Abstract

The oral history interview with Robert Ceccarelli captures his memories and experiences growing up in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. Ceccarelli describes his family's modest home, neighborhood dynamics, and the prevalent culture of shared meals and communal living. He reflects on the ethnic diversity of the area, the common practice of renting out homes, and the strong sense of community. Ceccarelli also discusses his involvement in music during his adolescence, the cultural significance of local events, and the influence of his parents, particularly his mother’s cooking and his father's work ethic. The interview offers insight into the daily life, cultural traditions, and social interactions within a close-knit, working-class neighborhood during the mid-20th century.

Interviewee

Ceccarelli, Robert (interviewee);Ceccarelli, Barbara (participant)

Interviewer

Detrow, Brian (interviewer)

Project

Tremont History Project

Date

3-20-2003

Document Type

Oral History

Transcript

Brian Detrow: To start state your name for the record.

Robert Ceccarelli: Okay my name is Robert Ceccarelli.

Brian Detrow: We talked a lot about what you did as a kid in Tremont, so first I was thinking was if I went to your house back when you were in high school what would I find if I walked around, what kinds of things did you have inside your house?

Robert Ceccarelli: Well your basic furniture I guess, you know, you would find small kitchen…pretty small kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom off the kitchen, you find a small dining room, one bedroom off the dining room, living room and another bedroom off the living room. Everything’s small though, all the rooms are small, very small. Had a small basement, small hallway with the washer and dryer…uh, no garage, very few garages in that neighborhood…very few…uh, you would find another house behind our house which was rented out…very small house.

Brian Detrow: Were you guys renting that out?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, it was all rented out. There was always some one living there. That was even smaller than our house, you know, kitchen, dining room, bedroom…that’s it. Uh, inside our house…getting back to our house…you would find, oh, dinning room would have a small hutch with a dining room set and some chairs, small desk, uh, very few cupboards. You’d probably find my mother always cooking…always cooking…always cooking or baking.

Brian Detrow: Did she like to cook or was it just a lot of people to feed?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, she liked to cook. There was the three of us, my three brothers, my father, mother…but she just basically liked to cook. Whoever walked into the house got fed.

Brian Detrow: Was that common in Tremont, I mean like was food…like if you went over someone’s house would their parents feed you? Was the dinner time type atmosphere common?

Robert Ceccarelli: Right, when I was a kid and I went over someone’s house and it was dinner time, I sat there and had dinner. You know it was the same way in our house too.

Brian Detrow: Did you guys have a TV at all?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, we had a TV. Yeah…old black and white. Uh, when color TV came out we were the first in the neighborhood basically that would have a color TV so all the kids would be over our house watching TV, you know, to see everything in color. No stereos or any thing like that.

Brian Detrow: You guys didn’t have a radio?

Robert Ceccarelli: Maybe a small radio in the kitchen my mother had. But no great big stereos like you see now or anything…nothing like that was there.

Brian Detrow: Did you watch TV a lot or was there more to do?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, seem liked we watched it a lot when I was a kid like maybe between the ages of 5 and 13 or so then you got to be 13 and didn’t watch much TV then you were out running around with your friends, so there wasn’t a lot of TV going on then…but when I was little…a lot of TV.

Brian Detrow: Do you remember how old you were when you got your color TV?

Robert Ceccarelli: I’d say about 14 I think…yeah, somewhere in the early mid-sixties.

Brian Detrow: Um, what about your room? What was your room like? Did you share it with your brothers or anything like that?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, when we were little we shared a room. Um, my older brother had his own room and me and my other brother we were only a year apart. We shared a bunkbed together so we shared the same room and my older brother moved out and one of us moved into the other bedroom. But little we shared a room.

Brian Detrow: Was that hard?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, a lot of fights…yeah (laughter) you know whose domain is this? But it was…it was okay.

Brian Detrow: What ages were compared to you?

Robert Ceccarelli: Um, my one brother was a year…there was only a year difference. My other brother was 10 years difference, so like when he was 20 I was 10…but he still spent a lot of time with us when we were little.

Brian Detrow: Did he take care of you or any thing when you guys were younger?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, mmhm, yeah he did.

Brian Detrow: You said that you guys were renting out the house behind you…was that a common thing for people to rent out houses?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, in that neighborhood, yeah. Oh yeah, there was a lot of houses built with another house behind it. And they always rented or they had like boarding rooms like the houses were big…a lot of the houses were pretty big so inside those houses they had a lot of bedrooms and a lot of area where they made room and you know, like put in stoves and sinks and stuff like that within the house in another room to rent out to boarders. There was a lot of that in that neighborhood.

Brian Detrow: What was the difference between the people that rented and the people that were renting? Were you friends at school renters, or did you get along with people that were renting or were they just a little bit poorer?

Robert Ceccarelli: They might have been a little underprivileged, you know, or a lot of single men, you know, ethnic men that just weren’t married or had no families, you know, to speak of and just worked in the city…but you got along with them okay. There was no…nothing going on, you know, like racial type thing or you know, it was just they were, you know, basically that’s they kind of people that did rent…single ethnic people.

