PREMIER ISSUE
Life o n th e Peninsula Spring 2014
The New Face of Bayonne HOMEGROWN BAND SILKLOFTS HISTORIC RIFLES GAME OF THRONES CHUCK WEPNER ENDURING BUSINESSES
The future of healthcare has come to Hudson County CarePoint Health is bringing quality, patient-focused healthcare to Hudson County. Combining the resources of three area hospitals — Bayonne Medical Center, Christ Hospital in Jersey City, and Hoboken University Medical Center — CarePoint Health is a new approach to delivering healthcare that puts the patient front and center. With a focus on preventive medicine, disease management and healthcare education, CarePoint Health provides patients with 360 degrees of coordinated care, delivered by the area’s best and most dedicated doctors, nurses, hospitals and medical staff.
Bayonne Medical Center 29th Street at Avenue E, Bayonne, NJ 07002 Christ Hospital 176 Palisade Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306 Hoboken University Medical Center 308 Willow Avenue, Hoboken, NJ 07030 carepointhealth.org 1.877.791.7000 twitter.com/CarePointHealth facebook.com/CarePointHealth CarePoint Health System
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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FEATURES COVER
14 18
18
CONTENTS BLP
THE SCANDALS Homegrown band Cover photo by Maxim Ryazansky
SILKLOFTS Factory to luxury living
22
TIME-HONORED ESTABLISHMENTS
38
ICONIC RIFLES
Enduring businesses Made in Bayonne Doug Stern
DEPARTMENTS
8 10
CONTRIBUTORS
26
WORKING OUT WITH
29
DATES
30
PEOPLE POWER
34
HANGING OUT WITH
36
ON THE WATERFRONT
40
EDUCATION
44
EMERGING BAYONNE
45
VANISHING BAYONNE
48
SPORTS CORNER
50
SENIOR MOMENTS
52
HOW WE LIVE
60
HOW WE WORK
63
HELPING HANDS
64
WATERING HOLE
66
EATERY
68
DINING OUT
BY TBISHPHOTO
Fr o m Fa c t o ri e s
EDITOR’S LETTER BY CHRISTIAN GARIBALDI
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Chuck Wepner
What’s goin’ on
George R.R. Martin
to
Luxury Lofts
Time-Honored Establishments
22
Enduring businesses call Bayonne home
Patty Smith
Sunken ships
Academy of Fine Arts and Academics
Windmill
Vintage signs
Joe Borowski
38
June Sturz
House proud
Small businesses
Frank P. Perrucci
Big Apple
Buon Appetito
Listings
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
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A Publication of The Hudson Reporter
PUBLISHERS Lucha Malato, David Unger EDITOR IN CHIEF Kate Rounds GRAPHICS STAFF Lisa M. Cuthbert Terri Saulino Bish Pasquale Spina Mike Mitolo Patricia Verano Alyssa Bredin COPYEDITING Christopher Zinsli ADVERTISING MANAGER Tish Kraszyk ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Joseph Calderone, Toni Anne Calderone, Ron Kraszyk, Jay Slansky CIRCULATION MANAGER Roberto Lopez CIRCULATION Luis Vasquez ACCOUNTING Veronica Aldaz Bayonne Life on the Peninsula is published by the Hudson Reporter Associates, L.P., 1400 Washington St., Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (201) 798-7800, Fax (201) 798-0018. Email bayonnemag@hudsonreporter.com. Subscriptions are $10 per year, $25 for overseas, single copies are $7.50 each, multiple copy discounts are available. VISA/MC/AMEX accepted. Subscription information should be sent to BLP Magazine Subscriptions, 1400 Washington St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or other unsolicited materials. Copyright ©2014, Hudson Reporter Associates L.P. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 3/11/14• 1:30 PM
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR Dear friends,
I
t is my honor to be able to welcome you to the inaugural issue of Bayonne: Life on the Peninsula. This lifestyle magazine is a project of our friends at the Hudson Reporter. They aim to chronicle everything that is wonderful about life here in the unique city we love. For those folks who were born here and chose to stay, in these pages, you will catch glimpses of familiar landmarks and larger-than-life personalities as well as new developments and interesting new people. For newcomers, you have a wonderful opportunity to explore our home and fall in love with Bayonne for yourself. Our community has come of age. Like Hoboken and Jersey City to the north, we now have our own magazine. It’s a harbinger of good things to come. I hope you enjoy it. Mark Smith Mayor
CONTRIBUTORS BLP JIM HAGUE is a Jersey City native, who landed a job with the Hudson Dispatch in 1986. He has been the sports columnist for the Hudson Reporter Associates for the last 22 years.
TIMOTHY MATUS is a Bayonne native and self-taught photograher who likes to capture subjects in a unique way.
TERRI SAULINO BISH
GILBERT AGUON
JOSEPH PASSANTINO ALYSSA BREDIN
DEAN DECHIARO
grew up in Bayonne and has had careers in both print journalism and public relations, winning awards for writing, editing, and photography. He is the staff writer for the Bayonne Community News.
MERLIN URAL RIVERA JIM HAGUE
TIMOTHY MATUS
lived in Bulgaria and Turkey before moving to Bayonne. Her short stories were published in Ping Pong, Warscapes, Hot Street and Umbrella Factory, and she can be reached at mement-o-mori@hotmail.com.
JOSEPH PASSANTINO
VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ has studied publication design, photography, and graphic design. “I’ve been fascinated by photography for 18 years,” he says. One of his jobs as a construction project manager is to photograph job sites. MAXIM RYAZANSKY
TARA RYAZANSKY
AL SULLIVAN
MERLIN URAL RIVERA
VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
MAXIM RYAZANSKY
GILBERT AGUON
ALYSSA BREDIN
is an aspiring photojournalist living in North Bergen. He likes cats, bikes around Hudson County, and can be reached at gilbert.aguon@gmail.com.
is a graduate of Saint Peter’s University, Jersey City, with a degree in graphic arts. She is pursuing a career in photography. Her work can be seen at tbishphoto.com.
TERRI SAULINO BISH began her career as a graphic designer and digital artist. Expanding into the area of photography, she not only creates images but captures them with her camera. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Best of Photography. Her work includes digital paintings and photos that can be viewed at tbishphoto.com.
DEAN DECHIARO is a Hudson County native who covers Hoboken for the Hudson Reporter Association. He became a journalist because his friends all went into law and business, and he figured they’d be worth keeping an eye on.
8 • Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
is a photographer whose work has been exhibited in galleries and published worldwide. A recent transplant to Bayonne, he spends his spare time trying to figure out the best pizza place in town.
TARA RYANZANSKY is a writer who recently moved from Brooklyn to Bayonne. She works as a blogger for Nameberry.com and spends her spare time fixing up her new (to her) 100-year-old home.
AL SULLIVAN has been a staff writer for the Hudson Reporter newspaper chain since 1992. He was named journalist of the year in 2001 by the New Jersey Press Association, and photographer of the year in 2005 by the Garden State Journalists Association. In 2001, Rutgers University Press published a collection of his work, Everyday People: Profiles from the Garden State.
PHOTO BY MARIE PAPP
EDITOR'S LETTER BLP
Life on the Peninsula
GIF T CARD
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
It’s the people of Bayonne who put the “community” in the Bayonne Community News. Without these civic-minded citizens, there would be no community news. We wanted to do the same with a glossy lifestyle magazine that would reflect Bayonne’s values, energy, culture, work ethic, and neighborly spirit. The magazine debuts at a critical stage in the town’s evolution. A handful of commercial and residential development projects are promising to bring new flavor to Bayonne’s already-bubbling melting pot. In this issue Doug Stern, developer of the Maidenform factory, talks about bringing artists and young professionals into the mix, and Business Administrator Steve Gallo speaks of Bayonne as the new Brooklyn. One of these young artists is Bayonne native Jared Hart, who’s making it big in the music biz. That’s him on the cover, before his band took off on a European tour. But not to worry. The town’s traditions and time-honored establishments endure. We cover many of them in this issue, and you’ll see old friends like Jean Sturz, Chuck Wepner, and Frank Perrucci. George R.R. Martin is the massively successful author of Game of Thrones, which was made into the HBO blockbuster. Though he was busy with a publicity tour, he spent a Saturday afternoon with our writer, Dean DeChiaro. My guess is that Mr. Martin agreed because he is invested in Bayonne and wanted to visit his old neighborhood. George and Dean embody the many faces of Bayonne. They are both Bayonne natives—born 40 years apart. There’s much more in this issue. When it comes time to plan our next one, we will be counting on you to send us your ideas. Please email us at bayonnemag@hudsonreporter.com and find us on Facebook. Our great thanks to the city and local businesses that supported our debut issue. Welcome to Bayonne: Life on the Peninsula. We hope to see you and your family, friends, and neighbors in our pages.—BLP
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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The SCANDALS
The Scandals performed at the Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park in March.
Bayonne’s own punk rock band makes the big time BY TARA RYAZANSKY
S
PHOTOS BY MAXIM RYAZANSKY
itting in Bayonne’s Little Food Cafe, just a few blocks from the house he grew up in, Jared Hart tells me about his punk rock band, The Scandals. He describes their sound as “Rock and roll that’s a little bit sped up and rough around the edges.” At 25 years old, Hart has been playing music with The Scandals for more than 10 years. He is soft-spoken and low-key compared to his growly singing voice and charismatic stage presence. If not for the smattering of music-related pins and patches on his jacket, you might not guess that he’s the front man of a punk band. When I talk to him he’s excited about the band’s March European tour, a first for the band and a big first for Hart, who has never flown before. In 2004, just before his freshman year at Bayonne High School, Hart went to a battle of the bands at First Street Park. He watched a local band called No Say take
the stage that overlooked the bay. They played hard, fast, and loud, so loud that several noise complaints were called in, and the speakers had to be turned to face the water. Their style of punk rock was unlike anything Hart had heard before. “I felt like I was witnessing something that I wanted to belong to,” Hart recalls. “I wanted to run home and grab a guitar.” He turned to his friends and said, “Let’s start a band.” Hart dreamed that one day he would have his own band that would play with No Say. As a high-school band, The Scandals practiced in the basement of a friend’s house on Orient Way. They saw other local bands at the Knights of Columbus, Fratelli’s, VFW halls, and The Arts Factory, which presented live local music. “If it wasn’t for those shows I wouldn’t be doing any of this right now,” Hart says. Bayonne had plenty of local acts in various genres that played every weekend. Young people crowded the stages; there was an energy in town that influenced Hart’s writing today. Soon, The Scandals were playing along-
side No Say and other local bands. Eventually they left town to play bigger punk clubs like Asbury Lanes, one of Hart’s favorite venues. He frequented popular “punk nite” events and eventually asked Kate Hiltz, punk rock mainstay, band manager, and promoter, if his band could play one evening. “She told me to write her an essay about why we should play,” Hart says, his blue eyes sparkling. Though he knew she was teasing him, he wrote the essay. “Everyone knows that proper grammar and composition are a quick way to my heart,” laughs Hiltz. Bayonne High School must have taught Hart well, because his written work won him a spot on the punk nite marquee. “If a young man is able to articulate why his band should be chosen above the others, so be it,” Hiltz says. “It’s been amazing to watch him grow into an accomplished songwriter and bandleader while still keeping his manners and friends. What a gem.” Matt Messenger, the bass player of No Say, recorded The Scandals first fulllength album in 2010. The band memLife on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
15
The Asbury Park concert. bers went to colleges within driving distance of each other. Hart spent weekdays attending classes and student teaching, but he and the guys toured every weekend, playing in DC, Philly, Baltimore, and Boston. Hart earned his degree at The College of New Jersey and
told Hart the same thing. Finally, the drummer quit for the same reasons, though he said that he would finish the West Coast tour. Hart started getting in touch with friends, friends of friends, and mere acquaintances. He and his original drummer played the California
drums for The Scandals in 2009. He had spent time with the band while they were recording and releasing their 2010 album. “Want to relive your old tour days?” Hart asked him. “When do we leave?” he responded. After only one practice that
At 25 years old, Hart has been playing music with The Scandals for more than 10 years. is certified to teach art to kids K-12. An interest in the arts runs in the family. His father, Tom, teaches art at Bayonne High School, and his mother, Kathy, taught art at Holy Family until it closed. They wanted their son to have an education to fall back on, but as artists they understood that playing music full-time was his dream. The September after college graduation, The Scandals had about a month of dates booked, including a stint on the West Coast. Playing in California would introduce the band to a lot of potential new fans. Two weeks before the band was to leave, the bass player told Hart he was quitting. He wanted the stability of a fulltime job instead of life on the road as part of an aspiring band. Days later the guitarist
16 •
tour dates with a temporary guitarist and bassist, but Hart had to find musicians to play the second stretch of the tour. Anthony Iarossi had filled in on guitar a few times. He happily joined as the full-time guitarist. Sean Carney was a bassist in a Rhode Island punk band that had helped Hart book shows in that area. They had crashed on each other’s couches when their respective bands were playing nearby, but they didn’t know each other well. Hart did know that they had the same music mindset. He called him, and Carney was ready and willing to join the tour. Carney still lives in Rhode Island and takes a bus to New Jersey almost every weekend to practice with Hart. Paulie Yaremko was an old friend who had filled in on
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
Carney was unable to attend, the new members hit the road. Thus, The Scandals’ current lineup was born. “It shouldn’t have worked, but it did,” Hart says. The members got along, but that doesn’t mean that their first show went off without a hitch. “I’ve seen worse shows,” Hart grins, “but it was bad. None of us clicked.” After that first show they drove until they were too tired to go on and stayed the night at a Connecticut campground. That morning, the band held an impromptu, unplugged practice session at a picnic table. “I was using a drum pad, the table, and I think someone’s bag to create my makeshift kit,” Yaremko recalls. “That was when I realized that the four of us, regardless of how short we had known
each other, would do what it takes to make this work,” Iarossi says. “Instead of pointing fingers we took out our instruments and played through the set.” The shows got increasingly better, but, Hart says, “No one is going to go out looking to find my dumb band.” He knew that playing shows and talking to people would take them from a local act to something bigger. That meant a heavy schedule of club dates that eventually included solo acoustic performances for Hart. “I would load up and head out to do acoustic shows whenever I was bored,” he says. “When playing acoustic, if something goes wrong, whether technical or with your performance, everyone notices.” But if a solo show can “grab the crowd,” Hart says that it can be just as fun as playing with a loud band backing him. The audience might not form a mosh pit, but listeners connect with the lyrics. Hart believes in the old saw of writing what you know. The band’s lyrics have a nostalgic quality, often recalling events that took place right here in Bayonne. Hart’s throaty vocals and bittersweet lyrics make for a raw and real performance that can appeal to not only fans of punk, but to anyone who likes singer/songwriters and lyricsdriven music. Hart’s strong writing and acoustic chops led him to release a split EP in 2013 with Brian Fallon, lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem, a New Jersey punk band with the backing of a major record label that has performed with Bruce Springsteen. The band has also worked with Pete Steinkopf of the Bouncing Souls, an influential New Jersey punk band that has been an important part of the music scene for 25 years. Steinkopf produced The Scandals’ 2012 EP Trenchknife. Rolling Stone Magazine’s website premiered a video of Hart playing an acoustic ver-
sion of The Scandals song “All Nighters.” It features Fallon and Steinkopf giving advice to Hart about the band’s European tour, which started in Belgium and covered western and central Europe. “It didn’t feel real until I saw my name on the plane ticket,” Hart says. The band also teamed up with Red Bull Sound Select, an academy that supports burgeoning artists by widening the scope of their audiences. Hart has this advice for Bayonne residents who want to follow a dream: “Just don’t listen to what anyone else tells you that you want. You know what you want. I’ve talked to too many people who have regret.”—BLP
RESOURCES
Check these websites for tour dates, videos, and new tracks by The Scandals.
