Edith Bralove

Annie Lou Berman: Going to.

Edith Bralove: Do you have an art background?

Berman: I do have an art background, I work, now, for an online magazine called Daily Candy. But, before that I’d worked at the Smithsonian, in the Archives of American Art for a long time. So, that’s my background. I will introduce us. This is Annie Lou Berman on May 5th 2010, with Edith Bralove, in her house at 3602 Prospect Street. Mrs. Bralove, where were you born would be my first question.

Bralove: In New York City.

Berman: And, did you grow up there? Or, did you…

Bralove: Yes, but I went to college. After that I came down to Washington.

Berman: Where did you go to college?

Bralove: Wellesley.

Berman: Oh, wonderful. And, what brought you to Washington?

Bralove: Well, my husband. When I was in college, I met a man who was at the Harvard Law School…

Berman: OK.

Bralove: …and he came to Washington. He’s a native.

Berman: OK. And, you did not settle though in Georgetown?

Bralove: No, we lived on the other side.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: I don’t know what you call it now. Where the Sherman Hotel is.

Berman: Woodley Park I guess.

Bralove: Woodley Park. Yeah.

Berman: How long were you there?

Bralove: Until 1960.

Berman: And, is that when you moved to Georgetown?

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: What made you decide to move to Georgetown? Had you visited the neighborhood a lot?

Bralove: No. I wanted a change. I was divorced.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: I wanted to change everything. So, I moved to the other side of town, and I changed my everything from life to time. [laughter] My whiskey from bourbon to scotch. I bought this house, because of the view.

Berman: It’s really one of the most amazing views of the whole. I mean you have the Key Bridge. You have I guess the 14th Street Bridge Memorial Bridge. The whole river and all of the…

Bralove: Yeah. On a clear day, you can almost see the Airport.

Berman: It’s really remarkable. So, this is the house you’ve always lived in in Georgetown.

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: How has the view changed?

Bralove: Amazing. When I first moved in, there were no high rises. Arlington was very small. Over Key Bridge, there were pawnshops…

Berman: Really.

Bralove: Yes, and that was it.

Berman: So, you could really only, I guess…

Bralove: No high rises. No. There wasn’t even a hotel.

Berman: Really.

Bralove: No. There was nothing.

Berman: My dad who is also from Washington said that when you’d go to the Orleans Steakhouse or something over…

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: … there was nothing blocking the view…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: …and you could see…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: …all of the city.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: So, I guess you had the same. You could probably see that restaurant. What about the waterfront down here? Were the boathouses there?

Bralove: I think that’s pretty much the same. I don’t remember that changing. I know the university is planning to do something about it, but they haven’t yet.

Berman: Has the activity on the river remained the same? Or has it always been there…

Bralove: Well, it’s more. On a good weekend, there are more boats…

Berman: Really.

Bralove: …than there used to be, but that doesn’t say there are many. [laughter] But, there are more. It’s really fun to look at. The crew, of course, the Georgetown crew is out every morning at 6:30.

Berman: Early.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Does it inspire you to want to get out on the water?

Bralove: No. [laughter] Nope. I like to watch it.

Berman: I can imagine.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: And I guess you always know what the traffic is, traffic [laughs] patterns are.

Bralove: Yes, yeah and that also has changed a lot.

Berman: Just more congestion and?

Bralove: Yeah after five o’clock, six o’clock, it’s impossible and certainly in the morning also [inaudible].

Berman: Did you know have you always gotten around mostly by walking around in the neighborhood, or do you do a lot of driving or has that changed over…years in terms of getting around?…You know have you found a lot…

Bralove: Yes it’s true, when I was younger when I first came, I walked a lot. Obviously I can’t anymore, so I drive, but the parking…is terrible.

Berman: It is.

Bralove: And fortunately I have this small car so I usually find a place.

Berman: Yes your VW Bug is very cute.

Bralove: [laughs] Well it works.

Berman: [laughs] Were you able to do a lot of your shopping and everything when you moved here in the neighborhood or did you have to go…outside of Georgetown?

Bralove: No, we used Georgetown, that’s interesting about the shops though because… there used to be Neme’s which was wonderful, grocery, you got your meat there, your newspaper, everything. And the other shop that was so wonderful was “Little Caledonia”.

Berman: Oh sure.

Bralove: Yeah, where you could get anything you wanted from, greeting cards, to furniture, to fabrics, that I really miss because it was little things they had that you have to go out of town now for.

