Kearny Roots My Hometowns pt 3

Kearny Roots My Hometowns pt 3

If I wasn’t in Maplewood or Newark then I was in Kearny where my dad stayed and my Aunt and Cousins were there as well. My Aunt moved there sometime in the late 60s I believe when she got married my grandmother lived there as well this was my Irish side my dad’s side actually. They lived on the corner of Wilson and Devon st on the 3rd floor.

They moved on the other side to Wilson and Devon to a two family house sometime in the very early 80s they had the first floor. My dad first worked for Conrail then he got a job as a teamster delivering lumber for Morbach Kaslander. He would sometimes come to Maplewood for lunch when I was a kid and let me sit in his truck and blow the air horn.

I miss my dad he wasn’t perfect but he was a good man, and he loved me and that’s all I needed.

Now Kearny is also Soccer Town USA and with good reason, my older cousin played soccer for Queen of Peace then Montclair State College. I’ll never tell him how proud of him I am but he was a stud and should have been picked for the world cup in 1990 not friggin Tony Meola I’ll tell you that but there is politics in everything right?

Kearny is a mixture of a city and a town, Kearny ave is very city-like while you have some nice friggin houses and some big houses too that are mansion-like in fact yea there are some million-dollar homes. But then you have South Kearny which is warehouses and industrial-like. Skyler ave between the Belleville pike and Harrison ave is kinda city like. An make no mistake Kearny is one place where you better know how to use your hands if not you will learn really quick.

Kearny at one time was mostly Italian, Irish, and Scottish and man did you know it. In the 50s-60s and 70s if you tried to cross the Clay St bridge from Newark you were kindly told to turn around and go home. Eventually, there was a Portuguese influx in the 80s and Kearny started being more diverse.

The Food Of Kearny…

Kearny is surrounded by awesome diners, a few ok pizza places like Pizza Land. And a few very awesome Sub Shops like Big Stashes on Kearny Ave and D&F Deli on Davis Ave. You do have a local Quick Check that used to make some good food, haven’t been there in a while. Sadly Kearny is starting to get the big chains there like Applebees ( You will never catch me in there just saying) WAWA and of course Walmart but Worse comes to worse I’ll go to Shoprite and get some deli meats and some bread ( For the record they got some badass sandwich rolls)

Sadly the Stewarts Root Beer on Passiac ave has been closed for some time now. I was lucky enough to eat there before is closed up for good. And there is a Teixeira’s Bakery on Kearny ave that is just fantastic.

For breakfast there is no other place for me other than The Bagel House on the Belleville pike the coffee has its days but the food is always fantastic.

Now keep in mind these are just my opinions, many out there may read this and have some different views and that is fine no worries.

Kearny in a Nutshell

Is it a perfect Norman Rockwell town? Nope trust me it has its issues maybe more issues than any other place. Parts of Kearny border Newark and Jersey City. And Kearny is not for the thin skinned but its also a place where everyone just about knows everyone. With all the bars on Kearny Ave and on certain surrounding streets you are bound to run into someone you know. Or everyone who wasn’t there knows you were there because someone saw you and told everyone you were there.

If you go to the local Shoprite on Passiac ave you are definitely running into someone you know. Again it’s a town/city it’s big but not too big if that makes any sense. A lot of episodes of The Sopranos were shot there, Satriales was on Kearny ave but sadly it was torn down after the series ended its now a parking lot.

I love Kearny its has the perfect mixture for me, and I learned a lot living there. My very fist job out in the world was the old J&L Auto Parts on Bellegrove drive. Sure my first job was pumping gas but that was in Maplewood across the street where I lived and everyone knew me.

J&L was right outta high school I knew no one and really had no real-life experience yet. A few months later in November of ’89, I would start a second job at Newark airport for FedEx and work both till I had to give up one. Somedays I’d sleep in Maplewood and other days at my Aunts it was starting to be too much for an 18-19-year-old. But Jim was an awesome boss and became a great friend even after I left J&L.

I loved living in Kearny for the two years I was fully there, staying at my cousins crusin the ave on weekends from 89 to 91 working for Jim. I learned a lot over the years and I am very grateful for it.