• • •
thescandals201.bandcamp.com rollingstone.com/music/videos/the-scandalspull-all-nighters-premiere-20131205 redbullsoundselect.com/artists/TheScandals.
Doug Stern BY TBISHPHOTO
Fr o m Fa c t o ri e s PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN GARIBALDI
to
Luxury Lofts
The evolution of a town BY KATE ROUNDS
D
eveloper Doug Stern is so excited about his new project, he’s waiting in the parking lot, hardhat on head, all energy and expectation. He’s a developer of commercial and industrial real estate and a private equity investor. We’d carved out a tiny slice of sun during the horrible winter of 2014 to tour the residential development that everyone calls “Maidenform.” Stern acquired the property in 2009. It occupies 100,000 square feet at 154 Avenue E, just 800 feet (yes, Stern measured it) from the 22nd Street light rail stop. The complex was built between 1890 and 1910 by the Schwarzenbach-Huber Co., a key player in North Hudson’s silk industry. The company had been one of the largest manufacturers of broad and novelty silks. An early description of the company’s West Hoboken facility describes it as a “model” plant with “plenty of light, air, and ventilation”— characteristics that define Stern’s vision for the residential complex that will be known as Silklofts.
18 • Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
LINGERIE LEGACY Though the building started life as a silk factory, it was as a bra-manufacturing plant that it became famous. On Sept. 25, 1929, the legendary Maidenform Inc. acquired the Schwarzenbach-Huber mill, which was in foreclosure proceedings. The Maidenform complex includes several main buildings and outbuildings in the courtyard. The structures are built of brick with heavy timber columns and beams, distinguishing features in the new Silklofts renovation. The timbers are made of long-leaf yellow pine, which is prized for its density. Stern invites me to pick up a sawed-off ceiling joist. It weighs almost as much as I do. Long-leaf yellow pine takes up to 150 years to mature and can live 500 years. It’s likely that the wood used for the building’s columns and beams was grown more than 250 years ago. The facility served as Maidenform’s main manufacturing plant until 1990 when production was moved south, and the building became Maidenform’s corporate headquarters. The company occupied the building for about 76 years, until 2007 when they put it up for sale. A year after Stern acquired the
p h
L
r w T w o E w d a c i f k q w
property and began to redevelop it, the site was approved as a historic preservation project by the National Parks Service.
LOFT LIVING
Silklofts will offer five studios, 26 two bedrooms, 48 one bedrooms, and six artists’ lofts. Depending on the unit, tenants will be able to move in roughly between May and September. The units feature exposed brick, 12- to 20-foot ceilings, huge wood windows up to 11 feet high with “divided lights”—panes of smaller glass separated and held in by supporting bars. Each unit will have eight-foot solid core doors—flush doors with a solid material placed within the door skins. The front doors will be mahogany, and the building’s original brick archways will be opened up. The kitchens will feature quartz countertops and eight-foot chef islands. Wall construction will include a Resilient Channel sound-reduction system, and floor pads will minimize noise between residences. Bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms will have bamboo floors and threequarter-inch solid oak gunstock wood floors. There will be a washer/dryer in every unit. Amenities include secure onsite
BY TBISHPHOTO
parking, gym, and pocket park with herb garden, pizza oven, and fire pit. Stern is pursuing a LEED Silver-rated designation by using bamboo flooring, Argon gas-filled sealed units between window panes, energy-efficient appliances, highefficiency ductless heat pump HVAC, quartz countertops made from recycled materials, and brick and wood salvaged from the construction process to build walls, floors, and art pieces. That process avoids the use of millions of tons of concrete and steel and its associated carbon footprint.
SITE INSPECTION The day I visit, the word “homes” is top of mind for Stern. “These are homes, not apartments,” he emphasizes. “This is a community, not just a place to sleep.” The subtext is that the care that has been put into construction and the quality of materials will make it a home and not just a crash pad. The windows are a major point of pride. The largest cost $3,500 each. And there will be artwork in the lobby by famed photographer Peter Lik.
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
19
Our trek to the back buildings involves bogarting our way though mounds of glazed snow, so it is literally warming to hear Stern describe what it will be like back here on fine summer evenings: picnic tables, pizza oven, fire pit. It’s a way for residents to “get to know their neighbors,” Stern says. There are five floors in the main building with five homes per floor. We start on the third floor where Stern shows me a studio. As with all the homes, the ceilings and windows are huge. There is a walk-in closet and washer/dryer. The view through these tall windows is of the pocket courtyard and the original factory chimney, but it’s what’s beyond that’s mesmerizing— an urban landscape that is uniquely Bayonne, an almost surreal tableau of elevated light-rail tracks; marshland; Highway 440; white oil drums; the Winners sign, evoking the Great Gatsby’s T.J. Eckleburg billboard; and in the distance, the town’s signature windmill, seemingly frozen in the cold air. If you love Bayonne, you’ll love this cityscape, which reflects our proud history of industry and production, embodied in the building that will become Silklofts. Stern calls it “urban art.” On the fifth floor, we look at a spacious two-bedroom that also boasts two bathrooms. But by far, its most exquisite feature is the view through the south-facing windows. The day I’m there the sun is just setting over the Bayonne Bridge, suffusing the loft with gorgeous winter light. The price range— depending on the home—is between approximately $1,500 and $2,700.
who are expected to build 700 high-end residential and commercial units on this large swath of the former military terminal. The city is also reviewing expressions of interest for Harbor Station South, which is earmarked for retail and commercial uses, including hotels and destination shopping venues. Other development projects include Cali Futures’s the Park Apartments on 44th Street and the Boulevard; Regan’s Tagliareini Plaza affordable housing complex; The Kaplan Company’s Camelot Project on West Third Street; Skyhail’s luxury loft-style apartments; and the Alessi organization’s various apartment projects, including Peninsula View at East 32nd Street.
URBAN ADVENTURERS Stern is especially excited about artists’ lofts that will be built in one of the back buildings. You don’t have to be an artist to live there, but they will feature large open spaces, which are essential for an artist’s work space. The history of urban planning and urban renewal is rife with examples of artist pioneers, who venture into abandoned warehouse districts, creating studios, galleries, and a town’s cultural footprint. They draw visitors to their DIY arts districts but soon are driven out by soaring real-estate prices, and then it’s off to the next undiscovered warehouse, mill, or factory. This has happened in cities from Austin to Boston, and right here in our own backyard, whether it’s New York City’s Soho;
BY TBISHPHOTO
NOT IN A VACUUM Silklofts is being developed against a larger backdrop of commercial and residential development in Bayonne. Harbor Station North at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, a 30-acre tract, east of the 45th Street light rail station, is slated for redevelopment by Carl Goldberg, Marc Berson and Partners,
20 • Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
the Yardley building in Union City, a former soap factory, which now houses businesses like cabinet makers and portrait painters; the Neumann Leather building in Hoboken, which currently houses artists’ studios; the 111 First St. building in Jersey City, a former cigarette factory, which housed an artist colony and was infamously torn down in 2007. Where does Silklofts fit into this picture?
“From the beginning of time, artists have been in the vanguard, recognizing the beauty and value and uniqueness of these types of projects,” Stern says. “The price point might be hard for starving artists, but we could attract artists to split a two-bedroom. I expect the tenant base to be young, urban professionals who want and like urban art—young bankers, looking for something different.” The next day, a friend asks me to meet for a drink at Lot 13, a neighborhood bar [See story on page 34] that happens to be across the street from Silklofts. Without my coaxing, a patron starts a conversation about what she calls “Maidenform.” She says, “It’s too expensive. Who in Bayonne can pay those prices?” The truth is, the prices are way lower than similar projects in Hoboken, Jersey City, or Brooklyn. And speaking of Brooklyn, Steve Gallo, the city’s business administrator, has spoken of Bayonne as the “new Brooklyn.” But it’s a good question: Does Bayonne have the artsy, cultural edge that has made Hoboken, Jersey City, and Brooklyn a draw for young, hip—and sometimes well-off—young people? “The reality,” Stern says, “is that that Bayonne is the next cool place. It is not the cool place yet.”
Everything about Stern’s redevelopment of the property speaks to maintaining the authentic structure of the building and flavor of what was made there. To that end, he plans to adorn the public areas with beautiful prints of the ad campaigns that made Maidenform a mainstay (excuse the pun) of American manufacturing. There will also be archival photographs of the building, and historic objects, such as a “key box” used by security guards. Stern is no ordinary developer. He’s pretty young—45— with a zeal, ethic, and sense of history as solid as those pine timbers. “Many developers ask themselves, why spend money?” Stern says. “My approach is why shouldn’t I? People see and recognize a high-quality product. It’s all about value.”—BLP
THE CLEAVAGE CONNECTION “I dreamed I barged down the Nile in my Maidenform Bra.” This was just one of many famous “I Dreamed …” ads, made between 1949 and 1969, securing market dominance for Maidenform Inc., “makers of bras, girdles and swimsuits.” Features included “spoke-stitched cups for Cleopatra curves” and “reinforced undercups for everlasting uplift.” The “I Dreamed …” ad campaign is considered one of the most successful marketing efforts of the 20th century.
PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN GARIBALDI
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
21
Time-Honored Establishments Enduring businesses call Bayonne home
T
Hendrickson’s Restaurant - Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
BY MERLIN URAL RIVERA
here are things in Bayonne that haven’t changed and are unlikely to anytime soon: spectacular sunsets over Newark Bay, laundromats bustling on Sundays, and
In 1887, Charles Hendrickson bought the building and opened a saloon that it was said smelled like “old Europe.” When Randy Capriola and his partner took over the restaurant in 1981, they kept the signature design and paintwork. After Capriola died 14 years ago,
Here are a few gems that go a long way to making Bayonne Bayonne. homes elaborately decorated for Halloween and Christmas. There are also local spots with a long shelf life, places where time stands still. Here are a few gems that go a long way to making Bayonne Bayonne.
Hendrickson’s Restaurant At the corner of Broadway and 31st Street, Hendrickson’s Restaurant retains the subdued charm of a bygone era. Originally a grocery store, the historic building served as city hall (with a few jail cells in the cellar) where political meetings were held.
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his wife Angela took over the business. “Hendrickson’s is a landmark building that even people outside of Bayonne have heard of,” she says. “So many memories are tied to this restaurant. Elderly couples can still find the booth where they had their first date, and families that are no longer in Bayonne often come here for a reunion.” Sun sifting through lovely stainedglass windows suffuses the place with a sense of nostalgia. The indirect lighting, dark-wood paneling, and moose head on the brick wall set the mood for diners who want to sip a whiskey on a wicked winter night, or a cold beer on
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
a hot one, while chatting with the friendly bartender. The old piano is always ready for a hearty sing-along. “The second time you come here the waitress or the bartender will recognize you,” Angela says, “and the third time will be like you’ve been here forever.” Specials like the delicious French onion soup, Steak Murphy, and Sauerbraten keep diners coming to Hendrickson’s cozy booths upholstered in dark green leather. “We still serve the same steak sandwich from the past century,” says Angela. “The secret has been handed down.”
