New Jersey Summers

Now many of you know I basically grew up in Maplewood NJ, sure I spent some time in Newark and Kearny seeing relatives and hanging out. But about 80% of my time was spent in Maplewood. Summertime in Jersey is special its when you are free from shoveling snow and waking up in 20-degree weather. But you also get the smell of the flowers and that Summer rain that makes you want to be outside to cool off if it’s a hot humid day.

My cousin Joe lived in Belleville one block away from Bloomfield ave, he would go down to Tin-a-Lings in Newark to bring us some lemon ice.

The best lemon ice I ever had, it was kind of a ritual really we would go to Tonys Hot Dogs then hop over to Ting a lings then head back to Maplewood.

My Uncle Joe lived at 280 N 11th street and My Great Grandmother, aunt Alice, and Uncle Don lived over on 255 6th ave. So I was there on occasion I still remember my great grandmother with the back kitchen door open to let in cooler air cleaning chickens on the kitchen table for dinner she was from Sicily and well that is how they did it. There was no central air just window units if the window could support one.

My Summers in Maplewood was always the best sadly on occasion we got dragged to Hollywood Florida, which was ok we got to see my grandparents but that was the only thing for me I’m a Shore Guy not a beach guy.

1975 to 1979…

I was 4 years old in 1975 and this is where my memories started, I was upset because pre-school ended but my Pre School was an actual school house from the early 1900s it was so cool and I really liked going there, and well I had certain feelings when I looked at certain girls heh heh (Yes I started that early lol) but it was a really old place with hidden little rooms and a nice size yard that resembled a mini forest that we would run around in when it was nice out when we were quiet you heard absolutely positively nothing except the brook that was nearby I was too chicken to go to it. Then I remember my mom coming in her 1974 Chevy Caprice and picking me up so she can start dinner.

In 1976 I started to remember more and more. This was the bi-centennial year for the country and that 4th of July was huge it was on the news non-stop about it since January. My sister was a girl scout and was going on the Freedom Train to Washington D.C. Everyone was wearing some kind of red white and blue combination since spring time and I was carrying my Whinnie the Pooh bear that no one and mean no one was getting without a fight. Well except for my Uncle who got into a fight in East Hanover well you never tell a guy from Newark Your Mother, however, the local police didn’t see it that way and put the bracelets on him till he cooled off.

That year my mom had to drag us inside at times because we loved it so much. You see we had a really huge backyard where we lived and the local trains would streak by times on the hill behind our apt house. We lived in a weird house it was actually three huge apartments but it looked like a house from the outside. We lived on the second floor the middle one, and yes it was haunted ( More on that in another post) So many of the kids on the block would come over and we would place Baseball, Soccer, or anything we could. Looking back and our landlord was really really lenient for the stuff we did and well what we said too lol.

But when it got dark everyone had to go home, well not before the Ice Cream man came, and yes we did have an Ice Cream man. Some nights we really got a treat and the lighting bugs would come out, those things are simply amazing when you are a kid you really do not appreciate what they are and how they function.

Now 1977 was very memorable same as 1976 but they started showing movies in the large part of memorial park on weekends and it was awesomeeeeee we would just walk find a space and just sit down sometimes I’d just sit under a tree and just eat my ice cream maybe even see a few friends from school. Then on the 4th of July the circus would come to town on one side of the park and then on the other side of the park the local school gymnasts would be doing their routines for all of us to see. Then our annual BBQ complete with the Brookdale Soda we would get from Home Liquors I just could not wait for our family friends and relatives to come over but then we had some bad news, one of our favorite kids on the block was moving away Robin she had long blonde hair and was just so cool, and yes I had a crush on her too heh heh. But remember this is wayyyyy before facebook when they left to go far away that was usually it maybe send a few letters but that was about it.

And that was only the start of I will never forget the hot day of August 16, 1977 I was in the back yard playing with my Matchbox cars and my sister yells from the window to come upstairs Elvis Presley died. I ran upstairs to my little rocking chair and just stared at Rodger Grimsby what seemed like for hours reporting the news.

