Orlando Malabe

MALABE: Born in Savana Grande, Puerto Rico in 1919. Came to Brooklyn in 1934. Went to school 'til 1936. I started to work in 1936, then, in 1941 I went to the service for the Second World War and came out in 1945. In 1945, I went into business with my brother who had a setup, a furniture store in the Borough Hall section in Brooklyn, Smith Street. There, we broke off in 1949. I went on my own and started different types of business such as auto driving, jewelry, and so forth. In 1951, I worked for Muebleria Brito, Brito Furniture Store, and six 1:00months later I went to P.R. to open a store; the name was Almacenes Hernandez--in Puerto Rico it was called Casa Verne. I stayed for the contract limit of two years, and I came back to New York again in 1953 and that's when Malabe Shipping was born. I started my Malabe Shipping and until now.

RIVERA: Tell us about when you first came from Puerto Rico.

MALABE: Well, when I first came from Puerto Rico in 1934, I came to Brooklyn, the Borough Hall section of Brooklyn where, actually the same place where I am in business now. The first place I lived was 87 Bergen Street; right off Smith Street, only a block and a half away where I have the warehouses now. There I 2:00performed a lot of things. As far as work, I couldn't do it because I was 15 and you can't get a job until you are 16, so I had to go to school and I went to school and when I got out I was old enough to go to work, and I went to work. And I worked 'til 1941, 'til I was drafted into the Second World War. Around my section--which was Borough Hall, Brooklyn--you couldn't see many Puerto Ricans at that time and I met a lot of the old timers which is hard to remember because at that time I was only 15 and as you know as a Puerto Rican, teenagers don't mingle too much with the adults. But I do remember a lot of people; like Carlos 3:00Tapia--not too much, but I do remember some of it--and Louis Weber, and--

RIVERA: Tell us about Louis Weber?

MALABE: Louis Weber was a very famous man among the Puerto Ricans because according to people that used to say--he was in some kind of good atmosphere with the Italians and with all the other nationalities because of the involvement that he had with them in certain types of business which I don't have to mention. He was a very good man to a lot of people. He knew where to get off with the other nationalities, besides he used to be a good man and a good helper. He used to help people; community man. He passed away about 3 or 4 years 4:00ago. I think it was an auto accident he had and from that he went to a hospital. He never recuperated from it.

RIVERA: How did you first meet Louis Weber?

MALABE: Well, I never met Louis personally, that I can remember--too much of it-- because like I said before he was an older man than I am and we couldn't have too much in common because of the difference in age, but I do--I did see him many times near here, but we were not friends. I knew about him and he knew about me. And you have all the people, the same age as Louis; such as Carlos Tapia, and Jesus Colon, and Giboyeaux, Doña Antonia Denis, Luis Rivera, and 5:00Camila La Negra. [Interview interrupted.]

RIVERA: When did you meet your present wife?

MALABE: My wife I met in 1947. We went out together for 2 years and we got married in 1949, and from that marriage--which I am still married to the same wife, Lydia Quinones, from Lares, Puerto Rico. We have two children; a girl who is going to be 22, her name is Gigi--the same one you listen in the advertisement--and the boy is 24, in fact just got married last Friday, and we live a happy life.

RIVERA: Were you married from 1934 to 1940? Or you were--?

MALABE: No, I was single. In 1941, I went to the service, so I spent 5 years in 6:00the service. When I came back I went out with a couple of different girls, but this one that I went out for 2 years, Lydia, I married and I'm still married to her.

RIVERA: O.K., from 1934 to 1940, what kind of jobs did you have?

MALABE: Well, I started working in 1936, and I only worked for one person and that was in a luncheonette. It used to be in Fulton Street, downtown Brooklyn. I started there as a delivery boy; delivering lunches, sandwiches, all over Fulton Street, and wound up being in charge in 1941. When I was drafted--I went to the service--I was already in charge of seven people that were in that luncheonette. That was the only place I worked before that.

RIVERA: Were there any other Puerto Ricans working there?

MALABE: No. Mainly the Greeks and Jews and I was the only Puerto Rican.

RIVERA: From 1934 to 1940, did you participate as a voter--?

MALABE: Yes. I only had the chance to vote once, and I did vote, because at that time I was drafted in the service. But I did belong to an organization. They called it--at that time--IWO. It meant International Workers Order, which--also La Vanguardia Puertorriqueña--was headed by Jesus Colon, was also a member of the same associated group which it was considered as a group insurance type of association.

RIVERA: Do you recall much about the Vanguardia Puertorriqueña?

MALABE: Yes, quite a bit. We used to go there almost every weekend. It was in 42 Smith Street, right off Livingston Street, and that is the only place we could 8:00go dancing. It was very nice, organized. But there was another one called Mutualista Hispana Americana. It was in 221 Atlantic Avenue, which I was the President of the younger group, and Luis Rivera which I mentioned before he was the President of the order. So then there was other clubs also; such as Betances. But it was a little far away from our section. So we didn't go that way. They were over by President Street, Union Street, Columbia Street.

