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“Watch those bear traps when you walk through here,” pawnbroker Rubin Goldstein of Honest Joe’s warned Dallas Morning News staff writer Larry Grove in 1964, while he threaded his way through “the clutter of a million valuable items that bear a striking resemblance to junk.” This scene was common along Elm Street in Deep Ellum from the 1920s through the 1980s.
Pawnshops played an important role in Deep Ellum, lending money and selling inexpensive goods — and they were omnipresent. As pawnbroker Eddie Goldstein said in an April 1992 interview with writer Jay F. Brakefield: “Deep Ellum in its heyday was pawnshop, pawnshop, pawnshop, dry goods store; pawnshop, pawnshop, pawnshop, grocery store; pawnshop, pawnshop, pawnshop, shoe store.”
Much like navigating an Elm Street pawnshop, we dug through our archives to find tokens that tell this Deep Ellum story.
1920s-1930s
Uncle Sam’s
Many of the early pawnbrokers of Deep Ellum migrated from Eastern Europe and found their way to Dallas, usually through family connections. One was Volf “Willie” Soltes, a native of Austria. In the 1920s, he came to Dallas and went into business with Sam Goldberg, the original owner of Uncle Sam’s pawnshop, at 2316 Elm St. He eventually took over the whole business.
Uncle Sam’s had its fair share of tragedies. In 1931, the pawnshop was robbed twice in three days. The burglars took a display case containing a Panama hat and six caps the first time, and they took a dozen caps, two Panama hats, six pairs of hose and neckties the second time. And in 1932, the pawnshop was wrecked by a two-alarm fire.
Soltes’ extended family trickled into Dallas. His nephew, Dave Goldstein, came from New York to work at Uncle Sam’s with him.
In 1924, Dave Goldstein married Dora Abramson, and in 1930 they bought a dry goods store in Deep Ellum. Many people pawned items during the Great Depression, so the Goldsteins added a pawnshop and phased out the dry goods. “Among their customers in the 1930s were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who hadn’t yet achieved notoriety,” The Dallas Morning News reported.
Rocky’s
Isaac “Rocky” Goldstein, a younger brother of Dave’s, moved to Dallas to work at his brother’s pawnshop when the stock market crashed and he had to leave his studies as a law student in New York. He went on to work at Klar and Winterman, a “relatively upscale pawnshop” at 2308 Elm St. He eventually opened his own business in Deep Ellum — Rocky’s pawnshop.
In the early 1980s, John Hinckley Jr. bought the gun he shot President Ronald Reagan with from Rocky’s.
The shop was known for the sign that hung over the door: Guns Don’t Cause Crime Anymore Than Flies Cause Garbage.
1936-72
Honest Joe’s
Rubin Goldstein, another brother of Dave’s, grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In 1964, he told staff writer Larry Grove, “I always wanted to be a pawnshop man … I remember lookin’ in the shops on Delancey Street.” Once he landed in Dallas, his dream came true.
In 1931, Goldstein, then 23, moved to Dallas and opened a pawnshop at 2524 Elm St. He gained “a reputation for being the most honest pawnbroker on the pawnshop-lined section of Elm.”
Outside, his store was covered with business signs and mottos. Inside, it was cluttered with pawned items. He told Grove, “I’ve always taken a liking to junk. A lot of this stuff won’t ever sell, but it’s good to have around. It gives the place a junky atmosphere, don’t you think?”
His shop was packed to the rafters with random items: bear traps, artificial limbs, fake teeth and lots of guns. His most-pawned items included watches, rings and other jewelry. He told many a tale about items and their owners.
One such story: “And now you won’t believe this, but this is true. This other guy, name is White, has a cork arm and he brings it in all the time and gets a sawbuck. Redeems the arm when he gets work. Wired me money from Houston yesterday and said ‘Put my arm on a bus. I got a job.’”
Honest Joe’s influence went beyond his pawnshop. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, FBI agent Nat Pinkston came to Goldstein for assistance tracing Lee Harvey Oswald’s gun. The pawnbroker provided replicas of the gun used in the shooting and Pinkston traced the rifle to Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago.
According to Goldstein’s obituary, he was even among the people riding in the motorcade on that fateful November day. His name was included in the Warren Commission’s report and in William Manchester’s The Death of a President. He was also one of the appraisers of Jack Ruby’s estate.
Honest Joe died in September 1972. His wife, Bess, continued operating the pawnshop for a few years until it closed permanently.
1980s
And then there were none
After Central Expressway cut Deep Ellum off from the rest of downtown, the number of pawnshops in the neighborhood dwindled until there were none left. Jack’s Pawn Loans closed in 1984 and in 1987, the last pawnshop on Elm Street, Bishop’s Preston Jewelry and Loan at 2226 Elm St., relocated to Oak Lawn.
Dave’s, Uncle Jake’s, Barshop Brothers, Day and Night, Rocky’s and of course, Honest Joe’s — today, these are just reminders of a different time: the heyday of Deep Ellum.
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