Code,911071
Subject,Martin Friedman
Date,6/18/2011
Interviewer,J. Mark Souther
Abstract,"In this short interview, Martin Friedman discusses Coventry Village. He says he grew up in Coventry until his parents moved them to University Heights. Martin, however, eventually made his way back to Coventry, much to the chagrin of his parents. They always thought that Coventry reminded them of the troubles they had when they ""were moving on up."" Martin also describes his favorite events on Coventry and what he was involved with on Coventry. He was made famous by Harvey Pekar and ornithopters, which are a toy bird that he sold during the Coventry Street Fairs."
Tags,"Coventry, upward mobility, Coventry Street Fair, mylar, Bruce Hennes, Harvey Pekar, University Heights, Beachwood,"
Special Notes,
0,"Introductions; Grew up in Cleveland- went to school away from cleveland, but he came back to Coventry; He says in the 20s and 30s it was an old Jewish Neighborhood; but in the 60s His parents did not want him to come down to Coventry because it was what they worked hard to get away from"
1,"His parents wanted to move further East and Coventry was a reminder of the bad days of moving on up; Friedman began getting back involved through the Coventry Street fair, he sold toy birds;"
2,"In the 1990s, he became the first head of the Special Improvement District- the landlords got together and taxed themselves; He worked for them and did various things"
3,His favorite special event was when he mylared all of the trees on the street: he describes what he did; Kind of silly but it was Coventry in the 90s
4,Favorite Coventry Street Fair was one with Bruce Hennes and he tried to regulate foot traffic and Martin was very upset
5,"He describes how he got into selling toy birds; He says the birds are annoying, terrific, and really do fly"
6,The birds are called ornithopters; he would pay kids to fly these birds; He was immortalized by Harvey Pekar;
7,His parents moved to University Heights then Beachwood; They say Coventry as a reminder of the bad days says its similar to Glenville
8,Thanks and End of Interview
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