Abstract
Terry Hogan shares childhood memories of growing up in the Kamm's Corners neighborhood, visits downtown during the holidays, showing out-of-town friends around the city, and feeling unsafe in the city today.
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Interviewee
Hogan, Terry (interviewee)
Interviewer
Hons, Justin (interviewee)
Project
Cuyahoga County Fair
Date
2006
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
6 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Terry Hogan interview, 2006" (2006). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 907004.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/898
Transcript
Justin Hons [00:00:04] [inaudible]
Terry Hogan [00:00:12] Phone, I was going to say I picked number...
Justin Hons [00:00:32] If you could just state your name and tell us whether or not you give us permission to use this [inaudible].
Terry Hogan [00:00:39] My name's Terry Hogan and I give my permission to use this interview for the Euclid Corridor Oral History Project.
Justin Hons [00:00:48] Terry, where did you grow?
Terry Hogan [00:00:49] Kamm's Corner area, west side of Cleveland.
Justin Hons [00:00:54] What was that neighborhood like?
Terry Hogan [00:00:54] I was born in the old Fairview Hospital. It was well, I lived in a new development.
Justin Hons [00:01:05] What does that mean?
Terry Hogan [00:01:05] They were brand new houses. It was... consisted of courts. People in the court were like one big family. We had block parties every Sunday. Oh, no fences. You know, you just ran through everyone's yard. Summer was fun there. At nighttime, under the streetlights you'd play kick the can and spud with the ball you don't remember that game?
Justin Hons [00:01:34] No.
Terry Hogan [00:01:36] You throw the ball up and call someone's name and they have to catch it before it bounces. And then you tag somebody with the ball and they're it.
Justin Hons [00:01:43] When was this?
Terry Hogan [00:01:46] In the '50s.
Justin Hons [00:01:53] How has the neighborhood changed from then to now?
Terry Hogan [00:01:53] Everyone's got fences. Nobody plays outside anymore. Well, video games, ya know, arcades.
Justin Hons [00:02:03] Did you or your friends or you family ever go downtown?
Terry Hogan [00:02:06] OK. We went every year because my father worked at Sterling Lindner and the day the tree went up as the day we all went downtown and saw the lights and went to the top floor and watched and them put the star on the tree there at Sterling-Lindner And I remember going to... I thought it was around Playhouse Square. It was a fancy ice cream parlor named Bucar's. That was our treat every Christmas season. We go downtown and see Mr. Jingeling we cherish that key for the rest of the season and saw the lights and we had to get our frosty in May's basement. And then we went to Bucar's.
Justin Hons [00:02:59] What did your father do at Sterling Lindner?
Terry Hogan [00:03:01] He was a salesman there. And like I say, all the workers had to chip in and put up the tree every year.
Justin Hons [00:03:10] Did you go downtown for anything else?
Terry Hogan [00:03:12] That's the only time I can remember when I was little. Every Christmas.
Justin Hons [00:03:18] Do you ever go downtown now?
Terry Hogan [00:03:19] I try not to that.
Justin Hons [00:03:22] Why not?
Terry Hogan [00:03:24] Crime, it scares me. My friend from California came and we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Art Museum. Those were nice. And we... we went down to the Flats area, and took a boat ride on the Nautica. I'm not sure which one. Nautica or. What's that other boat?
Unknown Female Speaker [00:03:58] The Goodtime?
Terry Hogan [00:03:58] Yeah, that's it.
Unknown Female Speaker [00:04:01] Yeah that's the one we used to go on.
Justin Hons [00:04:03] What were some of the other things that you do in your neighborhood, maybe in the '60s and '70s as you started getting older?
Terry Hogan [00:04:17] I'd go to the neighborhood playground all the time. Ride our bikes everywhere.
Terry Hogan [00:04:27] Did any of the images that you saw outside in the display?
Unknown Female Speaker [00:04:31] We didn't look at it.
Justin Hons [00:04:31] Oh you didn't get a chance to look at it? Well. We're gonna be here actually every day until Friday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. We have to cut this short actually but if you get a chance to look at some of those images and you want to come back adn tell us some of your impressions. About those images or something else.
Terry Hogan [00:04:51] I remember are... part of our class requirement was to go to Severance Hall and listen to a concert. I don't know that the schools do that anymore. But.
Uknown Female Speaker [00:05:04] Yeah they do.
Terry Hogan [00:05:04] Do they? And when I was younger, I went to Allen Theater I saw concerts a lot and in the Flats. When you saw concerts. You were right on the floor next to the band. You know, you could touch them and wouldn't get arrested like you do today. It was, I don't know, more close knit. Nice and fun, more fun. Now it's like everybody's paranoid. You can't touch nobody.
Justin Hons [00:05:41] Any last comments anyone?
Terry Hogan [00:05:41] You didn't ask me the same questions you asked her.
Justin Hons [00:05:43] I know it's cause we are out of time.
Terry Hogan [00:05:50] I wish they'd clean up downtown and bring the stores back. The malls are just taking every thing away from downtown. It's a shame.
Justin Hons [00:06:10] Thanks a lot.
Terry Hogan [00:06:10] OK. You're welcome.
Justin Hons [00:06:12] I appreciate it.
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