Happy Thanksgiving from My Family to Yours!

There is always a lot of conversation bout the Turducken at this time of year.  This amazing entree deserves an amazing dessert and to that end I present to you "Charles Phoenix's Cherpumple: The "Monster" Pie-Cake"
Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A Few Fathers I wanted to Thank

Its not a big holiday - there are no religous or historical overtones, and it was always a little embarassing for me after my son became a man but today , for some reason, without plan or deep thought, I wanted to take a minute to highlight a couple of fathers for their impact on my life.

 Meet Isadore Lublin, my dad's father who left Russia at the start of the last century to escape the pogroms that victimized his people and his family. He never spoke about his experiences there, but found a new start in this country, where his three sons ( my dad, my Uncle Paul, and my Uncle Harry) grew strong and capable starting businesses and families of their own. He passed away when I was only 7 , but the memories of him persist to this day as a kind and warm man whose family was all important to him.

This is David Krasno, my mother's father. David came to the U.S. as a master watch mechanic in the early 19th century, and after living in New york where he met his wife, moved to a small town in Pennsylvania where he started a jewelry business, and raised 3 girls, all of whom attended college and became successful in their chosen fields, my Aunt Ruth, my Mom, my Aunt Bette. And all of this at a time when women were not as liberated as they are today. From him I learned that life can be a long and curvy road, but the line to your family should always be a direct one.

 This is my father, George Lublin. Born in Philadelphia, he suffered from Polio as a child, though he persevered through and became a physically strong young man after being a sickly child. The oldest of three sons, he left high school during the depression so that he could work and help the family through the tough time. During World War II, physically limited by his encounter with polio, he worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he built ships and endured antisemitism while his younger brothers went to war . 

After the war he began a career as an insurance agent, building a business and a family with my mom, enduring the loss of a child between the births of my sister and myself. And in the midst of life, he endured another blow when in 1961, he was left a widower with an 11 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. He changed careers in the late 1960's to real estate at the urging of his brother Paul, and worked at the same company for the remaining 8 years of his life, until he struggled against lung cancer to the inevitable end.

It is impossible to tell you what I learned from my dad. I don't know if I can attribute my bizarre sense of humor to him, but I'm pretty sure I can attribute my love of books and art to him since I was surrounded by both growing up. I know that I learned a lot about dealing with people and facing adversity from him and he is still the standard for me. I know that he is a presence in my life and that I still miss him even today. I know that while he was a fallible individual as we all are but to me he was a great dad - and I know that he did the best he could with what life gave him to work with.

This picture is a pretty special one to me. Its the only picture I own that shows my dad with my son. My son Hal was born on January 9, 1997. My dad George died on August 11, 1977. They had very little time together, and Hal obviously can't remember his grandfather, but my dad knew my son and loved him very much. I still remember taking Hal to the Fox Chase Cancer Center, where my father could join Hal for an impromptu "picnic" on the grass outside his room - a point of happiness in a difficult time.

And of course, here's  the reason I get to participate in father's day - my son Hal. No reason for adding this picture here except I really like it. And no son could ever be more super than mine to me :-)

Just a quick jump to a new limb of the family tree - Here is my son's Father-In-Law, Ernest Kelley. (along with Sheila  and the lovely Janet Kelley - Hal's Mother-In-Law) . Ernest is a Father who deserves to be mentioned with the guys I'm assembling here. He and Janet are exceptional people who were an absolute bonus to a great daughter-in-law. But in our conversations on many long walks, Ernest has shown me that even though we come from different backgrounds, we meet on the values that make a parent - and a man. (Though I would be remiss if I didn't point out that he ,llike Hal and me married wayyyy over his head!)

And this picture is just one of my favorites. Though I miss my lovely wife, I still have my kids - Hal and Jennifer - and through them the circle of life (thanks Disney) continues - and like every Father everywhere today - they are the greatest gift anyone could ever have.  I hope your gifts are just as great!

Memorial Day Thanks

Image via Wikipedia

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders field.

Written in 1915 by Canadian Medical officer John McCrae, commemorating the bloody battles there during World War One, this poem created quite a stir, ending up as McCrae's most memorable contribution to literature.

94 Years later, as we celebrate a day with our families, peacefully, while young men and women protect us in foreign places, we owe it to them , and to ourselves, to take a minute to remember the debt we to those who endure hardship so that we may enjoy this day.

I'm breaking with my habit of not publishing duplicate posts. I just wrote this for the holiday post at REReflections, my other blog, but I liked it enough that I didn't want to write another- I hope you like it as well

I love being from Philadelphia. It is a place of opportunity. As an example, when I was kid I touched the Liberty Bell. Like uncounted Philadelphia children before me, I walked right up to it, and stuck my little fingers in the crack, below the bolt holding the crack from widening. I still remember the cold feel of the metal and the angled metal of the crack. It was a school trip to Independence Hall, the former Pennsylvania State House, and coincidentally the place where the Second Continental Congress met , and ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4th her, 1776.

