Description:Just in case one photo of Elkie washing my dishes is not enough, here´s another. Elkie provided a wonderful place for me to stay during my two trips there. Jack and her were great hosts. I might point out that those dishes might have been one of two sets, as I recall they were kosher, keeping separate plates for dairy nd another set for meat, etc. [show more]

Description:This picture taken February 14, 1923. Hi´s handwriting names the person as Ephraim Beron, but have no idea who that is?

Description:Ethel Anna Pelicoff Bloom was a very remarkable woman. A wife and mother, she also ran a Real Estate business, which was somewhat unusual for a woman of her time. She traveled extensively, usually without her husband. When Lawrence called her and told her to "pack up everything and come to Los Angeles", she did. Sold the Philiadelphia house. Took a train across country with 2 year old Mort and 1 year old George and pregnant with baby Hi. She often traveled across the country, driving, which was saying something for a woman and considering the roads at the time. She was a great mother in law, a great grandmother, college educated, and was a bit of a suffragette who reminded folks of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was active in politics, to the point that, although, a life long Democrat, she changed political affiliation to Republican in the 1946 California primary, so that she could vote AGAINST Richard Nixon. In short, she was pretty special. And one of the really special things she did was help out a Japanese family protect their property when they were ordered to leave everything immediately and go into one of the internment camps early in 1942, shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Judging from the date on the photo, and the fact that several of the people appear to be Japanese, this might be a photo of Ethel and members of the Sakioka family. Many Japanese lost everything when they were forced to sell for pennies on the dollar, but Ethel helped one family maintain their farm land. The story is that when the war was over, she turned back to the family, the property and the profits, with every penny accounted for. She did all of that, never taking advantage of their situation in any way. Mort´s book at page 89 tells the story in detail. Before World War II, my mother’s real estate office was in West Los Angeles, because that’s where we lived. West L.A. wasn’t anything like it is now; it was all open bean fields. My father built a small building on Pico Boulevard and that’s where she had her office. At that time, the whole area between Sepulveda and Sawtelle Boulevard, which is now the freeway, was open land. there was a Japanese man named Sakioka who owned and farmed all that open land — from south of national Boulevard all the way north to Sunset Boulevard. He grew celery and, at Christmastime up near Sunset Boulevard, he grew poinsettias. He was a very savvy businessman, and he made a lot of money. Mr. Sakioka was one of the leaders of the Japanese community. My mother had made real estate deals with him — she had sold land for him and sold land to him, so they knew each other well. During the war, when the Japanese were notified that they would be sent to internment camps, my mother realized that Mr. Sakioka was to be away for an unspecified amount of time. She asked him, “What are you going to do with your properties?” He said, “I don’t know. I’m worried about it.” She said, “How would it be if I were to take care of it all until they let you come home?” And he agreed, and was quite relieved. So, she took care of Sakioka’s properties, and saw to it that they were leased and that the rents were collected .She accounted for all of the rents, kept complete records, and paid the taxes. It was agreed that she should pay herself a reasonable commission for her work. She was able to preserve his entire “kingdom” until after the war. When he and his family came back, everything was all intact. that was a huge thing. to show his appreciation, he took my mother and a couple of other 89 people who had worked with her on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. they went by ship since you couldn’t fly to Hawaii in those days. It was a very luxurious vacation, and they went for several weeks as Mr. Sakioka´s guests. [show more]

Description:Ethel is at the far left. No idea what she was doing .. perhaps a school picture where she is a student. She is 15 years old at the time.

Description:Ethel was active in several different areas: bridge and a Jewish international social organization, either of which might be the reason that on April 11, 1958 she was having this ritzy mean at Larry Porters Supper Club on Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley. Turns out the building where Ethel was photographed had been around since the late 20´s and was frequented by many movie stars and celebrities over its several iterations of businesses. [show more]

