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Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting

Audio Titles

Rose's feelings about the strike and union membership
"Running a lathe is like a hobby for me now."
"The salaries, the raises, haven't been there. That's the problem, and that's why the people are leaving."
Sam Balistrieri describes the operation of a "throwing plant."
Scale of machines made at Watson; work cycles in the industry.
School years and coming to work at Watson
The Secret Sauce
"Seven to six, and then the law went through later that you started at eight and quit at five."
"She had planned to study to be a fashion designer, but now she can't because her life is very confused."
"She started working in the coat factory because it paid more money."
"She was an American girl, but she liked to have a Spanish dress."
Shining shoes outside Near's Drug Store.
"Show your boss what you're worth. It's different today."
"Silk Arithmatic"
"Silk is like the icing on the cake."
"The silk mills moved down south, and Paterson was left holding the bag."
Skill hierarchy at Teshon.
"So if you worked ten hours a day and six days a week it only left you Sunday."
"Sometimes even the barber has been a place where men could come and pour out their troubles to."
"Sometimes it reaches the point where the store comes before anything else -- keep the store open."
"Sometimes we laugh over here because this place is more like a multi-purpose center instead of a shop!"
Starting the business: part 1 of 3
Starting the business: part 2 of 3
Starting the business: part 3 of 3
"Storewise, Madison Avenue becomes your separation."
"A story from Honduras."
Story of Lautenberg's father taking him to the textile mill, Part 1 of 2
Story of Lautenberg's father taking him to the textile mill, Part 2 of 2
"The supervisors and foreman wanted to act like God."
"The taxes, the expenses in the city of Paterson are skyrocketing; it's an expensive place to live."
"That was nice, camping like that."
"That's how I make the business keep going, I've got a lot of friends."
"That's the way a good driver is: he predicts things."
"Then my father and I opened the office."
"Then you take the razor strap, and this is called honing: strapping the razor."
"There are a lot of Italians who speak Spanish, and a lot of Spanish who speak Italian."
"There was a lot of Italian tradition in the city."
"There was never a question of whether you were going to go to college."
"There was nothing more than a dollar ninety-eight in the store."
"There was nothing you could do to make a dollar unless it was work on someone else's farm."
"There were a lot of raids here before, you know, immigration investigations."
"There were buses but they didn't pull so good."
"There were quite a few different places that people could go."
"There's a difference between a home haircut and a barbershop haircut."
"There's a lot more tedious work on jackets; coats, the cloth is bulkier and hides a lot of mistakes."
"There's a notion that neighborhood law is a specialized, personalized services being provided, and part of what you're trying to do is help the neighborhood grow and become empowered."
"There's a store like this in Paterson? It's like living in New York City."
"There's fifty-thousand ahead of you, boys, better go back where you came from."
"There's more money in doing nails than doing hair."
"These customers become like friends."
"They are a new wave of immigrants who are moving many things ahead here. They should get more credit than they do get."
"They came right to Ellis Island to meet me."
"They come back here for any reason, they'll always make their way."
"They come here to open a small business and their children will become professionals."
"They didn't realize that she had been hoarding all this money all this time."
"They didn't want me to go into the business just because it was available."
"They found almost $16,000 in cash -- and we're talking 1950, 1951."
"They found it very difficult to learn English the way other immigrants learned English."
"They never closed; this is the way things were done in those days."
"They put in well over 70 hours a week."
"They want someone behind the counter who speaks Italian also."
"They were all very efficient at their work, these foremen."
"They were there with hats in hands."
"They weren't batwings, lady, those are chicken ribs!"
"They'll buy basically anything if the price is right."
"Things are getting high tech."
"Things got better when the war came, everyone was making a little more."
Things students can learn by looking at the case of Paterson
"This business is seasonal."
"This industry is one day you could be in business, the next day you could be out of business."
"This is why I like our union."
"This job is not for them."
"Those guys are Italian, only Italians do this kind of work."
"Those were beautiful, wonderful days."
"To me that was the greatest compliment I've ever received."
Training new workers.
Traverse screws: "I'm the only one here that makes them now."
The trucking business in the 1940s.
"Twisters were very scarce in those days."
Typical day of work at Garfinkel & Ridder
"The United States is my permanent land."
"The vast majority of our clientele is from Paterson itself."
Vision for the future of the historic district
Waldina Jimenez' first job in America
Watson in the 1940's
"We all knew we wanted to do something after college."
"We don't have problems, to live together, we respect each other."
"We get to know them, we know what's happening with [our employees]."
"We go with the trade of the neighborhood."
"We grew up with machines, with trimmings, with buttons, with delivery dates, with garments all the way up."
"We had Jewish owners of food stores right across the street from us that spoke perfect Italian."
"We have the guitar player, a singer, a guiro player, and me."
"We have to work just a little harder than if we were in New York City, because we have to make sure that distance is not an object."
"We know how to iron, so why not go to the coat factory and press?"
"We need to educate the community."
"We perceived we were working for the full factory, as opposed to having the factory do things for us."
"We started with the right people, and the right people will always come with us."
"We used to call it 'digging iron.'"
"We used to go in April and November."
"We used to go knock on the doors and ask for work."

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