Voigt, Susan, 2007 May 2

Susan Voigt was the child of Jewish immigrant parents, born three years after the family's arrival in the United States. After graduating from college, she opened a restaurant on Grand Avenue in Fair Haven with her older brother, who had previous experience in the nightclub business. At the time of the interview, Voigt's restaurant had been in operation for 27 years, surviving a number of economic downturns and the changing demographics of Fair Haven. She describes a failed 1990s attempt to gentrify Fair Haven, suggesting that such good natured designs might be effective in theory, but stumbled in practice. Even so, Voigt describes a remarkable resurgence in Fair Haven over the last eight or so years. This improvement was not necessarily government led, but resulted from Fair Haven residents taking responsibility for cleaning up their own communities. Voigt talks about the importance of home ownership to community morale. She describes her family's immigration experience, and suggests the importance of immigration to the culture of Fair Haven over the years.

Interviewer: Cohen, Rachel

Length (min): 45