GEORGETOWN, S.C. —  A former Front Street businessman and one of the a lay leaders of Temple Beth Elohim in Georgetown died Tuesday at the age of 94.

Alwyn Goldstein, owner of Alwyn’s, which was a Front Street fixture from 1938-1989, moved out of town a few years ago to live closer to his family.

But, for decades he was a huge part of Georgetown.

In a Georgetown Times article written in 2007, Goldstein recalled when he and his first wife, Thelma (who died in 1968), opened the business.

Without hesitation he told the reporter it was on Friday, March 18, 1938. When asked about his remarkable memory for details, he downplayed his ability and said, “Well, I would have to remember that one!”

Goldstein was known for many things, one of them being his talent for recalling things on the spot. Throughout his life his friends referred to him as a walking, talking library of information — a living archive.

Before moving away, Goldstein was an almost daily visitor to the office of the Georgetown Times where he would use the photocopy machine to make copies of various articles and photos from an assortment of publications which he would file way at his store at 914 Front St.

When asked in 2007 how he began collecting things, he said when he was young, growing up in Charleston, he worked briefly for the Charleston Evening Post, delivering papers. He was still in school, and preferred to work in his father’s store in his free time.

The news event that first caught his attention and seemed worthy of clipping from newspaper headlines was the death of King George V (in January 1936) during World War II.

Goldstein decided he’d better cut out the headline — only the headline, not the full article — so that people would know about that in the future. He would help preserve history. Goldstein said that he was “too silly to realize that every paper had their own archives” which contained copies of all of the issues of the papers.

But a habit had begun which continued throughout his life.

Family business

Goldstein’s daughter, Roslyn

See GOLDSTEIN, Page 2A

“Roz” Greenspon, told the Times about her father’s decision to open the store.

“He was going to be a dentist,” she says.

But, after studying for several years, he realized that his eyesight was too poor to pursue that career.

Instead, his father, Max Goldstein, who ran a very successful men’s clothing store on King Street in Charleston, closed his store temporarily, and brought all the contents to his son in Georgetown.

He told Goldstein that now he could “go to work” which was when the store was started.

The store, offered moderately-priced clothes as well as “fancy dancy hats” to men, women and children.

The store was open until Hurricane Hugo ripped off the roof and soaked all the contents in 1989.

Goldstein and his second wife, the former Frances Ward, left Georgetown in June 2004 to move to Charlotte to be near his daughter.

It took close to two and a half years to sort through all the memorabilia that had been collected inside the Front Street store. A large portion was donated to the Georgetown County Museum.

Some of the collection included photos Goldstein had taken on Front Street through the years. He loved to photograph stores that were going out of business.

He said, he “knew that any time a store moved out, things would change” so he wanted to help create a record the way things were.

These pictures included the businesses that were flooded during Hugo. He gave many of these pictures to Pat Doyle, president of the Georgetown Historical Society, to be preserved.

Goldstein’s funeral will take place at 2 p.m. today at Temple Beth Elohim with burial to follow in the Hebrew Cemetery.

By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com