Voices from Marshall Street: Jewish Life in a Philadelphia Neighborhood, 1920-1960

For the first half of this century, Marshall Street was Philadelphia's version of Manhattan's Lower East Side: a bustling enclave of immigrant Jews who lived above the stores where they sold everything from pickled cow's tongue to hand-cut windowshades. The writers, who grew up in the neighborhood, have assembled a collection of oral histories that allow the reader to experience Marshall Street--its noise, crowds, pushcarts, merchants, stores and ``sheels.'' The residents worked around the clock--``There was no such thing as `closed,' '' recalls Chaika, one of the dozens of former Marshall Street residents whose memories bring the neighborhood to life. Work was the key to success--that and education for the children. ``I finished high school,'' recalls Dottie, who ran a restaurant with her husband, but her children ``had to do better.'' They did and, in fulfilling their parents' dreams, they moved right up and out of the neighborhood. A couple of family businesses remain, but according to the authors, Marshall Street is ``a shadow of its former self.'' That makes this book all the more worthwhile. The memories are treasures, the stories universal and Voices makes intriguing reading for anyone interested in turn-of-the-century immigrant life in America's cities. (July)