Barney Stock Hosiery Shops Barney Stock, a Polish immigrant, came to Ellis Island in 1920, and by 1923, he was an English-speaking retail owner with a shop in the heart of Bayonne. Today, his son Mel runs Barney Stock Hosiery Shops, which carries a large supply of bras (including mastectomy bras), underwear,
Mel Stock
Barney Stock Hosiery Shops - Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
hosiery, maternity wear, nightgowns, bathing suits, slippers, handbags, and the best-selling Spanx. The store also sells cosmetics—brands like Estée Lauder and Clinique. “A lot of the old-time stores, momand-pop places have gone out of business,” Mel says. “Broadway is emptier; the movie theater is gone. The mall has taken a lot of traffic from us.” Despite the increased competition, Barney Stock survives by providing personal service. “We measure our customers for undergarments,” Mel says. He has four or five women on staff, including Lois who has worked there since she was a teenager, who do the measuring.
There are other perks. “With minimum purchase, we refund their parkingmeter money, and we give them travel purses as gifts,” Mel says. “We also send items to our loyal customers who have moved out of Bayonne.” Mel has a photograph from 1946 that shows a long line of women waiting in the cold outside Barney Stock to buy nylon stockings—a rare thing in World War II, since nylon was used to make parachutes. “If I hadn’t been in grammar school at that time, I would have been out there, serving hot chocolate to those ladies,” Mel says. In previous years, Barney Stock offered gift certificates to any woman
Chris’ Corner - Photo by Merlin Ural Riveria
who could identify herself in the old photograph. This year, to coincide with the store’s 90th anniversary, Mel is running a contest to find Barney Stock’s oldest register receipt. The customer who brings it in will receive a $50 gift certificate. It’s time to open that old trunk.
Chris’ Corner Walk into Chris’ Corner, and you’ll feel like you’ve been invited to dinner by a large and jovial Italian family. Fifty-five years ago, Philip Crisonino’s parents Anselmo and Theresa opened Chris’ Corner, which would become
Chris’ Corner - Photo by Victor M. Rodriguez Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
23
Al Richard’s Chocolates - Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
the oldest family-owned restaurant in Bayonne. Today, Philip, who began his career washing dishes there, runs the business with a whole army of children, grandchildren, a son-in-law, and waitresses who’ve been on the job for 35 years. Customers are part of the family: A group dines here every single Friday. A steak is named after a regular client, and a bar stool carries the name of a beloved patron who passed away. “We are with our customers from beginning to end,” Philip says. “They come for their communions, birthdays, graduations, weddings, retirement parties and, finally, funerals.” The walls, painted in red and white, along with the green leather booths, echo the Italian flag. The menu is based on mouthwatering ItalianAmerican dishes, like chicken Rocco, shrimp scampi over rice and the mixed fish fry, fritto misto di pesce. Most of the recipes came from Philip’s grandmother and uncles. His daughter Liz, who is a manager at the restaurant, says that they regularly entertain clients with live music, Motown dinner shows, impersonators, and murdermystery dinners. They also have a catering hall where they host events. “We started delivering in 1969, and we were the first restaurant to do it,” Phillip recalls. “In those days, you had several areas in Bayonne: Polish, Irish
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and Italian. When somebody called for a delivery, the last name more often than not ended in ‘ski.’ Now, the clientele is more diverse; we treat everybody like family.”
Al Richard’s Chocolates Since 1978, Al Richard’s Chocolates has been the favorite place for those who want to indulge a sweet tooth. Their truffles have won the hearts of many women, their chocolate Scottie dogs have made children squeal with joy, and their break-up chocolate must have consoled a man or two. Inspired by the tiny but successful candy counter of a luncheonette in Jersey City, the Stancampiano brothers, Alfred and Richard, started a candy-making business. They wanted to buy a chocolate-coating machine, so they put down $300 at a roulette table in Atlantic City. Lady Luck being on their side, they returned with $3,000. Fred and Richard thought that Bayonne was a good area to open a business, and very soon everything was coming up roses. Their fearless creativity, affordable prices, and warm relationship with their customers made Al Richard’s a legend in town. Nevertheless, in 2005, the Stancampiano brothers sold the shop to work in the financial market. During the rough
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
economy of 2008, they bought Al Richard’s back. The quality of Al Richard’s handcrafted chocolates has endured for 36 years, but, according to Fred, Bayonne has changed a lot over the last few decades. “In the past, Polish, Irish, and Italian people would fill the store on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, but now the ethnic mix is richer, and Valentine’s Day, embraced by all cultures, has become the biggest holiday for us.” Over the years, the brothers have embedded many wedding rings in their chocolates. “We also guide husbands who want to offer chocolate as an apology to their wives, though sometimes the jewelry store is the only solution,” Fred says with a laugh. Especially around Easter, chocolates in Al Richard’s come in wonderful shapes—fire trucks, cats with yellow bows, dolls, frogs with bulging eyes, even iPhones and PlayStation joysticks. The stellar chocolate-covered pretzels, pineapples, strawberries, cheesecake bites, and sea-salt caramels are not to be missed. And if you do a good deed without expecting anything in return (paying a compliment counts), you might win the “Person of the Month” contest and find a gift basket of chocolates at your door.
George’s Hot Dogs - Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
George’s Hot Dogs Anyone who took his high-school date to the old DeWitt Theater on 25th Street would remember the cart right next to it, serving fat hot dogs to hungry moviegoers. Petridis Hot Dogs, dating back to 1923, later moved to the charming store across the street. To honor founder George Petridis,
the current owner, Jack Musarra, who has been running the business for the last 25 years, changed the name to George’s Hot Dogs, but the quality of the juicy Sabrett dogs remains the same. Dressed up with ketchup, mustard, onions, relish, sauerkraut or chili, and accompanied by a Yoo-hoo, George’s tasty hot dogs are still a local
favorite. You can also get corndogs and pretzels. “We have a loyal clientele, but we also see a lot of new faces,” Jack says, “High-school students, who have gotten friendlier over the years, love us.” With its cheerful mint and pink décor and its scrumptious franks, George’s is the hot spot for hot dogs. — BLP
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
25
W O R K I N G
O U T
W I T H
CHUCK WEPNER
CHUCK WEPNER
BY TBISHPHOTO BY KATE ROUNDS
alking around Planet Fitness with Chuck Wepner, you know you’re in the company of a celeb. Lots of folks greet him and some want their pictures taken with him. He is unfailingly friendly and obliging. He’s with his wife, Linda, who is a very young-looking 66-year-old. The gorgeous actress Christina Hendricks, Big Red of Mad Men fame, will reportedly play her in an upcoming movie, according to Linda. My biggest challenge is not “sparring” with a six-foot-five former heavyweight champ but figuring out what hasn’t been said about one of Bayonne’s best-known personalities. The 75-year-old boxer is a lot more than just a legend and a champion. He embodies the traits that Bayonne holds dear: He’s a proud father, good husband, and gives generously of his time to charitable causes. Two events made Wepner famous. The first is his 1975 bout with heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Wepner knocked Ali down in the ninth round. Ali got up and eventually scored a technical knockout with 19 seconds left in the 15th round. Wepner suffered cuts above both eyes and a broken nose.
W
26 • Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
The second is Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 blockbuster, Rocky. Wepner confirms that he was Stallone’s inspiration for the movie, relating how the legendary scenes with Stallone running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum are patterned after Wepner’s training ritual, which included running up the steps at Hudson County Park in Bayonne. After Rocky, Wepner was offered some acting roles. “But I’m not an actor,” he says. When he had to read for a part, he says, “I showed up after two days on a bender. I’d been partying for three days. I didn’t want to be an actor.” But he loves movies and was a fan of The Sopranos. “James Gandolfini was a good friend,” he says. “It’s very sad. He had a problem with his weight. He always did, and after The Sopranos, he put more weight on. Jimmy was a great actor and a great guy.” Wepner has lived in town for 73 years. His parents split up when he was born. His mother moved to Bayonne from New York City, and they lived with her mother in her basement apartment on 28th Street. When he was 13, they moved to the projects on 49th Street. He later joined the Marine Corps, married, and had three children. Chuck III is a New York University graduate. Daughter Kim works as an office manager for a plastic
surgeon in New York City. Her career goal is to get into television production. Daughter Charlene is also a Bayonne luminary. In 2013, she was inducted into the Marist High School Hall of Fame for her stellar record as its cheerleading coach, leading her teams to a record-breaking number of championships. At the time of her induction, she told Al Sullivan of the Bayonne Community News that her father was “an incredible inspiration to me. He taught me about … not settling for anything less.” For her dad, there was no Ali-style “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” boxing technique. “I was a fighter, not a boxer,” Wepner says. “I don’t dance around.” And he’s got the injuries to prove it—328 stitches over his eyes, nine broken noses, broken eardrums, and broken cheekbones. Wepner doesn’t have a lot of truck with today’s heavyweights, though he does have some good words for local champ Tomasz Adamek, who has been profiled in our sister publication, Jersey City
CHUCK AND LINDA
Magazine. “He’s a very good fighter and an excellent heavyweight,” Wepner says. In Wepner’s heyday, the ring was awash with legendary names, including Joe Frazier, Kenny Norton, and Jerry Quarry. “Ten guys could have been champion of the world,” Wepner says. After 73 years, Wepner has no eyes for leaving Bayonne. “Everybody knows everybody,” he says. “It’s a great jumping
off place to New York City or the Jersey Shore. I have a lot of friends here.” He owns a condo on Third Street, where he is president of the condo association. He’s on no special diet, going out to dinner four or five times a month, and is partial to Café Bello. His days are filled with charity events and speaking engagements all around the country. “I’ve been able to market
CHUCK AND KATE
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
27
WORKING OUT WITH BLP
CHUCK AND KATE
myself,” he says. “I like to speak. I do it well. I add a little levity, tell a few stories, people seem to like it.” Wepner jokes that Linda, his third wife, is his “trophy wife.”
28 • Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
After the shoot, Wepner stays to do his workout. Three days a week he lifts weights, does aerobic exercises, and straddle-hops. “In my top shape, I could bench 280 pounds,” he says, “but I don’t do anything crazy—weightlifting for 35-40 minutes, cool down, and leave in under an hour. I don’t hit the bags anymore. I’m done with that.”—Kate Rounds
DATES Want your event listed? Please email us at bayonnemag@ hudsonreporter. com and put “Bayonne Magazine calendar listings” in the subject line.
ONGOING Our Lady of Assumption Troop/Pack No. 27 Meetings, 23rd Street between the Boulevard and Avenue C. (201) 926-6558. Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts, Wednesdays, April-June, 6:30 p.m., boys ages 6-16. Bayonne Women’s Club Meetings, Robbins Reef, off 11th Street and Avenue A. (201) 437-7263. First Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. St. Henry Flea Market, (201) 339-0319. Third Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Pine Room (basement) of the school. Entrance via parking lot. Tables are $20 for one, $25 for two. Free workshops by Pastor Victor Llerena, Polish American Home, 29 West 22nd St.
(201) 339-3902. Every Tuesday. Discussions will include conflict resolution, effective parenting, mental health, building stronger relationships, and more. First Baptist Church Flea Market, (201) 339-6055. First Saturday of the month, weather permitting, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Vendors are needed. Call the church for table availability and pricing. The Young at Heart Seniors Meetings, Senior Center at West Fourth Street. Second and fourth Friday of the month at 12:30 pm. New members 55 years old and up are welcome. F.A. Mackenzie Unit 165 American Legion Auxiliary Dinner and Meetings, Catholic War Veterans Hall, 23rd Street and Del Monte Drive. Dinner at 6:30 p.m. and meetings at 8 p.m. the third Wednesday of every month. Any women interested in joining are invited to attend the meetings. Senior Advisory Group meeting, 56th Street Senior Center. (201) 437-7263. Last Wednesday of each month at noon, folsee page 33
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
29
George R.R. Martin
PEOPLE POWER BLP
From Bayonne to Game of Thrones—and Back BY DEAN DECHIARO PHOTOS BY MAXIM RYAZANSKY
I
n Bayonne, things change but often not that much. Thirty-five East First St. is largely the same building it was in the early 1950s, except back then the roof was flat. A few blocks down, a corner candy store has lasted more than six decades, though where a twirling rack of comic books once stood, there is now a soda case. Ball-playing is no longer allowed in the courtyards that separate the low-income housing buildings across from Brady’s Dock, and there’s no longer an annual soapbox race down Lexington Avenue. But George R.R. Martin well remembers those times. Martin is the author of the wildly successful fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire—known popularly as Game of Thrones since HBO adapted it in 2011. He might never have discovered his love for storytelling, were it not for those comic books, and his Saturday
trips to the long-gone DeWitt Theater on Broadway and 25th Street. But when he returns to town to visit his sister, Darlene, Martin has no trouble picturing the Bayonne of his youth. “I still like to go to some of the old places, like Hendrickson’s, but then today I was riding down Broadway and I noticed that Petridis Hot Dogs is now George’s. What the hell happened?” He expressed similar dismay that just across the street, a McDonald’s had replaced the old DeWitt.
Native son Martin was born here in 1948. His upbringing was typical for a kid in Bayonne during that time. He came from a big, Catholic family, and spent his summers selling lemonade to ferryboat passengers visiting from Staten Island. His parents were both union workers. His father was a long-
shoreman, and his mother spent many years in the Maidenform factory. [See story page 18]. He grew up in low-income housing, though his mother’s family was prominent in Bayonne as far back as the mid-18th century. Brady’s Dock was built by, and later named for, Martin’s family, but when he grew up across the street, it was called City Dock. On a recent trip to New York for the premiere of the fourth season of Game of Thrones, Martin agreed to be interviewed in his native Bergen Point neighborhood downtown. He suggested a walk-and-talk on First Street, so he could rediscover his childhood home. He said he visits Bayonne when he can but hadn’t stopped by the old neighborhood for years. “This was the whole world, Bergen Point,” he said, noting that he never had to travel far from his first job, the lemonade stand, to his second job, summers spent operating rides at Uncle Milty’s Playland.
George and Dean
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
31
PEOPLE POWER BLP
Down by the schoolyard Martin recalled his school days, first at Mary J. Donahoe School and later at Marist High School. Standing in Mary
they order a few pies and sit around the kitchen table, catching up. “You know I miss the pizza,” he said. “Santa Fe, where I’m from now, you get the best Mexican food in the world, but
He came from a big, Catholic family, and spent his summers selling lemonade to ferryboat passengers visiting from Staten Island. J.’s courtyard, where it was once his job to keep older students from crossing paths with kindergartners on their way to class, he recalled how he once was forced to report a much older, much tougher student, a task he took to heart. “Everyone at school was terrified of Michael Wiggins, but I wasn’t going to be intimidated, because I was a patrol boy. I issued a report on him ... and thereby proved my courage and integrity,” he said. “Then about a week later he caught me down on First Street and beat the living crap out of me.” Martin also talked to us about the food he used to eat. No surprise, when he comes back to town, he goes straight for the pizza. Sometimes he takes Darlene’s family out to eat, but usually
the pizza can’t compare to Bayonne pizza, the bar pies of my youth.”
The written word Martin also developed his love of writing in Bayonne. His first stories were inspired by the knowledge of a greater world beyond the city’s borders. From the shores of the Kill Van Kull, he’d spend hours watching oil tankers go by, all the while learning the countries of the world by the flags the ships flew. Afterward, he’d go down to the corner candy store and pick out a few comics. He quickly grew to love reading, then writing. There are no direct links between Bayonne and A Song of Ice and Fire, he
said, though a character in one of his other works, an anthology of science fiction, is a telekinetic turtle who lives in his childhood building on First Street. But he said it’s possible that the underdogs in the Ice and Fire series, largely the “good guys,” could be inspired by his own childhood. “The sense of being an underdog shaped my whole life, not only just being from Bayonne but also being from the projects,” he said. “There was always a stigma, nothing terrible, but you know you’re the poor kid. I always was selling lemonade to people getting on the ferry, but I was never the kid getting on the boat.” Eventually Martin did leave Bayonne, not on a boat, but rather on a Greyhound bus to Chicago, where he attended Northwestern University. Afterward, he moved to Iowa to teach, and then Santa Fe, where he owns the Jean Cocteau Theater and lives with his wife, Parris. The first volume of Song of Ice and Fire, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996. Subsequent installments, each of which is close to 1,000 pages, were published in 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2011. There are two more
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32 •
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
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from page 29
books in the series left to write. The Winds of Winter is expected sometime in 2015. Martin has sold nearly 24 million copies of his books in North America alone, an unimaginable dream when he was buying those penny comics from the First Street candy shop and reading them across the street at Uncle Milty’s. There are plenty of stories of broken dreams in Bayonne, young people ablaze with imagination and energy who fizzle as they grow old. That wasn’t Martin’s story, and it doesn’t have to be the narrative for kids like him today, who yearn for life beyond the Peninsula. “Persistence is a big part of it, you have to keep trying,” Martin said. “I think you need talent, and a certain amount of luck, but you need a hell of a lot of persistence, the ability to handle rejection and push on through, and some sort of belief in yourself that no matter how people say you can’t do it, you say, ‘Well, forget you, yes I can.’”—BLP
lowed by the public meeting at 1 p.m. Come and bring any problem or concerns. Hudson County Animal League Adoptions, Petvalu, 307 Bayonne Crossing Way, Bayonne, every Saturday, noon-4 p.m. For information call Charlene at (201) 598-0952 or Kathleen at (201) 895-3874. Fussy Friends, 148 Newark Ave., Jersey City, every Sunday, noon4:30 p.m., (1/2 block from Grove St. PATH). Petsmart, 400 Mill Creek Mall, Secaucus, every
APRIL 24
Sunday 1-3:30 p.m. Bayonne Quilt Club Meetings, Story Court Senior Center, Fourth Street and Story Court, second floor. Wednesdays 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Anyone wishing to donate cotton fabric to the club can drop off the fabric at the meeting room.
Bayonne Golden Ages “Ragtime” Show, Westchester Theatre, Elmsford, N.Y. 9 a.m. $83 includes lunch and show.
26
Grace Lutheran and Trinity Church will host a Spring Cabaret Concert, Parish hall, Fifth Street and Broadway. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling (201) 858-4460. To benefit Hand in Hand Music School.
Companion Animal Rescue and Education (CARE) Pet Adoptions, PetValu, 307 Bayonne Crossing Way. (201) 436-6595. Sundays noon4 p.m.
27
Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation bus ride to Mt. Airy Casino, Bus leaves East 35th Street at 10:30 a.m. sharp. Cost is $35, which includes casino package, and $25 back in slot pay, and $10 food coupon. Refresh-ments will be served on the bus. Call Phyliss at (201) 339-4517.
Friendship Baptist Church’s Junior/Senior Usher Ministry Annual, 41-45 West 20th St. 11 a.m. All are welcome. see page 43
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33
Hanging Out With—
Patty Smith W
hen I tell people I’m interviewing Patty Smith, some ask, “the rock star?” Well, no, but this Patty Smith does rock. Your first impression of her is that’s she’s a lovely, down-to-earth person who would be really fun to have a drink with (club soda in her case). And that’s your last impression when you leave the bar. I meet up with her at Lot 13 at 169 Avenue E. We start joking around right away. I ask her if anyone calls her “First Lady.” Her friends do when they’re being facetious, she allows, and sometimes older folks, out of respect. OK, so she happens to be married to Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, but I’m sticking with “Patty.” She’s not just a Bayonne native. She and most of her family have lived in or near their hometown for most of their lives. Patty was born in Bayonne Hospital, and she graduated from St. Andrews grammar school, Holy Family Academy, and New Jersey City University College of Education. Her education-and-career track has gone from teaching to psychology to mental health counselor. Currently she’s director of the
school-based youth service program at Bayonne High School. She and Mark met on a blind date in 1996 and were married in 1997. Weirdly, though they were both born and raised in Bayonne, and he was a cop, and Patty’s grandfather was chief of police, their paths had never crossed. “I’m a real cougar,” Patty jokes. “I’m two years older than he is.” How did she feel when he decided to run for mayor? “I knew he could handle the job and everything that came with it,” she says. “He felt strongly that he could bring something to the office.” The Smiths have two girls, ages 14 and 16, who attend Nicholas Oresko School and Bayonne High School, respectively. Patty says their daughters’ lives haven’t been significantly changed by being members of Bayonne’s First Family. “The first time he ran five years ago, they were too young to really know anything,” Patty says. “This time around they have their first real knowledge of what’s happening, but they’re so involved in their
Lifethe on Peninsula the Peninsula - Spring 2014 34 • 34 Life• on ~ Spring 2014
own lives that it has no bearing on them. Their teachers are wonderful and never make them feel differently.” Patty is characteristically upbeat and practical. “It’s a good learning experience,” she concludes. “People will stop me in the grocery store to talk about different things but they are very respectful.” I offer that the spouse of a public servant can spend a lot of time glad handing around town. “I do go to affairs,” she says, “but Mark often goes on his own while I’m driving the kids everywhere. During Hurricane Sandy, he was gone for eight days. During the snow storms we never saw him, but I have great neighbors who helped me dig out.” The best thing about attending public events is meeting up with old grammarschool friends. “I’m best friends with those women,” Patty says. “There’s an understanding that we are there for one another, even though some don’t live here anymore.” She loves the fact that there is no competition among them. “No Desperate Housewives of Bayonne?” I ask. “No!” she laughs.
who would yell at us if we climbed up the slide backwards. Neighborhood people watched over the children and reported back to the parents.” Back in the day, she knew kids mainly from her neighborhood. Now, she’s glad to see that her kids have friends from all over town. “There are citywide sports,” Patty says. “Bayonne youth soccer, Little League, PAL. They’re meeting kids from all over the community instead of just their own school.” When Mark first became mayor, Patty and the girls walked with him in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. “A number of people had no idea I was married to the
mayor,” Patty laughs. “As small as this town is, they didn’t know.” She says that Mark loves being mayor but he also loved being a cop. Have they thought about what he might do when he goes back to private life? “Maybe become a reporter and go to crime scenes,” Patty suggests. “He’s very personable. He’d be great at it. He’s in perpetual motion. He couldn’t be an anchorman. He’d have to be on the scene.” As for Patty? She thinks for a minute. “Winning the lottery?”—Kate Rounds
Growing up in Bayonne
One of the biggest changes she’s observed since she was a kid is that nowadays kids are driven everywhere. “We took ourselves to track meets and basketball games,” she recalls. “I’d walk down to Uncle Milty’s [Playland] on First Street. I’d go down to First Street Park. There was a matron there, Mrs. Kenney,
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35 35
Life onthe thePeninsula Peninsula- ~Spring Spring2014 2014• • Life on
ON THE WATERFRONT BLP
The
of STORY AND PHOTOS BY AL SULLIVAN
A
t the southeastern corner of Bayonne rests the wreck of the Estelle Krieger , a 1,172-ton passenger schooner built in 1899 but left to rot along the piers of the Port Johnson coal docks along
36 •
BAYONNE
with the five-masted barkentine Macerata. While a path exists along the shore from an area near East Fifth Street to the former Port Johnson dock, these two ships, along with two other smaller boats, are largely invisible from the shore. The vessels are listed on the New York Harbor “ship ruins tour.” At low tide, they rest in the
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
mud flats at the end of the path. A small marker stands at the observation post at the far end, listing their names. The path, which runs for about three quarters of a mile along one of the most remote portions of Bayonne, was overgrown and used by city workers to access a storm water pipe and maintenance shed and by
The ships, which rest on the mud flats at low tide, are on the New York Harbor “ship ruins tour.” kids wandering to the waterfront after dark. Last year, thanks to a gift from the local chemical company IMTT, the path was widened, weeded, and opened to the public as the newest member of the city’s park system, open from 8 a.m. to dusk each day. IMTT also planted 10 maple and walnut trees, joining the cluster of birch trees already lining the path. Some of the plants are typical of wetlands, making the park a natural preserve. The path also features 26 lights powered by solar panels, as well as benches built from recycled plastic. From the park you can see a tiny Venicelike community of cottages, where residents tie off their boats in front of their homes. This is the exclusive Atlas Boat Club, a throwback to the 19th century when Bayonne was known as a yacht haven and summer resort for New York City’s social elite. Mark Twain and other luminaries occasionally visited here for a rest and a sail. Although Hurricane Sandy savaged the area in October 2012, overturning some of the houses and pulling up many of the trees, the ships remained unscathed. During the last year, residents have slowly worked to rebuild their amazing community on the water.—BLP
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37
An Iconic Rifle of the Old West Made right in Bayonne By Dean DeChiaro
I
n 1860, Benjamin Tyler Henry was awarded the first patent in history on a lever-action repeating rifle, and an iconic American gun was born. Oliver Winchester, the founder of New Haven Arms and a major benefactor of the Union Army during the Civil War, worked with Henry to place the gun in the hands of Union soldiers by 1862, and the gun’s effect on the battlefield was immediately felt. Less than a decade later, subsequent models of the Henry rifle were commonplace in the Old West, giving it the nickname “The Gun That Won the West.” Now, 154 years later, Henry’s rifles are still in demand. For nostalgic purposes and sport, people still crave the satisfaction of holding a piece of American history, a beautifully crafted firearm steeped both in the history of western expansion and the 1950s TV cowboy culture. But Winchester no longer manufactures the gun. The Henry Repeating Arms Company, which since 2008 has been headquartered in none other than Bayonne, sells its guns to third-party retailers. Tucked away in a 140,000-square-foot warehouse at the corner of First Street and Lexington Avenue, the company doesn’t usually publicize itself locally. Hence, the surprise many Bayonne residents express when they hear there’s a gun factory in their hometown. The lack of fanfare isn’t intentional. It’s simply that Bayonne isn’t a place where people are in the market for guns, especially historic ones owned primarily for nostalgic purposes. Still, the company, which employs 250 workers in Bayonne and another 125 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, provides an incomparable line of products for collectors and modern-day cowboys around the country, says CEO Anthony Imperato. “When we resurrected the Henry name in 1996, the idea was to offer a brand associated with a rich American history and the cowboy style,” he says. “This is a classic American rifle.”
38 •
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
The company’s line of products range from the basic Henry .22 caliber repeater, which will cost you a bit more than $200, to beautifully crafted special-edition tribute rifles that could cost thousands. “The idea is to serve a wide-ranging constituency, from cowboys to varmint hunters to collectors,” says Imperato, noting that Henry is the official sponsor of the Boy Scouts of America tribute rifle and has also raised $85,000 for the USA Shooting Team. The gun’s manufacturing process has not changed all that much, except that today’s technology is much more precise than in the 1860s. “Designing this gun is no easy task. It is still made of 72 working parts, and a lot goes into making that,” Imperato says. “We use everything from antique equipment from the 1940s to 30 state-of-the-art computerized metal cutters.”
