Vintage Photo Friday

Vera Bloom, Chicago

Above is a photo of my Great-Grandmother on my Father's side of the family. This is a postcard with Russian writing on the back, so I'm not sure of the year that the photo was taken...probably in the late 1930's or early 1940's. Obviously, this is a posed portrait in a photography studio, in front of a back-drop.

Vera and Moishe Bloom came from the Ukraine. I'm not sure when they came to the United States, but I know it was after their oldest son, Lawrence (my grandfather) came here in the early 1900's. The rest of the family followed and landed in Chicago.

There were six children: Lawrence, Rita, Sonia, Anna, Luba and the youngest son, Sasha. Lawrence, Rita, Luba and Sasha eventually ended up in Los Angeles. Sasha died before I was born, but I knew my Great-Aunts Rita and Luba quite well. Aunt Sonia got married and in the 1920's moved back to Russia with her son, Bobby and scientist husband, Isaac, who had secured a good government job. They lived out their days there. Their son, Bobby came back to the U.S., the place of his birth, at the age of 75, after living in Russia most of his life. Aunt Anna stayed in Chicago and raised a large family. I still have a few cousins living there, with the rest of Anna's family settled in Southern California.

My Dad used to tell me about train trips that his family took during the summer. They started in Los Angeles, stopped in Chicago to visit the Bloom relatives, then continued onto New Jersey and Philadelphia to visit the Pellicoff relatives. My Dad's other grandparents, the Pellicoffs owned a kosher hotel in Atlantic City. My Dad and his two brothers used to spend summers there when they were young, working in the hotel, playing along the Boardwalk and swimming at the beach. In the late 1970's my Dad, Mom and I were in Atlantic City. Dad took us to the street where the Majestic Hotel was. It was being torn down. When my Dad walked into the lobby of the hotel he was amazed at how small the room actually was. When he was little, he thought it was huge. We call this "kid-vision."

I heard many stories about Grandma Vera when I was a child. She was a strong woman with a great sense of humor. Obviously, from the photo, she looked grand in her sparkly fancy dress! The raised letters on the edge of the photo say, "New Rembrandt, 2722 W. Division St., Chicago, Ill." I can't find any reference online to this. It's probably the name of a photo studio. The address is near Humboldt Park in the West Town section of Chicago.

I have many photos in my Dad's collection of this sort... posed portraits in a photo studio with the family wearing their best clothes. There's one marvelous photo of Vera with her 4 daughters. They are all wearing hats and their long dresses have bustles. I must find that one!

For more Vintage Photos, click here. Have a great weekend!