went to Cleveland College.
29,It was a commuter school like Cleveland State. he went to school with a lot of guys from the army who were going to school on the G.I. Bill.
30,There were homeless people on Public Square just like today. Higbee's was always busy. There are new buidlings there now.
31,Cleveland College was located on the corner of where the Keyback Tower is today.
32,"The classes offered were similar to those offered at Adelbert. Baron got a BBA, bachelor of business administration. He went into law school after undergrad."
33,"Baron stayed in school to avoid going to Korea, but he felt a little guilty about avoiding service. Baron's father had fought in WWI"
34,Baron's father fought in WWI in France and Germany. His father told him to go to law school rather than going to war. He went to Western Reserve University. There was not much time for socializing.
35,"However, Baron met his wife at a backyard cookout. She was in high school when they met. Her father was a lawyer so he hired  Baron after he got his law degree."
36,His father-in-law had a law office in the 9th Chester Building. Baron worked on all kinds of legal issues. Harry Waxman was the name of Baron's father-in-law. He very popular. 3.000 people came to his funeral when he died in his 50s.
37,Baron started his own law firm.
38,His first house after he got married was on Mayfield Road in Lyndhurst. The world started to change around this time.
39,The Barons moved back to Cleveland Heights in the 60s for a bigger house.
40,Cleveland Heights was intergrating in 1960s. A house near the Barons was bought by a black family and it was bombed. So the Barons decided to do something.
41,"They went community meetings. In the 1970s, Baron was a the Board of Eduacation and worked on integrating the schools. Someone fired a shot the window of his home."
42,"Baron was on the planning committee in the 1980s. In 1993, he ran for judge and lost. He was asked to be a substitute judge, a position he holds today."
43,Baron is in the Cleveland Heights Democratic Club. He believes the city is very politically active.
44,His time on the School Board was very busy.
45,Baron says being involoved in any government office is a lot of people-oriented tasks. Everyone wants to do what's best for the community but there are inevitable conflicts.
46,The Board of Education was Baron's first experience with politics. He learned how to negotiate.
47,He worked a lot with residential development on the planning commission.
48,The job of the planning commission is to approve building plans and work with other governemnt bodies.
49,Baron worked on cell tower installations.
50,One of Baron's childhood friends from Glenville happened to live nearby when the Barons moved to Cleveland Heights. They have fun Fourth of July gatherings.
51,The Barons had three children.
52,Baron doesn't feel that he had any role in the Civil Rights Movement depsite his activities in Cleveland Heights because any historical event like that is too big for his actiions to have had any effect.
53,He did played his part like a lot of people.
54,"There were not many African Americans in Cleveland Heights schools when he was younger so integration did not seem like an issue, especially to kids."
55,"The Barons decided to raise their family in Cleveland Heights because they both ""had roots here."""
56,Baron remembers the Glenville Riots. He saw them on the news.
57,
58,"Baron describes the riots as a disruption of the social order as people ""begin to wake up."" People tried to change their circumstances."
59,"Today, different groups of people are rioting and trying to change the social order like in Libya and Syria. Baron sees more black families moving to the near West Side."
60,Baron sees these changes as part of shift and flow of demographic over the years. He remembers when the Germans and Irish lived on the West Side. The Slavics stayed on Broadway and the south side.
61,Jewish people lived on the East Side in Kinsman and Glenville then moved to Cleveland Heights after WWII. Shaker Heights was wealthy.
62,"Today, people can chose to live whereever they want so Baron doesn't know how the city will change."
63,"In the past, baseball and hockey were the major sports in Cleveland."
64,Baron does not practice law much anymore. He started a practice with a friend from law school and a few others. Their office was in the Keith Building. They closed the office 3 years ago.
65,
66,There was a lot of big old houses in Glenville. Baron and his friends were looking at one of the houses and the caretaker let them come in and look around inside.
67,"Baron remembers when he was on the planning commission, developers wanted to tear down the large mansions and put in condos. Baron protested this decision."
68,"Baron has attended meetings in Cleveland Heights to address issues concerning same-sex partners because not only are those issues current today, but Baron feels strongly about this issue."
69,Baron believes that it is important to take a stand on issues that you believe in.
70,
71,Baron is a reading tutor at Roxbury Elementary and Buckeye Woodland Elementary. This gives Baron a lot of pleasure.
72,Baron was sent to a music camp at Cedar Point when he was kid. He bagan taking drum lessons.
73,Cedar Point had a bandstand and they had swing music. He and his friends went dancing and to the beach.
74,It was quite an al day drive to Cedar Point from Cleveland Heights.
75,Conclusion
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