Description:Ethel was very independent. In an era, where women often did not go out of the house alone, she took her 2 young boys, while pregnant with her third son, on a train ride in 1920 from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, after packing up and selling her house, simply after receiving a trans-continental phone call from her husband, saying "pack up everything, Los Angeles is where I should practice law and where we should live." Thereafter, she made many cross country journeys with the boys back to Atlantic City to spend the summer with her father and mother. When the boys were older, she even drove to the East Coast. Driving was part of her, and she always had a nice car. Her she is after having purchased, brand new of course, a 1959 Chevy Impala, powder blue. This was her second such purchase, she traded in the 1953 Chevy Impala (also powder blue) which she had also purchased new. On the day she purchased this car, she took out her daughter in law, Betty Bloom, for lunch. She had this car at her death in 1962. [show more]

Description:In one the blackest hours of American History, American citizens of Japanese descent were rounded up soon after Pearl Harbor and told to leave all their belongings and report to internment camps with no more than 48 hours of notice. In which Justice William O. Douglas described as the worse decision he, or his Supreme Court Justices ever approved, by a 6-3 decision, the internment of Fred Korematsu was allowed and the internment was officially approved. https://www.google.com/search?q=korematsu&oq=korematsu&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512j46i175i199i512j0i30l7.1436j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 This left thousands of Americans of Japanese descent forced to get rid of all of their belongings and their property at pennies on the dollar. Ethel Bloom didn´t allow that to happen to the Japanese family that she knew. She agreed to manage the large farms of one of her Real Estate clients, and did so until they were released after the war, keeping just a small fee for herself and the management of the company books. For this, the patriarch of the Japanese family, upon his release, rewarded Ethel with a cruise to Hawaii, and she is depicted her either on the way to or just returning from that voyage to Hawaii. [show more]

Description:Ethel (4th from the right in the 2nd row) appears to be approximately 20 years old here. Her class was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She likely had met LA Bloom some seven years before, but had not started their adult relationship as of the taking of this photo. [show more]

Description:Judging by the age of George, this picture must have been taken in 1919 when he was a few months old.

Description:Ethel was active as a bridge player, and perhaps this trip to New Orleans involved that?

Description:Ethel, third from the left, teaching, probably at Laurel Springs, New Jersey circa 1910

