Bushberg Brothers Closes

Today was the last day for the public to shop at a long-time landmark, a furniture store that, in various locations, served Newark for over a century. The Star-Ledger article about the closing that my friend Gaetano directed my attention to does not explain why the Bushberg family, which was loyal to Newark for so long, has now evacuated to "Ashley Furniture" on Route 10 in Ledgewood, a store I shall certainly never shop at.
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Yesterday, The Daily Newarker blog rejected the rationalization that a shortage of parking explains the flite of furniture stores from Newark:

The Decline of Downtonwn Newark as a shopping area is a long story – but a new chapter has been developing recently with the closures of multiple furniture stores on Market Street. * * *

The absence of parking is obviously a problem – but it certainly doesn’t deter people from shopping in Manhattan. So one could also observe that the absence of parking, combined with the lack of desirable public transportation has been a problem for Downtown businesses. * * *

So let us salute the Bushberg family, and bemoan the end of one more chapter in Newark’s continuing economic decline.

What "lack of desirable public transportation" is he talking about? 77 Market Street, the Bushberg Brothers location closing today, is served by several buses that pass right by it some 20 hours a day, much longer than store hours. The Newark City Subway stops some four blocks away; and there are many more buses that run along Broad Street, three blocks away. There's plenty of public transportation Downtown. So what does explain the mass exodus of furniture stores from Newark?
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I noted this phenomenon here on February 13th and wondered aloud if the Booker administration has raised sales taxes and that's what's driving such businesses out of Newark; or if it's competition from big-box stores like Ikea. At end, I don't know, and the Star-Ledger story provided no answers. Did they even ask the right questions?
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One thing is for sure. I do not "salute the Bushberg family". Past good deeds don't make up for present bad deeds. I hope the Bushbergs' suburban venture fails miserably and ruins them financially. I won't patronize Ashley Furniture, Ledgewood (Morris County), and hope you won't either.
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Today's foto is of the mausoleum of the Dryden family, founders of the Prudential Financial empire that remains in Newark. Some of the Drydens remain here too, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. I don't know if there are living descendants still in Newark, but it wouldn't surprise me. Not all rich people flee to the suburbs or Sunbelt.

Cat's Cradle

In reviewing my pix of the interior of NJPAC, I noticed something I had not noticed when there, a network of cables in the domed roof over the entrance to Prudential Hall. What is it? Is it functional or merely decorative?

(This is an entry for Friday uploaded Saturday due to time constraints.)

High-Class and Highrise

"A picture is worth 1,000 words" so I'll let today's foto speak to the refinement and prosperity of Mount Prospect Avenue in the Forest Hill section of the North Ward.

Another 'Joke' by Leno; Urban Consolidation

Jay Leno, host of NBC's Tonight Show, again last nite made a 'joke' at Newark's expense, in this approximate form:

Did you hear that 85 passengers on a trans-Atlantic flite developed flu-like symptoms, so the plane had to land in Newark? That's the first time passengers have gotten sick before arriving at Newark.

He then made motions like someone writing a letter, muttering, "as a Newark resident ...", meaning "Don't write me letters. It's only a joke." But is it a joke if it's not funny and is said for no other purpose but malice, to cause harm to the reputation of a city that presumably has never done anything to him?
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This is not the first time Jay Leno, a really nasty guy, has made malicious 'jokes' at Newark's expense. The showbiz term that covers this kind of 'joke' is "cheap shot". It's not just Newark but the entire State of New Jersey that is a convenient target for disparaging 'humor' by comics who have no better material. I'm tired of it, so maybe I will write a letter. Any suggestions as to what to say?
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Today's fotos show nitetime views of the northern portion of the Downtown Newark skyline as seen across the Passaic from two different points in Harrison. This first was taken from the same area as one shown here January 5th. In the fotos then, the last building on the right with a lited top was 15 Washington Street. Now there's another, to its right, 1 Washington Park. My camera is not at its best in nite views with stark contrasts between brite and dark areas, but you get the picture.

The foto above is about the right britness overall, but for detail, I fiddled with settings and came up with this version that is darker than the scene appears, but shows detail better.

When I left that area, I tried a different way of going home from what I'd done theretofore, which turned out to be a dead end. I hadn't been in that area before, which is close to the railroad bridge from Penn Station. It is now occupied by warehouses and such but would make a great place for highrise market-rate apartments, once Newark annexes Harrison.

Again, that view has the right briteness, but the foto at the end of this entry shows the detail better.
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Speaking of annexing Harrison, the state government is now actively promoting municipal consolidation, a reversal of the historic trend in this state toward breaking municipalities up. When I was in school, in ye olden days (I graduated from high school in 1962), we were taught that there are 512 municipalities in New Jersey. Now there are 567. After centuries of tolerating or even smiling upon the breakup of larger entities into smaller (the bulk of Monmouth County was once only 3 townships, Middletown, Shrewsbury, and Freehold), the State has seen the lite and recognized that this is no way to run local government. Economies of scale and elimination of duplication of services and needless salaries for excess elected officials, increased professionalism of fire and police departments, and other considerations argue powerfully for consolidation of school districts and various services, and perhaps, ultimately, consolidation of smaller units into larger.
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I chanced to catch Susan Bass Levin, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, on the Cablevision Public Access program Meet the Leaders.* She indicated that the State favors consolidations if the people of the relevant municipalities approve. Indeed, there is now a Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services. That's a change in the right direction, but the State should be firmer in steering tiny towns like East Newark (1/10th of a square mile, 2,800 people) and Harrison (1.3 square miles, 14,500 people) to merge into the cities of which they form an integral, organic part. New Jersey would have fewer but better municipalities, with increased professionalism in the provision of services, at lower cost to taxpayers — including, pointedly, the taxpayers of suburbs now separate. Property-tax rates in Newark are half those of surrounding suburbs!
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To give you an idea of how ridiculous New Jersey has in the past been about chopping up towns, consider these two paragraphs from Wikipedia, the first about Harrison, the second about Kearny:

Harrison was originally incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 13, 1840, from portions of Lodi Township, shortly after Hudson County was created from portions of Bergen County, on February 22, 1840. Portions of the township were returned to Bergen County on February 19, 1852, to create Union Township. Kearny Township was created from parts of the township on April 8, 1867. Harrison was reincorporated as a town on March 25, 1869.

Kearney [sic; there is only one E in "Kearny", but putting in a second is a common and understandable error] was originally formed as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1867, from portions of Harrison Township. Portions of the township were taken on July 3, 1895, to form East Newark.

Ever smaller, and smaller-minded. It's time to go bigger and better, onward to Greater Newark.

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* Some Meet the Leaders programs are available On Demand at Cablevision Channel 502, under "Local on Demand", which I did not realize until I did a Google search and found a Cablevision webpage that shows it to be available. I think that must be new, because I sometimes go to Free On Demand to watch Religion & Ethics Newsweekly on Thirteen on Demand and never noticed a "Local On Demand" option. In any case, I don't see the Levin interview on the list of Meet the Leaders episodes available today.

Irresponsible Behavior by Teachers Union

Newark made the welcome screen of AOL early today, but in a way that reinforced outsiders' stereotypes about this city as a lawless urban hellhole. It seems that the Newark Teachers Union has put up billboards to remind people that Newark has a murder problem. As the Associated Press put it:

The six billboards in the downtown area were put up about two months ago. They scream, "HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!" Joe Del Grosso, president of the Newark Teachers Union, would not say how much the signs cost.