Brian Detrow: Did they have contact with the family…like the people that lived behind you…or the person… would you interact because you lived so close or was it….

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Did you eat dinner together at all or any thing like that? Or was…

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, some times, yeah. I remember my mother renting the place in the back there and having the renter over for dinner, you know, occasionally not on a regular basis but occasionally and you would kind of look out for that person, you know.

Brian Detrow: Okay, so before I left last time I heard you mentioned something about the drums, so I wanted to ask about music and what you did with music, was that part of Tremont or part of growing up or any thing like that?

Robert Ceccarelli: Everybody, you know, I say in the adolescence age, you know, 13, 14, 15 years old, everybody was into music, you know, everybody liked music and had their radios playing music and bought records and you know, things like that. And there was a few of us in the neighborhood that played instruments so we basically found out who each other was, you know, through music…through listening to music and stuff together and we kind of formed a little band. You know, never got anywhere but had a lot of fun playing in each others’ basements or garages or, you know, but it was definitely part of our culture down there I mean.

Brian Detrow: Do you remember what bands you listened to? Robert Ceccarelli: Oh jeez, (laughter) hey, Barb name some bands.

Barb Ceccarelli: First he probably listened to Motown and then he probably listened to rock…oh you mean like () bands or…

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, well Motown was a big part of it…

Barb Ceccarelli: Then you started listening to the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix…

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, bands like…

Barb Ceccarelli: Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Robert Ceccarelli: Temptations, Supremes, uh Wilson Picket, Drifters, Four Tops…

Brian Detrow: Did you play in your band like the music that you were listening to? Was it, um, groovy or anything? What kind of… what did you guys do?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, we did some Motown…Temptations, James Brown…definitely James Brown and then when things started changing a little bit, you know, to more of like Beatles and the Kinks, uh Yard Birds, you know there’s so many bands in my head I can’t think of them all, you know what I mean? It’s just a lot of Lovin’ Spoonful, Monkeys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, you know, things like that we played when we were in the band. We played a little bit of everything, you know, from Motown to Jimi Hendrix, you know, just whatever we felt like playing…even tried to do a little bit of our own thing, try to write some songs…things like that. I remember one time we wrote this song about my cat, you know, it was kind of like a…I remember what it was it was…basically it be what we call today a head banger music and it was about my cat and we just kept screaming about my cat and hollering, you know, and banging the drums and banging the tires and everything like that…it was crazy.

Brian Detrow: That’s funny, did you have a drum set then?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: So, everyone had their little instruments or whatever.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Did you have to save your money to buy that or was that or did you get that for Christmas or anything?

Robert Ceccarelli: Um, my father bought my drum set on the condition that I paid him back…which I did…paid him back so…same things he did with my car, I bought my car…my car…and I paid him back.

Brian Detrow: How old were you then?

Robert Ceccarelli: My car I think I was… I got it before I got my license, so I think I was 15 and it just sat in the yard until I was able to get my license, you know. I remember going out there all the time and polishing it and waxing it and cleaning it sitting in there and listening to the radio and everything you know but I couldn’t drive until I got my license.

Brian Detrow: Before you told me how your dad had a car but sometimes he didn’t drive it to work, and I was wondering why he chose to take the bus rather than drive the car.

Robert Ceccarelli: I guess just to, uh, save wear and tear on the car.

Brian Detrow: Uhha, what kind of car was it?

Robert Ceccarelli: That he had?

Brian Detrow: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: Well, he had quite a few cars…I mean the earliest one I can remember was a I think it was a 1953 Nash Rambler…Nash, you ever hear of it?

Brian Detrow: I think so.

Robert Ceccarelli: Then I remember he bought a 55 Chevy Impala then he had a 61 Mercury…then I think the next car he had was a 66 Impala Chevy. And from that point on I really don’t remember.

Brian Detrow: Yeah, what kind of car did you have?

Robert Ceccarelli: My first car was a 65 Impala SuperSport Chevy. Nice car.

Brian Detrow: What did your friends think about that?

Robert Ceccarelli: Oh, they loved it…they all piled in it.

Brian Detrow: Did you have a car before your friends or did they…did everybody try to get a car when they were 16 or…

Robert Ceccarelli: No, I think everybody…everybody got some kind of car, you know, when they were able to drive. Most everybody had some kind of car to drive even if it was a clunker…all beat up and you know, they just, you know, you had to have your own car.

Brian Detrow: I have some other questions but did you want to talk about any thing on your list?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, you know, one thing I thought about which probably be pretty important to you the area known as Tremont…now I’d say back in my mother’s time was called Lincoln Heights and as time went on I’d…somewhere, I’m guessing…somewhere in the 50s they called it the South Side. Why, I don’t know but if you lived in the area they’d call you a South Sider. And then later on when the renovations started you know with the area…that’s when they labeled it Tremont. In the beginning it was called Lincoln Heights. I got a bunch of stuff here I don’t know if you want to…

Brian Detrow: Oh yeah, go for it.

