Businesspeople

= Audio Available Online
1180
The narrator discusses her parents, Stella Leon and Julius Shapinsky; the wholesale dry goods business which her father operated on Main Street in Louisville until 1921; early life at 11 West Burnett and in the Weissinger-Gaulbert Apartments; the building of the Brown Hotel; street cars in Louisville; childhood recollections of Louisville Central Park; childhood recollections of Louisville's Fourth Street business district; the Kentucky Home School, the Quorum Club, and the Standard Club; Louisville Marine Hospital (later called Louisville Memorial Hospital); the Council of Jewish Women and the resettlement of German Jews in Louisville; congregation Adath Israel; and the origins of Kentucky Jewish Post and Opinion.
238
Sidney Passamaneck's parents were Julius and Lena Zimmerman Passamaneck. They were both from Covna, Guberniya. Passamaneck was born in Louisville in 1898 and owned the Model Drug Store. He remembers the Haymarket, and Block's Whiskey Store; his education; merchants, Jefferson and Market Street people. He remembers businesses and features including Jacobson's, Gordon's, Rosenbaum Hides; Kramer Meats; Rectannis Drug Store, Deli, Klein's Grocery, Jewish merchants; and mule-drawn cars. He recalls the Young Men's Hebrew Association near the Louisville School of Medicine as well as Friedman's Department Store and Mrs. Glazer's Restaurant. Other recollections are of the Casino Theater, "Thompson's," Child's Restaurant, Loew's and the Rialto. He discusses people including Hugo Taustine, Max Waldman, Dr. Brandeis Stern, Dr. Morris Flexner, Dr. David Cohn, Dr. Morris Weiss, and Dr. Solomon. He also discusses his marriage to Hannah Krebs in 1923.
848
Mr. Porter is the chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Louisville. He discusses his family's business, A.D. Porter Funeral Home, his father's involvement in politics and his years on the Louisville Board of Education. His life and family history are also included in this interview.
2618

Reed reflects on his life in Beecher Terrace, learning to sew at a young age, art of sewing and tailoring, small business, self-improvement, last days of Beecher Terrace, process of finding housing elsewhere.


These and other interviews were conducted by the Louisville Story Program and collaboratively edited with the participants authors between 2020 and 2023. The culmination of this collaborative work is the documentary book, “If You Write Me A Letter, Send It Here: Voices of Russell in a Time of Change.” This anthology of nonfiction documents the rich layers of history and cultural heritage in the Russell area of west Louisville, a neighborhood whose history is centrally important to the Black experience in Louisville.

1198
Louise Reynolds was the first African American woman elected alderman in the city of Louisville. Ms. Reynolds discusses her work with the Republican Party, including her work as a precinct committeewoman, in the party's headquarters, and for Representative John Robsion. She worked for Robsion in the 1950s, and was elected to Louisville's Board of Alderman in 1961. Ms. Reynolds discusses the legislation passed during her time on the board, including the Public Accommodations Ordinance, the establishment of the Human Relations Commission, and an Equal Opportunity ordinance, and her involvement in trying to pass an open housing ordinance. She discusses the administrations of mayors William Cowger, and to a lesser extent, Kenneth Schmied. She also describes a visit to the White House at the invitation of President Lyndon Johnson. She also worked for the Small Business Administration, and she talks about the advice she gives small businesspeople who approach the SBA for loans, and notes several successful African American businesspeople in Louisville.
244
Louis Schwartz remembers bringing his family to Louisville from Cincinnati and settling down in 1941. He shares his memories as a man involved in business, civic affairs, B'nai B'rith, on 4th street, and with the 4th street Merchants Association.
2501
Former mayor Harvey Sloane provides some personal background and then shares his memories of working with Joe Hammond.
1160
Tachau discusses his grandparents; his parents Charles Tachau and Jean Brandeis Tachau; his father's insurance business, E.S. Tachau and Sons; the Depression of the 1930s in Louisville; his father's relationship with United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis; and the efforts of Brandeis and Tachau to assemble a World War I history collection at the University of Louisville. Tachau also discusses his childhood, education at Oberlin College, civic and business interests, Red Cross Hospital, and the civil rights movement in Louisville.
943
Mr. White discusses his family history as well as the history of the family business, White Printing Co. He also describes the black business district on Walnut Street in the 1950s. He gives his opinions on the problems and the future of black owned businesses.
948
Mr. White is the founder of the White Printing Company and is the father of Larry F. White, Sr. He discusses his education, graphic art and how his dreams of being an architect were never fulfilled. Also discusses his family history and career and the black business district before urban renewal.