Description:One of Lawrence´s sisters, Anna married Sam Talmy, They had three children: Meta, Jackie, and Marty., depicted here in Chicago in 1942. A little FAMILY TREE History. REZWIN GENEOLOGY In approximately 1830, in Ukraine, KALMIN REZWIN was born. Later he married YENTA (Meta) (1835-1919) who was born in Gorodonya, Ukraine. They had 3 kids: Esther, Mark, and Vera. ESTHER Rachel Havkin was unmarried. MARK (Morduchah) married BRUCHA perhaps in 1860. They had 5 children: Sophia Markova Berliant, Yevsey who married Dina, Yokov who married Yvegeni, Fania Friedmor, and Yonah who married Ella (born 1900 to 1987) VERA Rezwin Blumen Bloom married MOISHE Blumen. They had 7 children: Lawrence, Rita, Sylvia (Sonia), Anna, Masha, Luba (Lillian), and Sasha (Allan), all born in what was then Russia, but is now Ukraine, probably all in Nizhyn. LAWRENCE (3.10.1887 - 7.16.1965) married ETHEL Pellicoff (12.21.1889)-2.25.1962). They had 3 children. Mort (8.23.1917-2016), George (3.30.1919-5.26.2004), and Hi (2.14.21-2.14.2011). (STORY OF LAWRENCE´S IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES: Mort´s book says that Lawrence came to the U.S. in 1905, which would have made him 18. Hi always told me that Lawrence left at the age of 16 which would have made it 1903. It appears that a modification of both of those is appropriate: Judging by the signatures and writings on the back of many of the images numbered 597 et seq, it appears that these are the photos that many of Lawrence´s (Liev Blumen) received just before he went to America. They are dated February and March, 1904, which means that he must have left when he was 17 years of age, but probably arrived in the U.S. when he was 18. These pictures appear to be the very images that he took with him for his journey.) MORT married Frances Berman and they had 3 children: Amie, Barbara, and Carol. Amie married Rob and had two kids, Michael and Eric. Barbara has one child, Mehan. Carol married Ianni and has one child Benji. GEORGE married Roslyn Katz (6.7.22) and they had two children, Kenneth and Ellen. Kenneth (1945) married Ginny, who died in 2020. Ellen married Larry Underhill. HI (HERBERT JOSHUA BLOOM) married twice, first Roz´sister, and then Betty Wisotsky (12.30.1926-3.17.13) and had 3 children: Denise, Sasha (Allen), and Barry. Denise Frances Belsky Bloom (2.19.46-6.4.2008) Sasha (10.15.1950) married Elysa Waltzer (4.5.1950) and they had two children, Gabrielle (5.11.1979) and Jonathan (3.29.1983) RITA (3.4.1891-10.6.1989) married MORRIS Grodsky (9.20.1891-11.26.1983). They had one child Masha (Marion 3.8.1920-2015). MASHA married Alec Odinak (8.31.1928-2015). They had two children: Thomas and Mitchell Thomas (4.18.1957) married Ryan (7.14.52) and had two children, Tavia 2.08.87 and Meredith (12.06.89). Mitchell (1.19.1960) married Patti (11.13.1960) and they had two children Abigale (3.24.93) and Hanna (1.28.97) SONIA (Sylvia) (8.25.1893-5.10.1966) married EMANUEL Rytslin (8.31.1891-1931). They had one child Robert (Bobby) (3.22.1916-1.05.2006). They moved back to Russia, where Bobby married Nadya (7.1.1918-1.31.2001). They had one child Ella (8.18.38) who married Eduard Oganov (12.5.37). They had one child, Eugenia (8.4.1975) who married Adam (3.14.75) ANNA married SAM TALMY. They had three children: Meta, Jacqueline, and Marty. META (4.5.1922-? )married Nate Davis (5.21.1917-? ). They had three children: JoEllen, Andrew, and Richard. JoEllen (11.5.42) married Bert Friedman (1.18.33-6.04.2006). They had three children Jessica (12.11.1962), Daniel (1.18.1965) who married Natalie (3.9.1966). They had three children: Jacob (11.24.1997), Madline (1.18.2000), and Miles (4.12.2002) and Jason who married Debbie (10.15.64) who had two children Noah (12.17.1998) and Zachary (8.16.2002).ANDREW married Adrienne, and they had two children Julian (7.28.1983) and Gena (11.22.1984). RICHARD (Richie) married Ada and they had two children Jackie and Emilio. JACQUELINE (Jackie) married Gershon (Gersh) Schaeffer. They had two children Corrie who married David Eakin, who had two children, Sammy and Jared AND Stacey who married Jim Bauml. MARTY married MaryJane and they had four children: Craig, who married Linda and had one child, Lili. Kristy, who married Tom Greendwood and had one child, Cole, Sarah and Ethan. MASHA (who died very young in the world flu epidemic of 1918) LUBA (Lillian) who married Aaron Perliss. SASHA (Allan R.), a gay man, who died in 1949, was Hi´s favorite uncle. PELLICOFF GENEOLOGY BERNARD (Berl) (1862-1950) was born in Russia and came to know Moshe Blumen. They were co-workers. Bernard married Dora (Duba). Bernard moved to the United States prior to 1889and settled in Philadelphia and then Atlantic City. They had three children: Fanny, Ethel, and Abe. FANNY (1887- ) married Sam Bell. They had one child Herbert (Herbie, 1911-) who married Elsie Weiss. They had two children Jacquelyn who married and had two boys and a girl and a BOY, who married. ETHEL (12.21.1889-1963) married LAWRENCE (3.27.1887-1965). They had three boys Morton, George, and Herbert (Hi). ABE (1891-1948) married Jennie Greenetz. They had one child, Eleanor (Elkie) who married Jack Zaris. They had two children Gilbert (Gil) who married Sue and had two children and Dale who married Doug and had two children. [show more]

Description:President Woodrow Wilson, Prime Minister Lloyd George were prominently mentioned in the news of the day, and Paderewski gave up performing the piano. It was a Monday.

Description:Looks like both George and Mort, in their military uniforms, got leave and were somewhere stateside. Not sure who the man in the middle is.

