Moskovitz Second Hand Shop

You are standing in front of the Swingin’ Doors Saloon, which was once the Moskovitz Second Hand Shop. Rather than a reputation for good business, the Moskovitz family gained notoriety in Nashville’s Black Bottom neighborhood for adultery, insanity, and most significantly, murder. This particular neighborhood was inhabited by Nashville’s poor and working-class residents from the 1830s to the 1850s. There were nearly as many dive bars and pool halls as houses and businesses. As a result, there were frequent raids and arrests in Black Bottom. As a side note, the Black Bottom name was derived from its proximity to the Cumberland River. It was the area most commonly flooded, which brought mud, muck, and mold. Thus, the area was not a desirable place to live. 

Settling in Black Bottom at the end of the Civil War, the Moskovitz family struggled to get by as did many immigrant families. After a move to St. Louis, they returned to Nashville in the 1870s. Esther and Morris Moskovitz each had two children before marrying, and thus maintained a blended family. Esther’s son, Clyde, was an eccentric child and later adult, while Barney, her oldest son, was more level-headed. As a young man, Barney fell in love with his step-sister, Morris’s daughter Rosa, and devised a plan to kill her husband so the lovers could be together. Barney employed two men from Black Bottom to carry out the murder. However, Barney was less than careful in soliciting hit men. Barney was arrested and convicted of accessory to first degree murder. The murder and the subsequent trial was a spectacle for Nashville as crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of the courtroom action. Violence and crime were hardly unheard of in Black Bottom, but this case garnered additional attention because the scandal involved “siblings” and because the Moskovitz family was Jewish. 

Turn LEFT out of the Swingin’ Door Saloon, walk back across Broadway, and continue up Fourth Avenue North for two blocks, crossing Broadway and Commerce Street as you go. You will pass the Metropolitan Historical Commission marker for the “Grey-eyed Man of Destiny” in front of Nashville Downtown Partnership, at the corner of Commerce Street and Fourth Avenue North. Shortly after, you can stop at Church Street. This brings you to your next stop, the former red light district of Smokey Row.