Robert Ceccarelli: The, uh, place I told you that’s called Lincoln Park Baths which was later named Lincoln Recreation, they used to have, uh, a thing there once a year there when I was a kid called a band wagon and that’s when they brought in like a huge wagon with a small stage on it and they would have amateur shows on it. And they used to set it up behind…behind the building…it was this area were everybody…were the basketball courts are and everything, and that’s what they would do once a year.

Brian Detrow: When in the year was that?

Robert Ceccarelli: Pardon?

Brian Detrow: I mean was it in the summer or the spring?

Robert Ceccarelli: It was always Fourth of July.

Brian Detrow: The amateurs were from what, around Ohio or?…

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Did they have fireworks?

Robert Ceccarelli: No, they didn’t have fireworks…they just had the band wagon and that area back there. Also, wintertime they used to…I guess they used a hose…a water hose…and they just hosed the whole concrete area down and they had ice skating there in the winter.

Brian Detrow: Uhhu, did you skate and stuff?

Robert Ceccarelli: Tried to, yeah.

Brian Detrow: Did you use ice skates or was it on your shoes?

Robert Ceccarelli: Ice skates…they had ice skates there for you.

Brian Detrow: Oh, did you rent them out?

Robert Ceccarelli: Mmhmm, and it was like real…because it was just done…a hose on concrete…it was like real bumpy and choppy and everything, you know, so you were always falling over. And they used to have Halloween parties there…they used to parade in your costume…you’d parade around the area and they would have people that would like pull you out of line if they thought your costume was really good and then they’d have prizes and stuff like that…it was basically just like for little kids.

Brian Detrow: Did you go trick or treating then?

Robert Ceccarelli: In the area, yeah… yeah, it was…covered a lot of area and it was safe, you know, it was always safe. And I remember one women every year she would have hot donuts and cider and she let you come in her house and she had a big table filled with hot donuts and cider and you’d sit there and eat the donuts and drink the cider and…

Brian Detrow: And that was…it was just safe…no one would consider that weird or any thing like that?

Robert Ceccarelli: No, mmhmm, not at all.

Brian Detrow: What about other holidays…what was Christmas like?

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, it was nice in our house. It was, uh, Christmas tree went up Christmas Eve…that’s when you put the tree up. Them you’d put the tree…um, then you’d go to midnight mass and then midnight mass you’d come home, you know, go to sleep and then wake up and open presents in the morning. And my mother always had this tradition on Christmas Eve also…this is before the tree went up…it was, ah, Ukrainian…she was Polish and Ukrainian…it would be, uh, a fish soup dinner, and they would pass around…Barb, what’s that stuff called?

Barb Ceccarelli: ()

Robert Ceccarelli: Was it Communion, yeah, it was like Communion but not really consecrated Communion, you know, like, bless the Communion…you’d pass it around and make the sign of the Cross and put it in your mouth. I don’t know if you’re Catholic or not but, you know, you would do that and have the fish soup I wouldn’t eat it though… I wouldn’t touch it. I ate the pierogies..

Brian Detrow: Yeah, you told me about the pierogies before. What other foods where there that you guys ate a lot?

Robert Ceccarelli: Well, my mother being Polish and Ukrainian and my father was Italian it seemed like one Sunday was spaghetti sauce and the following Sunday was stuffed cabbage and it just kept alternating like that. You know, my mother made a lot of food she had good breaded pork chops, made good soups, a lot of good soups, and uh, trying to think of what else she made…city chicken, swiss steak. She was a very good cook…though had a hard time keeping your weight down in that house.

Brian Detrow: What about your friends’ parents did they cook the same things or?…

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, it seemed to be about the same foods, yeah.

Brian Detrow: Uh, were there any other places that you would go get food? Like, if you had any extra money or anything like that?

Robert Ceccarelli: Actually there was no place in the neighborhood…there wasn’t very many restaurants come to think of it. Hardly any at all probably because, you know, the ethnic people in that…were in the neighborhood, the way they cooked and everything, who needs to go out to eat?

Brian Detrow: Okay.

Robert Ceccarelli: You…but there was no, you know, you didn’t have your McDonald’s or Burger Kings…that came later and that was down the other way like Clark Avenue. But in the neighborhood…I don’t remember any restaurants come to think of it.

Brian Detrow: Did you go to any restaurants with your family outside of the Tremont area?

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t think so. The only thing I can remember is, uh, once in a great while my father would take us in the car and go to Manner’s Big Boy, you know, but there really no going out to eat.

Brian Detrow: Um do you want to do some of your list?

Robert Ceccarelli: Let’s see…in, uh, Lincoln Park they had the pool…the regular pool. I don’t know if you seen that when you were down there in Lincoln Park…the pool…but in the center of the park what they had was this huge concrete wading pool for little kids. It was made for little kids…the water probably no more than 2 feet deep. They tore that down eventually but that’s…that’s what they had there right in the center, then they set up later on, like, back probably in the early 60s…they were setting up concerts, you know, and they…the only one that comes to my mind is Vicky Carr singing there…she was pretty famous there at that time. But they didn’t…I don’t think that lasted too long. And there used to be a, uh, in the Post 577…that’s a…that’s a bar…a family bar…had a little ice cream shop and this right in front of it they knocked out the brick and put a window in there and had a little ice cream shop in there. I don’t know if you seen that place.