Berman: Yes, I remember shopping there with my mom, you know when I was younger, where else did you, so you did most of your grocery shopping in Georgetown, you were able to do that?

Bralove: Yeah, I’m trying to remember, there were others, there was “French Market”. I know there were others.

Berman: What about clothes shopping?

Bralove: I don’t know that I… no I didn’t do that, I went at, in those days let’s see, I think he went downtown to F‑Street, or where’s the Mayflower on?

Berman: Connecticut Avenue.

Bralove: Yeah, we went on Connecticut Avenue, I haven’t done that for ages.

Berman: [laughs] And what about the, you know is there a lot of, you know you’re so close to 1789 and the tombs, did you go out quite a bit in Georgetown, you know to restaurants and things like that, or were you entertaining at home more or going to other friend’s houses…

Bralove: Yeah, I think there was more home entertaining in those days, because I don’t remember going to the 1789 until…after I’d been here a while because there wasn’t any reason to, and I don’t remember the tombs at all until…I know it must have been there, oh there was a little nightclub called F. Scott’s.

Berman: Yes.

Bralove: Yeah, Which was lovely.

Berman: So you would go there?

Bralove: Yeah, I’d go there, yeah.

Berman: Very convenient for you.

Bralove: [laughs] yeah, funny when they, I remember it as being quite large, and yet when they used it just recently, when they were redoing some, I think at 1789, and they opened it. It was so small really. [laughter] We danced. It was a lovely. It was fun.

Berman: Would go over there just on a weekend? Average weekend. Or, was it for something special? Or…

Bralove: For the 1789, if you had a beau, he would take you there. Yeah.

Berman: OK. Did you do a lot of socializing with your neighbors?

Bralove: No, not a lot. I did with my next door neighbor.

Berman: And who was that?

Bralove: Florence Mahoney, but she’s dead.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: Well, that’s the story of the one on this side who’s also gone.

Berman: Who was that on that side?

Bralove: I can’t think of her name now. [birds chirping] I can’t remember.

Berman: I think your son was telling me a story last night that you had… He came back into the house one evening and you, I guess, were sitting in here with Eugene McCarthy, when he was running for president.

Bralove: I forgot that.

Berman: [laughs] Did you entertain people like that quite a bit?

Bralove: Yeah. My terrace was open. See, because the airplanes were not making that much noise in the beginning. So, you could entertain outside, and you could hear each other.

Berman: Oh, that’s nice.

Bralove: Now, you can’t really.

Berman: What were some of your most memorable dinner parties or cocktail parties that you’ve had in this house?

Bralove: Well, I don’t know. I can’t think of them. [birds chirping] Well, speaking of the terrace, let me think. I can’t think of his name. Tom Foley who used to be… Well, he was a representative first…

Berman: Right.

Bralove: …and then he became something else, but I’m ashamed that I can’t remember. But he came here to dinner once, before he ran for Congress. Who was the fellow that does the cartoons that’s so wonderful? He’s dead. Anyway, he said, “Who is that young man? He’s going places.” Sure enough. Sure. He did go.

Berman: So, there were a lot of politicians that you would have over?

Bralove: Yeah. Warren Magnusson from Seattle was one. He was a Senator. I remember once I had a party, and he said, “Don’t you know anybody besides lawyers?” [laughter] I had forgotten all of those people. Well, it was fun.

Berman: From all accounts, it sounds like it was fun. Were you here when the Kennedy’s were living here in Georgetown?

Bralove: Yes, but I wasn’t living here.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: Because I lived in the 50’s.

Berman: OK. Oh, over in Woodley Park. Has the social energy or the way of entertaining changed in the neighborhood, do you think, over time?

Bralove: Yes I do. I don’t think people have as many private parties. They entertain mostly in restaurants. I think, now. I also think that dinner parties used to be places, where politicians could talk. Like, Florence Mahoney had a lot of dinner parties, because she was trying to get some legislation passed: old age, which she finally did. But, she would get all kinds of people to come for dinner.

Berman: Oh, wow.

Bralove: That’s the way you influenced or got things done. [clears throat] I remember once Ethel Kennedy knocked at the door, and I don’t know who was more surprised she or me. Because, she was going to Florence’s, but sometimes people think this is the entrance to that house.

Berman: Oh, that’s so funny.

