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children. His family moved to Cleveland’s Southside in 1923. Paul wrote “Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio’s Southside” in 1990. A profile of his book is available in Books and Links. Mr. Ziats passed away on January 15, 1999. What is included here are from letters he shared with a private contributor on his recollections of the Southside. The first section from the original copy, dated September 6, 1988, is on very fragile paper and in all caps. Parts do not relate to the Southside and they were not included. The text has been changed to reflect upper and lower case. **************** “It was a good neighborhood, it was a poor neighborhood, it was an ethnic neighborhood. It was not a ghetto type, it was Cleveland’s Southside. “The ‘South Side’ is bounded by the Cuyahoga River on the east, West 14th on the west and the river valley on the north. The south edge, beyond the home area is mostly an old swamp low land called ‘Hedlow Farm.’ There the kids searched and brought to school arrowheads of many Indian tribes. “Work was plentiful, wages were low, hours were long and the majority from ingrained habits, worked hard from sunrise to sundown. “Their labors consisted of mostly meanial (sic) jobs to be sure in places like the steel mills bordering the east side of the area, brick yards, foundries, coal yards, construction, scrap metal yards, textile mills, slaughter houses, railroad track gangs, livery stables, street repair gangs, all with walking distance of the home on the Southside. Most of these people rented. Children were everywhere. The average family had at least 5 children and as many as 15. European sex habits, church laws against contraception were strictly followed. “If one could visualize an area approximately one mile east of W. 14th St. by 2 miles from University Ave. south to Starkweather Ave. one could get a better idea of how much the church meant to these people. They founded them, they governed them, they voted in their own aldermen, deacons, etc. Something never heard of in Europe, and they relished in their own freedom. Even to the extent of ousting an undesirable priest, or minister. “In the early 1920’s a public bath house was built by the city of Cleveland. The only requirement was your own soap and towel, not tubs, but showers, which were widely taken advantage of especially by the new generation of youngsters. “A South Side child became bilingual in reading and writing, thus also preserving a culture that otherwise would be lost. “Professor Ave. was the shopping street, situated in the center, running north and south from West 10th St. south to Starkweather Ave. There were grocery stores, a photo studio, two funeral directors, three candy stores, two drug stores, three banks, two florists, four furniture stores, two used furniture and appliance stores, a bowling alley, three pool halls, three diaries, (and) four real estate agencies. “Every main street had its alleys between houses. The alleys hid many sins. There were two streets that were the same width as the alleys, W. 6th St. and Thurman Ave. No one knows why the streets were built that way, but all know what some builders and developers could get away with in those days. There were no fire stations in the immediate vicinity of the South Side. “Work slowed down after the WWI boom years. Times got tough again. At this time another phenomenon too shape, Prohibition. Whiskey became illegal. Every fourth house on the Southside sold whiskey or wine. Areas were jealously guarded. Gunplay became a common sight; protective groups were formed, later called ‘gangs’ and its members ‘gangsters.’ “The gangsters usually headquartered on the east side. Bootleg whiskey sold for a quarter a pint. The bad stuff was and to this day called ‘rotgut’. Whiskey was delivered in five gallon tin cans that had a one inch screw top and its sides was protected by a wood ply sheet that was wrapped around the can and held to the can by two strands of wire. Those cans, call ‘booze cans’ were tossed away under cover of darkness in a dumping area, over the fence at the W. 7th St and University Rd. corner overlooking the Erie Railroad Freight Yard. (Y)oungsters sold them (the cans) back to the gangsters for a quarter each. November 22, 1988: “The entire family of today’s Ziats (Zayac) settled in Sheffield, Pa., and moved to Cleveland in 1923. The facts are that my mother and father did not come to the U.S.A. together. They met and married in Sheffield, Pa., where I and most of my sisters and a brother were born. Both came to this country in 1910. My father was 16 and my mother was 14 at the time they were married in 1915. “Our family lived around the corner from Railway Ave. on W. 7th St. We did not move to Railway until the early thirties. The Knish family lived on the third floor of that house as long as I can remember. “The Dobosh family lived in the same house but on the 607 address end. They were originally from Pennsylvania, a town I do not remember. “My aunt and uncle, John and Anna Ziats, who lived in the same house on the second floor, 605 Railway Ave. had John, Mike, Anna, Mary George, James, Robert, Joseph, Frank. George died at an early age of dropsy. My folks Paul and Anna Ziats, had Paul, Mary, Helen & Anna (twins), Elizabeth, John, Margaret, George (George died at the age of 4 months), Dorothy and Eleanore. “Both Ziats families, John’s and Paul’s, lived on W. 7th St. We lived down front and John’s family lived down rear before moving to the 605 address (Railway). The house incidently (sic) was owned by the Duvalosky family who lived on the east side. “(The) Paul Ziats family lived on the first floor. My uncle, John, lived on the second floor and the Knish family lived on the third floor.” |
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