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Memories of Maxwell Street t by Edwarde F. Perbon Each chapter hurtled me back into memory. Ira Berkow’s “Maxwell Street" wai, a* he had himself subtitled his book, “survival in a bazaar,” a compendium of names and people of an era long ago. They were living reminders of a time and place no longer theirs. But the time and place rekindled a bit of Americana brilliantly told by Berkow. It brought back for me a time, a rainy afternoon in Chicago almost six decades ago, when I found myself gamboling on that picturesque and bustling thoroughfare of Jewish entrepre neurs known as Maxwell Street. Fve seen flea, thieves and floating markets since—in Paris, London, Hong Kong and Bangkok—but none intrigued me more than did Maxwell Street a half century ago. Fifty years ago and more—in the era of the Ford “flivver”—a visit to the Windy City from Milwaukee was a trek of considerable undertaking. If you traveled by steam train or electric train (North Shore), it was a trip of a few hours. By auto, through towns and villages (especially archaic Zion, Ill.) you lumbered along at a breakneck speed of 35 mph. In those halcyon days, an auto trip to Chicago was not a one-day excursion. Motels were unknown and tourist homes few and far between. Unless you were rich—or a drummer on an expense account—you couldn't afford the hotels and “high-priced” restaurants. You stayed with relatives or friends, who somehow always found room to put you up and feed you. Of course, that visit was always later repaid in kind with room and board. Thus, one weekend in the mid- '20s, with my family safely ensconced at a friend’s home in a neighborhood that was fast becoming the Jewish sector, I made off for my safari to Maxwell Street. 1 walked, of course; my father insisted that Maxwell Street was no place to take and park the family iron-horse, our Dodge touring car. Maxwell Street—whose fame for infamous bargains had spread market place: it was also a challenge. What prospective buyer did not believe himself to be the equal in bargaining eclat and savvy of that ignorant, unschooled, store merchant or pushcart peddler on Maxwell Street? How underrated! Everybody came to outsmart the seller and to get the big bargain! Six decades ago the street teemed with tourists and townspeople looking for “steals.” Now, some 60 years later it is not easy to recall in detail, but I remember Maxwell Street: it was exciting, amazing, beguiling, offending and enticing. It was also cheap, tawdry, smelly, alive and inspiring. It was inspiring and elevating to see how these immigrant Jews of Russia and Poland, endowed with courage and desire to be their own masters, fought with their native wits and instinctive skills in barter and trade to succeed in their own businesses—and survive in the general melee against their neighbor and competitor. 1 roamed aimlessly through the street, crossing from one side to the other as my fancy and curiosity dictated. I shook off the “puller,” who tried to wheedle me into his store, and the “pusher” at the cart, who was forcing his goods into my hands at “Such a bargain, take it!” I wended my way, eye shopping and resisting all who tried to entice me—until suddenly there was what I wanted. Pretending disinterest, I casually asked the man at the stoop, “How much for the raincoat there?” I had spotted a glossy, tannish, rubberized military trench coat hanging on the brick wall near the stairway into the store’s entrance. He quoted me a mountainous price, much beyond the few dollars I had in my pocket. I didn't even counter-offer and began to walk away. “Vait!” he commanded, “for you I’ll take less." How much less? Whatever it was, it was still beyond my paltry assets. He was no student of psychology, but his sense of economics deserved a doctorate. “How much you wanna pay?” he asked, kind of irritated. I shrugged my shoulders hopelessly. “How much you got?" was his next inquiry. Timidly I confessed. “About $5.00.” “Awright,” he nodded, “take it,” and reached up to give me the coat. I fumbled in my pocket as I became the surprised owner. The National Recovery Act (NRA, 1933 et seq) changed all that. No more could there be price gouging, haggling or bargaining. A price was a price was a price. The Maxwell Street merchants adopted a code erf' fair competition— and willingly or not, abided by it. In the years following, the old Maxwell Street, as I knew it, died. Died, did I say? Not really. On a sunny day last summer I visited the old place. The street sellers and shopkeepers, with their bazaar- like atmosphere, are still there. But they are of a new breed. The immigrant of yesteryear—with his Jewish nuances, influences, aromas—has mostly absconded, leaving in his place a distinctly Latin essence. Jewish merchants are still around, but their Yiddish has almost completely dis appeared. In the main, Italian, Mexican, Spanish and Black vendors have preempted the blocks and streets. The same streets are, as of yore, all showing the burnish of time: the stores on the streets and the stalls on the sidewalks are stocked— from fish to furniture, from TVs to nostalgia, from fashionable (?) clothes to doubtful antiques. Maxwell Street and its environs 3 hum and thrive. On a “good” Sunday, as many as 35,000 persons will filter through the boisterous, odorous, ambitious