Imperato was no stranger to the Henry rifle before he started the company. His family has been in the gun business since 1911, when they opened New York City’s oldest gun shop, a police equipment store near Battery Park. Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn and watching cowboys on TV, the gun was familiar to him when, almost five decades later, he started a company based around the design.
“I didn’t plan on it when I was a kid,” he says. “I played a lot of cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians as a kid, but that’s not what inspired the company. I just wanted to build a brand around a classic design that people would want to buy. Today we’ve sold rifles in almost 140 countries.”—BLP
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Life onon thethe Peninsula - Spring 2014 • • Life Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
EDUCATION BLP
History and Dance?
Must be Bayonne High School’s new
Academy for Fine Arts and Academics 40•• Life Life on the Peninsula - Spring 2014 40 on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
W
ith its year-old Academy for Fine Arts and Academics, Bayonne High School has taken the notion of interdisciplinary studies and team teaching to a new level. The program has four tracks: Arts, Humanities, Scholars and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.) Laura Craig, program coordinator for the academy, calls the program STEAM. (A is for Arts.) Most artsy adults can remember excelling at writing, music, art, or acting, only to be shot down in history class, trying to sort out all the King Henrys who sat on the British throne. The STEAM program goes a long way toward solving this problem. If a bad history student is isolated in a history class, it may look to the teacher and fellow classmates as if that student is not very bright. But if the student is a brilliant dancer, and history and dance are taught together, up goes the confidence level and sense of self esteem—two things that are essential to learning. Dance teacher Kelli McGovern says that academy students got a perfect score in a New Jersey High School dance competition. But the dance studio is also a place to enhance history skills. “If a student is
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Life Peninsula~- Spring Spring2014 2014• • Life on on the the Peninsula
A C OL L E GE PR E PA R AT ORY S C HO OL
Be M ore. Be Marist. Be More.
Scheedule edule a Personal T Tour our Call to Schedule 100 0% College College A cceptance 100% Acceptance One– Technology One e – to– to – One One T echnology State Library Media Center State --ofof - the t --Art Art L ibrary M edia C enter r MEDQUEST Medical Career Exploration Program M EDQUEST - Medi edical C areer E xploration P rogram Gifted Talented and Offerings G ifted & T alente nted Program Program an d AP O ffe erings n Championship Athletics C hampionship A tthletics Extra Clubs Activities Ext ra --Curricular Curricular Cl ubs & A ctivities Transportation Available T ransp a ortation A vailable Scholarships Aid Available Scholarships & Financial Financial Ai dA vailable High School School • 11241 241 Kennedy Kennedy Blvd. • Bayonne, Bayonne, N 07002 • www.marist.org www.marrist.org • 201-437-4545 201-437-4545 Marist High NJJ 07002
4242• •Life Spring2014 2014 Lifeon onthe the Peninsula Peninsula -~Spring
not gifted, they can contribute through their talents,” says Craig, who cites the academy’s cross-curricular activity between 10th and 11th grade history and dance in which students can learn such things as traditional slave dances and the Charleston, representing various eras in U.S. history. Academy learning is part of a national movement that acknowledges that one size does not fit all, according to Craig. Mary Ellen Fitzhenry, who teaches 9th grade world history, says students love the collaboration. “They contribute to discussions and brain-storming sessions,” she says. “They like the close proximity, and it’s exciting being part of a group.” Biology teacher Alexander Kuziola is looking forward to next year when the new biodome will be ready. He describes it as a “living laboratory,” noting that biology often focuses on what’s invisible, like cells and DNA. The biodome will also focus on the big picture, including plant life, fish, small mammals, and reptiles. These guys will actually be in the lab like a kind of petting zoo. (If petting reptiles is your thing). Engineering teacher Marie Aloia who was honored with 2013’s District Teacher of th Year, says there is a lot of interest in her discipline. “Students who participate are way more likely to get into a good engineering school,” she says. Engineering students from BHS have gone on to study at Stevens, NJIT, Rutgers, Pratt, and two were even accepted at MIT, considered the crème de la crème. Aloia looks forward to next year when the STEM track will embrace all grades. Classes will include pre-engineering, robotics, 3D modeling, and science/engineering projects for competitions. She hopes to “interface” with the new biodome and share a unit with the history department. “We’ve had a wonderful first year,” Craig says. “Next year will be even more exciting when we expand engineering and biology.”—Kate Rounds
from page 33 Carol’s Iron Eagles present the 2014 Walk MS, Liberty State Park. Check-in at 9 a.m. Walk begins at 10 a.m. Event will raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis. For more information, email jjstaunch@hotmail.com.
28
Andrean Seniors trip to Woodlock Pines in Hawley, PA, Bus leaves from St. Andrews Church, Fourth Street and Broadway. April 28-May 2. The price is $594 for a double, $692 for a single. It includes a twobathroom suite, three meals a day, bus transportation, tip for the drive, and all activities. If interested, call Mary Matthews at (201) 436-7037.
30
The Young at Heart Seniors trip to the Resorts Casino, Atlantic City, $25, package of the day. Contact Nona, (201) 339-0104.
MAY 2
Friends of the Handicapped host Annual Dinner Dance, Buffet, open bar. $65 per person. Call (201) 6586759.
3
Free Comic Book Day at Manifest Comics, 762 Broadway, second floor. (201)-535-5330.
5
Dine Out for a Cause, KP Sarelli’s 241 Broadway. A portion of your bill will be donated to the Simpson Baber Foundation for the Autistic.
10
Hudson County Animal League Flea Market, Old Fire House Senior Center, Broadway and 27th Street. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. This location takes the place of the Big Blue House.
BYSA family and friends night at Red Bull Arena, 7 p.m. match against the Chicago Fire. Tickets are $12.50, and 200 tickets have been reserved for BYSA at Red Bull Arena in Harrison. Please contact Kathy Woods at pkwoods4@verizon.net or (917) 733-2619 to reserve your tickets. Frank’s Theatres Sensory Friendly Movie Viewing, South Cove, 191 Lefante Way. 10 a.m.. Movie: Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, $6 per person.
see page 45
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43
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EMERGING
B AY O N N E
In the spring of 2012, a towering structure rose above the Bayonne skyline. The 262-foot, 70-ton white turbine was the first industrial windmill of its kind in the New York-Northern New Jersey metropolitan area and could be seen from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Near the Oak Street sewerage plant, the turbine—with blades that are 252 feet in diameter—pumps the cityʼs entire sewerage and 40 percent of its storm water.—Kate Rounds
SEND YOUR EMERGING AND/OR VANISHING BAYONNE PHOTOS TO BAYONNEMAG@HUDSONREPORTER.COM. BE SURE TO WRITE “EMERGING” OR “VANISHING” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.
4444• •Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 Life on the Peninsula - Spring 2014
VANISHING
B AY O N N E
Itʼs hard to imagine another Hudson County town with more signs of its bygone days—literally. Many of Bayonneʼs vintage signs—neon, painted, apron, or hanging—might soon be vanishing into whatever happy hunting ground is set aside for classic signage. Alice Lotosky and Priscilla Ege are local experts on the subject. They conduct a program of walking tours of the townʼs architectural sites. The program was once known as the PealCollection. Now the duo go by the name of “The Pearl Girls.” “We know we canʼt save all the signs except by photographs,” Lotosky says. She affectionately calls painted wall signs “ghost” signs. “We call them ghost signs because they fade away over the years into a very ghostly, sometimes almost invisible sight,” she says. “A good rainfall sometimes brings them back to life.” She says, “Some of the signs are no longer there due to the destruction of the building or the covering up of the ghost signs, but I believe all the hanging signs are still there and some of the ʻapronʼ signs at store entrances.” These signs “are and were a very important part of Bayonneʼs history,” Lotosky says, “mostly that of the once-thriving businesses that flourished in the midtown shopping district.”—Kate Rounds
Photo by Paul Lotosky from page 43
31
Trinity Church hosting an Evening of Wine Tasting & Food, Trinity Church, Fifth Street and Broadway. For ticket information, call (201) 8584460. Fundraiser to benefit the Windmill Alliance Inc.
JUNE 17-18
Young at Heart’s overnight trip to Lancaster, PA, Includes Sight & Sound “MOSES”; dinner at Hershey Farms; and visit to Kitchen Kettle Village. Cost is $205. Contact Helen at (201) 243-6887.
22 Grace Lutheran Church presents the Milwaukee Children’s Choir in Concert for their 20th Anniversary New York City Tour, Contact Grace Lutheran for the complete schedule of their Sunday in Bayonne at (201) 339-3685.
23-27 New York Red Bulls and BYSA host summer camp program, One-week youth soccer program. The partnership will bring a professional Red Bulls soccer camp to see page 65
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 • Life on the Peninsula - Spring 2014 •
45 45
A Living Entity
The Bayonne Community Museum is a magnet for the arts, nonprofits, and other groups
Story and Photos by Joseph Passantino
A
s a lover of architecture and museums, I was thrilled with the assignment to visit and experience the Bayonne Community Museum. The building, at 9th Street and Broadway, combines the best of both. Housed in the former Bayonne Trust Company building, the museum is hidden in plain sight, across from the Bayonne Bistro diner. Most residents probably drive past without giving it much thought. What they’re missing is a truly grand building that’s on the state and national registers of historic places. And with good reason. Built in 1912, the two-story Vermont graniteclad structure is a testament to fine design, construction, and craftsmanship. It was built in the beaux-arts style, which was in vogue in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and common in Europe and the United States, where it was incorporated into many of the major public buildings of the time, including Grand Central Terminal and the Ellis Island Great Hall. At the Broadway entrance, the original bronze doors have been replaced with contemporary metal and glass ones. A large gilt lamp adorns each side of the entrance. The name “Bayonne
Trust Company” is still etched into the frieze on the façade facing the street. Building features include a high ceiling with a teal-and-amber stained-glass center, a terrazzo floor, and the original bank vault. A finely crafted, winding staircase leads to basement rooms with safe-deposit
boxes and a painted metal safe where “night-drop” deposits slid down from a steel pull-draw on street level. The city acquired the building from Fleet Bank in 2002 for $1. Using the money from a number of grants, the city made several improvements, including removing modern
Joseph Waks (left) and Joseph Ryan guarding the vault • Life the Peninsula~ -Spring Spring2014 2014 46 46 • Life onon the Peninsula
banking fixtures and a dropped ceiling. The interior walls and the three-part stained glass in the ceiling were restored. The museum opened in 2008 and since then has increased its following of community groups, residents, and renters.
Musing, music, and art
What makes this museum different from almost every other is that it doesn’t house or store artifacts. Rather it serves as a town square for citizens to think, compose, entertain, or be entertained with art or music. The entire community is invited to use the facility. An avid user has been the Art Circle of Bayonne, which presents art shows and drawing nights in which artists sketch live models. Resident Joan Hajducsek Rosen is a member of the museum board and the Art Circle and former director of music and art in the Bayonne school system. “I think it’s important for the community to have a site where art can be celebrated,” Hajducsek Rosen says. Following Hurricane Sandy, the museum became a temporary center for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Decorative Touch In late January and early February, an exhibit piggybacking on the Super Bowl was held here, featuring the work of Bayonne native Paul Lempa. “Gridiron Greats,” Lempa’s images of National League Football figures, included a portrait of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway. In March, an Irish music concert sponsored by Mayor Mark Smith and the Bayonne St. Patrick’s Day Committee was presented at the museum. In June, one of the museum’s most anticipated annual events, the Bayonne Arts & Music Festival, will be staged, with an indoor art show as well as activities outside.
“Broadway between 9th and 10th streets will become a pedestrian mall, with live music and al fresco dining,” says Joseph Waks, Bayonne director of municipal services and an Arts Circle member. Held first in 2013, the event was an instant success. The museum is usually fully booked, and 2014’s second half will feature Haunted House/Scary Stories in October, Thanksgiving storytelling with apple cider and donuts in November, and Christmas stories and a holiday movie in December. Hajducsek Rosen says of the museum, “It’s like a civic center, where people can actually experience the arts. And more than just visual arts. It can be poetry, it can be music, it can be dance, or theater.” —BLP
RESOURCES Those wishing to use the museum should contact Joseph Waks at (201) 858-6112 or jwaks@baynj.org. The museum is open only when an event is taking place.Virtually all the events are free, except for fundraisers and private rentals.
Life - Spring 2014 •• Lifeon on the the Peninsula Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
47
Courtesy of Getty Images
INCREDIBLE JOURNEY From Bayonne to the big leagues By Jim Hague
I
f you told Joe Borowski 20 years ago that he’d have a life in Major League baseball and then live in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a beautiful wife and two sons, he’d say you’re insane. A career in the Bayonne Fire Department was more likely, following in the footsteps of his father, retired Bayonne Fire Captain Leon Borowski. But the Bayonne native stuck with baseball. “It was definitely a roller coaster ride,” he said. “I remember being about 3 or 4. My older brother, Mike, would go to the park, and I was always following him around. That’s how you learned to play.” Borowski first lived on 15th Street and Avenue A, so he was a regular at 16th Street Park. “There was a summer camp there, so we were there from sunrise to sunset,” Borowski said. He learned to play football, basketball, and baseball. Ironically, baseball was his least favorite. “Basketball was my best sport,” he said. But when he enrolled at Marist High School in 1986, he played football. “I think through high school, I was a better football player,” he said. “But I think it helped me that I played more than one sport.” Borowski caught a huge touchdown pass to defeat arch rival Bayonne High School on Thanksgiving Day, 1988, only the second time that Marist won the Turkey Day showdown. Borowski earned All-Hudson County and All-State honors in football.