I was incensed, and sent the following message to the general email address of the Teachers Union under the subject line "Take down the signs":

What conceivable good can come of blackening Newark's reputation and playing to the stereotype that the entire city of Newark is dangerous? The reality, which you must know, is that much of the city is safe for the great preponderance of people, and deadly violence is largely confined to the criminal class involved in the drug trade. Perhaps you bear some of the responsibility for that, in not impressing upon students how destructive drugs are, how they solve nothing but make everything worse, and how dangerous and unprofitable dealing drugs ultimately ends up being. I have seen the economics of drug peddlers discussed. A study showed that, when time in jail or even prison is factored in, the typical low-level dealer averages only perhaps $15,000 a year (that was about a decade ago; figures may have changed, but not massively).
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I cannot understand what you hope to gain by worrying businesses and middle-class people who are thinking of working in or even moving into Newark. Putting up such billboards is a monstrous misuse of your members' dues, and makes Newarkers angry and inclined to take the hardest of hard lines against teachers union demands of every kind. You're not winning people to your side. You are hurting Newark. Perception trumps reality, and tho most of Newark is safe for most people most of the time, outsiders won't believe that if they are told, on huge signs, that Newark is deadly dangerous for everybody, all the time. What were you thinking?

If you'd like to convey your own feelings, whatever they might be, to the Teachers Union, the email address is ntu@ntuaft.com.
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Today's foto is of one of the schools the Teachers Union's members work in, the Chancellor Avenue School in the Weequahic section of the South Ward.

Spring Has Sprung

Yesterday was sunny enuf and warm enuf for me to do some yardwork. Altho the weather reports said it was only 52 degrees outside, it seemed much warmer than that. The arrival of spring sunshine brings to mind John Denver's song, "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (makes me happy). It sure does! After a horrible couple of months, a warm day with brite sun is a treat that lifts the heart. This is a large portion of the reason we stay in the cold parts of the country who persist in places we could flee for the Sunbelt. People who live in perpetual warmth just don't get the blast we do from the return of warmth. We don't exactly hibernate thru the cold months, but do burst with happiness when warm weather returns. And the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park aren't even thinking of coming out yet!
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Is Newark's splendiferous spring worth the pain of winter? Well, we've got "the season" to get us thru the cold months: for the "cultured" among us, that means the opera season and concert season; for most of the rest of us, it means Thanksgiving dinner; Christmas caroling, trimming the tree; shaking off the chill to toast the New Year; maybe planning a romantic evening for Valentine's Day; and trying our very, very best to forget that it's FREEZING outside!
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Another horrid winter is behind us now. My brother in Las Vegas asked, in a communal email to all the siblings (2 brothers, 2 sisters), what is wrong with this picture: 1 brother in Las Vegas, 1 in the Houston area, 2 sisters in Long Beach, California — all in the Sunbelt — and 1 brother left in the misery of winter. Perhaps it is perplexing that we would put up with winter year after year. I was born the very day before the start of winter, 1944. And I have never overwintered anywhere warm. But I still don't like the cold.
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Todays' fotos are of another aspect of spring that we look forward to: the return of the crocuses. The people who lived in this house before me planted crocuses in a number of spots around the yard. Not all of them bloom, but some do every year.

The picture above shows some crocuses that bloom perilously close to the place where I park my car. I should probably move them. The foto below shows one flower in a safer spot. The flowers in both pix are nestled among fallen oak leaves that I let stay on the ground to nourish the soil. (That's also easier than raking.)

(This is an entry for Monday drafted on Monday but uploaded on Tuesday due to time constraints.)

Iglesia "El Rey Vive"

This "Church Day" at the Newark USA fotoblog, I present three pix of Iglesia Cristiana "El Rey Vive", Inc. on 18th Avenue a couple of blocks inside Newark going east from Irvington.

Don't see a church? Not all churches have steeples and stained glass. The building closest to the camera, on the corner, has a church on its ground floor. Unfortunately, the foto above shows an overview of that storefront church on a day other than Sunday, so the church is not open and active, with people about. I have no idea how successful or unsuccessful a theological venture that church is.
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Now, take a closer look, at the ground floor of the nearest building.

See the signs, on the 18th Avenue and sidestreet facades of the building? There you go. It is a church.
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I was thinking earlier today about how many storefront churches as against churches built for that purpose Newark might have. I suspect that churches that occupy buildings created to be churches might be only 1/3 the total number of churches in this city, or even less. To put that the other way around, I suspect that 2/3 or even 3/4 of all churches in Newark were once something else, be it a store, theater, restaurant — something. Certainly we have the opposite, a theater-restaurant that was once a church, in the Priory at St. Joseph's Plaza.
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Newark's abundance of small churches is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, these many churches stabilize neighborhoods and have been active in creating new housing. I have repeatedly noted that the areas most brilliantly and successfully rebuilt are peppered with churches: row of housing, church; next row of new housing, church; and on, and on. Some churches have also created schools, daycare centers, and other services that the people need but which the City might otherwise have had to spend a great deal of money to create and keep going.
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On the other hand, however, too much of Newark is occupied by tax-exempt institutions, be they religious, educational, governmental, or cultural. We need more "ratables", properties that are involved in the profit-producing segment of the economy that we can tax! It's flattering, to be sure, to have so many courthouses and government offices and cathedrals and colleges and this and that, but it would also be very nice to have profit-making properties we can tax to support services for Newarkers.
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A quick search produced no website for Iglesia El Rey Vive, so I have nothing more to tell you about this church but what it shows above its doors:

It occurs to me that I have assumed that everyone knows what "El Rey Vive" means. Silly me. Not everyone knows even that simple Spanish: "The King Lives". No, that is not a reference to an Elvis sighting, but to the presence among us of the Spirit of Jesus, the Lawgiver whose Golden Rule all Westerners, in Newark, in the United States, in the entirety of Western Civilization, try to obey. It's easy for most of us, because we have enuf to be able to be generous enuf to treat other people well. But for some of us, who have nothing, it is very difficult to put the other guy first. Thus do we all have an obligation to create a society, in Newark if not in the Nation or world more generally, where everyone has enuf to be able to regard his neighbor as his friend rather than his rival or even enemy; someone he can be generous toward rather than guard against. The churches of Newark — and they are so numerous, so active, so useful to us all in taming the beast within and working for the common good — are a factor of inestimable value in what has kept Newark from collapsing in upon itself violently, and empowered Newark to emerge from The Bad Old Days into the hugely briter and more hopeful time we now live in. Bless them.

Bears, Inside and Outside Our Zoo

Metro Newark has bears — black bears, Blue Bears, baseball Bears.
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I turned on the TV to News 12 New Jersey early this afternoon to see if it was warm enuf to open the house up for fresh air (it was not; only 52 at the height of the day) and chanced across the start of "The Pet Stop", a weekly program about aminals. (Yes, I wrote "aminals". When we were kids, that was one of the words we played with. Still do, if truth be told.) This week the show was on-location at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, a northwestern suburb within Essex County.
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I'm sure I have been in West Orange (for one thing, I saw Edison's labs and the world's first movie studio, the Black Maria, there), but it's hard to tell where one Orange ends and another begins, because they all seem to have the same-color street signs, white with black lettering.
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Usually, when you pass from one town to another, the street signs change color. Newark, green with white lettering. Irvington, blue with white lettering. East Orange, white with black lettering. Bloomfield, blue with white lettering. Belleville, white with blue lettering (I think). The rule seems to be that one municipality's signs contrast with the adjoining municipalities' signs. Since Irvington and Bloomfield are on opposite sides of Newark and do not adjoin each other, they can both have blue signs with white lettering. But in the Oranges (Orange, East Orange, West Orange, South Orange; no North Orange. Just because.), the signs all seem to be white with black lettering. What the?? My friend Joe from Belleville says that if you really need to know what town you're in, look on a telephone pole and there should be a metal tag around eye level that shows the town and the number of the pole (so you might, for instance, have an accurate location for an accident report). I haven't checked that out. Hm.
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Anyways, the Oranges are all in Essex County and thus all part of Newark Metro, so altho Newark proper does not have a zoo, the Newark Metropolitan Area does. Under the current Essex County Executive, Joseph DiVincenzo (pronounced without the proper-Italian CH-sound for the C), the Zoo has had an infusion of $30 million in recent years, apparently to good effect.
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I have passed by the Zoo but not yet gotten in. I was under the impression that the Zoo included only small North American animals that might have roamed wild in this vicinity in ye olden days, but its collection also includes larger and more exotic animals. (My area has raccoons, which have come into my house. But they shooed away easily and get along fine with cats. Dogs, is another story. Keep your dog away from raccoons! For the dog's safety.)
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I saw on TV today our Zoo's two "New Jersey black bears" and Arctic wolves!, in spacious outdoor enclosures. (Large carnivores are brought inside at nite.) The reptile collection includes not only turtles (it would be pretty embarrassing if the Turtle Back Zoo didn't have any turtles, wouldn't it?), but also pythons, a "dragon", alligators, and other creatures that the Lenni Lenape Indians who used to live in what is now Newark didn't have to navigate past.
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The Zoo currently has 200 animals on display, some of them neutered to control populations. I was a little surprised to hear that the wolves have been neutered, since I thought wolves were endangered. Apparently the wolves the Zoo sterilized are not among the types endangered.
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New Jersey black bears are only 1/3 or 1/4 the size of the largest brown bears (grizzlies) or polar bears. But they're not small. Each of the two female black bears at the Zoo weighs about 175 pounds. The "Pet Stop" program said that tho called "black", some New Jersey bears can be cinnamon or even bluish in color! Is that where the name of Barringer High School's athletic teams, the Blue Bears, comes from, a blue variety of the New Jersey black bear?

I'm unclear as to whether the Blue Bears are a football or basketball team, or whether the name applies to all the intercollegiate teams fielded by Barringer High School. The school's website indicates that it has football, soccer, baseball, and other teams, but they don't have any such fields right by the school. Where do they play?
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I know where the Newark Bears baseball team plays. Today they held a special event marking the opening of the box office for sale of tickets to this season's games. I didn't get there. Too early in the day for me; I'm a nite person. I also haven't heard back from my friends Joe and Gaetano as to which game we might attend this year. Within sight of Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium appears this pair of signs, one uprite on a post, directing motorists to institutions not directly ahead, and the second painted on the sidewalk.

In case you don't see in the foto above the Bears sign, which consists of a pawprint within a home-plate icon, indicating a bear walking straight ahead, here's a closeup.

If you want to see real bears, the Turtle Back Zoo is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Zoo attendance, the staffer interviewed on News 12 said, has reached a quarter million, but I'm unclear as to whether that is total or annual, and there's lots of room and only sparse crowds to cope with at present. Spring hours are 10:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Saturday, and 11:00am-5:30pm Sunday. Admission is $5 for an adult, $2 for a kid or oldfolk. I wonder how old you have to be for the reduced rate. The website doesn't say. I'm 'only' 62, not old enuf for the NJTransit discount card or Medicare. I guess I can afford another three bucks.
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If you can afford a lot more, the Zoo has a gift registry — ! — at The Home Depot. Like a bridal registry, this is a place where you can find things the Zoo would really appreciate receiving, and purchase them online (online only; registry info is not available in-store). If you'd like to see what the Zoo needs, click here, then fill in "tbz" (for, you guessed it, Turtle Back Zoo) in the "Last Name" field. Hit Enter and you'll see a screen with an underlined link for the Zoo, and if you click on THAT, you'll be taken to the wishlist, with prices alongside and an online shopping cart by means of which you can donate. The current list shows nothing more than $40.
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Annual memberships in the Turtle Back Zoo are available thru the Zoological Society of New Jersey, for only $25 for an adult!

Haggis, Jogging Track

I got this note today in response to yesterday's entry. (I had sent mention of that entry to the webmaster of the Piper's Cove website.)

I wanted to thank you for writing about us in your blog and let you know I appreciate it. If you're in the area sometime stop by. If we have haggis that day you should try it. And as for the taste.... there's a reason Scots like Scotch so much... it kills the taste of Haggis (:

Hm. How adventurous am I? I'll ask when they offer haggis, how much it costs, and the like. Maybe I'll drag Joe or Gaetano along and we'll all try it. Misery loves company, I understand.
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Update to Monday's entry: As I write, I'm watching the last installment of "Oprah & Gayle's Big Adventure", an 11-day, 3,600-mile cross-country car trip from Santa Barbara to New York City earlier this year, and find that it bypassed Newark and went directly to the George Washington Bridge. Too bad. (The route shown on Oprah's website seems not to have gone across Route 80, but the program itself showed them in a traffic jam near Scranton, which is on 380, a spur of 80, so the map on the website may be wrong.)
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Today's fotos concern a shorter trip, the 2.2-miles you can jog around the lake in Weequahic Park on what may be the longest rubberized jogging track anywhere. I'm pretty sure this red path is the one with the resilient surface, tho I can't jog, so it didn't seem very different from any other path to me, walking.

Here's a view looking up the hill.

I showed a view even higher up the hill in my entry to this blog of March 1,2006.
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I don't have any pix of Weequahic Park in spring or summer, when the trees have leaves. I'll make a point of getting there in a few weeks. I also have to walk thru Ivy Hill Park, near me. I have scouted it out, and parking may be a problem. But I shall persevere.

Italian, Scottish, Irish North Jersey

A story in the online news list today caught my eye: "Jersey Ready for Life Without 'Sopranos'." It speaks to the HBO series wrapping up its eight-year run with some filming in New Jersey. Yes, that's NEW Jersey, people, not "Jersey".

The show is mostly filmed at a New York City soundstage, but many scenes are shot in the Garden State to provide a real [New] Jersey feel. Most towns and business owners welcome "The Sopranos" — they get to watch the filming, snap photos of the actors and even earn some money.

I have never seen a single episode of that program, which I understand to be profoundly, monstrously evil. I don't find graphic murder entertaining, and will never watch any of the movies or TV series that glorify the Mob. I have never seen any of the Godfather films, and never will. I'd be very happy if they, and every episode of The Sopranos and every other filmic glorification of organized crime were destroyed in every copy, and everyone involved in creating such trash were barred from media for life. That does not include the little guys who are just caught up in the glamor of the entertainment industry.
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My two friends Joe (Joe G in Belleville, whom I have mentioned here before, and Joe F from Queens) worked one day as extras in a scene of The Sopranos staged in a gay bar we all sometimes patronized, in Manhattan. Joe G is, I am told, recognizable in the finished scene, but only a tiny fraction of Joe F is visible. The connection of that scene to the series is that one major character was "outed" earlier that season. This brief advance for gay visibility — a gay mobster! wow! — was, I understand, later reversed when the 'Family' had him "whacked": murdered. I don't think that's the kind of thing that the people who wrote the song "That's Entertainment!" had in mind.
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Early on, Italian-American organizations were concerned that The Sopranos perpetuated stereotypes of Italians as low-class mobsters. But as time passed, the criticism faded away, pretty much completely, with the excuse that it was such a 'well-made, compelling drama' that the stereotypes didn't matter. Indeed, many Italians, and New Jerseyans, came to embrace The Sopranos, almost as "Cosa Nostra", indeed "Our Thing", something to be proud of. It was one place in media where Italians weren't invisible, where they could hear Italian names and phrases, and see Italian hangouts in North Jersey. Viewers from this area took pride in spotting places they knew in the opening credits or in location shots. Now that The Sopranos is disappearing from first-run TV, might we not hope for something else based in New Jersey, and rich with Italian characters, but that doesn't play to stereotypes?
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Despite this state's reputation elsewhere, mob influence in New Jersey is less than pervasive, but there was a time that my family was concerned that my father, then a mortgage broker, might have been approached by people close to the Mob to place (launder?) some money for them. I think he kept his distance.
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The Sopranos has filmed all over North Jersey, so this seems an opportune time to show one of my fotos of Newark's environs rather than Newark proper. The article speaks especially of Kearny, so let's show something highly unusual from that township of 40,000 people, which touches Newark in two disconnected places, separated by Harrison and East Newark.

This is the Piper's Cove and Argyle Restaurant complex on Kearny Avenue, which has all kinds of things for the Scottish and Irish community, from Gaelic music CD's to teeshirts to kilt rentals and bagpipers you can hire to play at your event. That's an apt thing to mention in the week after St. Patrick's Day.
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As you can see, the store and restaurant — I wonder if they have haggis. I've never had haggis, and tho it sounds awful, Scots seem to like it, and I may be part Scots myself — occupy the ground floor of four adjoining buildings, interrupted by a dental office in a fifth building. I chanced across this little commercial complex in driving north on Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard, which is what the same roadway is called farther south, in Harrison. Rodgers is, in turn, an extension of Jackson Street in the Ironbound, across the Jackson Street bridge. I think I had someplace to be in that vicinity, so didn't take the time to stop in and see what's available. All in good time.
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I'm a little annoyed with the name "Kearny", in that one of the banks that my father placed mortgages with, Pulaski Savings, was bought up a couple of years ago by Kearny Federal Savings. The landmark building on 18th Avenue in Irvington, which I pass regularly on my way Downtown, still bore the Pulaski name when I moved to Vailsburg. I found that a comforting reminder of my father, who died a decade before I returned to NJ after living in Manhattan for decades. Then Kearny Savings put its name, in brite colors, on the old Pulaski building, in place of the dignified, monochrome, metal lettering that had been there for decades, to my mind defacing it. Ah well, nothing lasts forever.
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[P.S., August 15, 2011: Kearny Federal Savings closed the former Pulaski location after only a couple of years, and that building is now vacant. Sad. Also, the headline of the story about the Sopranos has changed, along with its online location. The new webhost has, thankfully, replaced "Jersey" with "N.J." Good. And yes, the Argyle Restaurant does serve haggis, at least on special occasions.]

Other Newark Foto Sites

I chanced across a new search engine for images (well, new to me at least), Windows Live Search, which is apparently a Microsoft site. So I searched on "newark new jersey" and came up with several worthy websites. Here's one you might like to check, ViewsOf.com. There's a bunch of Newark pix there.
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My own foto for today is one I took with my camerafone, of statuary lions outside a new private residence near the Frelinghuysen Avenue Motor Vehicles station. A group of new residences climb the slope up a side street toward Elizabeth Avenue.

I'm not at all happy with this cameraphone. The picture quality, as you can see, is not good, and the battery drains unusually fast, so I dare not stay on the fone with friends for very long lest the battery be exhausted when I need a fone for an emergency. And Verizon charges 25 cents for every foto I send, even to myself. There appears to be no other way but sending a picture message to get fotos from the camera onto my computer, since there is no connector cable. Maybe I'll go back to using the non-camera cellphone I had before I 'moved up' to a camerafone.
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I apparently did not have my regular camera with me when I took this pic, because I would have taken pix with my regular camera and merely tested the camerafone to compare the results. I'll get to Motor Vehicles again sometime and see if I can get clearer pix of this splendid group of new houses with their fine, wrought-iron fences.

"The Newark Experience"

From time to time I do Internet text searches and image searches on terms like "Newark" and "Newark USA" to see what's new, how far down my own websites and this fotoblog might appear, or if any of my fotos is indexed by major search engines. Often I come across interesting sites you might like to know about. The Rutgers-Newark Library's webpage "The Newark Experience" is one such site.
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At first it might sound like "The New York Experience", that "multiscreen movie recreating scenes and sounds of New York City past and present" that ran for many years in the underground concourse of the McGraw-Hill Building in Rockefeller Center, Manhattan. Such a thing for Newark would be wonderful, but no such multiscreen movie has, to my knowledge, yet been created.
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As of now, then, "The Newark Experience" is just a very extensive compilation of materials available on the Internet and at the university's library, that is presumably intended as orientation material for students who may not know much about the city, to help them make the most of their college years here. But you don't have to attend Rutgers-Newark to find there all kinds of info about Newark.
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Today's foto is of a corner of the John Cotton Dana Library and a landscaped walkway to its south on the Rutgers-Newark upper campus, as seen on a quiet Saturday afternoon.

The Library's name is explained on the R-N website:

The library, where students spend a majority of their study time, is named for John Cotton Dana, a pioneering figure in the development of public libraries and museums in this country. Dana was a graduate of Dartmouth College and practiced law and civil engineering for a decade before joining the Denver, Colorado, library. In 1898, Dana was appointed librarian at the Public Library of Newark and in 1902 he helped to found The Newark Museum Association. Under Dana's direction, the Newark Library became the first in the nation to offer open stacks, as well as a branch devoted to business.

One of the most unusual parts of that Library is surely its Cambodian collection, a complete copy of the materials gathered by the Documentation Center of Cambodia about the hideous Khmer Rouge years in Cambodia after the U.S. ran from Southeast Asia in 1975.

The collection contains documentation preserved for the history of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through execution, starvation, and forced labor. In order to record this history, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DCCam) was established in 1995 and it has collected more than 155,000 pages of primary Khmer Rouge documents. To better preserve the material, DCCam cataloged it and converted it into microfilm. * * *

A similar Cambodia genocide collection is also available at Yale University. However, Dana Library has a more complete collection that contains newer materials.

Ain't that sumpin'? Not only does Newark contain one of the finest collections of Tibetan art, at the Newark Museum, but it also contains what may be the most complete collection of materials about the Cambodian auto-holocaust in the outside world. Did you know that?

Oprah's Best Friend Moving to Newark?

Gaetano found this intriguing thought at the blog "Jane Genova, Speechwriter-Ghostwriter".

Gayle's got a beau. And he's a catch. He's Cory Booker, the new kind of mayor for a Renaissance Newark, NJ. And, here's the really cool part. He's 37. She's 52. What's not to like. And according to Pat Gregor of GLOBE [the tabloid], Gayle looks like she's in it for the long haul. The question then: What about Oprah?

According to Gregor, Oprah is happy that Gayle seems to have found her soulmate. But, it probably hasn't seeped in yet that Gayle might be re-locating to Newark and leaving Chicago, IL. As mayor, Booker has to remain in Newark, love or no love.

As I was drafting a comment to leave at that blog, I noticed it was time for Oprah's show on TV, so I turned it on, and what should it be but "Oprah & Gayle's Big Adventure", a cross-country drive from California to New York. The trip will occupy more than one show this week. In any case, I left the following comment at that blog.

If Gayle is really moving to Newark for Cory Booker (despite rumors that he's gay), Oprah has another option you may not have considered: she could move to Newark too, both herself and her media empire. We have our own metro area of 2 million and are part of the Nation's largest concentration of population, the Tristate Metropolitan Area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Oprah should have attended Booker's inauguration, given her campaign support. She can make up for not having done so by moving here and showing the world that the bad things they have heard about Newark are nothing like the truth. She'd find Newark very congenial — and substantially warmer than Chicago in winter.

I want to see if, on their "Adventure", Oprah and Gayle pass thru Newark on their way to New York, tho you think we'd have heard about it if they had stopped. I rarely watch Oprah, even when I'm home that day, because, frankly, the topics she addresses almost never interest me. But I'll look for the rest of this cross-country trip, especially the part that passes thru New Jersey.
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Today's foto is of the Washington Street frontage of the Newark Museum at nite, with Ballantine House closer and the former YWCA (now the Museum's South Wing) farther away. The building on the far right with the strong verticals and evergreen plantings is 33 Washington Street, an office tower. In the far distance on the left you can see the floodlit top of the Wilentz Justice Complex, on the same square block as the old Bamberger's/Macy's department store.

I'm not sure that building was always a courthouse, but it is now. Its name honors the late Robert N. Wilentz, a former Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court who wrote the unanimous decision known as Mount Laurel II, which holds that municipalities cannot write zoning laws to exclude the poor. That decision has had significant influence not just on New Jersey but also far beyond our borders. One of the interesting things about what has happened in response to that decision is that there have been tradeoffs of Mount Laurel quotas between municipalities.
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It seems that some municipalities were unable to attract significant numbers of poor people from minorities, so the state has permitted them to arrange trades of Mount Laurel obligations with other municipalities more attractive to low-income minority groups. This operates like air-rights tradeoffs, by means of which an owner of one lot can buy the air-rights of a neighboring plot to build taller than would otherwise be allowed. In like fashion, a suburb, like Livingston, can trade a portion of its Mount Laurel quota with a city, say, Newark, for some kind of consideration, and not have to build low-income housing that will not find tenants.
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In my real-estate salespersons class one evening we discussed why some low-income people might not want to live in the suburbs but prefer the city. Among the factors we came up with were (1) if you live in a suburb, you pretty much have to own a car, with all its attendant costs, or you are stuck in your immediate area most of the time, especially at nite, when such public transportation as might exist runs infrequently or not at all; (2) the jobs they'd be interested in and qualify for are in the city, especially jobs for teens; (3) there is nothing to do in the suburbs, especially at nite; (4) stores may not carry the foods, beverages, or brands of all kinds that you're accustomed to, especially ethnic foods (Hispanic, for instance); and prices might be higher; and (5) your friends and family may remain concentrated in the city, so if you move to a suburb, you will become isolated socially. We will pass over the fact that many people prefer to live among people like themselves rather than among people unlike themselves, but that too is a real factor in people's choosing Newark over the 'burbs.
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Naturally, it's not just black, Hispanic, or poor people who have reservations about the suburbs. I was raised in the 'burbs myself, but escaped, first to Manhattan, then (35 years later) to Newark. And I'm never going back to the suburbs. Ever. Hell no, I won't go!

Sci-Fi Archbishop Guy

On Tuesday, my friend Gaetano from the Ironbound found a doozy of a story for me to tell you about, but I waited till Sunday, "Church Day" here at the Newark USA fotoblog, so I could illustrate it with some pix of the Sacred Heart Cathedral complex.
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To quote from a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America press release:

In what might be the oddest literary pairing of all time, Gary K. Wolf, noted science fiction author and screenwriter, best known for creating the Roger Rabbit characters and Toontown, and John J. Myers, Catholic Archbishop of Newark, have teamed up to co-write an action/adventure science fiction novel entitled Space Vulture. The book is an homage to "Space Hawk," the first science fiction novel the two read as schoolboys. "Space Vulture" recently sold to Tom Doherty Associates for publication by their Tor imprint in late 2007 or early 2008 [in a "six figure deal"].* * *

Wolf and Myers have been close friends since childhood. They grew up together in the small farm town of Earlville, Illinois. Wolf's father ran the pool hall there. Myers' father was the town milk man.

The two wrote the novel over a five year period collaborating by phone, e-mail, and face-to-face during Wolf's frequent visits to Newark from his Boston home.

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Space Vulture nest? I think this is the residence of the Archbishop, adjacent to the back of the Cathedral Basilica, whose green, bronze flèche can be seen beyond the residence.

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"We had great fun writing Space Vulture and it shows," says Wolf. "It's just as adventuresome and exciting as Space Hawk."

"Collaborating with Gary on Space Vulture has been satisfying for me on several levels," says Archbishop Myers. "It has given me the opportunity to create an exciting, interesting, and morally principled tale in one of my favorite genres. It has also provided the opportunity to renew and deepen one of my oldest and dearest friendships."

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This view shows the residence on the right and Basilica on the left.

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To make sure this was the right Archbishop of Newark (no state was mentioned in the press release), I checked the Archbishop's bio on the website of the Archdiocese. Sure enuf, the new sci-fi author is indeed our Archbishop. Hm.
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This foto shows the inner side of the residence beyond a refined stone wall that encloses a parking lot and garages.

The last foto I'll show today is a close view of the back of the Basilica beyond the back of the residence (on the right), concentrating on the building's chapels, multiple roofs, and other architectural elements. The structure looks simpler in outline than it does in detail.

Palazzo Splendido (9 pix)

Yesterday's entry to this fotoblog showed 11 pictures of an event at the Newark Public Library (hereinafter, "NPL"). Some of those pix also showed, incidentally, something of the architectural treasure that is the NPL's headquarters. That building has been described as an Italian Renaissance palazzo. Today's fotos focus on that splendid public palace.
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First, a nitetime view of the lited facade in its setting, with 15 Washington Street towering beyond.

Now, a view, also at nite, of the main entrance.

Here you see a closer view of the stonework and classical statuary group over the main entrance.

Let's shift gears and locus now, to the interior of the building during daytime. When first you enter the building and get to the open lobby, look up. You will be in an atrium that rises to the very top of the building, and this is what you'll see.

Looking both forward and up, this is what you will see. The green-white-and-orange bunting is for "The Irish in Newark and New Jersey" exhibit described yesterday.

Walk to the elevator at the back of the lobby and look to your right and up. This is what you'll see, a Romanesque ceramic vault.

While still in front of the elevator, turn around and look up.

Get out at the second floor and look forward.

Head up to the third floor. Get out of the elevator and look up.

This is just the barest suggestion of the wonderful spatial experience you can have in walking thru the main branch of the Newark Public Library. Whether you go to check out an exhibition in the public exhibit areas, or consult a specialized publication in the Library's extensive collection, check out a fiction bestseller, or borrow a video for an evening's entertainment, you get the bonus of being in a beautiful place. This is no bargain-basement warehouse of pulp fiction, but a luxuriant palace of information, entertainment, and, yes, pulp fiction, free for the borrowing with your Newark Public Library card.

"The Irish" at NPL (11 pix)

I went to the opening reception for the exhibition "The Irish in Newark and New Jersey" at the Newark Public Library last nite. Jule Spohn,* part of whose collection of Newarkana I showed here February 28th, got me an invite. Thank you, Jule.
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I'm 1/4 Irish. My mother's father's family name is Wynne, with an E. I don't know if Wynne is Irish, Welsh, or both Irish and Welsh. But I think my Wynnes are from the Dublin area.
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I parked about 4 blocks from the Library (bus stops take up much of the curb space nearer and I expected a lot of the people attending would be parking private cars). As I was walking past the Newark Museum, a woman who had been walking in the same direction asked me where the Museum entrance was. I told her I was pretty sure the Museum was closed, but she said there was a special event there that nite. Since I am a member and get the mailings, I was puzzled, so asked her what kind of event. She said "Something about the Irish", whereupon I told her it was at the Library, not the Museum, showed her the invite I was carrying, and redirected her. She felt a little silly, but I assured her I get them mixed up all the time myself. And at least they're close together.
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As we climbed the Library steps, we could hear the skir of bagpipes, and this is what visitors saw as they entered.

The Library was still open for regular business, so I asked a young woman sitting behind the counter if it would be okay to take pictures. She wasn't certain but said that a blonde woman named Heidi, who was around somewhere, would be the one to ask. I said, "Blonde and 'Heidi'? You'd think one or the other would do." As I started to turn away, I was struck by how young two of the bagpipers were. I was a little surprised, because I thought you needed a lot of lung power to operate bagpipes. I turned back to the woman behind the desk and said I'd never seen baby bagpipers before. Then I looked for Heidi.
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I didn't find her but did find another blonde woman who works for the Library and she said it would be fine to take pix. So I did. Indeed, I took so many pix that I will split them between today, for those that relate specifically to the exhibition opening, and tomorrow, for those that show the recently renovated interior of the Library more generally.
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I found my way to the 2nd and 3rd floors to make a quick circuit of the exhibition. Here's one poster that's part of the display, on the 2nd floor.

Two phrases irritated me. This first is an obvious error.

This second is perhaps arguable.

I think most grammarians would agree that the second element should be "the Irish are no mean people", since the first element uses "is", a singular verb. I lament, again, the passing of proofreaders. Unlike buggy whips, they are not dispensable in the modern age.
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This next poster is from the 3rd floor. In this picture, I thought to get the lettering on the wall above, which I neglected to include in the foto of the other poster. I trust you can read the poster text in both fotos, at whatever resolution your monitor is set to. I can read it fine at 800 x 600.

(I shall let pass the slitely redundant "Throughout it all". "Throughout" means "through all". Far be it from me to seem a prig and pedant. Language is fluid, and changes all the time. But verbose is verbose, needless repetition is needless, and redundant is redundant (is redundant, is redundant... is redundundant).)
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I was looking for Jule among the hundreds of people present, and saw someone who looked a lot like him but was not wearing glasses. While I was in the elevator (I avoid stairs when possible), a couple of Library employees came in with a big box on a rolling cart, and I asked the woman (a strawberry blonde; hm — maybe that was Heidi) if she knew Julius Spohn. She said yes, of course. I then asked if she happened to notice if he was going without his glasses that nite. She didn't think he was. So I asked her to point him out to me if she saw him and I was near. The elevator door opened, and I saw that the young man with her rolled the cart into the room where the festivities were to occur, so knew where to go. There was to be music, dance, speeches, food, and, yes, as one must have at any Irish gathering, drinks. (I'm part-Irish myself, and inasmuch as even the 3rd-floor poster refers to "the odd drink or two" and, in his remarks, the guest curator of the exhibit made reference to "the occasional drink", I don't feel I am committing a crime against humanity in suggesting that we do tend to tipple.)

I wasn't keen on waiting on the long line for refreshments, so wandered a bit, taking pix. By the time I got to the refreshment table, I saw no corned beef!, so settled for tuna and some kind of meat spread. Later I did find some corned beef, and some soda bread. I'd never had soda bread before. I spread some whipped butter on it. Not special. Not bad, mind you, but not a culinary delite.
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At the far end of the room in the foto above was a small group of musicians (not visible in that picture), but the sound system was not loud enuf to rise above the roar of hundreds of conversations.
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Despite the Library's recent renovation, not everything in the building is perfect.

I had a little trouble holding the camera steady enuf in that close zoom, so the picture is a little fuzzy. Sorry.
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On each chair was the program for the exhibit, and for the opening event's proceedings. This is what the exhibit program looks like. You'll get one at the door when you go. Its text and illustrations appear on 10 pages (not numbered, for whatever reason) of high-quality card stock, and the covers are printed on both sides for maximal informational value.

Once I settled into a chair, I asked a woman sitting near what the room we were in is called, hoping she'd know. "Centennial Hall." The lady I had asked about Jule in the elevator was at the front of the room talking to the guy I thought looked like him but without glasses. She pointed me out to him and, sure enuf, it was Jule. He came over, shook my hand, and said this was the largest turnout the Library had ever had for an event. And what would you expect? It's for us Irish, and there were free drinks! (I didn't say that to Jule, of course. I don't know if he's Irish. "Spohn" looks German to me. Still, I'm 1/4 Irish, and "Schoonmaker" doesn't look Irish either — 'cause it's not. It's Dutch, as in Nieuw Amsterdam, where my father's people landed in the mid-1600s.
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Then the proceedings commenced. First, a nice, refined lady came to the rostrum to welcome us. She did not say who she was, and the start of her remarks was hard to hear for people seated farther away than I was until she asked if she could be heard and, upon being told plainly NO, lifted the microphone, the support for which was too short to hold the mike up to most speakers' mouth level. And the mike assembly drooped under its own weight, so speakers had either to bend low over it or hold it up with a hand. The NPL apparently needs the equivalent of the A-V nerd squad we so adored in high school. I thought she was probably the head librarian, but turned to the woman next to me to ask. Yup. I also then opened to the interior of the "Program" for the evening and saw her at the top: Wilma Grey, Director, The Newark Public Library.
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Next up was a brief performance by four little girls (early teens?) from the Schade Academy of Irish Dance. They bounced up and down in that odd but interesting Irish style we have become accustomed to thru Riverdance, with their arms immobile at their sides while the rest of them jumps and steps. Unfortunately, the seats were on a flat surface, rather than the slope that theaters have, so I couldn't get a good picture of the troupe. This is the closest I could come to giving you a feeling for their performance.

Ms. Grey then returned to introduce each speaker, starting with the Honorary Chairperson of the exhibition, State Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin, son of (the late) John J. Giblin, a politician and labor-union activist. The younger Giblin represents the Clifton area.

For a longtime pol — and an Irishman — Giblin is a very bad speaker. He seems not to have what the Irish call "the gift of the gab" (that's right, an extra "the"). Every fourth or fifth 'word' out of his mouth was "Uh", an absurd habit he should have broken his first year in public life. I read somewhere that "Uh" is most often supplied (uh-tered?) by an inconfident speaker when s/he can't come up with a word at a given instant, in order to fill the space that a word should have occupied. I would much rather hear a momentary silence while someone is searching for a word, wouldn't you?
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He introduced such dignitaries as were present, including Mary Jo Codey, wife of NJ Senate President and former Acting Governor Richard Codey. You know her. She's the blonde woman who closes those touching public-service announcements on TV about postpartum depression. (I wanted to speak briefly to her to say that she may be tired of hearing it, but, altho I don't know anyone who has suffered from postpartum depression, I really appreciate her helping to give prominence to the fact that there is treatment for it, and people shouldn't be ashamed to admit to it and seek help. I also wanted to ask if the commercials were made here in NJ and if they are shown outside NJ. But she left the room immediately after the formal portion of the proceedings, and I didn't get the chance.)
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Giblin also introduced the informative lady next to me, who turned out to be Patricia Tumulty,** a member of the organizing committee for the exhibition.
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The best of the speakers was Dermot Quinn, a professor of Irish and British History at Seton Hall University, but even his remarks dragged a bit, pulled down by too many uh's. At least he brought a bit of humor to the otherwise all-too-dry proceedings, including mention that at one event someone asked him if he was from "real Ireland or fake Ireland". He had to admit he was from "fake Ireland".
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Then the girls danced one more time (in what seemed different costumes — ??). They seemed very happy to be dancing for us. And then the adults retired to the drinking portion of the evening.
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I got a Guinness, which I know I don't like, but it was a special occasion, and Guinness was an appropriate thing to drink. It really is awful, and I told the very pleasant guy tending drinks that it would be another year before I had another.
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I got a chance to talk briefly, twice, with Ms. Grey. First, I mentioned that she hadn't said who she was. She said she thought whoever spoke before her had introduced her. (But she started off the program, and any remarks made to the side of the lectern would not have been heard due to the sound-system problem.) Later, I noted that she also got a Guinness. Alas, she misplaced it in making the rounds of people whom she, as gracious hostess, needed to schmooze with. She actually likes Guinness! — 'an acquired taste', she conceded. I implied that it's good for what it is (stout, an intrinsically bitter beer) by saying "It's perfectly bitter — but I don't like bitter."
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Then I spotted the Jameson Irish Whiskey on the coffee table. There was a fine young man making Irish coffee. Wikipedia says of Irish whiskey:

The word whiskey is an Anglicization of the ancient Gaelic term "uisce beatha" which translates as "water of life". Craythur is a modern Irish term for whiskey. The Irish spell the drink "whiskey" while the Scottish drop the "e".

This past week I saw a report on network evening news that Scotch whisky is enjoying a huge growth in popularity due to the millions of newly prosperous, Western-oriented young people in Communist China. I hate Scotch but like Irish whiskey. Alas, the Irish whiskey industry is, according to Wikipedia, in trouble. Maybe many of these Chinese millions would prefer it to Scotch if the Irish can mount an aggressive marketing campaign in Mainland China.
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My Irish coffee made up for the Guinness, which had not agreed with my tummy. Dermot Quinn drew near around then, and I asked, "So, what part of 'fake Ireland' are you from?" Derry, he said. I didn't know where that was. He told me it is about as far North as you can get in Ireland. I only later realized that "Derry" was what I have more commonly heard as "Londonderry", and is definitely in the portion of Ireland (stupidly and imperialistically) retained by the United Kingdom (also known fondly as "those British bastards").
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I chatted briefly with a guy who was taking pix with a great big, expensive-looking camera with flash, to ask if he was with the Library. He was. His name is Stafford Woods, and he is active not just with the Library but also with the Newark Arts Council ("NAC"; I don't know if that is pronounced like the word "knack"; anyone?). I asked if he was at the opening of the NAC 744 group show, and when he said he was, it occurred to me that I think he walked in front of me while I was lining up a shot and excused himself (tho he didn't ruin anything; I wasn't yet ready to trip the shutter). I admired his camera, a very big digital with exchangeable lenses, and asked how much a thing like that runs. About $1,500. Jeez. I showed him my compact, relatively inexpensive Olympus, which fits in a pocket, told him I have a fotoblog, and gave him my card. He said he has about a gigabyte of pix (online?); I said I have over 600 pix in my fotoblog; and he said he'd contact me to say where I might see his pix. When I know, you'll know.
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It was time to go. I knew, because a very loud bell went off and continued to ring for some time. I can take a hint. Well, a loud hint. Just don't be too subtle.
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Before I left, I picked up a rolled-up poster to take home. I'll close this discussion with a foto of that 11" x 17" poster.

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* Jule says he pronounces his last name spaun.
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** "Tumulty" is pronounced not like "tumult" with a Y on the end, which I had always thought it to be, but túm.ul.tee, like Tums for the tummy.
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(This is an entry for Friday uploaded late Saturday due to time constraints.)

Promised Foto

On February 8th I showed a late-afternoon view of 1 Washington Park and the illuminated Riverfront Stadium sign, saying I would post a nite view when I had one. I have one now.

The date in the sign is the day tickets for this season's games first go on sale. It's a special event, with entertainment. As explained on NewarkBears.com:

Individual game tickets to all Newark Bears 2007 home games will go on sale for the first time this season at the stadium box office during the Fourth Annual Box Office Debut. All fans who attend will be entertained by the Dirty Jerzey Motorcycle Stunt-Man group and performers auditioning for the National Anthem and the Bears in-game dance and performance team. Wyatt Wactory will also be available to provide face painting and balloon animals for all fans in attendance. Special appearances by Miss NJ 2006, Georgine DiMaria, and former Mrs. New Jersey America.

I am hoping that Joe in Belleville, Gaetano in the Ironbound, and I can coordinate our schedules and actually get to a game this year. We've talked about it. The time for talk is over!

