Thursday, August 12, 2010

REMINISCING ABOUT OLD JERSEY CITY

I got this in an email today. My Jersey City friends may remember many of the places and things. Have fun, I did.
 

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM JERSEY CITY 
IF YOU REMEMBER:

* Hudson Boulevard had islands.
* You knew how O'Hara's got 
it's name.

* You knew all the troublemakers before 
they became cops.

- Martin Luther King Drive was Jackson 
Avenue

- Christopher Columbus Drive was Railroad 
Avenue

- Luiz Munoz Marin Boulevard was Henderson 
Street

-Manila Avenue was Grove Street
- Roosevelt Lanes & Putney's 
Pub

- Annual Holy Name Parade
- What Harvard on the Blvd. and St. 
Richards on the Hill are

- The color scheme of the bus lines 
... Brown: Central Avenue; Red: Montgomery/West Side, Green: Bergen/Lafayette, 
Orange: Bergen Avenue

- Getting Sunday suits at Robert Hall 
- Bettingers on the Square
- Uncle Milties/Bergen Point
- The Skyline Cabana Club
- You shopped in Woolworth on Journal 
Square
and went to the Griddle or Driftwood after a movie.

- The Hudson Mall was a strip mall 
- Instead of the Hudson Mall there
was: Two Guys from Harrison; Great Eastern, and Valley Fair

- Instead of the dollar stores there 
was Johns Bargain Stores

- You could actually swim in the Reservoir 
(on the sneak)

- The giant roach in the exterminators 
window on Westside Avenue

- Floor shows at the Canton Tea Garden 
Chinese Restaurant

- You've said "Youse" 
about 100 times in one day

- The best hot dogs at Boulevard Drinks 
- Orange Julius at the Square
- Charcoal burgers at Tippys
- The Tube Bar and Red the owner
- The Concourse
- The Oyster Bay, Murtaghs, the Alps, 
Robinsons Steak House, and the Blue Piano

- The PATH train was .30 cents and 
before that they were called the Hudson Tubes

- The Happy Birthday Truck from Schneider's 
Bakery

- You were part of the in crowd if 
you shopped at Danny Mack and Cara Carson

(Marilyn on Central Avenue, Wetons 
on Bergen)

- The Public Service Bus Terminal Concourse 
with 3 Guys Pizza, Universal, Horn & Hardardt

- The chickens turning on the rotisserie 
at Universal

- The shortcut through the escalators 
to Magnolia Avenue

- Eating lunch at Liss Drug
- Ice skating at Roosevelt Stadium 
- That St. Als Academy was known as 
snob hill or House on Whore Hill

- The Bergen School
- The CYO, OLM, St. Michaels, Mt. Carmel 
and Holy Family dances

- Going through Lincoln Park to get 
to 440

- The CYO on Bergen Avenue
- You remember go-carts on 440 and 
# 5 Park

- You hung out at the VIP or The Colonette 
after a night of partying and before that the Colony

- The football Giants practicing at 
Roosevelt Stadium

- Drunks and derelicts donating blood 
for money at the blood bank next to McCrorys

- Everyone lived in a parish
- J.M. Fields
- Brummers Ice Cream Parlor at the 
Junction(the sons opened parlors in Vermilion, OH and Westwood, NJ)

- Schroeder's and Myers Ice Cream 
Parlor on Central Avenue

- Your neighborhood beat cops first 
name

- The Captains Table Restaurant at 
Roosevelt Stadium

- Fischer Beers
- Drive-in movies at Roosevelt Stadium 
- You sat on the Buffalo at Mosquito 
Park and rode your sled in winter there

- Nedicks and Bickford';s Cafeteria 
on the Square

- Monteleones, Five Corners and the 
Paris Bakeries

- In grammar school you went home for 
lunch and your mom made it for you cause she was there

- You lived in a house/apartment with 
at the least one cousin and/or grandparent on the same street

- You lived within 1/2 mile of three 
catholic churches (with schools attached)

- Track meets and boxing matches at 
Pershing Field

- The pool at North Street Park (and 
never called it Washington Park)

