East Side Stories

Tales of Jewish Life in the Lower East Side of New York in the 1930'S

There was a time gone by yet not known to many of us, which is dredged up and recovered in East Side Stories; this was the time of the Great Depression. In this fictional account, twenty stories in all , we delve into the lives of immigrants and their families who lived in the tenements of the Lower East Side of New York City.

There is the aged actor who sings and speaks in many voices; there is Orchard Street with its pushcarts; there is the story of a young woman faced with the dilemma of whether or not to agree to a marriage with a much older man, one who has a good steady job. We meet a woman, deserted by her husband, who lives with a gambler who promises to marry her. There is a story of two boys, one Jewish, the other Italian, whose algebra teacher's moods fluctuate up and down. And there is a woman ostracized by her neighbors. There is the story of the girl who hates herself and what she is.

We meet an entrepreneur who plays every angle to keep his business afloat . Then there is the cross-eyed boy who feels cursed; and the gangsters from Murder Inc. who shoot dice on the street. There is the boy who pines for a girl who lives nearby. There are stories of events at a junior high school; another of a college student and his black friend, Earl, and their adventure in a Spanish class.

There is more. And all in all they are a mosaic of those times and that place.