RIVERA: What was Betances Club about?

MALABE: Betances Club was more political than anything else. Doña Antonia Denis was connected with them, but it was a very nice club and nice people that I mention in my one of my words before was Antonio Giboyeaux. He was in that club, 9:00the same as Doña Antonia Denis.

RIVERA: What other Puerto Rican families of people did you know in Brooklyn?

MALABE: I didn't know many. Of course it's hard to remember so many because when I went to the service, which--I spent 5 years away from here--I forgot a lot of people that I had acquaintance with, and after I came back in '45, a lot of them had moved out to the suburbs, or over to the island, or back to Puerto Rico. But those who are still around; every so often we meet. There was a name; one very known among us because he was a civic leader. His name was--[Interview interrupted.] I don't remember anybody else right now. The only thing I can say is that many--Well, there was one lady, very well known; Camila La Negra. I already mentioned, and if you get a chance you can interview her because she was 10:00here way before I was.

RIVERA: What major problems did you encounter in Brooklyn as a resident when you arrived?

MALABE: Well, I tell you, I didn't encounter too many. I don't know why, because Puerto Ricans were getting along very nice with other people and the group was not as big as the group in Harlem. But we were not having too much of a difficulty. We knew we were a small ethnic group and we had to take it.

RIVERA: What other ethnic groups inhabited your building, street, or your community?

MALABE: Well mainly, this is the same section that we are in now. At that time, I would say--It was mainly Italians. And after the Italians, the Jews, and then our group was about the smallest at that time.

RIVERA: How did you get along with them?

MALABE: Very nice. Thanks God, I always get along fine with everybody.

RIVERA: What kind of jobs did Puerto Ricans move for and find in Brooklyn?

MALABE: At that time, it was mainly [Interview interrupted.] restaurant jobs, I would say. Then afterwards, then the people were taking to the piers; work at the piers, quite a few around, and you remember at that time we had WPA, Workers Project Administration, that if you were very poor you went on Home Relief, and if they found a job, the job would be WPA, Workers Project Administration. So that's what the Puerto Ricans were doing, and then going into small type of business; grocery stores, which, some of them developed and some of them folded.

RIVERA: Do you remember many grocery stores when you first arrived?

MALABE: Well, let me tell you, the only one that I do remember; the first one 12:00was on Hicks and Amity--I think it's Amity or Congress, one of the two. It was on the corner and it was my cousins, Carlos Soto. La Flor de Borinquen, they used to call it. It was the only one around, then others that came up on Atlantic Avenue. I do remember one thing--very clear--that on Saturdays that I didn't work, I used to rent the back and go to 113 Street and Fifth Avenue, where Bustelo Coffee started, and I used to buy 50 lbs. of coffee and bring it to Brooklyn and sell it to all the Puerto Ricans, [Interview interrupted.] and--As you can see, Puerto Ricans were scarce in Brooklyn. It was not easy to find a group, so you would find them scattered all over Borough Hall, South 13:00Brooklyn, Williamsburg, but mainly Borough Hall, where I was all the time.

RIVERA: How were Puerto Ricans identified during that time--As Puerto Rican or Spanish?

MALABE: I was never called names, because I remember that a lot of people used to say--called us "spics." But I don't recall anybody call me a spic, only in the service and that was only in a friendly way. See? So actually I would say that we get along; the Puerto Rican group in Brooklyn, always got along with all nationalities.

RIVERA: Did you read the Prensa very much or listen to many Spanish--?

MALABE: Oh yes, at that time we had La Prensa and there was another newspaper called La Voz, which, I was also selling La Voz on weekends when I was away from school.

RIVERA: Where did La Voz circulate?

MALABE: I think it only circulated for, maybe, 2 or 3 years, the most.

RIVERA: What years were these?

MALABE: I would say back in '36, '37.

RIVERA: Were there any radio programs that you used to listen to at that time?

MALABE: Yes, there was a program that started, I think, back in 1939. WEBD in Fulton Street, 427 Fulton Street, used to have the studios. I think that was at the same time that Santiago Grevi started on radio. That's how I come I know him. We have all other people; such as Manchaca, who passed away, Salvador Merced, who is working for some radio station in Bayamon now. But actually it was not many Puerto Rican programs.

RIVERA: How were Puerto Ricans generally making out during that time?

MALABE: Puerto Ricans--talking as a Puerto Rican--I think we are very much business inclined, only with a lot of us don't want to continue to be consistent, optimistic about things. That's why a lot of Puerto Ricans didn't progress as well as other Puerto Ricans did. I mean, I don't like to brag about myself but my business already is about 21 years old and I have done very well because I started very small. I started with a $250 little truck and my wife helped me very much in 1953, because she used to work for Empire Biscuit Co. She had a good job there, she used to make good money, and with what she made I used 16:00to do all the publicity for Malabe Shipping and I used to do all the expenses with her, payroll alone. So, in my business that wasn't taking money out, so we got started very well.

