Cleveland Postcards - Majestic, Frank Gehry, Joyce and Donna

The new Peter B Lewis Building was designed by none other than Frank Gehry (maiden name Frank Goldberg) born in 1929.

It houses the Weatherhead School of Management, part of Case Western Reserve. Brody, below, is from Canada and called the Gehry interior "funky." True, and also claustrophobic. Ouch! I kept thinking I'd scrape my head against the low ceiling. There's a management lesson in there somewhere.



Frank Gehry was born in Canada and remains a huge hockey fan. He designed the trophy for the World Cup.



When Sarah and I went to Spain last year we never got to see Gehry's Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao. Seeing - and entering - the Weatherhead Building was a successful surrogate experience.

Let's continue with our whirlwind tour. Hey, is that Joyce Burke Margolin, Donna's friend from childhood?

Donna and Joyce


Donna slept at Joyce's while I parked my ass at my aunt's house. I'll always remember seeing Joyce and her husband Kenny sitting on the couch in the family room. They sat close together, like they really liked each other, and had just come back from a nature walk. Their golden retriever Ranger was trotting around with a ball in his mouth.

Rock n Roll Valhalla



We drove to 2530 Superior Avenue - the Artcraft Building - where my dad had worked for Majestic Specialties Inc., a tremendously successful ladies apparel company. My dad "forced" me to work for him in the summer. I started as a file clerk - gosh my hands got dirty from the carbon paper - and progressed to secretary. Not dad's secretary, that was Lois Stendor, but part of the typing pool. Dad taught me to type when I was 8.

The old elevator was still there, but Stanley in suspenders and runny nose had been replaced by a Mr Hirschberg, owner of the building, who ferried people up and down the 7-story building.


List of tenants. Lampl women's fashions had once been there. Their trademark expired in 1998 so feel free to name your corporation - or son - Lampl. Maury Saltzman (1918 to 1998) got his start there before co-founding Bobbie Brooks and becoming incredibly wealthy, not to mention a great philanthropist.

I used to say Hi to his oldest daughter, Lorrie, when she'd sneak a smoke in the ladies' room. She was very nice, totally not a snob, with a rather large head.

The sign bears no trace of Majestic, which, in later years, was bought out by Genesco, Maxey Jarman, CEO, bible-thumper and author. My father was ousted in a power struggle with one Shep Zinovoy, haberdasher, and within about four years, the once-thriving exciting company was extinct.



When dad told me about his demotion - and intent to quit the company where he worked for 27 years - he gave me the pocket watch they gave him, but I smashed it in anger when I lived in TX and was fighting with my husband - we were riding in the car. I cried hysterically, silent tears. I was absolutely distraught. Funny, I don't cry anymore tho I do 'tear up.' Donna said when she gets her own back pain, she cries. Don't you? she asked.

No, I said, I just scream.

The wooden floors have seen a lot of traffic


Ah, the freight elevator: huge, lumbering. Can you hear the gears grinding?