I got the PG in circle chip in 2000. No club name. It just sat in my collection for 11 years.

Here we go again, back to Printers Alley in Nashville, TN. Maybe it is “Back To The Past, In Printers Alley.”

If you read “Illegal Of The Day Tennessee” posted on 8/16/10 you are familiar with 210 Printers Alley, Rainbow Room, Black Poodle, VooDoo Room, and the Uptown Dinner Club. If you need a refresher course on 210 Printers Alley, click here for “Illegal Of The Day Tennessee.”

http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/illegaloftheday/RainbowRoomTN.pdf

Quote from “Illegal Of The Day Tennessee.”

“Barnes was associated with what was described in 1965 as a "large illegal gambling enterprise" in Printers Alley which had been in operation since the early 1950's and included the likes of "Mickey" Cohen who was part of the second generation of gangsters that came after the likes of Al Capone and the old Mustache Petes. Mickey Cohen was Ben “Bugsy” Siegel’s darker half. While Bugsy dined with Hollywood’s royalty and bedded the stars, Mickey emptied their safes and broke their bones.”

Ok, we have pretty good history on the 210 address in the 1950’s-60’s. What happened prior to 1950 is the past we have now found.

Picture below--then and now.

PG in circle

Paul Solomon Goldberg was born 1887 in Tennessee to Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Throughout the 30’s and 40’s Goldberg is listed as a “broker”, although I don’t find any place of employment for him.

My note: What was he brokering? Read on.

I’m sure you recall that 210 Printers Alley was the delivery address for the chips which were ordered by James F. Barnes in the 50’s and 60’s as well as the location of the Black Poodle and Rainbow Room.

When Goldberg ordered the chips in 1939 the only thing listed at that address is the business of a painter named John H. Gray (only thing listed there from 1937-1941). Next door at 212 Printers Alley there was a tavern up to 1939 and then a place called Mickey’s Oyster Bar which remained there for several years. In the mid-late 40’s amusement and vending machine companies were listed at 210 (slot machines???).

210 Printers Alley was a 2 story building. May have been something going on upstairs when Goldberg ordered the chips, but I don’t know for sure. Goldberg had one child: Paul, Jr. who died at Nashville in 1992 age 72 (he changed his name to Gold; was in the jewelry business). Paul’s wife Shirley appears to still be living at age 86 and resides at a retirement center at Boynton Beach, FL (she and Paul, Jr. were married a few years after Paul, Sr. ordered the chips, so she might know what her father-in-law was doing with the chips).

My note: Do we put the name Mickey’s Oyster Bar to the chips? It is a possibility but too vague for me to attribute. What was on the 2nd floor of 210 in 1939 is the question we needed to answer.

There were 4 living relatives of Paul Goldberg in the research with phone numbers now living in CA, OR, and FL. I tried to call all of them. Got one hit, Paul JR’s son - Paul SR’s grandson Bruce Gold. I sent him the research. He was quite aware of Printers Alley.

Bruce,
Here is what I found. Actually the info is rather light for this type of chip info search. Usually find newspaper articles, etc. The phone numbers come up in web internet database searches. I always delete the phone numbers before I share the info with others.
Gene

I played telephone tag with Bruce for 3 months. Finally last week our schedules meshed.

Info from Bruce Gold:

The last name was originally Goldberger.
Great grandfather changed it to Goldberg.
It was later changed to just Gold. The 4 living relatives are all Gold’s.

Paul Goldberg was actually the money man behind the Printers Alley operations going all the way back to the 1930’s. He had very little in his own name. He avoided his name on anything for the obvious reasons. His name does not appear in any indictments or newspaper articles that could be found. He did a good job of it being his name was not brought up in the Kefauver hearings in 1951. Paul Goldberg brought the race wire to the Printers Alley operations. We have seen other money men that managed to fly under the radar in the “Illegal Of The Day” series.

Paul backed a lot of small crap and blackjack joints that did not have names in the early years. Word of mouth brought the players.

Paul Goldberg died in 1992. My guess is he was still the money man behind all the 210 Printers Alley operations in the 1950’s-60’s.

There was always a money man behind the Illegals. Some more out in the open, some remained behind the scenes. I would suggest Paul Goldberg was the Sammy Schrader of Nashville, Tennessee. If you are a collector of Northern KY Illegals and don’t know who Sammy Schrader was you are not a collector of history.

My big Thank you to Bruce Gold and our “Friend Of The Hobby.”

The “Thirst” for history of our chips continues!

Happy Holidays to all chippers. I sincerely hope all of your want lists are fulfilled in 2012.