Brian Detrow: Whatever I took picture of.

Robert Ceccarelli: Whatever you took pictures of, yeah, well I noticed you took a picture of Lemko Hall…the old Lemko Hall. I don’t know if you know, that’s where the movie The Deer Hunter… the reception was filmed…did you happen to see St. Theodosius Church?

Brian Detrow: Um, I’m not sure.

Robert Ceccarelli: I didn’t see it on here but it’s on Starkweather way down on Starkweather…almost when you start going down the hill…but that was the, uh, the wedding scene from The Deer Hunter.

Brian Detrow: Is that the church with the big curves?

Robert Ceccarelli: With the big domes on it.

Brian Detrow: Yeah, when you drive on the highway you see it on the right side.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Uhm, what year was that movie made?

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t know…hey, Barb, do you know when about when The Deer Hunter was made?

Barb Ceccarelli: 1978

Robert Ceccarelli: 78…she knows right away. They had, uh, in the bank…Third Federal Bank…that’s an old bank that’s been there for eons and it’s still there…they had applications for extras for that movie when they were filming it. Yeah, I put one in but they didn’t…they didn’t call me…they lost out.

Brian Detrow: Yeah, did you know any people that did get…

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, this one, uh, well it probably had a lot of extras, but I didn’t know all the people…he was the manager of that bank, yeah…yeah, nepotism, right ?…and they had…they had an old guy who drove this horse and wagon…I was pretty little but I still remember him…and they call him the paper rags man and he used to go up and down the streets and he’d yell “paper rags, paper rags” and he would stop and what you do any kind of junk that you got in your house that you don’t want…I don’t care what it is, besides food garbage, you know, you’d just go up there and throw it in his wagon and he’d take it…any kind of junk you could think of. And he had his…I’d say I was probably about 6 maybe 7 years old. You know, but eventually he quit.

Brian Detrow: Did he sell the stuff back or try to fix it or use it…what was his deal?

Robert Ceccarelli: I think what he did was just took it somewhere and got money for it…for junk. You know. And then you’d always see this horse crap in the streets. Then there was another guy that used to come down in a truck…small truck…the, uh, the waffle guy…he would just stop and start ringing a bell and you’d go up there and you’d have these waffles about this big [at least 6 inches across] with all this powdered sugar on them, you know, the you’d give him your money and you’d walk away with this waffle…they were good.

Brian Detrow: Did they have ice cream trucks to or was it just a waffle truck?

Robert Ceccarelli: They had ice cream trucks. Somebody mentioned to me at work today…I don’t remember seeing any thing like this…a guy would come buy and sharpen your knives.

Brian Detrow: Okay, I haven’t heard anything like that.

Robert Ceccarelli: I’m sure it probably went on in the neighborhood and I just don’t remember seeing that. You knew, she said he’d yell out “knife man, knife man” and he’d have one of those old stone wheels, you know, with the pedal and you’d bring your knives out to him and he’d sharpen them and you’d pay him. It’s weird, you know, compared to what you do today you just throw them out.

Brian Detrow: Were there other door to door type things? Were there door to door salesmen?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, yeah…the brush man, Fuller brush man, I think. That guy’s still around today. Uh, I don’t remember having a milk man. I would probably say my mother probably did but I…I don’t remember it because that’s a big thing…having a milk man.

Brian Detrow: What about telemarketers? Did people call on the phone and try to sell you things?

Robert Ceccarelli: No

Brian Detrow: Invention of the new.

Robert Ceccarelli: We had party lines.

Brian Detrow: Party lines?

Robert Ceccarelli: You know what those are?

Brian Detrow: No.

Robert Ceccarelli: I actually don’t know why they had them I don’t know if was cheaper to have a phone that way but you could pick up your phone and go to use it and you could hear, like, two other people talking. You would share what you’re doing…is sharing that line with somebody else. A person that you don’t even know.

Brian Detrow: All right.

Robert Ceccarelli: You know unless you talk to them and you find out who they are. But I can remember my mother had one, you know, and I’d go to use the phone and hear two people talking and I’d have to hang up and wait until that person’s done before I could use the phone. And they called that a party line.

Brian Detrow: Was it people…how was it divided…would they…did they randomly pick a person that would be on the same line or was it was another person in the general area in Tremont itself?

Robert Ceccarelli: I think they randomly did it because you wouldn’t know unless you actual start talking to that person and getting to them you wouldn’t know where they were at.

Brian Detrow: Was it less expensive to do that?

Robert Ceccarelli: I think that’s the reason that they did that. I think it was just cheaper…just a cheaper way to have a phone. But annoying, you know, because then two people talk on the phone all night. How are you going to get…you know. That’s one of the reasons we used to go this West 14th drugstore on West 14th Street…they had phones in the drug store in the back…you ever see those old, uh, phone booths with the open door and sometimes you would open it up and the fan and would come on and the light would come on. You know they had phones in the back of that drugstore…we want to call our girlfriends or something we could never get on the line…we used to just run up to the drug store and use the phone.

Brian Detrow: And how much was that?