RIVERA: Do you know many Puerto Ricans who were in business when you first came? Or from 1934 -- 1940?

MALABE: Not many, and actually it was--Type of business would've been either grocery stores, restaurants, candy stores, but nothing very important to talk about.

RIVERA: What outstanding activities would you say you were mosy involved in from 1934 to 1940?

MALABE: Well, sport. I always liked boxing, and I boxed for 5 years when I was in the service. And all the sports that are, with the exception of football, I 17:00understand most of them. But I follow baseball, softball, wrestling and boxing. And at that time there wasn't much in Brooklyn. I remember the Eastern Parkway Arena, where they used to have boxing every week; we used to go, and the old Garden; we used to go and the Ridgewood Grove; they also had an arena there we used to go there too. And at that time there was a fighter who is in California now; his name is Pedro Hernandez, the brother to Julio and Luis Hernandez, and I used to be his shadow in boxing, so, a very close friend of mine. In fact I used 18:00to collect insurance for them for the IWO because all of them were insured with the IWO.

RIVERA: And you used to collect the premiums?

MALABE: The premiums through the club because I was the President of the younger group.

RIVERA: Oh, I see.

MALABE: And somebody [unintelligible] So as I was the President, I was authorized to collect all the premiums on their policies.

RIVERA: So you used to box on the side--?

MALABE: No, just with Pedro, but when I boxed all 5 years was--while in the service. I had to do something to keep in shape.

RIVERA: Do you play much baseball?

MALABE: None. I love it, I never played it. Softball, I played a little.

RIVERA: How did you obtain news of Puerto Rico or other Puerto Ricans in Brooklyn at that time?

MALABE: No, they had a couple of Spanish programs in the evening and I remember 19:00one was by Bobby Quintero, Luisa Quintero's husband, and he had all the news at 11 o'clock at night. And then you had the, the newspapers. They used to--you could buy them in New York but you had to go to Harlem to get them. So when I had a chance to go to Harlem, I could buy El Imparcial or El Mundo. [Interview interrupted.]

RIVERA: What was the reason you came to New York from Puerto Rico?

MALABE: The reason I came to New York was my brother, my older brother was already in New York, two years before in 1932. So I came looking for a better life because I come from a poor family in Savana Grande and actually if I stayed there I don't think I could've done what I have done here. But for a better 20:00future, a better living, I guess.

RIVERA: Did your brother ever have any jobs in New York at that time?

MALABE: Yes my older brother was living at that time on Home Relief and I was living with him. But he brought me over and the only reason that you had to get the--he was on my toes all the time. Because at that time the Home Relief had investigators who used to work very early. So they used to check all the houses that were assigned cases, to see if anyone else lived in the house and sometimes they would pop in at 6 o'clock in the morning so I had to get up early, go out, and do something because I couldn't stay in the house.

RIVERA: I see. Is there any item of importance that you would like to mention 21:00that you recollect in the period that you lived in Brooklyn from 1934 to 1940?

MALABE: Only that we were very active in clubs and we were trying to generate some good atmosphere among ourselves and people who were in the club. Even though I was only 16 or 17, I was active with older people and I think that gave me an incentive to go ahead. Because I saw that they were getting ahead in life, so that was like a guidance to me being next to adults and they were doing fair and I wanted to do the same. I wanted to do the same thing that they were doing.

RIVERA: I'd like to know, did your brother ever find a job?

MALABE: Yes in 1939, he was called to work for Kearny Shipyards and that was 22:00when the war broke out between England and Germany. So right away the United States activated all the shipyards, so my brother was called in right away. He was one of the first ones, due to the fact that he was on Home Relief, they were the first ones that were given the opportunity to work the yards. So ever since--then I went to the service in '41. When I came back he was already establishing business, and he kept on working and never again had the need to go on Home Relief.

RIVERA: What kind of a job was he given when he was called?

MALABE: Paint ships at Kearny, at the shipyards. Painting, scraping, anything that they can do aboard a ship to put it in tip-top shape.

RIVERA: Were many Puerto Ricans called--?

MALABE: Yes, there was quite a few. A lot of our friends, in fact, my brother 23:00had a car and he used to bring them all in the car, and they used to chip in for the expenses of the car. So they had a good chance. The Puerto Ricans had a good chance at that time because there were so many on Home Relief, all those who were on help or unemployment, they were called for the shipyards.

RIVERA: Were many non-Puerto Ricans also called?

MALABE: Oh yes. All. All nationalities. But all the Puerto Ricans that were around, and they were unemployed due to Home Relief or unemployment, were called then to work on those yards.