Life after high school “There were some [scholarship] offers for football, but I wasn’t aggressive about contacting people back,” Borowski said. “Because of it, I had no scholarship offers at the signing deadline.” But in spring, 1989, he had a baseball season that most kids only dream about. He led the Royal Knights to the NJSIAA Parochial B state championship, getting the win in both the sectional final and final game, hitting a homer in both games. “We needed to win three games in a week to even qualify for the states,” Borowski said. “We needed comebacks to win each close game, and we started to play to our potential.” He credits a local baseball guru, the late Ed “The Faa” Ford, a scout for the Chicago White Sox, for helping him achieve his dream. “It was good to have the Faa there to teach me the ins and outs,” Borowski said. “He would talk to me about what I needed to do to get drafted.” Borowski was drafted by the White Sox in the 1989 MLB Draft. At the time, he’d already signed a letter of intent to play at Rutgers. “But I don’t think I was cut out for college,” Borowski said. He signed with the White Sox, and his major league career was launched.
Camden Yards
Borowski spent the 1990 season with the White Sox affiliate
• Life on the Peninsula - Spring 2014 48 • 48 Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
in the Gulf Coast League and was then traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Pete Rose Jr. He spent five years with the Orioles, finding his niche as a relief pitcher. He made his major league debut with the Orioles in 1995. During that offseason, Borowski was traded to the Atlanta Braves, spending two years as a middle reliever. He saw action in 42 games, won four, and pitched to an ERA just over 4.00. But late in the 1997 season, he was placed on waivers. At age 26, he headed home to Bayonne, thinking that the time had come to become a firefighter.
Yankee Stadium
The New York Yankees claimed Borowski off waivers. But he pitched in only nine games over two seasons, spending most of the 1998 season with the Columbus Clippers, the Yankees’ Class AAA franchise. He spent 1999 with Louisville, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Class AAA franchise, and went to spring training in 2000 with the Cincinnati Reds. “But they released me,” Borowski said. “I despised
baseball at that time.” Still, back in Bayonne, he signed with the independent Newark Bears. “I said to myself that if I didn’t sign with a major league team by July, I was going to hang them up for good,” he said. Borowski spent a few months with the Bears and then took a higher-paying contract with Monterrey in the Mexican League. In Mexico, Borowski had an epiphany. “I woke up one morning and realized that I completely changed the way I felt,” he said. “It wasn’t about who was drafted where or who was traded for whom. You either got the job done or you didn’t, and I started enjoying baseball again.”
Wrigley Field
“The Latin American scout for the Cubs, Oneri Fleita, saw me pitch and said that the Cubs were interested in me,” Borowski said. “I was consistent with my pitch location. I was throwing strikes.” In 2002, Borowski went to spring training with the Cubs. Fleita told Cubs officials that Borowski would make the final roster.
SPORTS CORNER BLP “Sure enough, I pitched my tail off,” Borowski said. “I had no idea Oneri did that until like two years later, when the Cubs’ general manager Jim Hendry told me that I better make sure I send Oneri a Christmas card.” Borowski pitched well for the Cubs in 2002. He had a 4-4 record with two saves and a 2.73 ERA. He also struck out 97 in 95 innings as a setup man. A year later, he became the main man in the Cubs’ bullpen. “Our closer at the time, Antonio Alfonseca, got hurt in spring training,” Borowski said. “For two games in a row, I was the only one left in the bullpen, so I got the saves.” Dusty Baker, the Cubs’ manager, “was definitely in my corner,” Borowski said, “and if you were a blue-collar guy, you fit in well in Chicago.” As the Cubs’ regular closer, Borowski posted a 2-2 record with a 2.63 ERA and 33 saves, among the top 10 relievers in baseball. In the first multi-year contract of his career, he signed for two years and $4.3 million. But soon he suffered a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder.
back to my same velocity. I also tore the meniscus in my knee. I spent the rest of the offseason rehabbing the knee and the shoulder.” In spring training, 2005, Borowski was hit with a line drive on his left wrist, suffering a hairline fracture. Borowski saw action in 11 games with the Cubs in 2005, but had a 6.55 ERA. In late June, after five seasons with the club, they released him. Borowski said, “The Cubs couldn’t put anyone out there who couldn’t get anyone out.” Two weeks after getting released from the Cubs, he hooked on with the Tampa Bay Rays. “I pitched 21 2/3 scoreless innings to start off with them,” Borowski said. “My arm felt strong again.” He posted a 3.82 ERA in 32 games with a 1-5 record, proving that he was healthy enough to secure another contract, this time with the Florida Marlins. As the Marlins’ closer, Borowski had a 33 record with a 3.75 ERA and 36 saves, good for third in the National League.
“I spent all of 2004 trying to rehab the shoulder,” Borowski said, “but I never got
A year later, after signing a two-year, $8 million contract with the Cleveland Indians, Borowski was set for life.
The comeback
Jacobs Field/ Progressive Field
He led the American League in saves with 46 in 2007, one against the Yankees in the American League Divisional Series, leading the Indians to the AL Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox. In 2008, Borowski got hurt for the last time, again injuring his shoulder. He retired from baseball after an injuryfilled 2008 season. “I wouldn’t change a thing in my career,” he said. “I have a lot of good stories and memories.”
Arizona
Borowski returned to Scottsdale with his wife, Tatum, and sons Blaze, 13, and Ty, 8. While rehabbing his shoulder, he met Mike Roth, executive producer for Fox Sports Arizona, who needed someone to work the pre- and post-game shows for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And the rest is history. “I’m so thankful to the game of baseball,” Borowski said. “It really was the dream that came true.” His incredible journey began in Bayonne, a remarkable ride that no one could have predicted when Joe Borowski was a kid, playing on the fields in 16th Street Park.—BLP
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s e k a T
SENIOR MOMENTS BLP
Every Breath she
June Sturz celebrates 30 years as an entertainment luminary STORY AND PHOTO BY AL SULLIVAN
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une Sturz is a Bayonne institution. She lives in a house that—if you look closely—overlooks Newark Bay. You might get the idea—from the wall lined with shelves of books—that she was a teacher. And you would be right. Her varied career includes teaching stints in Bayonne. Except June Sturz is much more than that. In fact, if pressed, she will tell you that teaching was the last thing she wanted out of life. Had her parents had their way, she would have gone into medicine, something she pursued for a time, majoring in pre-med at Ohio State University. But she gave it up to pursue a career in writing and music. In college, her courses sought to satisfy various interests in her life. “In all four years I never got an A in science,” she says. “But I got excellent marks in English. My professor showered me with praise and said I ought to be a writer.” After graduating from college, she moved back to Brooklyn where she was raised and enrolled in Columbia University, majoring in Contemporary American History from 1870.
ALL THAT JAZZ March 2014 marked Sturz’s 30th anniversary writing the monthly column In Tune with June for the Bayonne Community News, although she wrote a column for a jazz magazine before that. Her rich, music-filled life, in and out of Bayonne, has become fodder for the column, for which she is locally famous. A small woman with a big grin, Sturz doesn’t look avant-garde, but she was cutting-edge back in the day. “I used to go out to hear jazz all the time,” she says. “The magazine reporter who was supposed to cover one of these didn’t make it, so the magazine editor asked me to write something.” Though this was a new experience, Sturz recalls that her editor “thought I could do just about anything. My husband was thrilled with me covering the jazz scene. He was a big fan since he was a kid. We always got a good table at all the clubs.” Sturz’s column focuses on where she goes and what she sees in Bayonne or in the big city across the river, where she goes to clubs, movies, and the theater. “My column reflects my life,” she says. “I’m told that I write the way I talk. Some people who read my column say they hear me talking.” Over the years, Sturz has written about who she’s met, books she’s read, and films she’s liked. She doesn’t write the column just for people her age, but for everyone. “I like to keep contemporary,” she says. She talks often to her children and grandchildren, trying to get a sense of what they like and what is current. As a result, her column might well be spiced with reflections on musical legends from Billy Joel to Beyonce.
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“I listen to my grandchildren and they bring me up to date,” Sturz says. “I have a wonderful family and a very good relationship with them.” Music plays a huge part in Sturz’s life. She’s performed as a singer and pianist since she was a young girl.
EARLY MUSICAL INFLUENCES “I grew up with music,” she says. “I took piano lessons for a while.” Her mother always had a piano in the house. Even when Sturz made plans to pursue a medical career, she played music. At college, she performed in various clubs. When she married and lived in River Edge in Bergen County with her first husband, she sang and played the piano in a duet called The June and Judy Show. In 1991, she resumed her musical career when she joined the Bayonne Senior Orchestra, made up of accomplished musicians who also happen to be senior citizens. She started out as a singer with the orchestra and filled in when the piano player needed to take a bathroom break. The piano player came back, heard her playing, and left—never to return. She describes herself as a jazz pianist, not one who plays note for note. “I don’t play the same thing twice the same way,” she says, “but it sounds okay.” When the orchestra leader became ill, she took his place as leader and is always recruiting new members. Much of her musical taste comes from what she heard her mother playing as a child: songs from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s that have become standards in the American Song Book. It includes people like Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, and Duke Ellington. The songs feature strong melodies, wellthought-out lyrics, and sophisticated rhythms. She loves Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, but she doesn’t limit herself. With the orchestra, she’s even played some Elvis Presley. She still plays regularly at two jazz clubs in New York City. MEDICINE, MUSIC, TEACHER Sturz’s parents were dentists. “My father wanted me to be a doctor,” Sturz says. “My father was a dentist. He had gone to medical school while my mother covered his practice.” She says, “I’ve always eaten healthy. I don’t have cake in my house. Sometimes I have a muffin. My parents also ate well, which is probably why they lived as long as they did.” Her mother lived to age 89, her father to 94. Adult classes that she later taught in Bayonne reflect her interest in health, such as “Healthy Bones” and “Sing and Dance for the Health of It.” “The last thing I ever wanted to do was teach,” she says. “When I was young, all our teachers were old maids.” Though she refused to be a stereotype of an old-maid teacher, she found a love of teaching later when she gave a lecture on health at Bayonne Hospital.
“I didn’t know what I was going to say, but once I started it just poured out,” she says. Eventually, she became an English teacher.
LONG AND WINDING ROAD Sturz married her first husband in Brooklyn, moved to Jackson Heights, and finally to River Edge, where she raised a family. She has three children, six grandchildren, and one great grandchild. She gets a picture of the child every day and keeps in touch with her family via the internet. After her first husband died, Mel Sturz, a local insurance agent, proposed to her, and they moved to Bayonne. That was in 1982. Sadly, he died three years later, in 1985. Ironically, her latest romance is with “a boy” who proposed to her at the same time Mel Sturz did 32 years ago. “Two men asked me to marry them in the same year,” she says. “I said yes to one.” She reconnected with her current beau when his nephew disclosed to her that his uncle had become single. Sturz is in her mid-80s now and still going strong. She doesn’t foresee giving up music, her Healthy Bones classes—or her column—any time soon. That melodic sound you hear? That’s her Bayonne fans heaving a collective sigh of relief.—BLP
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
Linda and Kenny Aiello
BY KATE ROUNDS PHOTOS BY VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
BOATWORKS
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hen I used to own a little outboard, a favorite voyage for my friends and me was to putt-putt from Jersey City over to Elco Marine in Bayonne and have a drink at the little bar there. Well, all that is gone, but in its place is a beautiful condo complex, known appropriately as Boatworks. On a Sunday afternoon in March, Linda and Kenny Aiello welcomed photographer Victor Rodriguez and me to their lovely home. They had moved out of town, but like a lot of Bayonne natives, they wanted to come back, and in 2009 discovered Boatworks. “Bayonne is a friendly town, and we have family here, nieces and nephews,” Linda says. The townhouse has two bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, basement family room, and one-car garage. It occupies 2,000 square feet on three floors. Linda is partial to warm, muted colors and says she got most of her furnishings from Pier 1. She calls it “a contemporary, eclectic mixture.” There is a large flat-screen TV on every floor, two gas fireplaces, and an electric one on the third floor. In the family room downstairs, there are also a wet bar and beer maker. Kenny is a contractor, and Linda commutes to Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals in Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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Whippany. They have no kids, unless you count a 22-year-old Eclectus parrot named Lexie, who eats salad, nuts, and fruit, and occupies a large cage near the window, and a cute white Maltese named Stevie who has a little house right near the gas fireplace in the living room. As with anyone who lives near the water, it’s the water itself that’s a big draw. Outside their living room is a deck and a backyard and beyond that the bay with a view of huge container ships across the way and to the right, the extension bridge. “At nighttime, it’s magical,” Linda says. “On the Fourth of July we can see fireworks in both Elizabeth and Bayonne.” The marina is still there, and Boatworks residents can rent a slip if they happen to own a boat. Linda and Kenny love the community that Boatworks offers. “It’s quiet even when everyone is home,” Linda says. “There are singles and young married couples with babies and empty nesters. It’s a multicultural community, and we have an annual pool party. There are 160 units in the entire development.” The community spirit was on display during Hurricane Sandy. Says Linda, “We lit candles and ate pizza together.”