It didn't mean much to my family when it happened, because they were is different parts of Eastern Europe living lives that ranged from tough to marginal to unbearable. About 100 years later however, the actions of those men, in that place, meant they had an option. There was a place where they could live their lives as they wished, raise their children, and succeed if they worked hard. So they came to what they called the Golden Medina (the Golden Country). They worked hard, they learned English, and they raised their children to love their adopted country. And love it they did, with a deep and abiding passion that impelled them to make sacrifices in defense of the country when called on, and to pass that passion on to their children and Grandchildren.

Its July 4th, and I'm feeling real grateful and sentimental. I'm spending the weekend on holiday, celebrating our country's birthday with millions of my fellow Americans. I was on the road to the New Jersey shore yesterday behind a car with a bumper sticker that said "My son's a Marine - Sleep Well America, He's Got your Back!".

It made me want to call every person serving in our armed forces and thank them personally for allowing me to live in a place where my daily concerns revolve around whether Twitter is working well, or if duplicate blogs are a problem, or buying blog content is a difficult moral issue. I need to thank them for allowing me the privilege of living in a place where getting dressed well and going into an air conditioned office is considered hard work, and where I can whine about single digit mortgage rates.

Its easy to take for granted where we live ,how we live, and the rights we enjoy every day without thinking. And with gas at record prices and a tough economy, every day can be a challenge. But under the worst of circumstances we still live in the best place in the world. A place where we can speak, blog, and create as we wish. A place where home ownership is achieved by a huge number of our citizens, and everyone has potential to achieve and excel that is matched in few places around the world.

As a favor to me , just for today, be grateful for what we have and the opportunities that await us in the future. After traveling to many wonderful places in the world, I truly believe that we live in one of the best places anywhere with a system, that no matter how imperfect, beats the pants off the alternatives, - and it all started in Philadelphia.

Happy Birthday Everyone - Hope We all share lots more of these.

Title Insurance, Another Philadelphia First

A little while ago I wrote a post about the Greater Philadelphia Association of REALTORS, one of the charter members of the National Association of REALTORS, both of which are celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year.

Even earlier I wrote another Philadelphia based post, talking about some of the Historical Firsts in our city, discussing the first Savings & Loan, their first mortgage, and possibly the first defaulted loan in the country. I enjoyed that so much, that I decided that this would be a great theme for GPAR's 100th year, so here is the second installment in that group of bogs. Hope you enjoy these random facts as much as I do.

In keeping with the theme of the blog, let's talk about the first Title Insurance Company in the United States which was founded here in 1876. Through successor companies, that firm ,known as Commonwealth Land Title (now owned by LandAmerica) still issues title insurance today!

Title Insurance is used to assure buyers that the title of their home is free and clear of liens and encumbrances at the time of purchase. During a re-finance, title insurance will often be required by the lender to protect their interest, assuring that they are the primary lien on the property.

The need for title insurance arose historically from the fact that traditional methods of conveying real property did not provide adequate safety to the parties involved. Until the 19th century, transferring title to real estate was handled primarily by conveyancers, who were responsible for all aspects of the transaction. The conveyancer conducted a title search to determine the ownership rights of the seller and any other rights, interests, liens or encumbrances that might exist with respect to the property, and, based on its search, provide a signed abstract (or description) of the status of the title. Although the conveyancer was generally not a lawyer, that individual was recognized as an authority on real estate law. The conveyancer only provided limited protection to the purchaser of real property.

In 1868, a lawsuit was filed was filed in Pennsylvania that would change the levels of protection the buyer expected in a real estate transaction.. In that case, a conveyancer named Muirhead, had searched and abstracted a title for a buyer named Watson. Muirhead chose to ignore certain recorded judgments (after consulting with an attorney) reporting the title as good and unencumbered. On the basis of that title abstract, Watson bought the property, but lwas later complelled to pay the liens that Muirhead had concluded were not a problem.


Feeling somewhat ill-used, Watson sued Muirhead , but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that there was no negligence on the conveyancer's part and dismissed the case. Watson, an innocent buyer had no protection.

The case of Watson v. Muirhead demonstrated that the conveyancing system could not provide safety to buyers ,so shortly after that court decision, the legislature passed an act "to provide for the incorporation and regulation of title insurance companies."

Since then, the title insurance industry has grown to become an essential component in the majority of real estate transactions in this country. Title services vary somewhat from one area of the country to the other, but the essential purpose is to assure a buyer that their transaction can be completed with efficiency, security and safety.

And it all started here in Philadelphia!

Growing up in Philadelphia

Nostalgia makes everything look a little better. As a young boy growing up with modest means (to put it mildly), there wasn't a lot of money available for entertainment. And growing up in the city, I don;t have any stories about hunting or fishing or exploring underground caves.

Luckily, when I was really little, I could, for 50 cents, go the Benner movie theater, pay 25 cents to get in and have 15 cents left for a bag of popcorn and 10 cents for a box of candy (both much smaller then they would be today). Of course the day of those neighborhood theaters has long gone, with the closing last year of what was a new movie when I was young.

