Cosmo Connections, November 98: Reminiscences of the Life and Times at 605 E. Daniel St.

Life and times at 605 East Daniel Street. First of all, it was all guys. Different today, I gather. But it was quite a varied bunch from Asia, Central and South America, Europe and us U.S. types. The main focus of activity was, naturally, at the dinner table. I'll never forget watching the guys from Afghanistan covering their food with a not-so-thin layer of black pepper. No less popular, was the ping pong table on the front porch. The Quiros brothers (from Panama) and Luis Chong (from Peru) were the stars. And most of the guys were stars in the informal soccer games they played but maybe that wasn't a big deal against the local competition.

And then there were the famous upstairs sleeping quarters. I do mean upstairs. Actually, the attic space was used as a sleeping dorm. This was not bad during Spring or Fall. But those freezing winters (has Global Warming changed that?) were really something. We slept under a pile of old army blankets. And who would dare get out from under for an 8 a.m. lab class?

Good old Levante DeWarga kept the furnace going at least for the rest of the house. His experience from a cold Budapest may have helped. And I remember Hjalti Einarsson (from Iceland he didn't mind the cold!) who was a math wizard did his homework in INK! And Mokham Sing Sandhu who would demonstrate how he donned his turban each day real life-of-the-party, Mokham. And Sol Sassoon and Jack Hayya, both from Baghdad, great guys. Actually, they all were.

As for fitting in with the greater student body no problem. The bunch of us joined the throngs to the stadium for all the big football games. We even drove all the way up to Ann Arbor to see the games under a heavy snow storm. Didn't see much, especially with the constant tipping of the whiskey flask.

I did manage to reconnect with a couple of the guys after 1951. Dave Eisen and I wound up in Korea during the war and did manage to meet there. I saw him and Dave Dubin in Chicago a couple of years ago on a short nostalgia trip. As for my life and times, I guess my collected experiences (Cosmo, Korea, etc.) influenced my decision to settle here in Israel after some back and forth moves to the States. I've been working away as a town planner mostly on and in Jerusalem.

So, perhaps Dvorah (my Sabra wife) and I will pay a long- delayed visit to Champaign next year and have a chance to feel the Cosmo warmth once more. It was a great experience back then and while I can't recapture it, it could be fun to take another look after these "few" years have gone by. All the best to all the Cosmos--girls as well as guys.

Cosmopolitan Club Photo, ca. 1950 (all L to R)

Front row: Calvin Lau, Honolulu; Levante DeWarga, Budapest; Sol Sassoon, Baghdad; Dave LePage, Chicago; Joe Savitzky, New York; Herb Ciralsky, Chicago; Ernesto Perez y Casas, Mexico; Hjalti Einarsson, Iceland
Second row: Soli Ghandi, Allahabad, India; Virgil Mathews, Chicago; Mokham Sing Sandhu, New Delhi; Jack Hayya, Baghdad; David Amado, Panama City; Stanley Rodin, London; Dave Eisen, Chicago; Naja El Sadi
Third row: Rudy Geisler; Ray Fujinaga, Oregon; Luis Chong, Peru; Jorge Quiros, Panama City; Gordon Steward, Hyderabad; Felix Quiros, Panama City; Mitsuru Yamamoto, Idaho
Fourth row: John Friedland, East Dubuque; Hy Goldman, Montreal; Don Logue, Rantoul; Tom Logue, Rantoul; Roland Scott, Detroit; Ed Hernandez; Sabah Kachachi

Cosmo Connections, November 1998

Reminiscences of the Life and Times at 605 E. Daniel St.

by Joe Savitzky, Class of '51