Bralove: Yeah. And when they do, they release the Exorcist, the movie…

Berman: Yes.

Bralove: I get students wanting to know if this is the house.

Berman: Really?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Which house was it, again?

Bralove: Well, actually it wasn’t. It was a house that Hollywood manufactured to go close to the steps.

Berman: Ah, OK.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: So, were you living here, while that was being filmed?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: What was that like?

Bralove: Well, it was interesting, because the street was blocked off. So, it was hard to get around. But, I had a dinner party that one night, and I said that I was having guests. They said that they’d let them in. So, we had dinner. Then, after dinner, we all went outside. We watched the filming.

Berman: That’s great. How long?

Bralove: That was pretty boring.

Berman: Really?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Was this just for one day and one night? Or, was it over the course of a week or so? I mean. Did it take a long time?

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah.

Berman: When the movie came out were people coming? I imagine there were tourist and sort of…

Bralove: Yeah. They still do. Every time they release that film they want to know. [cleared throat]

Berman: Would you walk up and down the stairs for exercise? [laughter]

Bralove: No, I can’t do that. I know somebody, a friend of, is it your father’s? Not your father’s. Your husband’s father?

Berman: Oh, yes. I think my husband’s mother used to go with an exercise group up and down the stairs for working out. Yes.

Bralove: No, I can’t. I didn’t ever do that.

Berman: That must have been a fun party to leave here, and go out and watch a movie being filmed.

Bralove: Yeah. [laughter] It made it interesting.

Berman: Now, I notice you have a really beautiful collection of art. Did you have a lot of artists come to visit, as well?

Bralove: No. No. I gave benefits for ‑ Oh let’s see. I forget now. Oh, no. I gave parties for artists, who are at the Corcoran. I mean if they had a big show or something. Not everybody but sometimes. It depended.

Berman: Were you involved with the Corcoran?

Bralove: I’m a member. I never did anything special.

Berman: Your son Steve was telling me that you had run a speaker’s bureau…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: …or something of that nature. What was that called?

Bralove: Potomac Speakers.

Berman: When did you start that?

Bralove: Oh, I don’t know. I guess in the 70’s. I did it for a couple of years and then I sold it because it wasn’t something I really wanted to do. And I got into it backwards because Abigail McCarthy had a speaking engagement and she didn’t know how much she was going to be paid and so she said, “Well, if you find that out I’ll give you 10 percent.” Then somebody else said, “Well, if you are going to do it for her do it for me.” And that’s how I got started. But it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

Berman: What other speakers did you work with? Was there…

Bralove: Well, I can’t remember now. Abigail, Melva Dickson, who used to write a column for The Post ‑ no for The Star, and, I don’t know, several others.

Berman: Now when you moved into this house were you working? Or were you raising your children?

Bralove: No, but when I moved here Steve was going to be a freshman in college.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: John was still in Friends and Mary was in Friends, yeah. Yeah.

Berman: OK. What was it like having children in Georgetown?

Bralove: Well they weren’t really children.

Berman: Because they were…

Bralove: They were kind of grown up. If you went to Friends…

Berman: It was high school by that point.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: How was it with the university sort of right outside your door?

Bralove: Well, right now I am not happy about the university…

Berman: I know.

Bralove: …because they want to change this whole street and build some dormitories for, I think three or four stories high, and they will talk about putting in a laundry and a grocery.

Berman: Oh, that’s quite a change.

Bralove: Yeah. But, on this street, we’re very upset by that. I was thinking that they could put the laundry and the grocery on 36th Street where they have that little shop, Molly’s. They can take these, they own all those buildings. And they could put the… whatever they use them for. It seems to me wards or…

Berman: Office space.

Bralove: Yeah sort of, I think. I haven’t been paying attention. But they could put them in these houses and not fool around and ruin this whole street.

Berman: Right.

Bralove: And the traffic now is so terrible.

Berman: With students and faculty?

Bralove: Everybody. Well it’s mostly students and faculty. Because sometimes it takes you five minutes to get out of your driveway.

Berman: Oh, no.

Bralove: Yeah. And then if your going this way down Prospect Street at say five o’clock and all the people want to go across the bridge you have to wait for hours practically to get across. It’s a mess.

Berman: Did it feel less crowded or smaller when you first moved in?

Bralove: Oh yes. Yeah, smaller and certainly less crowded.

Berman: Would you say it was more a small town, more neighborhood, feel?