Description:Since the photo is marked March, 1927, and everyone is posing in costume, much as they did for Hi´s 3rd birthday party in another photo, and George´s birthday is in March .. this looks like George, the pirate wrapped kid 2nd row middle, is celebrating. Hi is just in front of him, wearing some Chinese Coolie braids (heh, nobody said they would be politically correct at the age of 6) but check out Mort´s not so happy face, 2nd row from the top, right. Just doesn´t have a happy face, maybe its that feather standing straight up. Ethel, standing right behind him, top upper right, does seem to be pleased. Can´t tell who the other kids are, but some names are listed on the back. [show more]

Description:This fine piece of photography might have been taken by me, using my Polaroid Snapshot camera, when I visited Elkie in Camden in the summer of 1966 or my second trip, in the summer of 1968. Gil was in the military reserves.

Description:LAX

Description:Barry was 7. Posing here with his 3rd cousin, Gil Zaris in front of the United Air Lines terminal. Not too much traffic at LAX in those days, but check out the 1964 Lincoln Continental at the left.

Description:I´m not kidding .. going to the airport in those days was a big deal. You actually posed for pictures to commemorate the occasion.

Description:Ethel´s sister, Fanny, got married and had a daughter, Eleanor, whom everybody called Elkie. Elkie married Jack Zaris and they lived in Camden, New Jersey. Elkie was full of energy, Jack was far more reserved, who lived somewhere between curmudgeon and sweet guy. He loved to play poker and go to the races, including the dog races. Jack and Elkie had two children, Gil and Dale, and in 1964, at the age of 24, Gil came out to California to visit the family. I don´t recall if he stayed with Hi´s family, but we definitely spent a lot of time with, and this was the end of that trip, as we took him to LAX. At that time, flying was a big deal, and picking up or dropping off someone from the airport was a ritual. Not quite, the ritual of putting a "lei of flowers" around his neck, but in that same vein. The guy in this picture, is a friend of Gil´s, perhaps an army buddy, who lived in Los Angeles. Gil went on to become a mucky muck in a major grocery store chain and then become Vice Chairman of Harris Freeman, which probably produced that cup of tea that you drank today. [show more]

Description:Check out the 1964 Chevy Corvair, before Ralph Nader´s book: "Unsafe at Any Speed".

Description:Greyhound had a special: $99, 99 Days. You could go anywhere you want in the U.S. I got on the bus in Hollywood, went to the downtown bus station and transferred to another bus and didn´t get off for three days and nights. UGGH. My trip took me to Washington, D.C., Camden, New Jersey to stay with Elkie, to New York City to see the sites .. accompanied by Gil Zarris, then to New Haven, Connecticut to see Masha, Alec, Tommy, and Mitch Odinak. [show more]

Description:The newspaper was the Philadelphia Inquirer, but the pocket protector and pens says it all.

Description:Dennie was 18 in this picture. Notice the couple in the background also commemorating their trip with a photo at the airport.

Description:Comparing to Item 220, it looks like the same tie that Gil had in Front of the Statute of Liberty, although he has his briefcase, a camera case, and a clip on tie on the park bench. But best guess is that this was one of my polaroid snapshots in my 1966 trip. [show more]

Description:Gil with the same tie, same crappy polaroid photo, probably our trip on the Staten Island Ferry in 1966

Description:February 12, 1950 at 1.59 p.m. This telegram came from Lawrence´s mother (Grandma) , and 2 sisters, Rita, and Luba (Lillian) and their husband Morris Grodsky and Mr. Perliss. Note that all of them were living in Chicago at the time, and Luba was still married. Also note that the telegram was sent to Mr and Mrs Herbert Bloom but was addressed to 6818 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles (Hollywood), California, which was the location where Lawrence and Ethel lived and where the wedding was held. The house was near the corner of Sunset and Vine and was right across the street from Hollywood High School. It was also the location of 6820 Sunset Blvd., the door to the west of 6818, which led to LA Bloom´s law office. This was before the Grodsky´s and Luba moved to Los Angeles. Luba ultimately lived on the second floor of the house, in one of the two upstairs apartments. [show more]

Description:Taken at a studio in Los Angeles, which allows me to guess (along with his apparent age and dress) that this is Hi´s Uni High Senior High School picture.

