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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.

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Jordan Holtzman

Oral history interview conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel

July 17, 2014

Call number: 2015.011.11

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0:00 - Childhood in East New York, PS 190, work with his father

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7:40 - New Lots Avenue business district, movie theaters, Fortunoff

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9:27 - Integration of the neighborhood, Linden Houses, and schools

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Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Jordan Holtzman
Jordan Holtzman was born in Brooklyn in 1946 to Jewish parents. His family moved to the Linden Houses in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1950s, where they remained until the 1970s. He attended PS 190, George Gershwin Junior High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, New York City Community College, and Baruch College. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He worked as a stock trader on Wall Street for 25 years, and now works as a Parent Coordinator at PS 99 in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. He lives in Forest Hills, Queens, New York.

In the interview, Jordan Holtzman describes growing up in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, attending local schools (PS 190, George Gershwin Junior High School, and Thomas Jefferson High School), working with his father, local businesses on New Lots Avenue, integration of the neighborhood, and the Linden Houses. The interview was conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel at PS 99 in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York.

The collection consists of twenty oral history interviews (with nineteen narrators) conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel with residents (past and present) of the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. The interviews were conducted between January 2014 and February 2015. The project was designed to capture the experiences of East New York residents who lived in the neighborhood during the period when families of color (African American, West Indian, and Puerto Rican) moved in and White families moved out, and the resulting decline of services and quality of life that followed. This process began as early as the 1950s and continued through the rest of the twentieth century. Sarita Daftary-Steel is a community organizer who worked for United Community Centers from 2003 to 2013, most of those years as the East New York Farms! Project Director.

Citation

Holtzman, Jordan, Oral history interview conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel, July 17, 2014, Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories, 2015.011.11; Brooklyn Historical Society.

People

  • Fortunoff (Department store)
  • George Gershwin J.H.S. 166 (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
  • Holtzman, Jordan
  • Linden Houses (Housing complex)
  • Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

Topics

  • Business enterprises
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Jews
  • Public housing
  • Public schools
  • Race relations
  • Urban policy

Places

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • East New York (New York, N.Y.)

Finding Aid

Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories