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.

By now many of you know I mostly grew up in Maplewood Nj, but when I wasn’t in Maplewood I was in Newark and Kearny. Today we talk about Newark…

First and foremost as much as I love the Sopranos, they really didn’t capture the essence of early Newark. Not to mention if you were Italian/Sicilian you were more than likely from The North Ward closer to Park ave or Bloomfield ave and poultry shops like the one he sold to Jamba Juice were longgggg gone by the late 80s. Now when Tony took AJ to go see the old neighborhood and he saw his first crack hoe that was accurate.

My grandparents came from Sicily and Ireland from the late 1800s to early 1900s. And if you were looking for work Newark Nj was the place to go a fast-growing city with plenty of jobs available but not as easy to get as you think. You would see help wanted Irish, Italian, Polish, German, etc… need not apply now in the 60s and 70s it may not have said it in the ad but when you got there and you were the same ethnicity as the boss or hiring manager yea you were getting that job no matter what.

Now true to fashion eventually my Grand parents overcame this and lived their lives made homes and a living. My Irish Grandfather eventually working for PSE&G and my Sicilian Grandfather Working for RCA. And their kids met my parents my Dad the Irishman and my mom the Sicilian and eventually my sister came along in 1965 and me in 1971.

As far back as I can remember in the late 70s 1976 to be exact I was either at my Uncle Dons Exxon Gas Station on Park Ave or his house on 6th street. My dad worked around the corner at Kaslander Lumber on 5th street. My other uncle live at 280 N 11th street.

My Uncle Rick Worked at the Hess gas station across from my uncle Don’s on park ave. And my Uncle Mike had a used car lot on the corner of Clay st and Broadway (Now an advanced auto parts).

My Uncle Rick and Cousin Joey took me everywhere, from Tony’s Hot Dogs, Calandra’s Bakery. To Dickie Dees and Ting-a-lings lemon ice. Then there was the legend of the White Lady Tree in Branch Brook Park not to mention the awesome Cherry Blossoms as well. Since we were always in Newark either to see family members or on errands, they always took me on a tour of the old neighborhood

Every time a Frankie Valli song would come on the radio, my dad, uncle, or cousin would turn it up and say you know who this is? It’s Frankie Valli and he’s from Newark. I don’t care what Clint Eastwoods movie says or insulates Frankie Valli is from Newark that’s it. Clint Eastwood is not from Newark or even New Jersey as far as I am concerned his movie means stugots.

Nickey Newark…

Now speaking of Jersey Boys the movie, one of the very few things they got right was the mannerism’s of Tommy Divito (Played by Vincent Piazza) Many internet humps were saying “He’s acting like he’s from New York” and no you are wrong. What many people do not know many people from Newark in the 50s and 60s moved to New York.

A Nicky Newarker is a knock around guy, a guy to go to when someone is bothering you. A guy you see when you need something done. When something falls off a truck 10 times outta 10 a Nicky Newarker was there to catch it.

They were street guys in Guinea Ts ( Now called Tank Tops or Wife Beaters) gold chains and said ” Oh yea I got tree of those” ( If you said three you were not from the ave) Nicky Newarkers had their own accents, mannerism’s and way’s of doing things. Not all were connected but they knew who was and wasn’t many were regular guys with 9 to 5 jobs but again they were tough guys took no shit.

My Teenage Years…

In the early 80s almost every weekend my cousin Joey always took me to this one arcade on Bloomfield ave. Then to this one diner that has been long gone by summer ave I just can’t remember the name right now but I lived for those weekends.

But in 1984 I had to spend a year in South Florida and I hated it with a passion. It wasn’t all bad but for the most part, it wasn’t home it was soooo awkward for me for a 13/14-year-old. So when 1985 hit I could not wait to get home, one whole year without a dirty water dog from Tony’s or an Italian Hot Dog or Sausage and Peppers from Dickie Dee I was losing it.

But when I got back it was different, Newark was always bad but was getting worse. You started hearing about this new drug called crack, you really didn’t hear about it until 1986 but trust me it started around 1985.

My Uncle Don Sold his gas station in 1980 and passed away in 1982, My Uncle Mike had a few issues before dying of Colon Cancer in late ’85. I was still going to my Uncle Joe’s on 11th street but after 3 consecutive break-ins, he was talking about selling his house by the early 90s.

I was going to Avenue P to watch the street races, there really wasn’t much street racing on Bloomfield Ave or Rt 21 anymore. In 1987 or ’88 I can’t remember there was a really bad accident on Bloomfield ave due to street racing. So the police stepped up their patrols for a while. But you could still find me and other family members there for the food.