Description:Witnessed by Mort Bloom (for Hi) and Marcia Wisotsky (for Betty), on February 12, 1950, Hi and Betty were married and this is the wedding license that proved it. A little Wisotsky background: Sam and Ann Cohen Wisotsky were married (in Detroit?) and had 5 children: 3 girls and 2 boys. The oldest was Irene Wisotsky Rubin (b 1925), Betty (b 12.30.1926, d. 3.17.2013) was second, and Marcia, was third. The oldest boy was Morton Wisotsky (b.1932) whom every one called Sonny, and Allen Wisotsky. Sam (born in Canada of eastern Europe, perhaps Poland roots in 1899) was a great grandfather. Barely 5´2" (and almost as wide) he was a brick layer, mason, who did some wonderful stone work, including building the fireplace in our house in Riverside, California in 1958. He loved to play pool, and said to all of his grandsons, "that he was the best boy from all the girls", or to his granddaughters, "that he was the best girl from all the boys". He was a kind man and always paid attention to his children and grand children. An interesting story was that during prohibition, while still living in Detroit, he was caught bringing boot leg liquor across one of the great lakes from Canada into the U.S. Arrested and told he had a chance to save himself if he would tell the police who were his bosses, he refused, and served time in a Federal jail. In appreciation for his silence, during the whole time he was in jail, once a week, many bags of groceries were placed at his wife´s Ann´s doorstep to take care of the family. Ann, disbursed the groceries to the other wives who went to jail with Sam. Ann was a tall woman and towered over her husband. Not nearly as gregarious as her husband, she was the boss of her household, and cooked all the meals at the Jewish Holidays. Irene married Mitchell Rubin (a contractor) and had three children, Mona )who married Fred and had one daugher), Suzanne who married Phillipe, and Dawn, who married a successful businessman in Virginia. . Marcia, who worked in retail at May Company Department store in Los Angeles, married Jimmy Reid, a tall slender man who worked for the U.S. Post Office. Jimmy was a superb bowler. They had two children Deborah and Jeff. Jeff married a lovely woman and had one child. Sonny was a multi talented man. He served in the Army in Korea. Was involved in theatre, played guitar, and later in life wrote poems. He was married twice, and had two children. He is alive at this writing, and is the last of his generation to be alive. Alan, was everybody´s favorite as a kid. Handsome, a great athlete, he ultimately married twice. He became a High School teacher and met and married a colleague, Lindy. Alan had three children, one from his first wife, and two with Lindy, Zev (who married Jinny) and a wonderful daughter who is married. [show more]

Description:January 12, 1956: Entering into the 6 year undergard/pharmcy school program at USC (he also got into UCLA but USC offered this accelerated program allowing him to gain his pharmacy degree a year or two faster)

Description:Hi Bloom Dog tags, reflecting his specific military ID number from World War II. Hi served in the Army Air Corps, before it became the Air Force. He served in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and visited some of South East Asia. He reached the rank of Corporal. He was a airplane mechanic. [show more]

Description:Hi graduated from University (Uni) High in February, 1939.

Description:July, 1942, the military apparently needed Hi´s High School Record. He started "Uni" High in the 9th grade in 1935 and graduated in 1939. A solid "C" student (he used to say that in one class he received his test score back with a "71" on it and the teacher told him, "looks like you studied a little too hard"), he graduated 152nd in his class. Uni Hi had a bit of an interesting history. While under construction it was known as Sawtelle High School, but it opened as Warren G. Harding High School when completed in 1924, after 29th President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923, served 1921-1923), who had recently died. The school was renamed in 1929 after the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) moved its campus from East Hollywood to Westwood, and the reputation of former President Harding had declined after the infamous Teapot Dome scandal and other situations. The name University is supposed to have originated because it became a site where teachers-in-training from nearby UCLA worked as assistant teachers/interns. When the school was being built, Indian artifacts were found as it was determined to have the site of the Serra Springs, a sacred site of the Tongva–Gabrieleño native people and a registered California Historical Landmark. [show more]

Description:July, 1942

Description:February 25, 1947, Hi´s request to change his life insurance beneficiary granted. Probably changed to his first wife.

Description:December 12, 1947, Request to reinstate VA Life Insurance. Payment of $52. NOTE: Address is 302B S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills, California. Probably living with his first wife at this address.