1978 Meh I was in Hollywood Florida for a week or two it was my first ride and the last ride in an airplane for about 40 years I kid you not. Whenever we went to Florida we drive my mom hated flying and well so did it. The Florida trip kinda disrupted the next few weeks for me, we missed our regular 4th of July, trust me it just does not feel the same in Florida. But the one I’ll never forget is the boxes of jellybeans that fell off a truck that my uncle was selling out of the back of his car, I ate them and ate them sadly I really haven’t had any since them heh heh. But he did sell every damn box tho lol.

1979 well was my first trip down the shore and I totally loved it, the boardwalk the food, and the games it was awesome I really did not want to leave. Then that was also the first summer we went to Six Flags Great Adventure which is the shore with no beach but way better rides but also shitty food. You can not compare a Seaside Height Cheesesteak from the boardwalk to a run-of-the-mill theme park. Shore food always wins, when we first went to Asbury Park and I discovered a little treat called salt water taffy that was it I was done. But sadly on August 2 we lost a great one Thruman Munson, now my whole block with two exceptions were Yankee fans and it us all of us like a brick. Almost everyone was wearing his Jersey till it got cold out and when it did you wore it over your hooded sweatshirt.

1980 to 1991…

In 1980 I was 9 years old and I was starting to pick up on things and really understand why summers were so awesome. You see Maplewood/South Orange are small towns, you see someone you know every 4 to 5 min. Or you see someone that knows your mother, father, aunt, uncle, sister, or brother. I lived in a time when the town shut down by 8 pm only the local pizzerias, Movies, Ice cream places were open till 11 maybe. Gas stations were closed by 8 pm and closed Sundays as well.

On a nice night with all the windows open the only things you heard was the brook from in front of the house. The local muscle cars and the wildlife like the cicadas, frogs, or whatever.

Our traffic lights would even blink on yellow at 12 midnight that is how you knew it was really late it was either that or when you saw the T.V.Station sign-off with the national anthem you knew it was bedtime.

But the truly special nights were sitting on the back porch by yourself or a family member or simply with your best friends. By 1985 For me, Jason, and eric it was sleepovers at Jason’s house making chocolate milk and grilled cheese sandwiches sneaking out roaming Maplewood at 2 am going to sleep at 5 am waking up at 11 am then spend the whole day riding either our BMX bikes or Skateboards till the sun went down on either Saturday or Sunday night. This would continue till 1987 or so by then Eric was staying at his mom’s more, me and Jason got jobs at the local gas station and pizzeria.

The summer of 1988 was just plain awesome, our older friends got driver’s licenses and if we were not with them then we literally lived on our bikes and skateboards we went EVERYWHERE from town to town, and gone for hours. on rainy days we were inside playing my Intellivision or watching some kind of B movie on the VCR.

By 1989 our Senior Graduation was literally the last we really saw each other I was hanging out in Union Center then spent a few weeks in South Florida came home started working two jobs saw Eric on occasion when he was in Maplewood, and Jay stayed with us for a while. I was working part-time at the AirPort at night and then going to my Dads in Kearny so I can work at the local Napa during the day.

From 1990 to 1991 those two summers were the last hurrah for me, it was Maplewood Center or the Train Station Saturday and Sunday night with a group of the best people anyone could ever ask for. From 8pm till 4 to 5 in the morning loud music or just hanging out, sometimes we had alcohol sometimes not no matter when there are like 20 of you on a nice warm summer night in Jersey even the local Police would check on us tell us to keep it down and move along.

But by the end of the Summer of 1991 I started hanging out with someone I forgot how I even met them we just clicked and then it was weekends at Seaside, making friends from Goshen NY. I was growing and growing out back then I never thought of it, Manny would Beep me (Yes I said Beep as in Beeper) grab a shower, and off we were.

In a way, it was the start of leaving Maplewood behind, I was in Newark and Kearny more anyway I just slept in Maplewood that was it.

By 1994 I was gone moving to South Florida, I got a job transfer and never looked back. It wasn’t till years later I realized what I left. Life is a journey my life was exactly what it was supposed to be.

But man those Jersey summers were the best..

Cawfee Jersey Style Jerz Wear