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HOW WE LIVE BLP
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 â&#x20AC;˘
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LOWER EAST SIDE
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ne of the many things that Diane Brennan and Keith Rennar Brennan love about their house is its privacy, which is why they asked that we not give its exact address. “We loved the privacy of the block,” Keith says. “We are only one of five houses on this side of the street.” In August they will have lived there 10 years. They are from Jersey City but lived on 39th Street between Avenues C and D prior to moving to their current address. “The house on 39th Street was big with five bedrooms,” Keith says. “When the kids grew up, we wanted to simplify life, and
Diane Brennan and Keith Rennar Brennan
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HOW WE LIVE BLP
HOW WE
we really wanted to design our own home.” They come from the world of fashion design. They owned a factory and stores in Bayonne and major U.S. cities. “We also dabbled in interior design,” Keith says. They settled in what they call a “saltbox.” It is very humble-looking from the outside. “It needed a total renovation,” Keith says. “We did the demolition ourselves, taking it down to the studs. We were thinking we could renovate it in six months, but we moved out of the house for a year while the house was renovated.” They gutted the entire house, dug out the basement two feet, put in French drains, a fireplace, hardwood floors, a staircase, radiant heat, eyelash windows in front, new plumbing, new sewer system, and new electric. They also redid the
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entire yard. For privacy, they created a bamboo garden, concealing a hot tub and spa. The house is 1,300 square feet with 13to 14-foot ceilings. “The children are grown and married, and to ensure that they won’t be coming back ever,” Keith jokes, “we have one large master bedroom.” There are two full bathrooms and one half bathroom. They have a dining room, living room, and kitchen in an open floor plan on the first floor. The master bedroom features a Buddha motif. Diane, a realtor, is also a Reiki practitioner who recently received her certification, and Keith is a clinical hypnotherapist in private practice in Bayonne. “We are both into alternative healing and spirituality,” Keith says But he is still in the luxury retail market and has enjoyed “a little bit of celebrity clientele. In the ’90s Demi Moore shot “Mortal Thoughts” in Bayonne with Harvey Keitel and Bruce Willis. We worked closely with the costume designer, providing all the clothing. I also did some clothing work for The Sopranos and designed for Jon Bon Jovi’s wife and daughter.” The fashion work served him well in designing their house. “I loved the idea
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of designing the house ourselves,” Keith says. “We hired a local architect who did the plans, and I took a piece of chalk and drew and measured each room to figure out how we wanted it to look.” Keith describes the back deck as “nontraditional. An ironworker from Jersey City created the staircase off the French doors. It looks like a fire escape.” He says, “We’re creative people and can visualize designs.” —BLP
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808 Broadway, Bayonne I www.ExitOnTheHudson.com Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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How We
WORK BY KATE ROUNDS PHOTOS BY ALYSSA BREDIN
BRIAN AND PETER
BUSINESSES MAKE BAYONNE WORK HUDACKO’S PHARMACY 861 Broadway (201) 436-4488 hu da ck ospha rma cy.com
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ow do you go up against mega pharmacies like Walgreen’s, CVS, Duane Reed, and Rite Aid? You stick to principles you’ve held dear for 75 years. “We have a business relationship with the people,” says Hudacko’s Pharmacy partner Peter Halecky. “We offer good service to friends, family, and their friends. We support the Little League and the soccer team. Customers are soccer parents and Little League parents. You won’t see CVS or Walgreen’s on the back of a Little League jersey. We keep our money where our bread gets buttered.” Halecky and partner Brian Host are part of the original Hudacko family. Halecky’s grandfather, John Hudacko Sr., bought the business 75 years ago from Leo McGinnis. “He lived upstairs and would come down in the middle of the night to get medicine for a customer,” Halecky says. “The philosophy here is about patients, not market share.” But Hudacko’s is no mom-and-pop store. It employs more than 30 people and two years ago moved from 876 to 861 Broadway because they needed more space. Hudacko’s also has a sophisticated marketing plan and the latest high-tech management systems. In the front of the store, they sell a range of gift items, including Yankee candles, Crabtree and Evelyn products, unique jewelry, greeting cards, purses, wrapping supplies, balloons, and toys. “Not Toys ‘R’ Us toys,” Halecky says. “Quality wood toys, not cheap plastic.”
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Obviously, a lot has changed over the last two decades. “There’s a lot of red tape and regulations and more medications on the market,” Halecky says. “There’s the danger of drug interactions and getting the wrong medicine, and the billing of insurance is a complicated business.” The solution? Robotics, of course. “We are a soup-to-nuts pharmacy with a state-of-the-art robotics system to handle work flow,” Halecky says. “The system tracks prescriptions, who handles them, checks for drug interactions, and bills for insurance. It’s checked multiple times before proceeding. At the end of the process, it’s counted and labeled by a robot and then finally checked by a pharmacist. There are a minimum of two pharmacists along the assembly line.” It’s a system the original Hudacko would probably endorse. “We have unparalleled patient safety that meets all federal requirements,” Halecky says. “Pharmacists can consult with patients, call doctors, and not worry about pouring pills into bottles.” Hudacko’s is the perfect combination of the traditional and the cutting edge. “We have the newest up-to-date equipment, but we’re still the corner drug store,” Halecky says. He cites an example of the town’s community spirit. During Hurricane Sandy, they needed a generator, and the only place that had one was another time-honored, family-owned business, Resnick’s hardware store. With the generator from Resnick’s, Halecky says, “We were able to stay open all week after the hurricane and provide prescriptions for people all over town.”
NADINE, HUGUETTE, AND CHRISTINE
MS. HUGUETTE’S DANCE STUDIO 823 Broadway (201) 436-0637 danceh ug.com
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kay, ladies, I know a lot of you will remember as a kid taking your tap-and-ballet lessons, wearing your handmade multi-colored, dollar-store-quality costume for the recital, knowing there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that you are headed for the Bolshoi. Well, a lot has changed since then. Just ask the identical twin sisters who run Ms. Huguette’s Dance Studio—Christine Thomas and Nadine Novello. The sisters inherited the business from their French-born mother, Huguette, a professional dancer, who settled in Bayonne in the 1960s and started the studio 20 years ago. “My passion is teaching, which was instilled in me by my mother,” says Christine, the studio’s director, who has a master’s degree in dance and dance education from New York University. The studio’s dance program offers classes in creative movement, ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical, freestyle, voice, musical theater, and hip hop. The last is especially popular with boys. Students start at age three and go through the teens.
“Our philosophy is to instill a sense of confidence and self esteem in a nurturing environment,” Christine says. “A good dance education program includes anatomy, history, improvisation, self expression, and performance.” The studio offers an intensive study group “for the serious student who would like to improve coordination and physical strength, as well as add to their dance repertory and become fluent in dance terminology,” Christine says. “This strengthens discipline, which helps students flourish in all other areas of their lives, benefiting the whole child.” Many of Ms. Huguette’s students have gone on to become successful professionals in dance and theater. “Several have returned to give master classes, choreograph, or lecture students about the industry,” Christine says. “We are so proud of the fact that we have former students return where they received their dance training. It is a wonderful feeling that they are giving back. It gives us a real sense of community.” In April, the sisters hosted a 20th anniversary celebration. “It was a big event to raise money for scholarships,” Christine says. “We have arrived at a time in our career where former students bring their children to us for dance class. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching and why we do what we do. “We look forward to at least another 20 years.”
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HOW WE WORK BLP
TAISHA, BRANDY, ERICA, AND ARIELLE
MASSAGE ENVY SPA 211 Lefa nte Wa y (201) 243-1777 massa geenvy.com/bayonne
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ven if you’ve never had a massage, you’ve seen the classic movie massage: glamorous women swaddled in towels, relaxing to new-age music. Massage Envy proudly offers that but it also offers something else that is worth its weight in hot stones: the customized massage. No two humans have the same stress level, sports injuries, or general body breakdown, so why should we all be treated alike? “Massage is not a luxury but a necessity,” says franchise owner Erica Naidrich. “I used to go to Massage Envy for back problems,” she says. “I broke my femur and had a metal rod in my leg when I was a teenager. As I got older and started having children, I had lower-back issues. The massage helped more than the chiropractor or physical therapist.” Naidrich is a CPA. “I used to work in public accounting and have a fairly decent business background,” she says. “I started to look at massage in a whole different way, from a business perspective.” Though you don’t have to be a member to enjoy Massage Envy’s, services, there are benefits to membership. Visit massageenvy.com/bayonne to learn more. Naidrich does not live in Bayonne but saw Bayonne’s South Cove Commons as a good bet for a Massage Envy franchise. “There are not that many massage spas in Bayonne,” she says. “There wasn’t huge competition. Bayonne is a community. People stay and shop in Bayonne. Stop & Shop is crowded. There are multiple reasons I chose Bayonne, and it’s proved to be well-received by the community.”
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The customized therapeutic massage is one reason for its success. “We really want to know why they’re here,” Naidrich says of customers. “The type of massage is really specific to the individual. We talk to them as they are making the appointment to understand why they are coming here—for relaxation or are they in pain? What is the goal for the session? Based on that, we give our recommendation for the sessions.” Massage Envy’s 20 therapists, she says, “are compassionate and caring, know the human body, and do all kinds of massage.” Though women masseuses and clients currently outnumber men, that is changing. “The number of men is increasing,” Naidrich says. “Men work a lot, and they’re constantly complaining of shoulder and lower-back pain.” The sports-and-fitness crowd are loyal customers. “Avid marathon runners come in pre- and post-event, and people working out, bodybuilding,” she says. People with medical problems, such as oncology patients, or those suffering from fibromyalgia or arthritis have also discovered therapeutic massage. One of the biggest complaints? “Pretty much everyone who walks through the door has old-fashioned stress,” Naidrich says. “That’s our whole society.” But it’s not all pain and suffering at Massage Envy. Some folks just want to relax or have a facial. “We take care of the inside and the outside,” Naidrich says. Her Bayonne gamble has paid off. “I took a very big risk, not knowing much about the area, though I had friends who grew up in Bayonne. I’m involved with the Chamber of Commerce. I go to meetings. There are great people in town and a very supportive mayor. It’s a really nice community supportive of business. It’s been a great experience.”—BLP
HELPING FRANK AND JEAN
Frank P. Perrucci The Ultimate Concerned Citizen hat do you do when you don’t make it in politics? You become a concerned citizen. That’s what Frank P. Perrucci did 44 years ago when he lost his bid for third ward council member. “I completely changed over from politics to civic work,” he says. He founded the Concerned Citizens of Bayonne, and it’s been going strong ever since. Perrucci, who turned 87 in April, was born in Brooklyn and came to Bayonne when his father died and his mother met a gentleman from Bayonne. He was 14 years old. That pretty much makes him a Bayonne native. He married Jean in1951. They have four kids—three of whom live in town—and seven grandchildren. Perrucci was a laborer when he and Jean were first married and then worked for the county as director of community development. Jean worked in customer service at Maidenform for 34 years and is corresponding secretary for the Maidenform Retirees. (See page 18 for a story about Maidenform.) Why are they so involved in charitable work? “We looked around the community,” Perrucci says, “and saw that things had to be done. We wanted to be involved with children.”
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The group sponsors the PAL basketball league, Bayonne Little League, after-school academic programs, and was instrumental in getting the ice rink built. “Anything that came up that related to youth, we got involved,” Perrucci says. The group gives a $1,000 scholarship to a Bayonne high-school student, and when a boy in town was bullied and beat up, the Concerned Citizens helped pay his medical bills. But the group casts a wide charitable net. “We spearheaded an earlier drive for an elected board of education, took a stand on the light rail, and opposed toxic sites,” Frank says. They started a group called BOATS—Bayonne Organization Against Toxic Sites. Perrucci, who was in the merchant marines and served in World War II, is also very active with veterans’ groups. He has no eyes to retire from the organization he started so many years ago. About 60 members come to each meeting. “We’re going strong, we have the attendance,” he says. “I would hate to give it up.” The group’s motto is, “We care. Do You?” Apparently, people in Bayonne do. “It’s like a family here,” Perrucci says. “Everybody knows each other. If something comes up, everybody tries to help.”—Kate Rounds Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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BIG APPLE T
Sports Palace
PHOTOS BY VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
his watering hole has a huge bar, and it’s a good thing. Just about everyone in Bayonne considers the Big Apple his or her neighborhood bar. Owned by the Bottino family, the Big Apple celebrated its 38th anniversary in March. Elaine and Vincent Bottino bought it in 1976. Now their oldest son, Vinny, his wife, Toni, and his brother John run it. The Big Apple is a big, welcoming place, but Vinny acknowledges that not too many “outsiders” find their way here. “It’s not like Hoboken, where there is a constant flow of outsiders,” Vinny says. “It’s like Cheers. Everybody knows everybody. I’ve been dealing with Bayonne people all my life.”
