Jack and Serena Pinsler (nee Haimovitch) in San Francisco

Jacob (Jack, Yakov) Pinsler was born in Dukla, 8/3/1896. Dukla was in Galicia, which was an Imperial Province of the Hungary Austria Hungarian Empire from 1776 to 1919. Dukla is now in south east Poland. Poland was re-created in 1919.  

• Jack’s father is Meyer (Max, Meir) Pinsler (1874-1907).

• Max Pinsler married Rachel Zimet (1878-1954), who was born in Zmigrod, which is 3 miles from Dukla.

• Max’s father is Solomon Joseph Pinsler.

• Rachel’s father is David Zimet.

• Jack’s brother is David Pinsler, and his sister is Mollie. Jack’s half brother is Milton Begen, who is first cousin of Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

• Serena Haimovitch, was born in Bucharest, Romania, 6/13/1900.

• Serena’s father is Rueven (Rubin) Haimovitch (1868 - 1931)

• Serena’s mother is Fannie Esther Haimovitch, (1880 - 1945)
  (maiden name, and married name, are the same).

• Serena’s brother is Oscar Haimovitch (1903- 1971)

• Serena’s brother is Henry Haimovitch (1905-1966)

• Rubin’s father is Chayim Haimovitch.

• Fannie’s father is Hazikiel Haimovitch

The Haimovitch family left Bucharest, Romania,  in 1901, and went to live in Tiensen , China. Carolynn and I visited Bucharest in 2008, and we made a video of our visit.  

Jack immigrated to the U.S., arrived in San Francisco 1903, at age 6.  His family lived near 8th and Howard Streets, which burned in the Big Earthquake in 1906. After the damages, Jack with his family camped  in Golden Gate Park, when he was 9, for a short time before moving out the Road.

Serena and her family immigrated to the U.S., from Tiensen, arrived in San Francisco in 1907.  Her brothers Henry and Oscar, were born in Tiensien, China

Rubin Haimovitch was a metal worker at American Can Company.

Jack became a Naturalized citizen 8/1/1927. The certificate stated: height 5 ft. 8 in., complexion dark, eyes grey, hair black, not married.

My description is his complexion was light, his eyes were blue, he had straight black hair  neatly combed, he dressed fashionably in good taste. He appeared neat, and he was neat. His store had all stock arranged orderly, and his office had no clutter. I remember him sweeping into a dustpan, at his house, and sometimes at our house when he visited.

The Haimovitch family arrival is recorded: arrival 19 Nov, 1906, ship name American Maruj, Port of Arrival S.F., Port of departure Hong Kong, China, These are the names:

• Ribio  (Rubin, 38)

• Frima  (Fannie, 26)

• Savina (Serena, 6)

• Hoskar (Oscar, 3)

• Haim (Henry, 1)

Handprinted on the the record is Steerage, which refers to the location on the ship.

This information is from Ancestry.com, CA Passenger and Crew list 1898-1957, Archive 1412:3.

These are names in Hebrew or Yiddish, and the transliterated English spelling was often incorrect. I have added the English names and age based on their birth dates.

The Pinsler family arrival at Ellis Island is recorded.

Arrival 7/18/1903, ship Bulgaria, Port of departure Hamburg.

Name of Passenger:

• David  Pinzler (David)

• Frimet  Pinzler (Fannie)

• Jankel Pinzler (Jack)

• Malke Pinzler (Molly)

• Ruchel Pinzler (Rachel)

• All  Residency Dukla

• Relevancy 97%

The 1920 Census has this for the Haimovitch family:

• Rubin, metal worker, birth Roumania

• Fanny, retired, birth Roumania

• Serena, telephone operator, birth Roumania

• Oscar, stock clerk, birth China

• Henry, none, birth China

Serena’s occupation was switchboard operator.  The operator manually connected a cable with a plug into a jack on the vertical switchboard to connect a phone call. Long distance calls needed two distant operators.  Wikileaks stated “switchboard operators are typically required to have very strong communication skills”.

Carolynn and I reviewed the City Directories, which are located at the Main Library Civic Square, and the Sutro library near Stonestown. These are some of the entries.

• 1907: Pinzsler, Rachel, a widow, 3 Berlin  (note spelling Pinzler)

• 1910: Hamovitch, Reuben, metal worker, 1506 Delores

• 1910: Pinsler, Rae, confectionary, 2466 San Bruno Ave.

• 1911: Haimovitch, Rueben,1506 Delores

• 1923:Cigars &Tobacco: Louis Zimet 200 3rd St.,  Pinsler Market St.