Description:1939, Hi attended one semester at Santa Monica Junior College.

Description:Hi, having just been married, changes the beneficiary of his $10,000 life insurance policy (almost certainly to Betty) while living at 8400 Lennon Ave., Van Nuys, California. This shows they bought the house by March, 1950. This is the house where Sasha was born. [show more]

Description:When Hi came out of WWII, he soon thereafter met and married Roz´sister. They divorced a few years later, something which was often spoken about in whispers in the family because divorce was so taboo at the time. Sometime in 1949, he met Betty Bloom who at the age of 23, already had a child (Denise) and had suffered the loss of her first husband (Robert or Bob Belsky). They married on February 12, 1950, likely pregnant with their oldest son, Sasha, who was born on October 15, 1950. In just a few months, Hi went from a carefree bachelor, to a husband with a ready made family of four. He realized the responsibility of that situation and set about the task of getting into college to make something of himself and provide for his family. He had, before the War, been accepted into UCLA (after he made a bet with his mother, Ethel, who agreed to pay for his admission of $5 if he was accepted) but he never enrolled. Now, faced with a family of four, he needed to get into a program which would put him on the fastest track to financial stability. The University of Southern California had a 6-year program where he could go to undergraduate school and graduate school, thereby shaving two years off the regular process. He wanted to be a dentist, he thought he would enjoy working with his hands, and was accepted into USC Dental School, but found that they did not have an opening at that time, and he would have to wait a year to begin school. He found out, however, that the USC Pharmacy school had an immediate opening for him, so, in an act of true selflessness and dedication to his family, something he never much spoke about throughout his life, he enrolled in the 6 year USC undergrad and Pharmacy school program. He graduated in June?, 1956. He is depicted her holding his USC Graduation Diploma and being kissed on both cheeks at the day of graduation by Betty Wisotsky Belsky Bloom, his wife of 6 years, and Ethel, his mom, on the left. Note Betty´s rather sexy dress and the big smile on Hi´s face. This pose was repeated several times for Sasha and Barry. [show more]

Description:July, 1944, Hi was stationed in Australia. Back marked with number "913"

Description:At 15 months, Hi just doesn´t look too happy sitting on this pony. This picture was being sent to Grandma and Grandpa, which had to have been Bernard and Dora Pelicoff, Ethel´s parents, in Atlantic City.

Subject:Hi, on the left wearing pants, and someone else, on the right wearing shorts, pet a baby Wallaby(?) while in the service in July, 1944. Note the mailing address: "APO 921", which stood for "Army Post Office #921".

This probably means they were in Darwin at the time.
https://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/apo.htm
Australian U.S. APO locations:-

APO 921 = Base Section No. 1, Darwin, Northern Territory

Adelaide was used as an Australian war development area for several areas: it was far from where it was believed the Japanese might attack, it had a large population of under employed people, and it was an area where Australian vehicles and train equipment were already being developed.

NOTE the stamp on the back that says the "Base Examiner" has approved the photo.

Description:This is a dup of another picture depicting Hi (lower center) on his 6th birthday party.

Description:Private Herbert J. Bloom received Certification of his Aircraft Mechanic training in January 26, 1943. It was signed by Major Charles Oliver, Commander of the Army Air Corps.

Description:Hi graduated from Uni High and didn´t really want to go to college. But Ethel bet him $5 that he couldn´t get into UCLA, so he applied. He got in. Took the winnings, but never attended. On the front of the application it confirms that they were living at 2449 Barry Avenue at the time and his phone number was just "32185". In an error, Hi listed his birthdate as February 14, 1939. He gave his field of study as "pre legal". On Page two, he listed Mort as a prior graduate of UCLA (actually Mort attended UC Berkeley) in Summer of 1938. [show more]

Description:On February 18, 1921, the Los Angeles Daily Times (the first name of today´s Los Angeles Times) published, under VITAL STATISTICS, the birth to Lawrence (Ethel was not mentioned) in Los Angeles a "boy". The Los Angeles Times was only 40 years in existence at the time. Pay note that you get lingerie for $2.95 and that 20 Mule Team Soap Chips were available for purchase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times#Otis_era This image was searched for by Sasha and given to Hi on his birthday. [show more]