- Battle of the Bands
- You know the You know the A. Harry Moore cheer
>

- You drank or ate at any of these
>places: The Park Tavern, Frank's Bar and Grill, the

  Glenwood, the Showboat, Narrowbacks,
>Soap Creek, or Guarini';s

* Dekay's Diner HA!
* Your dad would take the whole family
>to the Roosevelt Drive-In, but if you were over 12, he'd hide you in the trunk
>

* You've eaten at Jule's, IIvento's,
>or the Rodeo Steakhouse

* You remember buying candy at Liss Drugs Store
>and then going to the movies on the Square

* You shopped at The Grove Shoppe,
>State Gown, Wenton's or Cara Carson, and Barney Stock for designer clothes
>or accessories

* You went to John's Bargain Store
>for clothes pins and underwear

* You remember Mayor Smith and that
>he once sparred with Muhammad Ali

* You hung out at the Hilltop on Newark
>& Baldwin Ave. after high school everyday

* You went to the "City"
>to get drunk at 15

* You ate zeppoles and took chances
>for the 50/50 at the Mount Carmel feast

* You knew Great Eastern before it
>was found to be a toxic PCP dump. Ditto behind

   Lincoln Park
* You could see the Statue of Liberty
>or the Empire State Building from your house and

   never visited them.
* KFC and Gino's were the same
>fast food restaurant

* You watched "Cops" on TV
>and recognize the streets

* You played basketball or hockey in
>Country Village

* You had a coconut drink at the Canton
>

* You learned to drive in Roosevelt
>Stadium or B ayonne Park and make out at 11 PM

* You swam at Bayonne Pool and skated
>at the roller rink next door]

* You saw headliner rock groups and
>fireworks in Roosevelt Stadium

* The PIX didn't show porn
* There were three colleges in Jersey
>City to choose from, Jersey City State,

   St. Peter';s, and Rutgers University
* You delivered the Jersey Journal
>door-to-door and no one worried you'd get kidnapped

   by a neighbor
* You could sneak into the back door
>of the Stanley for a free movie before the Jehovah's

   Witnesses took it over
* You remember going to the State and
>Loew's movie theaters at the Square

* You and all your friends were born
>in the best maternity hospital in the state, the

   Margaret Hague (best on the East
>coast!)  

* You were proud that Jimmy Spanarkel
>made it to the Blue Devils

* You know someone who saw a UFO in
>Mosquito Park

* You went swimming in Newark Bay and
>you drove to Bayonne to go to Uncle Miltie's

* Going to Palisade Park was a big
>adventure

* You knew which house on the Boulevard
>was haunted

* You went to the "Shore"
>after the prom

* Republican was a dirty word
* You remember turf wars between Sterling,
>Ocean, the Heights, West Side, and Marion

* For $2.00 you could take the "Tubes"
>to Greenwich Village, buy an Orange Julius and a

   chili dog, and then take the "Tubes"
>back, and still have change!

* Who was better, WW III or Medusa?
>

* The Jumping Jack's and Bobbie
>Blue

* Were the 2nd St Damato's really
>related to Sinatra?

* Everyone knew Sam DiFeo
* You knew what time the Mosquito truck
>fogged the block with diapason so you could

   run behind in the thick smoke
* The water truck that soaked down
>the dusty cobble stones

* Lay-aways at Mo Finks!
* Swimming in the Hudson, Bare Ass
>Beach and Big Time was the Colgate's Clock

* You knew who Mr. Fix It was
* You went to school with kids from
>Gammon Town and Dog Patch

* Every one spoke English
* Country Village was for rich people
>

* They arrest people from Jersey City
>in Bayonne

* Cops would kick your butt if you
>answered them back

* You knew the corner bookie and could
>play a number for 15c with a 10c combo

Thanks to whoever took the time and authored this long list taking us down memory lane.
 
 .......and I will add P.S. 35, P.S. 23 and Dickinson H.S. all the schools I attended and what I called all the mini United Nations, eating lunch at White Castle, eating my first Blinpie at Journal Square,.........

This is quite a nice blast from the past.......Maybe someone will make a list of what's left now and what replaced the old memories with new ones.