Who Is Jersey from Jer-Z Wear?

Who is Jersey from Jer Z Wear?

I am Stephen Steenback Born October 30 1971 at St Barnabas Hospital in Livingston NJ. Raised in Maplewood by way of Newark (Nork) and Kearny. My Sicilian/Irish family hails from the North Ward of Newark 4th ave and Roseville ave. My Sicilian uncles one lived on 6th street and the other lived at 280 N 11th street. My Irish side ( My Dads side) lived on the corner of Wilson and Devon st in Kearny. My Dad would later live there after my parents fully separated in 1985.

I was a happy kid Maplewood was one of those Norman Rockwell towns kinda small and everyone knew everyone. And if you didn’t know someone you most likely knew someone who did. Even my pre-pre-school was in an old school house built in the 1800s. those were my earliest memories of 1976 I remember the old wood and the dirty windows but to me it was soooo cool.

Maplewood was incorporated in 1861 so there was a lot of history there when I was growing up hell the house I grew up in was so old some records say it was built in the 1900s and some say late 1800s. All I know is that it was the weirdest apt building I ever lived in and the most haunted yes I said Haunted.

If I wasn’t in Maplewood then I was with my uncle taking me to my other uncles in Newark getting some of the fine Italian Double Dog/ Sausage and Peppers or Dirty water dog dining. Or I was in Kearny with my dad and other cousins. I had a very awesome childhood and teenage years I really did.

I am from the time when my Sicilian Mother cooked her awesome food 5 to 6 days a week and eat out once a week. Getting Burger King and Mc Donalds was considered a treat, diners really didn’t count as anything special you were in there for lunch or just a few coffees all the time. And if you are not in a diner you were in a luncheonette (It was always Ralphs’s Luncheonette for me) Kinda the same thing but they closed before dinner.

I was in Our Lady of Sorrows till 4th grade then Jefferson before starting Maplewood Middle School then eventually graduating from Columbia High School in 1989. I was your typical gear head guido, I’d like to think I got a pretty good education. Even though my ADD wasn’t diagnosed until I was friggin 26, but hey what did they know back then right?

I would never change the era and the way I grew up, my parents and uncles worked very hard and gave me the work ethic and morals I have today. My neighborhood memories are amazing, from feeding the deer in the late 70s in the South Mountain Reservation. To the Memorial Day and 4th of July Parades going down Valley St. To the summer movies in the second part of Memorial Park.

To getting 3 or 4 of your best friends and just disappearing for a while on your BMX Bike or Skateboard till the sun went down on hot and humid summer nights. You see after 6 PM Maplewood and South Orange closed. Sure some gas stations were open, and the pizzerias and some sub shops were open till 11 PM if you really needed something to eat you had the 24 hr diners.

Fast forward to 2015 after a 25-year semi-kickboxing and boxing career, 21 years with FedEx Express I started in 1989 til 2011. I started building The JRX Foundation.. I decided two things I need to fund it somehow and I have not found one shirt I liked to show my Jersey Pride.

So I came out with Jer Z Wear and have not looked back.

Yes, all funds generated go to fund my NonProfit.

Whew well, that’s it for now stay tuned for more about my life and more designs from Jer Z Wear, I gotta give you guys some stories to look forward to heh heh…

Maplewood NJ Shirts

I have spent my childhood in many cities in North Jersey, but Maplewood is where I spent 90% of my time. One of the last Norman Rockwell kind of towns. You knew everyone and they knew you, of you k…

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