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You could walk on Wisconsin Avenue and run into people you new.

Berman: So, it was more a sort of neighbors rather than tourists…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: … or just students. It seems like it would be…

Bralove: It was a mix. A mix. It was more possible then.

Berman: Would you go over to the university for talks or events or lectures?

Bralove: Well, I did in the beginning, and I probably still would if I could walk. [cell phone rings] You can’t drive over there.

Berman: It seems like they would be good neighbors. That it would be lively and something going on all the time.

Bralove: Well, I’m sure there is, but I doubt that their good neighbors. [laughter]

Berman: It’s a frosty relationship.

Bralove: Yeah. The interesting thing is: we tried to hire a lawyer and nobody wants to take the case. They don’t want to buck Georgetown…

Berman: What was…

Bralove: …University. That is.

Berman: What was in the space right here where that big building is diagonally across the street, before they built it. When you moved in was it just more houses?

Bralove: It was something else. I don’t remember what it was at all.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: That’s new. Yeah. Relatively new. I just don’t remember it.

Berman: Were you friendly? Or, did you have interaction at all with your neighbors further down the street? At Halcyon house or any of the others?

Bralove: Yeah. That may be me. I don’t think. I just don’t know. I think neighborhoods in Georgetown or in this area, are street by street. But, that’s just…

Berman: You mean sort of block by block.

Bralove: Block by block. Yeah. Now, that could just be me.

Berman: Were there some blocks, besides than the one we’re on, you’d walk to friend’s houses or that you did things with other people?

Bralove: I knew people in other parts of Georgetown. Like, I knew people on P Street, and I still know somebody on Q. But, most of the people I know are gone, which is too bad.

Berman: Right. Absolute.

Bralove: The one thing I remember though is that, in the riots of ’68, we had curfew.

Berman: Really.

Bralove: Yeah. 6:00. I think first at 4:00. Then, 6:00. I was reading something the other day. A lot of people were ticketed, because of being out in the street.

Berman: Really. How long was the curfew? How long did it last?

Bralove: I know. A couple of days. But, I remember also, it was so quiet. Because, nobody could go out. But, I remember seeing the National Guard coming down the streets.

Berman: Down on Canal and M?

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: Oh, wow. Was that city‑wide?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: So, you couldn’t even go to your neighbor’s house for dinner or go to the market?

Bralove: Well, you weren’t supposed to. [laughs] But a friend of mine who was Under‑Secretary of State lived on N Street. And he didn’t want me to be here by myself, so he came by and got me.

Berman: And what was his name?

Bralove: Oh… [pauses] He’s dead, too. [sighs]

Berman: We can come back to it… So you sort of had to sneak over I guess, so not to be ticketed?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Did most people obey the curfew?

Bralove: Well, in this area… Really, the rioting was on 14Th Street.

Berman: Do you feel that it affected Georgetown, aside from the curfew?

Bralove: Not really.

Berman: What was sort of the make up of residents living in Georgetown at that time?

Bralove: Well, they’re always people in the administration. I think there are more government people now than there were before.

Berman: Really?

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah, and it’s… It’s not as much fun as it used to be. [laughs]

Berman: Oh, no. Do you think that’s because people aren’t either as close, or it’s too many different types? Or what?

Bralove: No, I think it’s… I think it’s my age.

Berman: You’re not going out as much?

Bralove: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Now they may be having a good time, but… Like last night: I went to a reception for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Berman: Oh, wow.

Bralove: But that’s the sort of thing…

Berman: Was that in the neighborhood?

Bralove: That was the Woman’s Democratic Club.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: …and that was on the other side of town. So… But everything is ‑‑ I think ‑‑ is a little more serious than it used to be.

Berman: Really? Why do you think that is?

Bralove: Well, I think life’s more difficult. The world’s a mess. But I think you should get somebody younger to talk about it. Because I can only see it from… [pauses] Well you know, as you get older you get more opinionated.

Berman: [laughs] I think that’s allowed. You’ve seen a lot, so you can have more opinions.

Bralove: Well, yes. But sometimes you have to let others… See, now there’s a boat going by. See it?

Berman: Oh. It’s so great to watch it.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: You must love just to sit here? I would sit here all day, just watching.

Bralove: Yeah. And it’s beautiful at cocktail time. Because, just the change of color on the bridge, too.

Berman: Oh, absolutely. And the seasons, too. The change of…

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: I imagine the change of leaves then… Who did you buy the house from?