Robert Ceccarelli: A dime

[end of a]

Brian Detrow: I was just curious, uh, did you meet your wife in school?

Robert Ceccarelli: More or less.

Brian Detrow: Oh, because you said she didn’t live in Tremont.

Robert Ceccarelli: Actually where I met her was the place everyone hung out at. The Red Barn on Clark Avenue. That was kind of like the meeting point for, you know, hey!…what are you going to do now? You know we met up there but she, uh, we went to the same school together. I just didn’t get to know her until after I was out of school she was still in school.

Brian Detrow: Was the Red Barn just a Red Barn or was it just a place?

Robert Ceccarelli: It was, you know, like a Burger King or McDonald’s…that’s what is was only it was called the Red Barn. They had burgers and milk shakes and things like that. it was kind of more on the Burger King order than it was McDonald’s.

Brian Detrow: Where was that?

Robert Ceccarelli: That was on, uh, Clark right off about 30…Barb, Red Barn? 31st and Clark, yeah. We either drove up there…you couldn’t drive… you walked.

Brian Detrow: Did you want to look at those pictures at all or anything or was there anything that caught your eye?

Robert Ceccarelli: That used to be a, uh, that’s a bank first something I see.

Brian Detrow: The Fifth Third I think it says.

Robert Ceccarelli: It used to be a Cardinal Federal and there was a hall up here for weddings parties…we had a high school party up there one time. I don’t know what that is…do you know where that is?

Brian Detrow: No.

Robert Ceccarelli: I can’t..some of these I can’t get them all…that’s some place that’s dark…this I don’t know either. I’m thinking it could have been a clothing store or hardware store.

Brian Detrow: This one…I was confused…it was like Chinese or Korean…I think it was the church or something like that and I wasn’t sure if there wasn’t any, uh, oriental or eastern people that lived in Tremont…that you remember?

Robert Ceccarelli: No, that looks like…I can’t think of the name of the church, but I think it was a Polish church. Hey, Barb, didn’t your sister get married at some Polish church down there? Is that it?

Barb Ceccarelli: Yeah, that’s right across the street from Palton Place, it’s…it is now a Korean or Asian church…it used to be a Polish church.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, do you know the name of it?

Barb Ceccarelli: No my mom probably has pictures of it with the name on it but she’s in Florida.

Brian Detrow: Do you know what happened to it?

Barb Ceccarelli: I don’t know why it was changed over unless maybe there are so many churches like St. John Cansios and that…the bigger churches…that maybe most of the people you know are, um… attendance maybe was low that these people bought it out. But its odd because there are no… there’s hardly any…

Robert Ceccarelli: There’s hardly any oriental people in the Tremont area…especially 30 years ago there weren’t any.

Barb Ceccarelli: Yeah, my sister got married in 1959…it was at that church but it was a Polish church at that time.

Robert Ceccarelli: Some of these I can’t…that’s not above the restaurant, isn’t it?

Barb Ceccarelli: Oh, is that Lolas‘? That’s Lolas’…that’s a real expensive restaurant.

Robert Ceccarelli: On Literary.

Barb Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: That was a. uh…

Barb Ceccarelli: They even have valet parking. I haven’t eaten there and it’s supposed to be very expensive. It’s right on the corner of Professor and Literary.

Robert Ceccarelli: And it used to be a, uh, Ukrainian or Polish store.

Barb Ceccarelli: Now there’s a lot of restaurants there…did you go by University or Sokolowskis’?

Brian Detrow: I just got out of my car and started taking pictures. So…

Barb Ceccarelli: This looks like by Grumpys‘…that’s on Literary and that’s Grumpys’…it’s a little restaurant that supposed to be really good.

Robert Ceccarelli: And did you notice the build up in the area like a lot of unique restaurants and shops and stores and things like that and renovation of the houses?

Brian Detrow: Yeah, it seemed like there was so many different things going on I noticed here too there’s a candy, soft drink, cigarettes kind of deal.

Barb Ceccarelli: Oh, wait! This is the wrong place then…this is, oh, maybe…no, oh…I think that is Grumpys’…you know, that is other place…it’s right on Professor…that’s a nice quaint place.

Robert Ceccarelli: Well the hospital that I was born at is still there, Grace Hospital,

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s a pet store right…there did you see that? It’s the pet supplies in there.

Robert Ceccarelli: This is some of the new houses in here.

Barb Ceccarelli: Those are like they were when they first opened like a 100 and some thousand I bet there almost 200 now.

Robert Ceccarelli: They even had a neighborhood doctor…he lived in the neighborhood…he lived above the West 14th drugstore…Dr. Urick made house calls and everything, you know, if you had to go to the doctor he was only down the street.

Brian Detrow: Was he expensive?

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t think so, no, uh, ha….but I remember him coming over my house with his big black bag, you know, making house calls. It’s kind of neat. Which ones am I putting down right here?… right…

Brian Detrow: Yeah here. okay I’m going to listen to this again so I’m going to keep those in order since you went through them.

Robert Ceccarelli:Literary Grocery…

Barb Ceccarelli: Oh, yeah, Fisher Foods used to be there…that was like a big supermarket and the bank was next door, right, Bob?

