from Germany

Kurt and Maria Scheel
owners, Kurt's Cleaning and Tailoring
2016 W. Roscoe, Chicago, IL

Country of origin: Germany
City of origin: Stuttgart
Year immigrated to U.S.: 1963
Age at time of immigration: Kurt, 27; Maria, 24 (plus daughter, Maritza, 4)
Reason for immigration: "I don't know. Some adventure."
Any family in U.S.: yes, Maria's father and Kurt's brother
Lived in any other country: no
U.S. citizen: no
Owned business in country of origin: no
Year started business: 1967
Capital to start busines: family loan

Excerpts from interview

about their first day in America
Maria: We came to the United States on a big ship for six days. But I was so seasick and I wanted to stay up to see the Statue of Liberty in the fog. And I was so sick. Then we came and I saw all the skyscrapers and the dirty grey ones. I said, "This is New York?!"

Maria: But you know the nicest thing. There was an old lady when we were sitting waiting for the train. A very little old lady. And she heard that we talked German. She went up. She bought a little doll. I'll never forget this...for Maritza. "Welcome to America," she said. I thought, "Oh, my god!"
Kurt: Oh, yeah. It was unbelievable. I mean, people they came and "May we help you?" I still remember there were one man in his thirties, I guess, and he spoke a little German. He was German-descent, but nobody speaks German in his house. But he seemed to remember a little bit.

Maria: How did you wind up in New York with your beer?...
Kurt: No, it was in Pennsylvania somewhere. We were riding the train for a long time.
Maria (giggling): He wants to drink beer. So he went to machine.
Kurt: No, the guy sold it. Root beer! I never spit a beer out as fast as that one! You know, they were walking around with those wagons they have. I thought "Gosh, I'm thirsty." Slurp. Then out it went. Then when we get to Chicago, I say "What the heck is root beer?! Who makes that beer?! This is not beer!"

about language
Kurt: I spoke a little English when I was ten years old right after the war because the army was stationed right next to our house. There was no school or nothing. So I spend my time there. Got something to eat. But I could speak a little. The language is not that hard to understand. ...I was a kid. Ten years old. Blond. Cute. Yeah, I was all white. They like me.

about reasons for owning a business
Maria: Then we went on vacation to Spooner, to Wisconsin. The lady said that in the newspaper there was a store for sale. That when we bought it. We had this insurance guy who said "Kurt, as a tailor you could make nice business. Why you not going on your own?" And his son is still coming to us. He gave us the idea.
Kurt: We borrowed $1,000 from her father, that's all. Because the store was here. It was a tailor store forever. Everything was here. Started working…'til now.

about challenges for starting a business
Kurt: When you've got your own business, the work is promised. For twenty-five years, I had a seamstress, full-time. I promised, especially prom times. I took all those prom dresses. She didn't show up. I walked out a few times at twelve o'clock at night…Sundays. No way. Always under pressure. I was never sitting down for half-an-hour to wait for customers. Never. Not once.

Kurt: Business-wise, I cannot complain. No matter what the neighborhood was. I didn't get too many Mexican customers. I mean, I still got some, they come in with their stuff. They pick up and pay. I never have any problem. I got more problems with some of those yuppies. Cuz they don't have money. They don't have money. If somebody comes to me. I mean, they want to live in this neighborhood and pay the high rent. There's nothing cheap in this neighborhood any more. I mean, it used to be a very cheap neighborhood. Now, they don't even have a dollar in their pocket.

Kurt: There was a business here before. I mean, I could not compare anything because I never had a business before. When I go through my books once in a while, I think "Oh, s**t. Is that all the money you made when you started out?" [laughs] I think, "Why the heck did I go into it?" Hey, I made a good living so. I didn't get rich by it. I made a good living. That's about all I can ask for, I guess.