• 1923: Haimovitch, Rueben, 2306 San Bruno Ave.

• 1923 Pinsler, David clk, Jack Cigars, 1698 Market (David clerk, Jack owner since 1916)

• 1923 Pinsler, Mrs. Rae, 689 16th Ave.

• 1930 Haimovitch, Rueben (Fannie), steelworker, h. 2027 Cabrillo

• 1930 Pinsler, Jack (Serena) 547 22nd Ave.

• 1930 Pinsler, Rae, h.689 16th Ave.

The San Bruno Ave. District was called “ the Road”. The resident were mostly Eastern European immigrants. There was a Settlement House, and two shuls. Peggy Isaak wrote a op-ed about it in the Jewish Bulletin paper, 11/19/1976. She concluded  “ But ‘Out The Road’ remains as a fond memory to all the people who lived there, a once close-knit, but small Jewish community now long gone.” Roberta said “people from that period are gone, but the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren live in the Bay Area and other locations,  proudly holding the memories”.

Jack’s father died at age 33, when Jack was 11. Jack went to work early to support his family.  Early he had a job rolling cigars, which was hard tedious work.  Jack owned his cigar store at 1698 Market St. since 1916.

His cousin Lou Zimet had a cigar store at 200 3rd St..  Later Jack’s cousin, Jules Zimet had a toy store in the “Fillmore”, which was a  long and narrow store lined with toys and games. Fillmore St. had high arches across the street at each corner.  This was the Jewish neighborhood, which  included Filmore and McAllister Streets.

Jack and Serena were married 3/25/1928, at the City Club in San Francisco, with Rabbi Elliot Berstein from Beth Israel officiating. They had first met at Chevra Thilim Synagogue.  

Beth Israel was on Geary St. near Fillmore St, built in 1908. Its origin was 1860 as Orthodox, and later became Conservative. It had a very attractive unique exterior design.

It had a large lobby on the first floor, the sanctuary was on the second floor, with a balcony on three sides. The bima was at the front. The design of the Sanctuary was traditional and attractive. The neighborhood deteriorated, and they moved to affiliate with Temple Judea which was Reform. Later the building in Geary burned, and was demolished. Since then the neighborhood has become gentrified.

Oscar Haimovitch married Gwen Veprin, their daughter is Florine. Oscar was a salesman of appliances at Sears Robuck, later Sears. Oscar taught Carolynn and her sisters how to tell time.

Henry Haimovitch married Jewel Sender, their daughter is Betsy. Henry worked at American Express. Later his last venture was he owned an auto repair shop on Geary St. near 6th Ave. One time he drove our big Buick to and from SF to his home on the Peninsula, to find out what it needed, which was a new transmission, which he replaced.

Henry had a car with a rumble seat in back, and Carolynn remembered sitting in it which was fun. Jack and Serena had a car with a running board, and we have a picture of Carolynn and Miriam sitting on the running board when the car was parked.

Jack and Serena gave weddings for their four girls at the Fairmont Hotel, in this order.

Miriam married Robert Suslow, Carolynn married Norman Licht, Roberta married Leonard Cohn, Lorraine married Leonard Marshall. Jack knew the owner of the Fairmont, Ben Swig before the weddings, and after four weddings he knew Ben and his staff much more.

Then Jack and Serena had 4 son-in-laws, who had different personalities, and different professions. They loved them all, and treated all of them equally well.

The children bought homes in the Bay Area. Suslows in S.F., Lichts in San Mateo and later San Carlos, Cohns and Marshalls in Moraga. Jack and Sarena covered a lot of ground visiting them.

When Television first was available, in 1950 Jack and Serena owned a small black and white screen console set in their home, which was a big treat for the family and friends. At that time, people stood on the sidewalk watching a picture on a TV set through a store window.  

Jack and Serena would visit us on the Peninsula, first at Fiesta Gardens, and then in San Carlos. They would often bring a large delicious Danish pastry from Wirth’s Bakery on Geary in S.F. Since then I have always liked Danish pastry.

In time Jack and Serena had 14 grandchildren. At family occasions and holidays,

All the grandchildren would line up according to age, and Jack would give each one a dollar bill. They loved their grandchildren. By 2020 many of the grandchildren have their children, many are married, and there are two great-great grand children of Jack and Serena.

Jack and Serena bought a home at 619 -32nd Ave., in 1935. Oliver Rousseau was the builder, who became very well know for the unusual and beautiful architecture for the city homes. Serena loved the construction process, and went to the site every day during construction. Some streets with Rousseau built homes later were  on lists of things for tourists  to see.  