Robert Ceccarelli: We had a store.

Barb Ceccarelli: Oh, wait a second…no, this is further down from the one I said was the pet supply…I won’t mess him up…like down here…this is further down I think isn’t it? And the corner, the little deli…

Robert Ceccarelli: By Linda’s mother’s house?

Barb Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Barb Ceccarelli: Further down because…see these are the new houses so that’s like the neighborhood deli. I don’t know if that was there before…was that there…always on Literary? There were a lot of delis.

Robert Ceccarelli: See this is where I used to go neck with my girlfriends.

Brian Detrow: All right

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s wishful thinking…

Robert Ceccarelli: (laughter) I still go there too!

Brian Detrow: (laughter)

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s the steel mills.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, the steel mills…this is, uh, University is…this where that big mound is by them houses…

Barb Ceccarelli: Like a big sand pile I think.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, that’s right because look down there.

Barb Ceccarelli: That street runs down to Quigly which run parallel to the steel mill and they used to hot rod down there with their cars.

Brian Detrow: Oh really.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, This street here…it’s a pretty long street…it goes like this way and then that way…they used to race cars…the guys in high school soup up their cars and bring them down there and have races.

Barb Ceccarelli: That actually goes to downtown.

Brian Detrow: Did you go to the races and stuff?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, I never raced. I never liked it. I never liked racing. I don’t like going fast she’ll tell you that now by the way I drive. But I used to go down there and watch all the time. What’s this?

Barb Ceccarelli: I don’t know its close to the cliglus.

Robert Ceccarelli: Where the heck were you when you took this? Were you behind a bush somewhere?

Barb Ceccarelli: Brian was lost.

Robert Ceccarelli: Just an arm and a camera click. I have no idea where that is. You just wanted to take them quick and get the hell out of there right?

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s West 14th…oh, no, that’s not…that’s the new building…the new house and that’s across the street of those old houses that go up the hill, aren’t they?

Robert Ceccarelli:Mmhmmm. So one thing about the area now even though they are building it up…it’s renovating and uh, new houses, new shops, you know, it’s looking nice and everything… you still have a lot of bad element that lives there.

Brian Detrow:Mmhmm.

Barb Ceccarelli: The projects.

Robert Ceccarelli: You know the projects are near byand…it’s, you know, it’s mixed, you know, if you got upscale people living here and right next door you got maybe some ghetto type people living right next door it’s still mixed up like that right now.

Brian Detrow: Oh uh.

Robert Ceccarelli: You taking pictures of girls or… Brian Detrow: She’s… sorry.

Barb Ceccarelli: She’s cute.

Brian Detrow: Oh.

Barb Ceccarelli: Is that one of your…

Brian Detrow: One of my girlfriends. no.

Robert Ceccarelli: Did you get her phone number?

Brian Detrow: No, she’s just a friend.

Robert Ceccarelli: For me, not for you!

Barb Ceccarelli: Oh, brother, Brian!…I’m sorry ()

Brian Detrow: Hey, he’s on tape now so…

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh oh (laughter)…can and will be used against you.

Barb Ceccarelli: If that’s Professor…I think no, is that Professor?

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t know.

Barb Ceccarelli: There’s St. John Cansios…it’s Professor…they still have festivals there every year…the Polish festivals and they have polkas and every, oh…he’s supposed…

Robert Ceccarelli: (laughter) you could talk too, yeah, they have a Polish festival every year.

Brian Detrow: uhha

Robert Ceccarelli: Big polka bands and a lot of Polish food…it’s really neat and they usually, uh, that’s around Labor Day and they were holding 50s and 60s dances in their gym and they would decorate their gym in…like, in 50s…1950s, you know, and have dance contests… Jitter bug.

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s their high school.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, that’s their high school…St. John Canshios…it’s closed up. That’s…uh…Literary…that’s part of Limko Hall. Did you have a cup of coffee?

Brian Detrow: No.

Robert Ceccarelli: You just wanted to take pictures and leave right?

Barb Ceccarelli: ()

Robert Ceccarelli: I know that I told him that last time. Used to be a print shop…remember I told you about that print shop? We used to pass out flyers for that guy. When he had stuff printed…flyers…and, you know, pass out…nail, um, on poles…half the time we’d take…um and dump them down the sewer and told him we did it.

Brian Detrow: Did he pay you for that? did you say that?

Robert Ceccarelli: He…he paid us. You know I’m still wondering what kind of church this is…Pilgrim Church…

Barb Ceccarelli: Congregational church…

Robert Ceccarelli: There’s such a thing as a Congregational church? I thought every church congregated.

Brian Detrow: Right.

Robert Ceccarelli: This is the one remember when I told…I used to set up the bowling pins…yeah, this is the church…they had an alley in the back there like gowning 3 3 bowling alleys…that’s the church. And this…this used to be a funeral home. Lincoln Park Funeral Home.

Brian Detrow: What happened to it? I mean why did they stop using it as a funeral home?

Robert Ceccarelli: Just…business was dead. (Laughter)

Brian Detrow: Is there a cemetery in Tremont?