Bralove: Oh, that’s interesting. From,… I can’t think of her name ‑‑ Edith? She was a Sears‑Roebuck heir and she only lived here a year. Because her son lived down the street and that’s why she moved. She’d come from New Orleans ‑‑ she came from New Orleans.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: Edith… I’ll think of it. His name was Phillip. And so she came up for that and sold it after a year. Because she said the help only gave her cornflakes for breakfast. But before that this house was owned by two fellows. And it was originally built by a lawyer who’s interests were Haitian. I mean, he had a lot of clients there. So that a lot of railings are from Haiti.

Berman: These iron railings out back?

Bralove: Yeah, yeah.

Berman: Oh, wow. They’re really pretty.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: When was the house built?

Bralove: It was built in the ’50s.

Berman: Oh, wow.

Bralove: Yeah, it’s not very old.

Berman: And did…

Bralove: And he built that house and this…

Berman: To the left of you?

Bralove: Yeah. That house on the left was for him and this was for speculation.

Berman: Oh.

Bralove: So..

Berman: And did he put the pool in or did you put the pool in?

Bralove: No, he put it in. Because everything had to come ‑‑ still has to come through the front. See, there’s no back. It just drops.

Berman: So they had to do it, sort of work, I guess, backwards out to the street?

Bralove: [inaudible] Yeah, I don’t know how they did it. And so any time I need anything done, I have to have them come through the front.

Berman: And have you done anything? Have you renovated at all, or added onto the house? …It’s pretty much as it was when you bought it?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: These windows are so pretty.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: And now, does the house next door have Haitian iron work as well?

Bralove: No. No. Because when she did, which was five years ago, and she was 103…

Berman: Oh, wow.

Bralove: …the people who bought it changed the interior, and added the little porch there.

Berman: Oh, right here? OK.

Bralove: Yeah. And I think it’s too bad, because I like the way it was before. But you know, it’s somebody else’s taste.

Berman: Right.

Bralove: And they’re good neighbors so I can’t complain.

Berman: And what about the neighbors on the other side?

Bralove: Well, I don’t know them. They’re fairly new and they’re not there much. And they don’t take care of their yard, so I’m not happy about that.

Berman: And what about this house? I can never tell if it’s one house, or if it’s many apartments. It’s sort of above the gas station over here and it’s the light brick color with the [inaudible] ?

Bralove: That’s very big?

Berman: Yeah.

Bralove: Well, it was renovated by a man from Hollywood. And I think he may have been the… I don’t know. But, anyway. He was a director from Hollywood. And had a wife and then they had a child, or baby. And then he decided I guess, this is not the place.

So..

Berman: Now that house has a garage I know. You can get into from behind the gas station off of Canal, but can you also enter it…

Bralove: Really?

Berman: … from Prospect?

Bralove: I don’t know. No, I’ve never…

Berman: Have you seen the sort of physical nature of Georgetown change? You know in different ways…

Bralove: Yes, because one of the things I think is terrible is they’ve taken schools and made apartments out of them. Yeah. I’m opposed to that. We need schools.

Berman: Yes. Schools are definitely a necessity.

Bralove: Then, if there’s any land, somebody buys it and either puts a commercial building on it or… I don’t think they build houses much.

Berman: There’s not much space for it.

Bralove: No.

Berman: But, there are a lot of renovations being done.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Was that always the case?

Bralove: I don’t remember that much. I think it’s probably was more money. I would guess. I don’t really know.

Berman: Did there used to be more of a range of economic backgrounds of the residents in Georgetown.

Bralove: I don’t think so. No. Because, if you’re looking for… I think that’s in Burleaf. I think Georgetown is pretty much the same. All I know is our taxes go up every year. [laughter]

Berman: Now, I know you were involved with the Women’s Democratic Committee is it?

Bralove: National Democratic Club.

Berman: National Democratic Club. Were you always involved with that organization, and were there other organizations you were involved with?

Bralove: I did that mostly, but I’m trying to think. See, I did mostly volunteer work with Corprine mostly. I did some publicity for the opera society, but it was very young when I started.

Berman: Wow. That’s great.

Bralove: But, that was a long time ago. So, it was that sort of thing. Had a little bit here. A little bit there. But, that’s not Georgetown.

Berman: Right.

Bralove: I like the flags out there.

