| All interviews were taped and documented. They are available through the Reference Department of the Teaneck Public Library. The Library is not responsible for the accuracy of the statements nor does it necessarily endorse the opinions expressed. |
| NARRATOR: | Jacqueline Guttman |
| INTERVIEWER: | Anne McGrath |
| DATE OF INTERVIEW: | August 23, 1984 |
| TRANSCRIBER: | Jackie Kinney (7/1985) |
(I) Does he teach himself, the kids?
(N) The rabbi? He used to but since he had a heart attack, bypass surgery, he does less than he used to but he still is associated with, we will go away with him for a weekend for example
(I) Do they have adult education there?
(N) Yeah. I have not been involved in it. I would like to be but I am out four nights a week as it is. Frequently. In any case, there is this cultural group there that has been dormant for the past two years but which has the rather pretentious name of the Institute for the Living Arts which is really, the performing arts cultural committee and
(I) What do they do now?
(N) They sponsor, they used to sponsor both visual and performing arts events but now there is a museum committee which has again a terrible name, The Jewish Experiential Museum. But they handle, they had a Roman Vishniac exhibit for example last year. What Living Arts does is bring in speakers, bring in performers or sponsor performances from within the temple. We will, for example, help financially underwrite whatever the big choir performance is going to be this year. Of course we import the instrumentalists. We will sometimes bring in performers from the outside but that's becoming. .
(I) Now you are a member of this committee?
(N) I am chairman this year. I was asked to be chairman a number of times but I was always in school. I always had reasons I . .
(I) Your life really revolves around. .
(N) And I don't really know if it should. I think it is too much. I don't like having a vocation and an avocation that are the same. But the thing at the temple is, first of all, for the temple and second of all I like the people on the committee and third of all, it is maybe three events a year and we don't have to sell tickets. It is an endowed, and that's the worst part. It is an endowed committee so that we are not allowed to charge for tickets and so we will sponsor something after services very often.
(I) Do you have something lined up for the coming year?
(N) I think so. Do you have something in mind?
(I) No. I just thought if you could tell me who they were, then I could get an idea of the caliber of . .
(N) Well, we are re-evaluating because when the committee was first active, there was nothing like the proliferation of concerts around that there is now and we think it is kind of foolish of us to compete with that. You know, there is this funny psychology - when you present a free event, people don't think it is worth while so we are not going to do, for example, a chamber music performance that I know of at this point. The one departure that we may make from drawing from within the temple which is what I think we are going to do is bring in the Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan players who have been there before and everybody loves them and that would be a nice family thing. But I may speak to the cantor about bringing in some friends and doing a thing after a service, duets and trios, for example.
(I) What about speakers? Do you. .
(N) We do look for speakers. We have not planned on any for this year but you started to mention controversial because if they are speakers on social issues, there is another committee, which is the Social Action Committee. They brought up Jerry Folwell for example for a debate with somebody from the American Jewish Committee. That was a wild evening.
(I) How did that go?
(N) It went very well.
(I) Who did he debate, do you remember?
(N) No. It was really interesting and the chairman of the committee who was supposed to remain an impartial, but sure in a synagogue he is going to remain impartial, eventually started helping out the person from the American Jewish Committee and the congregation got very angry and people stood up and said, don't you, you are being unfair and this is, I mean, we were of course 100% opposed to this man, to Folwell, but we wouldn't, it is that kind of congregation, we would not stand for seeing somebody railroaded.
(I) Teaneck is that way.
(N) Yes. And the congregation is very representative of the town that way.
(I) Can you tell me, do you know who is on the council and who runs the Temple Emeth now? What people?
(N) The chairman is a guy named, the board president is a guy named Larry Lipsit. I was going to say I am not sure if they live in Teaneck but I've seen them at the pool so they do.
(I) And the cantor is who?
(N) The cantor is Donald Slonum.
(I) Does he live in Teaneck?
(N) He does not. He never has. He lives in Washington Township or someplace up in that area. The religious school president is a woman named Gail Kahn who is local but not in Teaneck. She lives someplace nearby but I don't know where.
(I) Do you know Mrs. Seigel? ...
(N) Yes. I mean not intimately.
(I) There used to be a nursery school I think in Temple Emeth.
(N) Was there? There may have been. Not when we were here. The temple existed for some time before we were here. You know the Seigels live in Hackensack now which probably, for them, is better.
(I) Well let's get back to you and this block and living here. What are the biggest changes in your block since you've moved in?
(N) In terms of people who live here, our block hasn't changed at all since we've moved in.
(I) Can you describe your neighbors? That's interesting. Compared to our block.
(N) You know, this is the strange part of Teaneck that we have here. A lot of the people in this part of town, not necessarily on this street, were born and grew up here and have lived here for a couple of generations. And if you have ever gone to any of the hearings before Glenpointe was built and people would come down and talk about their property being condemned you know, I thought where do these people come from and so did everybody else in the town, on the town councilor whatever. Who are these people? Some of them like, oh, I don't know what kind of word to use, like mountain people practically. It is the strangest thing. Where did they come from? Is this the same town? We don't have, our little corner isn't necessarily so much like that but there are elements of it. It is not by and large my neighbors, with one exception, are not college educated. The kids either. The ones who are my children's age or a little bit older, well a little older, they are not in school for the most part.