Robert Ceccarelli: Mmmm…now, no…uh, uh, everybody got buried at Calvary at Miles Avenue…anybody in my whole family that died is at Calvary Cemetery.

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s in 14th Street [looking at picture]

Robert Ceccarelli: I’m thinking right here in the same two to three building area there was barber shop. Yeah, my aunt and uncle used to live here in this apartment building…the guy I work with lives out here. Yeah, that’s an old one…is this on 14th?

Brian Detrow: Uh, yeah, I think so.

Robert Ceccarelli: My foot’s falling asleep, I didn’t hit you, did I?

Brian Detrow: No.

Barb Ceccarelli: That’s our daughter.

Brian Detrow: Hi, nice to meet you.

Robert Ceccarelli: You took some of the freeway, huh…is that what you did or, is that what that is?

Brian Detrow: Um…

Robert Ceccarelli: This one, yeah, is that 71?

Brian Detrow: That was on…I was on one of those land bridges.

Robert Ceccarelli: Oh, okay.

Brian Detrow: Um, do you know when they built those…they are pretty recent, right?

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t know…this is 71?

Brian Detrow: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: I don’t know.

Brian Detrow: Here’s another one…one across…

Robert Ceccarelli: Is this?…I wonder if this is the one that comes from West 11th Street. It might be.

Brian Detrow: I don’t know what this was…it says “Club Zero” I see and then there are some shops but you can’t really see anything.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, this an apartment building around 14th, isn’t it?

Brian Detrow: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, that’s like close…that’s like close to 90 I think.

Brian Detrow: I think this is right when you get off at 71.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Um, how long was that there?

Robert Ceccarelli: Forever. At one time it was like, uh, abandoned, you know, condemned. Not condemned, but just left, you know, alone. They weren’t renting it or anything then…they kind of redid it. My work’s at the…right across from that one picture…that church that we told you that her sister got married at. There’s a place called Pelton Place.

Brian Detrow: Okay.

Robert Ceccarelli: It’s an assisted living…my work’s there that…that was, uh, all apartment complex at one time. And you should see the way they redid that thing it’s beautiful inside of there. That was another one of them that was left, you know, just left alone for years, you know, and no one ever did any thing with it and they decided to make this assisted living and they really did a nice job on it.

Brian Detrow: Mmhmm.

Robert Ceccarelli: That started…that as Grace Hospital…I told you were I was born at.

Brian Detrow: You want to go back to your list then?

Robert Ceccarelli: I’ll see what’s left. Do you remember me telling you about a place called Merik House?

Brian Detrow: Umm, no.

Robert Ceccarelli: It’s…it’s like a, uh, a tiny recreation center…they had, like, crafts for kids. They had a basketball court and weight lifting…things like…but I remember one time…I was thinking about this today at work. We, uh, we were putting together a basketball team. And I think we were about…probably about 11 years old, I think and uh, the guy that was in charge of the place…he says…well you can have a basketball team but you got to have uniforms, you know, because, he says, because we were going to compete against other recreation centers in the city and he says uh, I can’t afford to pay for your uniforms, you know,….you guys are going to have to buy your own. We couldn’t buy our own. And then he mentioned about going…and sometimes you go to the different stores and different organizations and they’ll sponsor you. They’ll buy you uniforms. So we got the idea to go downtown Cleveland store called Rosenblum’s. I don’t know if you ever heard of it.

Brian Detrow: I think so.

Robert Ceccarelli: And there was 6 or 7 of us guys…we went and took…and took a bus. We went downtown…we went to this Rosenblum’s…we walked in there…they had an elevator operator, you know, a guy operating the elevator, and he says “where do you boys want to go?” And we says we want to see Mr. Rosenblum. You know? So he took us up to this one floor and we went his office and this guy in a suit was sitting there, you know, big old guy…he was huge. Sitting there and he goes “what can I do for you boys?” And we says, well, we’re forming a basketball team we thought you could pay for our uniforms maybe. You know. And he says where you from? And we told him you know were from Merrick House down at Tremont area and he goes hang on a minute. He gets on the phone, he calls this sporting goods shop and he says you give these boys whatever they need and put it on my account. We went down…we took a walk down to that sporting goods shop…we walked in there…the guy gave us…just fitted us with uniforms! We had our names put on it, bought tennis shoes…everything and this guy paid for it!

Brian Detrow: That’s awesome. so then you guys played then.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, yeah, we played…one game away from championship and we lost that game. Just one game we had to win and we would have played the championship game and we lost that game by one point. I don’t know we’re running out of things here.

Brian Detrow: You mentioned that you had a cat.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah.

Brian Detrow: Was it…um, did a lot of people have pets and stuff like that…did you have any other pets?

Robert Ceccarelli: A dog. A dog and a cat, yeah. The cat’s name was Monskra…means cat in Ukrainian. My mother named it.

Brian Detrow: Um, was owning pets and stuff like that normal? Did a lot of kids have pets?