Berman: Yeah. It’s…

Bralove: It’s a little color.

Berman: It’s a lot of color. It’s really great.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: How do you think living in Georgetown was different from living in Woodley Park? Or…

Berman: You mean you can walk more…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: … and you don’t have to drive as much.

Bralove: Yeah.

Bralove: It’s really smaller. Woodley Park, you don’t have houses ones right next to the other.

Berman: Right.

Bralove: Well, it’s really like two different cities in a way, but that’s the way it appeals to me. Somebody else might think differently.

Berman: No. I was on Capital Hill the other night, visiting friends for dinner, and I said, “Sometimes, when I go over there, I feel like I’m going to a totally different city”. [laughter] Even though it is the same city and just feet away. Georgetown is very much its’ own sort of…

Bralove: It’s enclosed in a way.

Berman: Yes.

Bralove: I mean the east side and the west side, and that’s it.

Berman: Right. Do you feel that those two sides are very distinct or…

Bralove: Well [laughter] I don’t know. The only thing I know is they used to say that on the west side, you are on the wrong side of the tracks. [laughter] I think maybe it’s because maybe the east side built up quicker. I just don’t know. The houses are just as expensive on each side you choose.

Berman: Would you go down to the water ever? Or would you use the ponds…

Bralove: No, I’m lazy. [laughter] Now, my children may have. I just don’t remember.

Berman: Did any of them continue living in Georgetown, after they moved out of this house?

Bralove: No. No. No. Because, my daughter lives in New York, and my other son lives in Florida. Steve, of course, lives what do you call his section?

Berman: Wesley Heights.

Bralove: Wesley Heights. Yeah.

Berman: Did you have any friends who, after you moved here, moved into this neighborhood? That you were able to entice into…

Bralove: No. But, the reason I knew about this street, was because I had a friend that lived two houses down.

Berman: OK.

Bralove: I was there for dinner, and I saw this view.

Berman: And, thought you must have it also.

Bralove: And, so, I never forgot it, and wanted to see it. Yeah.

Berman: It’s really breathtaking.

Bralove: It’s interesting, because as you go up the street the view is a little different. Because, they see it from a different angle.

Berman: Really.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Was everyone over here accepting of all of the building going on in Arlington? Or, was there backlash against that?

Bralove: If there was, I didn’t hear anything. They keep building, and every time I go over there I see a new building or a new front. Yeah.

Berman: It seems that there’s a lot of building going on everywhere.

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah.

Berman: You know? On Wisconsin.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: And, of course, in different houses, there’s all sorts of building.

Bralove: Where do you live?

Berman: I live on Dent Place, but on the opposite side, on the east side, near Montrose Park.

Bralove: Oh, yes. That’s a nice area.

Berman: Yes. Spent a lot of time in Montrose Park, with the children and the dog. But, I also come over here. I go running in the morning, and I’ll come down Prospect, almost everyday. Whenever I go though, it’s very quiet over here, at about seven.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: I guess a lot of the students quite aren’t up.

Bralove: Yeah. The trucks haven’t come in yet.

Berman: Yes. Exactly. Do you get a lot of trucks?

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: For deliveries?

Bralove: Yeah. For seventy to eighty‑nine.

Berman: Oh, sure.

Bralove: You can tell when there’s been a lot of drinking. [laughter] What kind of dogs do you have?

Berman: I have a Border Collie named Tuck. But, it’s great in the park, because there’s all of the people, with their dogs and all the people with their children. So, it’s really nice.

Bralove: Perfect.

Berman: It’s perfect. But, it’s funny, I won’t see someone for a couple of weeks, and I’ll ask them if they were out of town. They’ll say, “No, I was just in Volta Park or Rose Park everyday”. So… [laughter]

I feel like there are the different parks that everyone goes to.

Bralove: Yeah. Is it Rose Park, where they have Wednesday Farmer’s Market?

Berman: Yes, and it’s actually starting today.

Bralove: Yes, because I saw a sign out there.

Berman: Today is the first day. I guess it starts next weekend: the Farmer’s Market in VerLeaf outside of the Hardy Middle School parking lot. There’s a farmer’s market that started last summer.

Bralove: Is that where they had the Sunday…

Berman: It’s where they had the Sunday flea market, but it’s on Saturday. It’s a farmer’s market.

Bralove: Saturday.

Berman: Did they have Farmer’s Markets, when you first moved here?

Bralove: No.

