![\"deli](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/deli-for-mlachak-story-deli-on-every-corner.jpg\")
<\/a>1. Norman<\/strong><\/span> Mlachak was a Cleveland Press<\/em> reporter.\u00a0 I didn’t know him but knew of <\/em>him.\u00a0 He grew up over a deli at E. 140th <\/sup>Street and Aspinwall Avenue.\u00a0 Every old-timer in Cleveland grew up over a deli, or near one. Nobody had a car, so there were a lot of delis.\u00a0 You bought food almost daily.\u00a0 Mlachak sometimes wrote nostalgic pieces for The Press<\/em>. His neighborhood was Collinwood.\u00a0 He wrote about Fisher Body, Eaton Axle, Kuhlman Car Co. and the Collinwood Railroad Yards.\u00a0 He died in 1984.<\/p>\n2. I went<\/span> to high school with Helene Mlotek, who is probably related to Zalmen Mlotek, the New York klezmer macher<\/em>.\u00a0 Aren’t all Jewish Mloteks related?\u00a0 Helene and I weren\u2019t in any of the same classes.<\/p>\n 3. Mary Lou Hribar grew up in and around Fritz\u2019s Tavern, a polka hangout on E. 185th Street.\u00a0 Her father, Fritz, was inducted into the Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame, under the category \u201cproprietors.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I once met Mary Lou at a Shaker Heights party and haven’t seen her since.\u00a0 Fritz died in 2001.<\/p>\n 4. I was<\/strong><\/span> at\u00a0Claudia Hlebcar’s wedding . . .<\/p>\n OK, enough. Thank you for your patience.<\/p>\n — Bert Ptacek<\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n Irregular Passover Humor:<\/span><\/p>\n