Robert Ceccarelli: Oh, yeah…yeah. A lot of cats and dogs and stuff. I think this bakery shop is Auburn Bakery…it’s on West 14th. It was the only bakery in the whole…all of Tremont. I’m trying to think of stuff of Tremont school and I can’t. They used to make…if they caught you chewing gum you’d have to put it on your nose and stand in front of the class. (laughter) Uh, I remember Otis the elevator operator. That was a good sized school. For being just an elementary school…did you see in when you…

Brian Detrow: Yeah, I did, actually.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, it takes up a lot of the area…that’s a big school.

Brian Detrow: Um, when you were at high school and um, I mean…I know you lived during the 60s and the 70s so I was wondering if there was like, a lot of drug usage or pot smoking and stuff like that, that you remember with all your friends or any thing.

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh a little bit but not much you know because it was actually at that…it was hard to get and high school, I mean, not like now…kids can get it any where.

Brian Detrow: Right.

Robert Ceccarelli: But back then it was kind of like, you know, if somebody had it..it was like, oooohh oooooohh, you know?

Brian Detrow: Yeah, would they be the cool ones then probably?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, there was some pills going on too.

Brian Detrow: Oh, really.

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, a little bit of that. Speed. Mainly speed and it didn’t seem like it developed until the late 60s, you know, like, say…like, 11th, 12th grade, like, during…uh, 8th, 9th grade…it wasn’t even… it didn’t even seem like it was around. You know, then, like, the late 60s, you know, especially the way music was going, you know, you turned up the music at that time. Its seemed like it was you know, that kind of stuff was starting to pop up in high school.

Brian Detrow: Huh um.

Robert Ceccarelli: A lot of drinking though.

Brian Detrow: Yeah.

Robert Ceccarelli: A lot of drinking.

Brian Detrow: Um, I heard something weird…things about Ukrainian Labor Temple and you mentioned it…did you know anything that was going on that was weird there? I don’t know…someone told me it was something about a Communist kind of deal was going on…. I don’t know…I was…just wanted to ask the question.

Robert Ceccarelli: Really?

Brian Detrow: Yeah um.

Robert Ceccarelli: No, I didn’t…Ukrainian Labor Temple…huh! That was right down the street from my house. I, no…I wasn’t aware of anything.

Brian Detrow: Yeah, I don’t know.

Robert Ceccarelli: I know right now it’s some kind of Spanish place. I remember going to a, uh, high school graduation party there. I was kind of…I was only maybe 14, you know, and a friend of mine says come to my party, you know, and he…and I knew him from the neighbor hood…he was already graduated and I was just entering junior high, you know, and he turned me on to some drinks down there…it was a good time.

Brian Detrow: Did you go to Vietnam?

Robert Ceccarelli: No.

Brian Detrow: Why not or how did you not go?

Robert Ceccarelli: Did you hear of something called the lottery system? When they were drafting. Yeah, I fell into the year they had the lottery system where they picked your birth date, it’s like a wheel, you know, you picked you birth date and then picked a certain number you know and my number fell way beyond the point of them taking me. So I missed it.

Brian Detrow: Um, do you remember the feelings that your friends had about it?…were there any protests or…

Robert Ceccarelli: Uh, mostly the guys I hung around with were not protesters…they were still of the, uh, hard core go-out-and-get-um and let’s-fight-fight-fight-and-killum-killum-killum type group. You know, most of my friends were like that. I kind of didn’t fall into that bracket though.

Brian Detrow: Why is that?

Robert Ceccarelli: I didn’t want to go over there and get killed. Haha!

Brian Detrow: Right.

Robert Ceccarelli: I never really protested, you know, never got out on the streets and protested, but I just…those are my feelings you know. If I didn’t have to go it was great. Even my father, uh, said he says your number comes up, he says, I help you out and send you to Canada. That was my father. You know so. Like I said, most of the guys I hung around with weren’t…they weren’t…I got along with them all, you know.

Brian Detrow: Um, how about you and your dad…how much interaction was there? Did he work a lot or um, besides eating and dinner and stuff like that, did you like go to the park…like play catch or any thing like that…with your dad or was he around…did he have weekends off or…

Robert Ceccarelli: Not a whole lot of that…he, uh, he always worked two jobs, you know, he worked full time at the steel mills, he worked part time as a waiter. Plus he had…he was treasurer of his union at work which took up a whole lot of time, you know. There was some things we did, but not a whole lot. I don’t hold that against him, you know, but he…uh, he seemed to be there if I really needed him, you know…but I think basically because he worked so much.

Brian Detrow: Yeah, what about your mom?

Robert Ceccarelli: My mother…a lot of talking…she didn’t…well, I used to take her shopping and stuff too and we’d go out to eat and go shopping and a lot of conversation with her, yeah.

Brian Detrow: What about your friends? Were they same way with their parents…did their dad’s work in and their mom’s pretty much were there most of the time, you think?

Robert Ceccarelli: Yeah, I would say so. Well, back then, you know, hardly anyone’s mothers worked. You know, they all stayed home and the fathers were out there working so you tend to spend more time with your mother.

Brian Detrow: Anything else on there you want to talk about?

Robert Ceccarelli: I think I almost covered everything on this list.

Brian Detrow: Okay.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Download

Included in

Oral History Commons

Share

COinS