Jack and Serena  had ordered a non sunken living room, which was the standard for the builder.  When it was mistakenly built with a sunken floor, they had the builder do it over as ordered.  

Their last home is in the Richmond District, which previously had been sand dunes, and later had a relatively large population of residents who were Jewish. The home is located  across the street from the west side of Washington High School. They selected that location, so their daughters would be close to school.

There was a Japanese family that owned the home behind Jack and Serena;s home, which had a beautiful garden. Jack and the owner knew each other, because the two gardens were back to back. One time during World War II that family was suddenly  gone, and later found they had been deported to a detention camp out of state. They were gone, and soon thereafter their beautiful garden was gone.

Serena’s mother lived with them at 32nd Ave., during the last years of her life. She lived on Cabrillo St. with Reuben in prior years. Carolynn remembered going with her to the Filmore and McAllister Streets, to the kosher butcher, where the chickens were live in cages, and running around on the ground, and you picked out the one you wanted. Carolynn has many fond memories of her grandmother. For instance she made a wonderful apple strudel without a written recipe, and no one has been able to replicate since then.

The Richmond District of 32nd Ave has a lot of fog, fog horns were heard there often.

In the summer Jack and Serena rented a small house in Los Gatos, which was a very small town. The purpose was to have a vacation in the sunshine. They had outings to pick fruit from the trees in the plentiful orchards there. The owner offered to sell the house for $3,000., and when they refused because the children didn’t like being there, the owner said he would include the piano.

Jack and Serena made some investments. They bought dividend paying stock in some companies, which they held all their lives. They also bought commercial property.

Jack worked for his cousin Julius (Jules) Zimet, from 1912 when he was 16, until 1916 when he bought the cigar store, to become the owner and oversee the growth. The store at 1698 Market St., was in a busy location named The Hub.

Prohibition was 1920 to 1933, when sale of liquor was banned.  The Depression was 1929 to 1939 when the US entered World War II.

Jack remodeled the store in 1938 , then enlarged the store and remodeled more in 1948. He increased his merchandise. Against one wall was neatly displayed cigars and liquor. In front of the wall on the opposite side were displayed magazines, books, and newspapers. Also offered was soft drinks, cigarettes, and smoking tobacco.

There was a newspaper article in 1948 after the remodeling, that gave the history with pictures. It began by Jack Pinsler “has rolled up a record which shows what a man can do who refuses to be tempted by the lure of other locations, sticks to the one he has, and changes his methods to meet the changing times”.  “The finished job embodies the ideas of shop design and arrangement, display and merchandising facilities which Mr. Pinsler has been accumulating in his thirty-six years in the location.”

Jack liked his businesss. He served on the Board of the Retail Tobacco Association, and was it’s Chairman from 1949 to 1951. While he was president Carolynn and I, and the other family members, attended a banquet, where Jack gave the main speech, and he did it well. There was a large attendance at the event.

Jack retired in 1957, sold his business after 40 years. The Association awarded him an honorary membership.

Robbie Cohn (nee Pinsler) wrote:

“Jack and Serena practiced and loved their Jewish traditions being lifelong supporters of the Jewish community and the State of Israel. My parents invested in Israel bonds when the organization was formed in 1951, including  purchasing bonds for each of the grandchildren’s Bar Mitzvahs and Chanukah gifts for their children. They contributed to many organizations and participated in meetings with community  members to raise funds for the Jewish Community Federation (UJA). We always had a Blue Box which was symbolic of giving to others”.

“Jack joined the Masonic Order Doric Lodge in 1920, then became a member of the  Scottish  Rite and on to the highest order of the Shrine. Serena became a member of the Lebanon chapter for women in the 12930’s. Jack was particularly proud of the important role the Shriners Hospital played and continues to care for children  with special needs. Part of the necessary funds were raised by ticket sales to the annual East West football games and the Shrine circus – two favorite events in the Bay Area.”  He wore a Shrine ring and a lapel emblem.

Jack died in 1972, and Serena died in 1975. They are buried in the Mausoleum at Salem Cemetery in Colma.

Robbie concluded

“My parents always gave thanks for all they had done through the years and their accomplishments, with pride beginning with their family”.

Our grandson Daniel Jacob Licht was born April 27, 1994.  Daniel’s Hebrew name is Jakov Meir ben Reuven Eliezer. The first name Jakov is after his great grandfather Jack Pinsler, and the middle name Meir after his great grandfather Mayer Licht. (Reuven Eliezer is his father Ron’s Hebrew name.)