Category: Odessa Courtyard

An Album of Memories 🍇 Chapter 4 Aron Botvinnik, the Tailor You can read Part 4 here… Part 5 JFK Airport. After completing all the immigration formalities, Aron slowly walked out into the arrivals hall. It was noisy all around him. People were embracing relatives, some were already hurrying toward the taxis, while others searched… →

“An Album of Memories” 🍇 Chapter 4 Aron Botvinnik, the Tailor Part 4 You can read Part 3 here… 🧳 A Journey Across Several Borders Aron did not make the decision to leave the Soviet Union in a single evening. It took shape over the course of years—from hundreds of small incidents, doubts, hopes, and… →

“An Album of Memories” 🍇 Chapter 4 Aron Botvinnik, the Tailor You can watch Part 2 here… Part 3 The war did not spare the Botvinnik family, bringing with it loss, hardship, and grief. But eventually the war ended, and the family began putting its life back together. Ahead lay decades of rebuilding, work, raising… →

“An Album of Memories” 🍇 Chapter 4 Aron Botvinnik, the Tailor In Part 1, the Botvinnik family made their way to Odessa, began building a new life there, and managed to preserve their family trade. Now the story moves beyond the walls of the tailor’s shop. We will look at the traditions of the Jewish… →

“An Album of Memories” You can read Chapter 3 here… 🍇 Chapter 4 Aron Botvinnik, the Tailor Part 1 Departure Aron Moiseyevich Botvinnik was thirty when, in the mid-1970s, he became the first resident of the courtyard to emigrate. The entire courtyard came out to see him off. …September 1975. Odessa, 10 Sadovaya Street. It… →

A Family Album of Memories 🍇 Chapter 3 You can read the first part of Chapter 3 here… Part 2. For many years, Spiridon Kyriakidi would walk down to the Odessa Passenger Port whenever Greek ships came in. One day, one of those ships would mark the beginning of his first journey to Greece—the country… →

A Family Album of Memories 🍇 Chapter 3 Part 1. Spiridon Kyriakidi, the Soda-Water Vendor You can read Chapter 2 here… For more than thirty years, soda-water vendor Spiridon Kyriakidi greeted the people of Odessa near the City Garden. This is the story of one man, a Greek family, a vanished profession, and an Odessa… →

Album of Memories 🍇 Chapter 2 (continued). The Grapevine—One of the Courtyard’s Oldest Residents and Its Chronicler The beginning of Chapter 2 can be read here… On the appointed day, the courtyard looked like a curious blend of a Soviet collective farm during harvest season and the set of one of those inspirational films celebrating… →

An Album of Memories 🍇 Chapter 2. The Grapevine: The Courtyard’s Oldest Resident and Chronicler You can read Chapter 1 here… Many old Odessa courtyards had their own winemaking traditions. Some were known for their apricot trees. Others for laundry fluttering between balconies. Ours was remembered for something else entirely—an old Lydia grapevine that had… →

An Album of Memories A Few Words Before You Enter the Courtyard What lay behind the arches of old Odessa houses? Discover a courtyard where neighbors knew one another by name, Lydia grapevines climbed the walls, and every last name on a mailbox told its own story. An Odessa courtyard was far more than a… →