To me, Newark will always have a place in my heart, it’s my family’s lineage it’s where I learned a lot about life. It’s where my grandfather saw me hiding behind a tree at my uncle joes house when I was 10 years old because I didn’t want the big kids to see me. And then he asks why was I hiding? I said because I was afraid to get picked on. Then he says to me he didn’t want to see that ever again because that shows fear and he doesn’t ever want me to show fear ever again I face whatever is in front of me.

And from that day on I never did that again and the rest is history….

Newark has its own history… Language even Mannerisms. All I gotta do is listen to the way a person talks I can tell if they really are from Newark of not.

It’s a Jersey thing and we don’t care if you understand or not lol…

I grew up in three towns over the years I went to school in Maplewood and many days after school and weekends were spent in Newark or Kearny and I am very grateful for my Sicilian/Irish upbringing and would not change it one bit. But this post I will be talking about Maplewood and taking you back.

I was born October 1971 at St Barnabas in Livingston to a Sicilian Mother and Irish Teamster Father. My whole family was born in Newark but in 1970 my parents moved from the 4th ave and Roseville northward section of Newark to a nice sized bigger than average apartment in Maplewood with my sister who was born in 1965 so yes I am the youngest.

Maplewood has been compared to a Norman Rockwell kind of town and yes I can attest to that. With the larger than life beautiful colonial-style houses, even the author of the Nancy Drew series Carolyn Keene lived there, and one Holloween she autographed a book for my sister truly a very nice lady who really loved her fans.

Maplewood was really diverse a very large Jewish Community with a few versions from the Hasidic to the Orthodox, Many Irish, German, Italian Sicilian, Greek and I could go on many black and Spanish families were moving in Maplewood was one huge melting pot. We even had a small gay population.

Now no town is perfect you will have your asshats especially in the 70s and 80s did I see racism? yes, Did is experience racism yes?, did I hold it against anyone? no. Now this not a contest on who experienced the most and the worst racism but yes it was there.

But my generation of kids we were the ones that hung out with whoever we wanted to. If we saw someone getting picked on for anything we stuck up for them we did what we felt was right. But we also told them to stand their ground as well because we were not going to be there all the time.

We are jerseyans we don’t take shit from nobody but at times we need to be taught that as well. I was bullied because I was fat and wore braces and if it wasn’t that I was called that fat white boy or you’re Sicilian/Irish and my parents say you are just a Puerto Rican that takes a shower. And that was in the 5th grade lol.

But again out of a huge town that was only a few that actually felt like that like I said every place has those douchebags. But some eventually changed by the end of middle school and High School but still at times there were some tensions in the classroom you just had so many cultures and nationalities in one area each with their own kind of beefs no place is perfect. I surrounded myself with people like me who get along with everyone and it’s all good.

And if you messed with one of us, you messed with all of us you had to have a reason to pick on one of us. If one of us started it well then they finished it, but if you started with one of us because you don’t like them for some reason well then we had a problem and we solved it.

Maplewood had one Burger King and one Baskin Robbins all the other stores were Mom and Pop from Ralphs Luncheonette to many other diners and pizzerias. There was no Hope Depot or Walmart’s. If the local Tru Value didn’t have it then you went to Rickels or some other local family-owned hardware store. If all else failed you would try the Livingston Mall for the last resort.

Maplewood has three awesome parks and very huge, one even has a duck pond and when it freezes over you could ice skate on it. We used to have parades down Valley Street and even summer movies in the park. Maplewood was that kind of friendly town, if you didn’t know someone then either you met them at a mutual friends house or you just started talking to them in passing.

Mapelwood was a place where it takes 3 hours to go down the street to the store. Because either you see 5 people you know and you stop to talk to them or someone is driving by you and asks you if you need a ride and even that turns into a half and hour conversation heh heh.

If my parents were at work the locals would discipline me, I could not get away with anything lol. The older kids looked out for the younger and would even beat our asses if they caught us fucking up. I had the Connors Brothers Jimmy Boy and Timmy looking out for me I looked up to them but also knew not to fuck up too bad.

I went to Our Lady of Sorrows in the 70s from Kindergarten to 4th grade and yes they still would give us the ruler or pull our ears. Then in Middle School and High School we had teachers that said the most outrageous shit at times that if said today they would be fired in a heartbeat I shit you not.

Again was Maplewood the perfect town? No and I am sure there are many others with their own stories on how they grew up in Maplewood the same time I did and that is fine but this story is about me and what I saw and experienced. I love that town but I love the way it was…

Sadly…

Since I moved in 1994 like Bob Dylan sang the times are a changin and boy did they. They have torn down the buildings that gave the town its charm. The mom and pop businesses are getting killed they are adding more and more condos and townhouses. The taxes have been going up year after year, pretty soon they will have to call it the City of Maplewood because they are destroying the things that made it a town.

I am one year shy of 50 years old so my opinion does not matter, but I will say this. I am very glad, lucky and fortunate to have grown up there when I did and they will never take those memories from me.

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