Page 278 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Reminiscences

down to the wholesale produce market. There I saw enormous pillars
with pale yellow bananas hanging from hooks on conveyors. One of
the market men got a bunch down and showed me a big tarantula on
the bananas; it was as big as my hand. That made a lasting impression
on me! I vividly remember the almost overwhelming perfume of all
the fruit stacked up in wooden boxes, and the lustrous sheen on Bing
cherries heaped up in flats.
Then Grandpa made his rounds. I remember him driving, hissing
through his teeth as he wrenched the truck through turns. He took
me in to meet his customers in the little grocery stores where he
delivered produce. This was during rationing in World War Two.
Beforehand I must have been coached what to say, because when the
store owner would offer me Hershey Bars (chocolate being hard to
come by) I said that I wanted toilet paper for my mommy. They
thought it was very cute, so I would get both toilet paper and
Hershey Bars!
The first bubble gum I ever had was a piece of Fleers: he gave us
kids one each after Passover. At the seder, he would prompt us
through the Four Questions. He ate European style, holding his fork
tines down; we were told not to do that. After meals, while the
women were in the kitchen, I liked to walk around the borders of the
Oriental rug in the living room. There he would be arguing
philosophy with someone: my father, Uncle Max, or anyone else he
could find to engage. He kept his collection of books in glass-fronted
cases in the living room. I remember him listening to the war news
on radio as we ate dinner in the kitchen. He sat there, one hand with
its large veins shielding his eyes, his head bowed down.
Abe was thrilled with Joshua, his first great-grandchild. He made
Josh a little cart; there is a picture of Abe pulling him around in it.
But Grandpa was a tease: he would lean over the crib of an infant
and smile and call it "little pisher" or "little kakker." And he was great
at making grotesque faces, some funny and some terrifying.

Remembering Figueroa Street (2019)

We parked in the front of the house when we came to visit. The
house was set back from the street with a long walk on the left side
leading to the front door. On the border were larkspur and “Chinese
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