Talk:Waldbaum's

Opportunity for Research: Jewish American history, Ethnic Studies, assimilation
(From a San Francisco professor who publishes on ethnic studies.) Great possibility to use Waldbaum company interviews and statistics to track Jewish American rise and eventual assimilation. Commentary or even the NY Times could go for it, and it should be written while there are still Waldbaum's family members who remember the Fifties to interview. When the waves of former GI's moved from New York City out to the Levittowns after WW2, they left the world of familiar-- and kosher-- food behind them. The Waldbaums saw the opening. I remember the excitement, in the Fifties, when a beautiful new Waldbaum's was built in Merrick, LI, an hour from NYC, and the City people walked up and down the aisles saying, "Look! Borscht! Whitefish! Real water bagels! On Long Island, can you believe it?" It was a tipping point for the town-- there were enough of us here now to justify this. The town voted Democratic for the first time in 50 years right after, Jewish names started to appear on ballots. Merrick ladies used to get dressed up in Capri pants and spike heels to shop in Waldbaum's. The new Jewish Merrick entered its Goodbye, Columbus and Flamingo Kid glory years. But by the 1980s, the original immigrants were retiring to Florida, and their highly assimilated children weren't interested in "pot cheese," pickled tomatoes and Tschav. They defected to Trader Joe and Costco. There's a sushi bar on the corner of the former Waldbaum's parking lot now. Waldbaum's faded away. Current parallels now flourishing would be the upscale Asian supermarkets on the SF Peninsula-- which people also get dressed up to attend-- like Marina in San Mateo; and the two fancy new Latino giants that have replaced the oldfashioned mom and pop stores in Redwood City. Profhum (talk) 05:24, 11 May 2012 (UTC)