ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" > <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <meta name="author" content="WeWereMerchants.com" /> <meta name="keywords" content="" /> <meta name="description" content="" /> <meta name="robots" content="all" /> <title>We Were Merchants by Hans Sternberg :: About the Book</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="media/js/lightbox/prototype.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="media/js/lightbox/scriptaculous.js?load=effects,builder"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="media/js/lightbox.js"></script> <style type="text/css" media="screen"> @import "media/css/screen.css"; </style> <link rel="Shortcut Icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" /> </head> <body id="internal-page"> <div id="page-wrapper"> <div id="header"> <h1>We Were Merchants</h1> <h2> Hans J. Sternberg with James E. Shelledy </h2> </div> <p id="main-navigation"> <a href="index.html">Home</a> | <!--Site coming soon... | --> <a href="pre-order.html">About the book</a> | <a href="mailto:hans@starmountlife.com?subject=Contact from We Were Merchants site">Questions?</a> | Gallery | <A HREF="shopping.html">Holiday Shopping Tips </A>| <A HREF="future.html">The Future of Retail </A> | <A HREF="Calendar.html">Calendar</A> </p> <table id="photos"> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/10l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/10t.jpg"></a> <h2>Jacob and Roschen Sternberg with their children, ca. 1904. From left, Roschen, Max, Erich, Leo (in chair), Alfred, Jacob, and Joseph. Bruno, another son, had died at the age of nine.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/24l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/24t.jpg"></a> <h2>The Meyer Sternberg store in Aurich, 1923. Business begun in the 1790's, sold in 1939</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/22l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/22t.jpg"></a> <h2>The Knurr building, modernized, in today s downtown Aurich. Begun in 1739; still operated by the family when the last Knurr left Germany in 1939.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/6l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/6t.jpg"></a> <h2>The Aurich synagogue, burned to the ground by Nazi hooligans during Kristallnacht in 1938.</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/18l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/18t.jpg"></a> <h2>Joseph Sternberg, age seventeen, was killed fighting on the Russian front as a volunteer for Kaiser Wilhelm during World War I.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/21l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/21t.jpg"></a> <h2>Nazis picketed the Knurr store in Aurich in 1933. The sign warns citizens against shopping at Jewish-owned clothing stores</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/27l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/27t.jpg"></a> <h2>The Sternbergfamily, 1937. Top: Lea and Erich. Bottom: Insa, Josef, Hans</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/erich sternberg_L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/erich sternberg_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Erich Sternberg (circa 1960)</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/23l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/23t.jpg"></a> <h2>Goudchaux s, ca. 1948, when Main Street was a brick road. Still visible are the former streetcar tracks, from which the steel was removed and used as scrap metal for the war effort during World War II.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/17l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/17t.jpg"></a> <h2>Erich Sternberg (second from left) and his brother Leo (far right) in Goudchaux s men s department in 1936. </h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/20l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/20t.jpg"></a> <h2>Depression-era letter from a New Orleans bank to Erich informing him it did not want his $5,000 in a savings account, 1936. Although not stated, the reason was that the bank would have to pay 1.5% interest on the money and no one was borrowing. Prime was 2.5%. Years later, Whitney Bank offered to buy this letter for its historic collection.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/19l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/19t.jpg"></a> <h2>Original agreement between Erich Sternberg, and Bernie Goudchaux, 1936: $6 a week for use of alterations department, $4 a week for his share of the night watchmen, $6 a week for advertising and window displays, $7.80 a week for delivery, $15 a week for the credit manager, and a pro-rated cost for Workman s Compensation, with an understanding that, if all went well, he would buy the entire store .</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/3l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/3t.jpg"></a> <h2>Lea and Erich check on the construction of a parking lot adjacent to Goudchaux s on Main Street, July 1942. The surface was gravel until after the war. It was the first retail parking lot in Baton Rouge.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/dwf_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/dwf_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Flyer announcing CORE s local selective-buying campaign, 1961.</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/orange flyer_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/orange flyer_t.jpg"></a> <h2>KKK flyer distributed after some business leaders published a newspaper ad calling for the acceptance of school desegregation, 1965.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/43l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/43t.jpg"></a> <h2>Hans and Josef Sternberg, Goudchaux's,1983</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/33l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/33t.jpg"></a> <h2>Nearly a dozen remodels and expansions brought the Main Street Goudchaux s store to over 300,000 square feet. The building still stands.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/26l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/26t.jpg"></a> <h2>Recognized by Ripley s Believe It or Not in 1986, Goudchaux s/Maison Blanche, with a total length of 971 feet, was the longest building in the world built as a department store.</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/38l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/38t.jpg"></a> <h2>A life-size Mr. Bingle stands with Santa.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/maison blanche_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/maison blanche_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Construction of the Maison Blanche department store on Canal Street in New Orleans, 1907. At the time, it was the tallest building in the city.</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/37_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/37_t.jpg"></a> <h2>James Rice, illustrator of <i>A Cajun Night Before Christmas</i>,prepared this for a Maison Blanche Christmas catalog cover. (c. 1988)</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/BWmall_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/BWmall_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Rendering of Goudchaux s Main Street, Baton Rouge, as envisioned by A. Hays Town, Architect.</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/symphony poster_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/symphony poster_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Baton Rouge Symphony at Carnegie Hall, 1988.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/G&MB logos_l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/G&MB logos_t.jpg"></a> <h2>Goudchaux's and Maison Blanche logos, 1935-2002</h2> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/35l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/35t.jpg"></a> <h2>Newspaper ad announcing Maison Blanche s incursion into Florida in 1987.</h2> </TD> <TD width=6%> </TD> <TD width=47% valign=top> <a href="media/images/Book/39l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/39t.jpg"></a> <h2>One of Holly Clegg's 3 cookbooks written for Goudchaux's and Maison Blanche. Her first, <i>From A Louisiana Kitchen</i>, sold 40,000 copies.</h2> </TD> </TR> <!--<TR> <TD width=50%> <a href="media/images/Book/22L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/22t.jpg"></a> </TD> <TD align="right"> <h4>The&nbsp;Knurr&nbsp;building,&nbsp;modernized,&nbsp;in&nbsp;today s&nbsp;downtown&nbsp;Aurich.</h4> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <h4>Goudchaux s, ca. 1948, when Main Street was a brick road. Still visible are the former streetcar tracks, from which the steel was removed and used as scrap metal for the war effort during World War II.</h4> </TD> <TD align="right"> <a href="media/images/Book/23.1L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/23.1t.jpg"></a> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <a href="media/images/Book/24L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/24t.jpg"></a> </TD> <TD align="right"> <h4>The Meyer Sternberg store in Aurich, 1923</h4> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <h4></h4> </TD> <TD align="right"> <a href="media/images/Book/27l.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/27t.jpg"></a> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <a href="media/images/Book/43L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/43t.jpg"></a> </TD> <TD align="right"> <h4></h4> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <h4></h4> </TD> <TD align="right"> <a href="media/images/Book/erich sternberg_L.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/erich sternberg_t.jpg"></a> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <a href="media/images/Book/Extra- Lea Josef HansL.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/Extra- Lea Josef Hanst.jpg"></a> </TD> <TD align="right"> <h4></h4> </TD> </TR> <TR style="border-top:1px solid #dfdfdf"> <TD> <h4></h4> </TD> <TD align="right"> <a href="media/images/Book/goudchauxs signL.jpg" rel="lightbox" title=""><IMG SRC="media/images/Book/goudchauxs signt.jpg"></a> </TD> </TR>--> </TABLE> <div id="footer"> <p> &copy; 2009 Hans J. 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