10 Montgomery Street And Sol Hellman

Neal told me that his dad, Sol, grew up on the lower east side, not far from the family sewing machine repair store on Pike Street. Knowing that and his father's year of birth, 1915, I was able to find him in the 1920 census at 10 Montgomery Street (between Henry and East Broadway), apt 87. It's one of the few tenements still standing the neighborhood. His father was Philip (listed as a machinist), his mother Ida, and an older brother named Jacob lived there. The letter R stands for the fact that the family had a radio. Neal also mentioned that his dad went to Seward Park High School and City College with Zero Mostel. Both Sol and Zero also probably knew and went to school with the song writer, Sammy Cahn (Cohen) who was born in 1913