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
The bar offers more than 30 televisions, including six large screens, so of course it’s hard to imagine a sporting event that you couldn’t find here. But if you were going to just watch a game, you could stay home. Folks come to the Big Apple for the camaraderie. It’s such a popular sports bar that even professional players come in, including Zak DeOssie of the New York Giants and Kenny Daneyko of the New Jersey Devils. “It’s a big Devils bar,” Vinny says. Folks also come for the food. It’s famous for its buffalo wings, which come in three sizes with a variety of sauces, and for its thin-crust pizza which won Best Bayonne Pizza of the year in 2012. Twelve years ago, the family bought the karate school next door and made it into a restaurant. This is a family eatery spe-
WATERING HOLE BLP cializing in Italian food. It also offers catering and will host private parties. Everyone living in and around Bayonne endured, along with the rest of the East Coast, one of the worst winters in recent memory, so Big Apple regulars couldn’t wait for the restaurant’s Tiki Bar to open. It’s in an enclosed area in the back, but sports fans don’t have to worry. There are plenty of televisions out there, so that you can enjoy the game and the weather. “It’s not like the Jersey Shore,” Vinny says, “but you can break the monotony by being outside with music.” Like so many businesses in Bayonne, the Big Apple prides itself on its community spirit. Says Vinny, “We sponsor football, basketball, and baseball teams—Little League, Cal Ripkin. Families come back here after games.” In 2004, the New York Times wrote a big feature on the Big Apple, positioning it as a constant amid the many changes the town has gone through in the last few decades. Vinny told the Times, “I love Bayonne. I’ve been here all my life. I’m happy here. My kids are happy. … Sometimes I think about leav-
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the local community for a summer soccer camp. All area children are welcome to attend! For details or to register, go to redbullsacademy.co m. Questions can be directed to Kathy Woods at pkwoods4@verizon.n et or (917) 733-2619.
UCP of Hudson County will be holding our 17th Annual Golf Outing, Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg. Cost per golfer will be $225.
SEPT.
The Simpson Baber Foundation for the Autistic - 13th Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner, For tickets, please call (201) 858-9933. simpson-baber.org.
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Holy Rollers Atlantic City Bus Trip, Call (201) 858-4460 for additional information and price of ticket. Benefit for Trinity Church.
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ing here, but then I think, nah, my heart’s here in Bayonne.” That’s something that will never change. —Kate Rounds
Big Apple Sports Palace 414 Broadway (201) 858-1075 bigapplesportspalace.net
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Gary La Pelusa Association host’s Third Ward Celebration Day, Dr. David G. Morris Park on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway noon-4 p.m. A D.J., refreshments, and giveaways will be part of the event. Open to the public. Rain date Sept. 21. Trinity Church Car and Motorcycle Show, Fifth Street and Broadway. Free to public. For additional information, call
(201) 858-4460, ext. 11. A Benefit for The Windmill Alliance Inc.
21 Seventh Annual James Rentas Walk for Cancer Research, Stephen Gregg Park at 48th Street and Kennedy Boulevard. Registration at 8 a.m., walk at 9 a.m. For information, call (201) 6816600.
OCT. 5
Trinity Church Blessing of Animals, Fifth Street and Broadway. A celebration in Honor of St. Francis of Assisi following the 9:30 Communion Service.
25 Annual Dinner to benefit Trinity Church, Villa Maria. For additional information and price of tickets or super 50/50 tickets, call (201) 858-4460.
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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Y
ou need to be in training if you plan on eating an entire dinner at Buon Appetito. The servings are humongous, so you either have to come starving or at least alert the rest of the family that you will be bringing home a lot of delicious food. We visited when there was the slightest hint of spring in the air, and tables were already out on the sidewalk, a positive sign that you could soon eat al fresco at this everpopular Broadway eatery. They have an extensive wine list and lots of bottled beer, which our waiter, Derik, rattled off from memory. We settled in with a couple of beers and a huge basket of fresh bread. I was really glad it came with butter. Olive oil is great, but sometimes you just want butter to melt on a beautiful slice of warm bread. Fair warning! Easy on the bread, you’ve got a long way to go. My dinner companion ordered lobster bisque, a Friday specialty. The menu said a cup, but it was a large bowl. I took a sip. It was light and tasty instead of too heavy and creamy. Anthony Stoebling, the owner, sent out many more dishes than we could possibly have eaten, but here is a rundown. All of it was flavorful, well balanced, and prepared with a creative combination of ingredients. The first to appear was a very large but somehow delicate homemade lasagna with meat and cheese, and a lovely zuppa dépêche, a savory seafood stew with clams, mussels, scallops, and shrimp, served with spaghetti. To get some greens into our meal, we ordered a side of spinach, sautéed with garlic.
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Any normal people would have called it quits at this point, but out comes two more delectable dishes: veal osso bucca, meaning “bone with a hole,” a breaded veal steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, and chicken Michael Angelo, topped with prosciutto, jumbo shrimp, and fresh mozzarella in a light sherry cream sauce. At this point, I decided that I would just have to come back another time and try any one of these dishes all on its own. OK, here’s where my friend thought I’d lost my mind. I wanted to order dessert. I wasn’t going to leave a fabulous Italian restaurant without ordering a fabulous Italian dessert. I chose the tartufo, vanilla and chocolate ice cream with cherries in a chocolate shell. It had something crunchy in the middle—an almond maybe? I nearly finished it, and my friend couldn’t resist taking a bite. We ate it with frothy cappuccinos topped with lots of whipped cream. OMG! A word about the ambience: Jimmy, the manager, and Derik, our waiter, couldn’t have been more gracious and accommodating. The dining room is painted in tranquil, muted colors with posters on the walls, and Josh Groban sings softly in the background. There is a small bar to the left as you enter. We came early on a Friday evening, and soon the dining room started to fill with Bayonne regulars, a friendly, neighborly bunch, starting the weekend at their favorite hometown eatery.—Kate Rounds
EATERY BLP
ANTHONY STOEBLING
Buon Appetito 906-908 Broadway (201) 436-0043 buonappetitoitalian.com
PHOTOS BY TERRI SAULINO BISH
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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DINING OUT Andrew’s Café 737 Broadway (corner of 33rd) (201) 339-0033 andrewsproject.com
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Since its opening in 2009, Andrew’s Cafe has maintained that one must eat healthy in order to live healthy. Vasantha Perera,
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
founder and chef, has long been committed to using gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, and organic ingredients since he began what
DINING OUT is known as Andrew’s Project. He is proud to produce what many deem to be some of the healthiest and tastiest gourmet cuisine in the greater New York City area.
Bella Sorrellas 1020 Broadway (201) 455-8844 bellasorrellas.com On Bayonne’s north end, Bella
Sorrellas has deep roots in Jersey City. Owner David Rivera’s family has a long history of successful downtown Jersey City eateries and last year, Rivera brought on
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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DINING OUT Leonardo Compi, the renowned chef of the legendary Just Sonny’s restaurant. Compi’s genius is in bringing flair to classic dishes, making extraordinary what would be
ordinary in other hands. The rich, complex textures and tastes will delight and surprise unsuspecting diners. All dinners are preceded with its signature salad, served family style and dressed to perfection.
Big Apple Sports Palace 412-414 Broadway (201) 858-1075 bigapplesportspalace.net The Big Apple has been familyowned and operated for more than 36 years and caters to a loyal clientele looking to watch their favorite teams on 30 televisions while enjoying hefty portions of their favorite food, including award-winning pizza and signature buffalo wings, made in-house in four delicious flavors. Now that the warm weather is here, you can also enjoy your dinner or cocktail at The Apple’s popular Tiki Bar. You’ll receive the same great Big Apple service while sitting outside. The Tiki Bar also has televisions, so you’ll never have to miss the big game.
Buon Appetito 906-908 Broadway (201) 436-0043 buonappetitoitalian.com This is one of those quality places that don’t intimidate you. The restaurant and bar provide a comfortable, pleasant atmosphere that makes you feel at home. The flavor, quality, and quantity of the food are exceptional, but prices so reasonable that it is an affordable evening as well. The menu is surprisingly diverse with ample dinner specials, a wide selection of meat, chicken, and veal dishes, and of course, delicious pasta entrees. High-quality, fresh fish is one of the restaurant’s specialties. Buon Appetito is open for lunch and dinner and available for private parties.
Chris’ Corner 117 W. 2nd Street (201) 436-8181 chriscornerrestaurant.com Established in 1958 by the Crisonino family, Chris’ Corner is
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
DINING OUT Bayonne’s oldest family restaurant. It serves large portions of delicious Italian-American food in a warm, family-oriented environment. Chris’ Corner is also known for its nighttime entertainment, with a keyboard player on Friday and Saturday nights and regularly scheduled Murder Mystery Theater Dinners, Motown and Doo-Wop dinner shows, and special holiday events. The party room is available for all special events and accommodates up to 100 people. Chris’ Corner is open for lunch and dinner and offers delivery.
Connie’s Kitchen & Delicatessen 741-743 Broadway (201) 455-2955 connieskitchennj.com Mike Mechetti, owner of Bayonne’s newest eatery, promises to bring a little bit of the Bronx to the center of town. Named for Mike’s mom, Connie’s Kitchen offers home-style comfort food and great barbecue items such as skirt steak, kabobs, and cheese-and-parsley sausages. Don’t miss the delicious, fresh homemade mozzarella. Catering is available for all occasions.
Hendrickson’s 671 Broadway (201) 437-4955 For as long as anyone remember, Hendrickson’s been serving up juicy steaks burgers, tender chicken,
LONGBAR
can has and and
fresh seafood to loyal Bayonne diners. You’ll definitely come for the food, but this historic building in the center of town is an attraction in itself. Loaded with rustic charm, Hendrickson’s is reminiscent of a 19th century
LOT 13
RESTAURANT
Specializing in Craft Beer, Huge Whiskey Selection
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Chris’ Corner Italian-American Cuisine Bayonne’s Oldest Family Owned Restaurant
Edward’s Steak House 239 Marin Boulevard, Jersey City (201) 761-0000 edwardssteakhouse.com Edward’s Steak House offers steak, seafood, and other sumptuous fare with an elegant bistro flare. Tucked into a historic townhouse in downtown Jersey City, Edward’s is comfortably upscale. The menu includes all the classic steaks and chops—aged prime sirloin, porterhouse, filet mignon, and more. You’ll enjoy the atmosphere whether you’re celebrating a special occasion or stopping by for a steak sandwich at the bar.
Large portions of deliciously fresh dishes at reasonable prices. LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FULL SERVICE BAR CATERING HALL FOR UP TO 100 PEOPLE Watch our website for special entertainment events Murder Mystery Dinners, Motown Dinner Shows, Doo Wop Dinners and Much More!
117 West 2nd Street • Bayonne•201-436-8181 Chriscornerrestaurant.com Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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DINING OUT saloon, complete with stainedglass windows, exposed brick, and original wood paneling that will take you back in time. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Komegashi 103 Montgomery Street, Jersey City (201) 433-4567 komegashi.com In Jersey City’s financial district, Komegashi offers fresh, well-presented sushi, along with traditional Japanese favorites and an extensive selection of fresh shellfish. Locals and visitors from around the world find this a perfect spot to dine in casual elegance. Open seven days.
Komegashi too 99 Town Square Place, Jersey City Newport Financial Center (201) 533-8888 komegashi.com Komegashi too offers an authentic Japanese dining experience with a spectacular view of the New York Skyline. The menu includes perfectly prepared sushi and sashimi, kaiseki, teriyaki, and tempura. O n the river at Newport Financial Center, Komegashi too is open seven days.
KP Sarelli’s 241 Broadway (201) 858-4065 sarellisrestaurant.com Since its opening in 2007, KP Sarelli’s has been serving delicious Northern Italian cuisine in its cozy and charming downtown restaurant. Priding itself on the finest and freshest ingredients, KP Sarelli’s offers a wide variety of fish, chicken, veal, and pasta dishes. Specialties include Seafood Risotto, Tortelloni Quattro Formaggi and
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
DINING OUT Pollo Scarpariello. It’s a perfect choice for a romantic fireside dinner for two or to share a meal with your family and friends. KP Sarelli’s is open seven days a week and is available for private parties.
La Guardiola Gourmet Pizzeria and Bistro 819 Broadway (201) 823-3399 laguardiolabistro.com With a full menu of unique and classic dishes, La Guardiola is not your typical pizzeria. Whether you take out or dine in, this cozy eatery will not disappoint. It offers a wide variety of specialty salads, unique gourmet pizzas, homemade soups, focaccia, and pressed Panini sandwiches, along with traditional pizza and Italian specialties. The portions are hearty, but save room for dessert. La Guardiola offers a full catering menu for your special event or party. Open six days a week for lunch and dinner. Closed Sunday.
Lot 13 Longbar and Restaurant 169 Avenue E (corner of 18th) (201) 535-5066 Facebook.com/lot13longbar Bayonne’s newest venue offers a huge selection of craft beers on tap and in bottles, along with an impressive selection of scotch and whiskey. Kick back and watch the game on its 55” screen while enjoying classic, homemade comfort food, including the Lot 13 gourmet burger. Live entertainment includes great bands, comedy shows, and standup open mic nights. The back room is available for private parties and events.
Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
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DINING OUT Sawadee
Homestyle Cooking, BBQ & Catering for all Occasions
201-455-2955 www.connieskitchennj.com 741-743 BROADWAY• BAYONNE
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Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014
137 Newark Avenue, Jersey City (201) 433-0888 sawadeejc.com Offering exceptional Thai cuisine, Sawadee is a dining experience that will please both the eye and palate! Enjoy lunch, dinner, or a refreshing cocktail in an inviting atmosphere. Sawadee is conveniently located just steps from the Grove Street PATH.
winnersbayonne.com
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400 Rt 440 N • Bayonne, NJ Life on the Peninsula ~ Spring 2014 •
75
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