(I) Where do they work, do you know where any of them work?
(N) One works in Holy Name Hospital. Another one is very involved, I don't know where he works but he is on the ambulance corps. The guy next door, actually he did go to college but he ended up being a steel worker.
(I) They don't commute into the city?
(N) None of them. Except for the Heilbruners who are like diagonally across the street I know least.
(I) But it sounds as if you do know them.
(N) I know them but surprisingly enough. .
(I) Is it a friendly block?
(N) I think maybe the people who've been here the longest. It is not an unfriendly block. It is sort of nice in that way because people are not in each other's houses. Our next door neighbors, the Coors, are terrific next door neighbors because they'll keep an eye on the house for us. We will for them. Some of them used to babysit for me. It is friendly but definitely not intimate but just a nice relationship.
(I) Are there all different ages?
(N) I guess so. There are actually around the corner there are three houses and there are three children, three boys, Mark's age living in those three houses. It is a little hard for Mark because they are right there together so they are a threesome and Mark sort of trails along. The block sort of just extends around the corner because we are isolated and of course on the other side, we have the senior citizens housing.
(I) Can you give me a little history of the housing there and..
(N) Well you know
(I) How they did it and maneuvered it in.
(N) You know that the Senior Citizens Housing Association I guess was sponsored by a whole bunch of different congregations in town. Emeth was one of them. But Howard, my husband, got involved not because we were members of Temple Emeth but because he was supposed to represent the interests of the community since we live on top of the site and so he was very involved in the whole process.
(I) Do you think it was well handled, the communications?
(N) Not necessarily, no. Well first of all, you know, there was much debate over where this housing would be located. I don't think anybody ever argued with the fact that the housing was necessary but you know, Pomander Walk was discussed, Front Street tennis courts was discussed, my own preference, objectively, would have been Front Street because it is in the middle of town and just thinking in terms of my own parents, or my mother in law, they would want to be where the action is and not stuck off in a corner someplace. However, the site was selected. I have very bitter memories connected with it because first there was supposed to be a buffer zone, a foliage buffer zone, between our property and the first houses of fifty feet which was then dropped to twenty five feet and then all the trees were chopped down and, I mean, big old trees that had stood next to our house. Also our property appeared bigger than it really was. Because there was another like seven foot strip up on that side where we grew vegetables which actually belonged to the town, and we knew it did, which was taken. But then there were all these trees, when they cut down the brush, it was nice. Then when they cut down some of the smaller trees, it was okay. Then when they started on the big trees, we stood outside and wept. My children and I. My husband and I had a very difficult time during that time because he was involved with the Housing Association and I would have gone in there and raised cane but that is not his nature so he would make a quiet protest and just be . .
(I) Were all the trees cut down. Everything?
(N) One of two in the middle of the property may have been left standing. The reason the buffer zone had to be changed is because the nature of the land was such, whether it has to do with drainage or whatever, they had to change the original plans for where the houses were going to be located. I went in actually one day and spoke to the committee because Howard wouldn't. I wrote a letter that he read to them. Then I went in and I . .
(I) Tell me a little bit about the committee. Who were they?
(N) They were representatives from all congregations. I don't know most of them very well. They met monthly, first in the municipal building. They still meet. They meet over there. They sort of act like a board of directors. One man on the committee said, I resent your use of the expression buffer zone. What is wrong with senior citizens? I said nothing is wrong with senior citizens. I grew up spending part of my life sleeping over at my aunt and uncle who lived on top of an old folks home. I love senior citizens, old people. But the fact is we moved into this strange little corner of town because of the woods and to have them taken away, these things happen but to have every tree chopped down was terrible. And I have never, I mean the board gets together for events once a year or something like that, I have just stayed apart from that.
(I) How do you think it has turned out for the senior citizens?
(N) I think for what it is it has done very well. Given the fact that it has to be there, it is very nice.
(I) They are wearing well. They are not having problems.
(N) Howard could tell you that better than I but they are having certain problems because modern day construction is not what it should be and because there were false economies made that then had to be repaired which was not their fault, you know, it was the state I think. Maybe the federal government. Or Housing and Urban Development, one of those things, that they were not allowed to do such and such and so and so and ultimately had to do it at greater expense. You know, this sort of thing happens so often but I have a friend whose mother lives there who is very happy there.
(I) I was going to ask you if you knew anyone. Do they ever walk by? Did you ever meet them or have anything to do with. .
(N) Not too much. Once in a while but I don't know any of them. They stay as much to themselves. You know, we go that way and they go that way.
(I) There is no through road here.
(N) It is not a through road but we have a cul de sac and it has also been hard because the kids, if they ride their bikes through, invariably somebody will yell at them and we've spoken to the children about walking their bikes through and they are pretty good about it. I have nice children. And the rest around here, none of them are abusive or anything.
(I) But it is the quickest way to get out. I mean otherwise you have to go around. They are allowed to walk their bikes?
