Article about Homewood Neighborhood

September 22, 1997       Page  B2 of the Minneapolis Star Tribune
by   Allie Shah; Staff Writer

  Hovering over a map of the Homewood neighborhood, a group of former and
  current residents gathered Sunday at Farwell Park in north Minneapolis
  and swapped stories.

     The older generation met the new - young couples, children and
  others - renewing old ties and forging new ones.

     Long ago, Homewood was a gated community that didn't welcome blacks
  or Jews. Stone pillars were erected on street corners to mark the
  forbidden property.

     Today, Homewood is an integrated community, with only the pillars
  left as a reminder of its exclusive past.

    On Sunday, the meaning of the pillars changed, as neighborhood and
  city leaders topped two pillars on Sheridan Avenue N. and Plymouth
  Avenue N. with concrete blocks. The additions were made to show that
  the pillars   ``were once a symbol of exclusion and now they're symbols
  of inclusion,'' said Debra Stone, 45, who recently moved back to the
  neighborhood.

    Knowing the history behind his neighborhood used to be a bit painful
  for Carlos Tennin, a senior at North Community High School, who is
  black.

    ``It had made me feel uncomfortable at first, but then I got to
  thinking it's changing. Times change, and things change.''

    This was the second annual get-together of old and new Homewood
  residents.   For Frank and Freda Schochet, who raised three children
  there, north Minneapolis will always have a place in their hearts.

    Frank Schochet graduated from North High and later watched as many of
  his old teachers taught his children. And his Boy Scout leader
  eventually led Schochet's son.

    ``Talk about community and continuity,'' Freda Schochet said. The
  couple now lives in Golden Valley and came back for the reunion.

    People with Homewood roots don't easily forget them, said  City
  Council President Jackie Cherryhomes, who recently moved to the area.

    ``Once you live here, you sort of don't leave,'' she said. ``There's
  a real connectedness here - more so than anywhere else I've seen in
  Minneapolis.''

  The article is accompanied by a photo of the Klezmer band with two
  young children of different races dancing in the foreground.
  The caption is:
  The Sim Shalom Klezmer Band performed Sunday as former and current
  Homewood neighborhood residents had their second get-together in
  Minneapolis.  The community once shunned Jews and Blacks, but now is
  integrated.

A clarification from the readers representative stated on 9/23:

     - An article on Page B2 Monday said the Homewood area of north
  Minneapolis at one time did not welcome Jews. To clarify, when the land
  was platted in 1908 there was a covenant against selling to Jews, but
  by the mid-1920s Jewish families lived there.