Berman: When you first moved here? So, I guess it’s a relatively new…

Bralove: Well…

Berman: …development.

Bralove: I don’t remember that, but they did have the market, as long as I can remember. I used to walk up there.

Berman: To the Farmer’s Market.

Bralove: Well…

Berman: Or to Neams Market?

Bralove: No. Farmer’s.

Berman: The Farmer’s Market.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Someone had told me that there was an addition to Neams, there was a supermarket or a grocery on M Street. I guess closer down to 30th and 31st.

Bralove: Yes.

Berman: Did you ever stop there?

Bralove: No. No, but there was one. Yeah. I’m trying to think where.

Berman: Maybe where Pottery Barn is now.

Bralove: Exactly. I think that’s where it was. Anyway, it’s in that area. Yeah. I’d forgotten about that.

Berman: So, would you stay, then, mostly on Wisconsin? And, not go downtown?

Bralove: Yeah. It was easier. I’m trying to think if we had a bakery. I just don’t remember one especially.

Berman: But, as you were saying, you could do most of your shopping…

Bralove: Because you could buy baked things in Neams, and I don’t remember all these ice cream stores. [laughter] We didn’t have those.

Berman: Not as much ice cream. When you were entertaining here, did you do most of the cooking and preparation yourself? Or, did you have people come in to help you?

Bralove: No. I did the cooking, and I had help serve. Yeah. I’d forgotten about all those.

Berman: It sounds like you had quite a few parties and dinners and cocktail things.

Bralove: We did more entertaining then, but I think we had more energy. [laughter] I know we did.

Berman: Well, is there anything else you want to add about life in Georgetown or in this house?

Bralove: No, I can’t think. I love this house. It’s a house only for two people though really.

Berman: Really.

Bralove: Yeah. Because it’s tiny.

Berman: How…

Bralove: This is the biggest room.

Berman: Well it’s really beautiful. Having this view out over the river really makes it feel huge.

Bralove: Yes. Yes it does, but the other rooms are small.

Berman: How many bedrooms are there?

Bralove: And, there are three, but, again, very small. Everything is small.

Berman: Most things in Georgetown are small.

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah. And when you look at some of the pictures from the ads they put in the paper, you wonder how [laughter] they manage. [laughter]

Berman: I guess you have to be a particular type of person…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: … to take on living in some of these houses, but it’s really worth it. I think.

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you want to, you can make it. Yeah.

Berman: Is there anything you had to sort of alter in the way you lived to live in Georgetown or to live in a house like this?

Bralove: Not really. You don’t collect as much. See, I don’t have a basement or an attic, which is a good thing.

Berman: Because you can only have what you need a…

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: …really want.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Where do you store things? Do you have a garage? Is there a garage?

Bralove: No. No, I don’t. I have a furnace room, but it has a lot of stuff. But, you just don’t collect. And, I don’t like a lot of things around. I don’t want to live in clutter.

Berman: It forces you to be very selective.

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Berman: Who are all of these watercolors behind you by?

Bralove: The one at the end is one my mother did.

Berman: Oh, wow.

Bralove: That other one is a… What’s the name of that artist? Went out of my head.

Berman: Let me see.

Bralove: And, she did the oil, and the other is a…

Berman: I don’t see a signature.

Bralove: The next one is a Henry Moore.

Berman: Oh, that’s great. Then, this is a Chagall here.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Oh, that’s really great. Did you know these artists?

Bralove: No.

Berman: You just collected their work. What about this here?

Bralove: That’s a Duran.

Berman: That’s really wonderful.

Bralove: Yeah. That is.

Berman: The colors are really beautiful.

Bralove: Yeah. Yeah.

Berman: They’re so intense.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: Do you know what it’s called?

Bralove: No. I think it’s just called The Meeting or…

Berman: And, what about this?

Bralove: That’s a…

Berman: See. DeFee?

Bralove: Yeah. That’s a Roulough I just thought of it. Yeah.

Berman: Oh, wow. They’re really beautiful. And they all go so well with, looking at all the trees and the green.

Bralove: Yeah.

Berman: It’s so nice looking out here.

Bralove: Yeah. So, that’s it.

Berman: Well, thank you so much. I will stop this here.

Bralove: I don’t know that I said anything really, but you certainly brought some memories back.

Berman: Oh, good. I’m glad. Well, thank you very much. We really appreciate this. I’m going to press stop.