Abstract
Ray Herzog talks about his time in living around Cleveland and working downtown.
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Interviewee
Herzog, Ray (interviewee)
Project
Cuyahoga County Fair
Date
8-9-2006
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
9 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Ray Herzog interview, 09 August 2006" (2006). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 907006.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/896
Transcript
Ray Herzog [00:00:00] Give me something.
Justin Hons [00:00:00] Yep.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:01] Okay, as we start off, if I could get you just to say your name as well as the date for the microphone.
Ray Herzog [00:00:08] Ray Herzog, August 9, 2006.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:14] And we’re here at the County Fair today. How have- Is this your first time to the Cuyahoga County Fair?
Ray Herzog [00:00:21] I’ve been here before, but it’s been a few years.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:24] Have yet been having a good time so far?
Ray Herzog [00:00:26] Oh yeah.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:27] So you did not grow up in Cleveland, you said. Where did, where did you grow up?
Ray Herzog [00:00:32] Small town in western New York State.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:37] What was your childhood like? Was it rural?
Ray Herzog [00:00:41] Rural. One thousand people in the village.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:44] Oh, wow. What did your family do there?
Ray Herzog [00:00:48] My dad was a mechanic with dairy equipment. To be expected in a rural town.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:58] When did you move from that town?
Ray Herzog [00:01:02] Well, I didn’t come here from there. It was a long trip to get here. But I came to Cleveland in January 1973.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:10] What brought you here?
Ray Herzog [00:01:12] A job. I work with a publishing company.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:18] In what area or what part of the-
Ray Herzog [00:01:22] Marketing research.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:27] And what area of Cleveland did you settle in?
Ray Herzog [00:01:30] I started in Lakewood and then I’ve been in Middleburg Heights most of my time.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:35] Where was the company that you worked for?
Ray Herzog [00:01:36] Downtown Cleveland.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:38] What was your first impression of downtown Cleveland?
Ray Herzog [00:01:43] Well, because I needed a job, I guess it looked pretty good. And all my previous jobs had been in the outskirts. So this was a big change to be working downtown, public transportation to get downtown. Big change.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:01] What building were you in? Where was it located?
Ray Herzog [00:02:04] Three different buildings as the company moved around, but downtown, East 9th area.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:10] So you would take RTA into Terminal Tower?
Ray Herzog [00:02:14] No, the bus. It came down Pearl, 45-minute ride.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:22] What was the- I guess, what- Well, you said it was a big change, but what were the, I guess, kind of biggest changes about or what made Cleveland different from the other cities?
Ray Herzog [00:02:36] Well, all the other jobs it was in the outskirts. This was the first time it was right in the heart of the city. So that was a major change. I didn’t mind the long commute. I could read while on the bus. So the time was put to good use. I enjoyed being downtown. I liked the convenience of having the stores during lunchtime to go visit. But you know, I really, when I got here they had like the Grant Company and Woolworth’s. No longer. [audio damaged] … and she took me to the ball game. So we came. I guess we’d been down a few times.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:03:16] What kind of tour?
Ray Herzog [00:03:18] It was- You get old and you forget. [laughs] I don’t know. I remember we walked over to the river and, gosh, I forget what the heck it was. But anyway, we came down for some kind of a tour, sightseeing.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:03:38] And baseball game? [inaudible]
Ray Herzog [00:03:41] Well, no, I don’t remember what it was. But as I say, last year for the baseball game, we did come down for the ball game.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:03:49] Did you ever go to any games in the old stadium before?
Ray Herzog [00:03:53] One football game- Two football games. Yeah.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:03:57] Have you been to the new?
Ray Herzog [00:03:59] No.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:04:01] Justin, any questions?
Justin Hons [00:04:07] Did you get a chance to look at any of the photographs?
Ray Herzog [00:04:09] Oh, yes. Yes.
Justin Hons [00:04:11] Did any of them jar any memories for you or did you have any thoughts about any? Did any stand out in particular?
Ray Herzog [00:04:17] Nothing stood out. It’s kind of interesting seeing the phases of the construction of the big buildings, but no. Well, the streetcar. I do remember when I moved here, they still had streetcar tracks on Euclid. And it’s interesting now that RTA is proposing this, or is building this streetcar system again, life seems to repeat itself.
Justin Hons [00:04:43] Has Cleveland as a city had any influence on your writing?
Ray Herzog [00:04:50] No, no. I am, interestingly, though, I am about to write my autobiography and I will introduce facts, as a lot of stories do have, about your location and the people. So in that respect, I’ll be recalling many things. So in that respect, inherently, yes, Cleveland will, has had, and as I think about it, to do my autobiography at that time, it will really illuminate itself.
Justin Hons [00:05:24] If you have a guest that comes into town, what might be some of the things you would show them?
Ray Herzog [00:05:29] Well, not would. I did, come to think of it, yeah, my brother came in, we went down to the, was it the museum next to the Rock and Roll? What’s the history or science? [crosstalk] Science, yes, we did that. I haven’t done the Rock and Roll. That’s not me. But we did, I brought my brother down to see the science. We took the tour up to the top of Tower, the Tower, Terminal building.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:06:05] Great, thank you.
Justin Hons [00:06:06] Thanks a lot.
Ray Herzog [00:06:07] Okay, cool.
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