(N) Yeah. But even so, sometimes people will glare at them. Most people are very nice to them. But all it takes is one or two grouches.
(I) They have to go over a curb somewhere. I mean there is no really through path.
(N) No. They do have to go along the sidewalk for about fifty feet. You know, I talked to my husband about talking to the board about doing something that would pull the community and the people living in the Housing Center or housing whatever it is, somehow pulling them closer together and getting to know each other. I probably should pursue it a little more. But we've forgotten about it. But I think it is very important. I mean one of the nice things for them is that there are kids around, there are young people around and there should be an interchange. It is also good for children to see old people, that they are not decrepit and falling apart and that they are real people. You know, there is such a division now between kids and old people.
(I) Let's get back to your own life. Do you go into New York often?
(N) Well I go into work which is the Bronx.
(I) Well I am talking about Manhattan.
(N) Sometimes we will go through periods of time where for months we don't go downtown and I hate those periods of time. It just works out that way. My mother in law lives on 72nd Street so that draws us at least. This summer, we've managed to get into town to see Mostly Mozart, to a museum or two, I hope to go to one today in fact. We sort of do it in spurts. And we moved here also because it was so close to the city and yet we don't take advantage of it and more so because of expense than anything else.
(I) Where do you go for your vacations and for recreation and during the week or weekends?
(N) This summer, no place. Yesterday we went to (inaudible). We are sort of not spending any money this summer. We went to Europe last summer.
(I) That was worth it.
(N) And we have a kid starting college next year so, and we went to Israel a couple of years ago. We've traveled a lot. We've traveled to different places around this country a lot as a family and an awful lot around New York State. I went to school in upstate New York and although I didn't like my school very much, the countryside is gorgeous. So we've spent time, lower Canada.
(I) Have your boys ever done anything with the Recreation Department or with the Parks?
(N) No, I shouldn't say no. Mark took gymnastics through the Recreation Department and actually wanted to more and I always forget to register him until it is too late and all that. I play in summer bands once in a while. When they need a flute. Not really. They've used these little pools now and then.
(I) Where do you do your shopping, what stores do you use in Teaneck?
(N) You mean food shopping.
(I) Well, any shopping.
(N) Food shopping we tend to go to Acme and Pathmark. Acme is convenient.
(I) Do you use any stores downtown?
(N) Yes. I believe in shopping locally whenever you can and of course it contributes to the vitality of the town. Actually we spend a lot of time in Tabachnik's and Pioneer Pizza but, Teaneck Camera we deal with a lot too. Certainly of course the drug stores you know. Teaneck Drug on Teaneck Road. We buy shoes in town.
(I) What did you think about putting that huge supermarket in place of . .
(N) I am glad they are not doing it. I mean first of all I think there are people who live around there and I think it would be absolutely deadly for them and
(I) What do you think about a mall in there?
(N) I think the whole thing is bizarre. I think the traffic congestion would be outrageous. Undoubtedly they had plans for that but plans never work out exactly the way they say they will. But I have to admit that with the Glenpointe business, they've make it so inaccessible from Glenwood Avenue that the traffic really is diverted around Teaneck Road and down at the garage.
(I) Is there any repercussions having it there for you? Glenpointe.
(N) No except I go to the spa so there are positive repercussions.
(I) Are there any stores now there that you could use?
(N) Just a couple. They really haven't opened yet. My son was working in one of the restaurants for two weeks but he was washing dishes at three o'clock in the morning so he didn't last and I didn't' blame him.
(I) What other shopping do you do on Cedar Lane?
(N) Actually my children and I buy an awful lot in the, and my husband too, in the Garment Center which seems to be our favorite store.
(I) Do you like the couple that run it?
(N) Yes. I always have.
(I) Do you remember who ran it, were you familiar with the original. .
(N) When it was Sandy's? Yes, but I don't remember who the people were. You know, when the children were little, we didn't have as much occasion to go in there as we do now.
(I) All right. Here's just a wild question I'll throw out to you. How do you feel about crime in Teaneck?
(N) Oh, I think people like to, who live elsewhere, like to find out about crime in Teaneck. We, knock wood, have not been the victims of it which has been actually an advantage to living in this part of town because, you know, we have nice things in our house but we live in sort of a modest end of town and it doesn't occur to anybody to rob us.
(I) So you really don't have many robberies in this area?
(N) Not that I know of. There were tires stolen from our trunk when our car was brand new, twice the trunk was broken into in the driveway. That, thank goodness, has been the worst thing that has ever happened and that's one way in which the senior citizens housing has been an advantage. Nobody can disappear into the woods as they could have at one time and there is a certain amount of security, additional security, because of having the housing there.
(I) Do they have any security for senior citizens?
(N) I think they have a little bit but I think more than that, the police just tend to be around more than they would be otherwise. You know also this end of town is the center, it is where all the policemen and municipal employees, work. An awful lot around here. And that has helped us more than once. I am not some lady who needs their help, I am their neighbor. It is interesting to see that at work.
(I) Okay, well that's the end of the interview and thank you very much.
(N) You're welcome.