When I got old enough to leave the neighborhood myself, the city of Philadelphia was a source of lots of adventures. And if you were creative it didn't cost a whole lot. In fact , a pretty good day could cost less then $1.50

In those days you got a transfer at that would allow you to change buses for free. Every time you got on a bus you asked, and you received. You could then use that to get on another bus, and with proper planning, you could take travel around the entire city for one fare.

In my case I would take the 59 trackless trolley (this is actually a photo of the place where I got on - with the Bushrod Library in the background) down to the Frankford El . For a snack you could buy a soft pretzel for 5 cents (or 6 for a quarter) and then you boarded the train and you were on your way to Center City . In Philadelphia, we don't talk about downtown, we talk about Center City - downtown was what people in South Philly called their neighborhood when they didn't call it South Philly.

I got off at 5th Street, and had choice of places to visit. I could go to Independence Hall National Park , and from there it was short walk to Betsy Ross's House, or Ben Franklin's House, or down to 13th Street to buy 13 coverless paperback book's from Robin's Bookstore . And City Hall, the Free Library, or the Art Museum were always worth a trip. In any case, Center City Philly was a terrific place to wander around, filled with sights and smells that dazzled the young mind.

Still holding a transfer, when it was time to go home, I would get on the Broad Street Subway and take it north to the Fern Rock Station where I took the "Y" Bus (no longer in service) to Castor and Cottman and caught the 59 going south to go back home.

All in all a pretty good day - and all those paperbacks - not a bad way to build your library when you're young.

People Count More than Advertising

Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, people always used the business in the neighborhood. Everyone know that Mickey Callan's dad Lou Calinoff made great pizza, and every 10th one was free. People talked about the Pepper Hash at Lenny's Hot Dogs, and their friends went there to try it. You knew that Nate at Nate's deli was a little abrupt, but you didn't have the wait you had a the Castor Deli.

In those pre-franchise days, where there were few national companies, every one's insurance agent, lawyer, tax man (accountant), and real estate agent was some body's friend, and that was how you knew then and why you used them. Today its a little harder. And advertising isn't the same as knowing someone or getting a referral from a friend.

So social media comes to the rescue. People get to meet on-line and become friends, trading information and making referrals. Recently a friend of mine, Paul Chaney was on Twitter and posted a link to an article called "Ads Versus the Consumer Voice- Who wins?". The thrust of the article was that people really haven't changed, but the media they use to communicate has.

Today, waiting to get home to Philly in a condo in Los Angeles, I see a link posted by a man in Lafayette Louisiana , written by a man in England that I want to share with people in Philadelphia.And the information travels around the world and across the country in less then 20 minutes from start to finish. Amazing technological advance isn't it? And yet it all leads back to the same thing people have done for years, rely upon other consumers experience to make their commercial choices. Recommend someone today- bet both people will appreciate it.

A Pittance of Time

Pictured above is my father's younger brother, Paul Lublin who passed away recently. Paul served with Patton's Army in WWII earning the Bronze Star. Not pictured here, but also worth remembering are

• Felix Rosen, Infantry, WWII, one of the liberators of the Dachau Concentration Camp (and my wife's father)
• Colonel Aaron Ariff, B-24 Navigator out of Cerignola Italy, where he won the Silver Star and a Presidential Unit Citation (My Wife's Uncle)
• Captain Harry Lublin who served in the Signal Corps during WWII (my Dad's youngest brother)
• Isadore Krasno, who fought on D-Day and at the Battle of the Bulge (my Mom's Cousin, and the man who introduced my parents)
• James Walsh, who fought with the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea (my partner's father, who served in WWII and Korea)
• Sam Stein, my high school friend who died in Viet Nam, just days after arriving as a Marine Helicopter door guard.
  
  For them and all of the others who fought to provide us with the luxury of freedom, take a moment to listen to a Canadian Song a called "A Pittance of Time. " Apropos for today. Just click on the link to my ActiveRain Blog

Happy Birthday Philadelphia REALTORS

This week , on May 7 at the Union League in Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Association of REALTORS celebrated their 100th Birthday. As a Past President of the Association, I had the pleasure of attending and seeing the current President Bill Festa, preside over the awarding of the Willard Rouse Award to Govenor Ed Rendell (who received the Mayor of the Century Award at the Association's 90th Birthday- Do you see a pattern here?) Also in attendance was former City Controller johnathan Saidel, and the Current Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter.

The Philadelphia Real Estate Association was one of the founding members of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, Which became the National Association of Real Estate Boards, and in 1970, The National Association of REALTORS.

Amazing the strides the Association has made during those years. during the 35 years I have been a member, we have had our first woman President, our First African American President, defended the Consumers of Philadelphia and the Real Estate Professionals.

Happy Birthday to All of us, and may the next 100 years see as many changes as the last!

Philadelphia Real Estate Firsts!

Did you know that the first mortgage in the U.S. was issued to Comly Rich to build a property at 4726 Orchard Street in Frankford (now a section of Northeast Philadelphia) which is pictured at left. The loan was issued by the first savings and loan in the United States, the Oxford Provident Building Society, founded 1831. Though the loan was never paid off (making this possibly the earliest foreclosure in the US), the property was entered in the Historical Register in 1960.