Nite view from Washington Park Area

Regular readers will know that I like nite views — and am a nite-person, so that is the only kind of view I can fotograf some of the time, especially in winter's short days. Last nite I broke the chains holding me to my desk and actually managed to make a break for the car. I had to reinflate my left front tire, which goes soft every few days. I don't know why. I do know, however, that I have saved myself a small fortune in reinflation costs (at 50 cents each) at a gas station, and hours of waiting for the AAA to come reinflate or even change that tire, by buying an air compressor that plugs into the cigaret liter for something like 15 bucks from Auto Zone on Springfield Avenue. Once that tire was plump again, and not to be frustrated in my Great Escape, I headed Downtown, "where all the lites are brite".
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Younger readers may have no idea what that is a quote from. For future reference, if you search the Internet under "downtown petula clark", you will find this BBC video performance on YouTube of that wonderful song, by Herself. It's terrific. No, I've listened to it again since I first wrote that. And again. And again and again and again. It is SENSATIONAL. If you know a kid who has never heard that song, which had a near-magical influence on people's view of The City, steer him or her to that YouTube performance. It is extraordinary.
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But is it really as wonderful as I feel it to be? Or have I imbued it with memories of my own, long-ago, now-"lost" youth? My youth is of course not really lost at all. It is in my heart, and, in its good and awful parts — you feel the awful parts more painfully when young, for never having experienced them before — contributed to what I am. I'm glad that many aspects of youth, such as its many pains, are long over in my own life, and feel sorry for the young people who have to suffer them anew, since no older person's pain will ever dissuade the young from doing exactly the same thing.
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Essentially every older person agrees with George Bernard Shaw's observation that "Youth is wasted on the young." In this age of fantasy, we might imagine, in full movie mode, what it would be like to relive our youth, knowing now what we did not know then. But that's the only way we'd want to be young again: knowing better.
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Still, the songs of our youth warm us for decades thereafter. Take these examples, for example. "Monday Monday" in 1966; Stevie Wonders' "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (1973); Blondie's "Heart of Glass" in 1975 (here is a video version that is, oddly, somewhat out of sync, as tho Deborah Harry was lip-synching); Cher's "Believe" (lyrics here) or Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings", both from 1985. The link above is to a portion of the original version; you can hear Clay Aiken's fuller version here. Aiken is good, I'm pleased to find, since he has been presumed to be homosexual, and I'm the guy who put forward the term "Gay Pride" as it is now used. Tho he was technically the loser at the end of his season of American Idol, he's done well from it.
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In the 1980s, we had Karma Chameleon — the words to which I did not understand until I saw them written, because Boy George's British accent rendered "karma" into "comma". Later songs wouldn't harken back to our youth. You need some distance to see thru rose-colored glasses.
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We are insanely lucky to have such an astonishingly rich musical culture. But there is no "Newark sound" like the "Philadelphia sound" of early Barry White or the "Motown sound" of the 1960s. There are enormous numbers of very talented musicians working in Newark, but they haven't created a unified sound. Yet.
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Do today's kids see the songs and/or performances I point to above as being as entrancing as we did? YouTube gives them a chance to see and hear them for themselves. I doubt they will listen for 37 seconds and then hit the "Back" button to look for something else.
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I don't think I'm naive in thinking that a resurgence of the song "Downtown" could be transformative in the popular culture of the United States, in reinvigorating the understanding of The City as the very essence of civilization, the brilliant, wondrous center of everything good rather than the dark, forbidding heart of fear that it too often seems nowadays. And not just Newark. Cities in general hold more fear than promise for too many people today. But The City really is the pinnacle of human achievement, the concatenation of all it is to be human. For what value has being a social animal, if there is no group great enuf to find a like soul? It is here, in the greatness of The City, that all parts of us, contemplative and active, deep and frivolous, find fulfilment. In the parlance of our times, cities are both "hot" and "cool". Newark, not least. If that's not the Newark you know, then it is the Newark that awaits.
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That is the kind of Downtown I want Newark to have, but we are very far from it right now. There are just too many people afraid of the boogieman.
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Here's a nite view of Downtown Newark from a bit north of Washington Park.

The brite spot just left of center in that foto, with the strong horizontal bar, is the Washington Park Station of the Newark Lite Rail system.
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Parts of Newark are quite beautiful, nite or day, as I hope you can see from my fotos in this blog. I got a number of really good pix last nite, which I will portion out here over the next few weeks. Stay tuned. If you haven't already done so, consider bookmarking this page to return to regularly. (In AOL, click on the heart icon on the menu bar for the window you are viewing, not the one that has the word "Favorites" alongside it.)
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I'd like Downtown Newark and the Ironbound to be jumping all nite long with kids and adults from the suburbs who are bored out of their minds by 'home entertainment' (mainly TV and the Internet, those pitiably solitary, antisocial pastimes) and the total absence of anything to do with other people at nite in the 'burbs, so flock to Newark, our own buzzing metropolis, for brite lites, companionship, music, art, and intellectual and social excitement. That is not a preposterous thought.
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My camera is auto-almost everything, so I can't much control the way things are depicted. The foto above was taken with the "Night Scene" mode and no-flash selected. The view below was taken with the same Night Scene mode but with "Auto" flash, which caused the flash to trip.

The way things actually look is much closer to the first picture, but this second has, to my mind at least, its own appeal, and more visual drama.
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There are, alas, no nitespots in this entire part of the city — today. Indeed, there are scarcely nitespots of consequence anywhere IN this city (tho my friend Gaetano alerted me to a new place, the Guitar Bar, in his neck of the woods, the Ironbound, which looks very trendy). They have a very jazzy (not to say European-style pretentious) website you might like to see. (Europeans love websites you have to figure out rather than have everything there at the clicking.)
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There is, still, to this day, too much fear in the general populace from The Bad Old Days to let many people view with utter equanimity the prospect of venturing into Newark at nite. Hey, folks, The Bad Old Days are gone. It's safe to go out in Newark again except for the parts of town involved in the drug trade, and they are dangerous mostly to rival drug dealers. You don't deal drugs (I assuredly hope)? You are not a target for destruction.
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Did I mention that I walked around Downtown Newark last nite, with a moderately expensive camera conspicuous atop a tripod, and wasn't murdered? I even still have the pictures I took, because my camera wasn't stolen. How could that be? Might it be because Newark's bad reputation as a hellhole of life-threatening crime is outdated nonsense?
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Here's a view of what adjoins Washington Park to the east across Broad Street, a row of low skyscrapers. (They scrape the sky of overcast days. We need real skyscrapers, 100 stories tall! That's what Newark deserves, and should have, beautiful, magnificent skyscrapers that tell the world that Newark is BACK. Now, if only I had $350 million to build tall, I would. And I wouldn't have trouble getting tenants for such space as my own multitudinous enterprises couldn't fill.)

These buildings are office towers, but all of them have ground floors where restaurants, dance clubs, comedy clubs, jazz clubs, and other nitespots could open. Between dances, partygoers who want a break from the driving beat could retreat across the street to leafy, art-filled Washington Park and its view of the Library and Downtown skyline, which is pretty impressive for a city of Newark's size (municipal). Mind you, Newark metro has 2 million people, and North Jersey has 6.5 million people, all of whom could look to Newark as their very own "Downtown" (cue Petula Clark).
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Moreover, west of Washington Park is what used to be, but no longer is, the Second Presbyterian Church, which is now completely empty. I have danced in former churches, so know that they can make excellent niteclubs. Alongside that former church lies 15 Washington Street, a former insurance company office tower. It is soon to be transformed into a dormitory for Rutgers-Newark. Might it not also incorporate a space for nitelife, on one or more floors?
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Newark should build taller, greater, grander, with more pride — even, yes, a touch of arrogance. We are the greatest city of the most densely populated state in the Union. More people, per capita, want to be here than just about anywhere else in North America. Eat your heart out, Dubuque.*
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* Dubuque's own website calls Dubuque (pop 58K, metro 92K) "The Masterpiece on the Mississippi". We should have that kind of pride. Joan Rivers once said of another city in Iowa, "Sioux City is like a little Newark — but without the glamor of Newark." You got that right, lady. I have actually been to Sioux City, and it really isn't that different from Newark. That is to say that Newark isn't that much more dangerous than little (85,000 population), safe Sioux City, Iowa.