Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Louis Kaye - May 9, 1983

What kind of business do you have?

Uh, in 1951 I started being a junk peddler. I bought me a truck ??? every week 1875 and General Motors. And then I have three hundred, four hundred dollar, I bought me a truck. I didn't know how to drive at that time. So, I'm a junk peddler. From the junk peddler I was doing hauling. I did that until 1951. And I was doing... hauling syrup for a company.

Hauling what?

Syrup.

Syrup.

And like for the vending companies. I used to be a peddler, in my spare time I used to do hauling syrup, a company for seven years with my own truck. And then later on I started a bottle exchange business. I was in... Have connection to the people who were deliver the vending syrup and stuff and then I went into business for myself. And now, now I, I used to be in bottle exchange business and then there was ??? bottles. Uh, if the bottles no good, we just threw away. I used to be in rubbish business, or pay it polish business. And then I did the bottle, I'm back in bottle business now.

You're back in the bottle business now.

Yeah. Now, now I got about twenty-two people working for me.

And what do you do?

I do... Pick up bottles and pick up the, the carriers from the bottles and ??? back to the companies. And I do repair, the wooden shelves from the bottles. And I do the... I do business with Pepsi Company and other places, from '58 up to now. ??? for twenty-five years. ??? And I start off with a two-car garage I remember, like ??? you know where ??? Not your time.

Hm.

Wife: You're too young.

On Broad Street.

Hm?

Two-car garage. I paid a lot of money for the rent for the cars. And now I got money to pay for twenty-two people payroll. And not knowing the condition, not knowing how to write and read. And I come here going to school, don't go to school, and right away I built it myself. Like, no English and everything. From then on I work.