The Retail Outlook From Centenarian Myrtle Skop Rutberg

The Retail Outlook from Centenarian Myrtle Skop Rutberg

Myrtle Skop Rutberg remembers when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving Day to allow an extra week of shopping before Christmas. She also recalls diagonal parking along Orange Avenue and people parking along the avenue just to watch the shoppers.  As assistant manager of the Lerner Shop, located next to Yowell Drew Ivey on the corner of Central and Orange, Myrtle got to know the shops and the people along the avenue pretty well. Her father’s shop, The Myrtle Shop, at Church and Division was named after her and her parent’s lovely two story home was located right downtown on Anderson Street. Born Myrtle Skop on September 17, 1911, Orlando Centenarian Myrtle Skop Rutberg, offers a fascinating glimpse into Orlando downtown life in this excerpt from an oral history interview on January 3, 2012.

ABOVE: The Lerner Shop on Orange Avenue

Shopping in the 1940s along Orange Avenue

Back in the 1940s ladies dressed in pearls and heels and folks parked diagonally along Orange Avenue to sit and watch the shoppers go by. The Lerner Shop was located next to Yowell Drew Ivey on the corner of Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando. On the other side of the shop was a Butler Shoe store, there was also a Hat Box, a Shoe Box, Rutland’s, JC Penney’s, The Myrtle Shop and more. The stores stayed open until nine in the evening and as one can see in this photo, visual merchandising was an art. Myrtle Skop Rutberg was the assistant manager of the Lerner Shop responsible for window decorating after receiving her training at the District Shop in Jacksonville. Listen to her firsthand account of Orlando history.

Oral History Interview with Myrtle Skop Rutberg

LISTEN (7:22) Retail Outlook with Myrtle Skop Rutberg

“We’re fortunate enough to celebrate both the secular and the religious Jewish holidays,” says Orlando Hebrew teacher, Myrtle Skop Rutberg. She describes the Jewish high holidays, historical holidays, and shares her family’s favorite holiday memories in this excerpt from a January 3rd, 2012 oral history interview with Orlando Centenarian Myrtle Skop Rutberg born September 17th, 1911.

LISTEN (6:11) Holidays

We were living in Daytona before my husband was drafted and we had to use a room that was blacked out because we feared the enemy could see the slightest twinkle of light… Then I remember I stood on the beach and I looked out over the ocean and I said what a beautiful scenery it is and then I would look down and I could see the oil all around my toes. And I realized that there were ships having been blown up very close to shore. It was such a rude awakening. Those were serious memories.

Orlando centenarian Myrtle Skop Rutberg shares her memories of WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, and celebrating her 100th birthday at the synagogue on September 17th 2011. Her parents moved in 1904 from their shtetl in Poland and arrived in New York City on the 4th of July with the fireworks. She says, “I treasure everything about living in the United States.” Hear Myrtle Skop Rutberg, a living source of history, in this excerpt from her oral history on January 3rd, 2012.

LISTEN (9:34) Oil on the beach.

Tribute to Myrtle Rebecca Skop Rutberg

Myrtle Rebecca Skop Rutberg passed away on August 8, 2018. Read this tribute by her son Gerald Rutberg at Heritage Florida Jewish News

Mentioned in the tribute: Arthur Usher Skop, Rabbis Morris A. Skop, Albert Louis Rutbeerg, Abraham Louis Skop, Flora Necha Pienick Skop, David Leonn Skop, Miriam Leah Skop, Leah Allison Rutberg, Dennis Mason Skop, Renee Skop, Adena Skop Konigsburg, Eli T. Skop, Shirah Penn, Dr. Neal F. Skop, Bonnie F. Skop, Joel Garson, Leslie Garson Wright.

Comment retrieved from the Original Orlando Memory web site