areas radiating north, south, east and west from Halstead and Maxwell Streets. It is a site (or is it a “sight”) to see. It is as one writer phrased it “The best free show in town." And as Ira Berkow more recently observed, “...this remarkable area, a microcosm of America” from which sprung such famed men as former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, William Paley, president and chairman of CBS; Hyman Rickover, inventor of the nuclear submarine; Barney Ross, Kingfish Levinsky, Barney Balaban, Benny Goodman, Meyer Levin and many other bright names. Requiscat and shed a tear. I returned to my auto, parked in a lot for $1.00, and reminisced. Maxwell Street will never be as I remembered it—its stores and stands, its people and products. And my rubber trench coat, symbol of my personal triumph in the art of barter? Ah, I remembered that, too. (Edwarde F. Person is editor emeritus of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.) ‘Maxwell Street—whose fame for infamous bargains had spread far and wide—was not only a market place: It was also a challenge. ...Everybody came to outsmart the seller and get the big bargain!’ far and wide—was not only a Music For All Occasions Celebrity Entertaining ORCHESTRA Sitin I rccm.in 148-8033 Brviin Burns 325-0835 (In Cheshire Square) open 7 days week Lunch 11:30 a.m-2:30 p.m. , Dinner 6:30 p.m.-ll:30 p.m. Advertisement How To Save Money Selling Your Home If you are planning on selling your home in the near future, you may wonder if there is any way you can save on the real estate commission and lower the other costs of sale. You may wonder if it is necessary to hire a real estate company and what is it that they do for you that you cannot do yourself. Are there any alternatives? First of all the one largest cost of sale is the real estate commission. Is there any way to lower that cost? Is it necessary? Is there an alternative? The answer to all these questions is an empathic “YES.” Most homeowners do need a real estate company to sell their home. It is not a job for an amateur. There is more to it than just finding the buyer. Do you really know what your home is worth and what it will appraise for, do you understand the various types of financing and what it can cost you, and can you write a correct contract? These are but a few reasons for hiring a real estate company. So if you have established in your mind that you need one, how can you cut the costs? The fact is that you do not have to pay more than 5% commission not the usual 7% commission and you still have your home listed with a Computerized Multiple Listing Company. Discount Broker Associates Inc. is a discount realty firm. The most commission a DBA home- owner will pay is 5% if his home is sold by any agent or real estate company and the home will be listed and placed on Computerized Multiple Listing Service, by far the largest multiple listing service, in the Metro Atlanta Area. On an average, that 2% commission savings means an actual savings of $1,000 on a home priced at $50,000. This is a real savings as it comes right off the top of your equity. Furthermore, Discount Broker Associates gives you the option of finding your own buyer during the time you are listed and if you meet contract writing requirements, your commission costs will be reduced to only I x h% of the sale price. How is this all possible? Barbara Brock, Broker for Discount Broker Associates, explains it this way. “You are participating and you are creating your own savings when you call us to take your listing for you. Most real estate firms have their agents out beating the bushes looking for listings, but in our case the public calls us and says “Come Take My Listing” and when they do that they are saving my agents time and they can concentrate on selling those homes instead of looking for listings. The final result is that the public gives us their listing and we give them back a discounted commis sion—on our end of the deal. We always pay the selling company and agent a full 3'/$% commission so any agent that sells a home from any company need not worry—they will always get their full commission." If you are wondering how this idea is being accepted in the local real estate market we point to the facts with pride, that in our six months in business, we have had listed with us $4,440,808.00 and have a sales volume of $3,504,268.00 of which $2,237,006.00 listings were held by DBA. It is the ideal medium for the agent who hates to knock on doors to get listings but loves to sell houses. Our agents make their money selling homes, and are paid 70% to 75% of the sales commission, a real incentive program for sales—and probably the highest commission schedule in the city, and as an added bonus the listings are called into them while they are on duty. We are still a new and growing firm but with strong public acceptance we are expecting to expand to other areas in the near future. It is a consumer market and we offer the consumer the best of both worlds, discounted commission and a full service Computerized Multiple Listing Company. For further information stop by our central office at 5231 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain, Georgia, Stonemont Shopping Center, or call us at 294-8800. Page 11 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 21,