Life o n th e Peninsula Spring / Summer 2018
A D a u g h t e r R e m em b e r s Ba y o nne D ry D o c k M r . Ga rd e n S t a t e R & B H o p e fu l Te a r d r o p F a n
S UMMER IN THE C ITY
CONTENTS BLP
features COVER SUMMER IN THE CITY
16
Estelle O’Connell
20
Teardrop Memorial
24
Mr. Garden State
28
BUEZ
Triumph over tragedy
In pictures
Here he comes
Last word in robust businesses
30
20
WWl Vets
16
100th anniversary
DEPARTMENTS
8
Contributors
10
Editor’s Letter
15
Dates
32
On the Waterfront
36
People Power
38
Education
42
Helping Hands
44
Sports & Fitness
46
How We Work
24 32
Bayonne Dry Dock
36
Chef Giovanni Filippone
Lincoln Community School
Women Rising
56
Dwayne Williams
British Swim Health Coaching Academy
48
How We Live Hudson Flats
52
Arts & Entertainment
56
Eating and Drinking
R&B - Film Maker
McCloones - Winners
4 • Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018
38
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Life on the Peninsula PUBLISHERS Lucha Malato, David Unger EDITOR IN CHIEF Kate Rounds GRAPHICS STAFF Lisa M. Cuthbert Pasquale Spina Terri Saulino Bish Alyssa Bredin Quirõs Ines Aldaz COPYEDITING Christopher Zinsli ADVERTISING MANAGER Tish Kraszyk SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Toni Anne Calderone-Caracappa Ron Kraszyk ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Jay Slansky John Ward CIRCULATION MANAGER Roberto Lopez CIRCULATION Luis Vasquez ACCOUNTING Sharon Metro Veronica Aldaz
Spring/Summer 2018 Vo l u m e 0 4 • N u m b e r 0 1 A Publication of The Hudson Reporter
Bayonne Life on the Peninsula is published by the Hudson Reporter Associates, L.P., 447 Broadway, Bayonne, NJ 07002 (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, 447 Broadway, Bayonne, NJ 07002 Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or other unsolicited materials. Copyright ©2018, Hudson Reporter Associates L.P. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
Ba yonne – Life on the P eninsula is a publication of The Hudson Reporter Associates, L.P. 447 Broadway, Bayonne, New Jersey 07030 phone 201.798.7800 • fax 201.798.0018
6 • Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018
OUR FUL FULL LL SERVICE PRACTICE PRA C TICE INCLUDES: Rocco o DiAntonio o D.M.D.
942 Avenue C Bayonne
201.339.1742 Bayonnesmilecenter.com
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TERRI SAULINO BISH is an award-winning designer, digital artist, and photographer, capturing many of the iconic images featured in print and online publications across Hudson County. You can view more of her work at tbishphoto.com. PAT BONNER is a Navy veteran and one of the 45th Street Bonners. DELFIN GANAPIN is an editorial assistant at the Hudson Reporter. In his spare time, he is immersed in contemporary geek and pop culture and has contributed to a small geek culture blog called We Are Geeking Out.
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. ALYSSA BREDIN QUIRÓS is an award-winning graphic designer and photographer. Her work is featured in numerous publications, including Hoboken 07030 and Jersey City Magazine. You can see her full portfolio at tbishphoto.com.
VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ has studied design, photography, and graphic arts. “I’ve been fascinated by photography for almost 20 years,” he says. One of his jobs as a construction project manager is to photograph job sites. TARA RYAZANSKY 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. MARIANNE TROIA is a freelance photographer and a retired teacher who worked for the New York City Department of Education for 31 years.
PAT BONNER DELFIN GANAPIN
JIM HAGUE
ALYSSA BREDIN QUIRÓS
B
L
C O N T R I B U T O R S
P
TERRI SAULINO BISH
VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
MARIANNE TROI
A
TARA RYAZANSKY
8 • Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018
Bergen Point
Bergen Point is the crossroads where charm, creativity and culture meet. Located within the City of Bayonne, Bergen Point is the home to many creative businesses as well as delightful restaurants and hometown favorites.
Shop Local, Shop Bergen Point
5th Street Deli
The Julius A. Rose Agency
156 Broadway
194 Broadway
__________ Amobelge Shipping Corp.
__________ Little Boho Bookshop
172 Broadway
164-A Broadway
__________ Bake N Brew
__________ Mona Lisa Pizzeria Ristorante
164-B Broadway
165 Broadway
__________ Boho Yoga Studio
__________ Produce Smart Bergen Point
174 Broadway
160 Broadway
__________ Bridge Art Gallery
__________ Rocheny Photography Studio
199 Broadway
170 Broadway
__________ Crafty Fox Studio
__________ Safety Supplies Unlimited
196 Broadway
200 Broadway
__________ Dance With Me Dance Studio
__________ Trinity Parish in Bergen Point
175 Broadway
141 Broadway
__________ Garden State Community Bank
__________ The Windmill Alliance, Inc.
171 Broadway
170 Broadway
Bergen Point Merchants Association Visit Us at: www.bergenpointmerchants.org
Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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PHOTO BY MARIE PAPP
EDITOR'S LETTER BLP
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10 • Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018
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IS IN THE
SWIM!
It would be hard to find a Hudson County town that’s evolving as quickly as Bayonne. Its industrial heyday was fun and flush. When factories folded and before the light rail debuted, the city was a bit cut off, with some of its independent stores crushed under the weight of the big boxes. Now, a confluence of circumstances is making Bayonne a sought-after community for young professionals, while at the same time, maintaining the small-town charm that its longtime residents cherish. In 2017, our gorgeous, iconic bridge made national news with its Raise the Roadway project. The New Yorker magazine featured a beautiful photo spread with a long story about the bridge’s history and prospects for the future. As the real-estate folks say, location, location, location. Bayonne inhabits that troika. Many of its new residential buildings are near light rail stops. There’s talk of building another light rail near the Kill van Kull and eventually one in Staten Island. Officials are onboard with a possible aerial gondola over the Kill Van Kull. Everyone wants to see a ferry to Manhattan. Meanwhile, cross-town shuttle buses are in the works, and bike shares are up and running. One of the worst-kept secrets of urban renewal is that artists are the pioneers of any industrial renaissance. Bayonne is swimming with actors, writers, musicians, and visual artists. In short, Bayonne is the place to be. In this issue, we talk to some folks who embody these trends: a film producer, Mr. Garden State, and an R&B artist. But we also feature some folks who represent the old guard: A veteran who visited the graves of World War I vets in France, a woman who remembers her father’s triumphant life and tragic death, and a football star with 11 sisters who wants to come back to his hometown. I don’t know about you, but I have high hopes for 2018. There will be a mayoral election in May. But no matter who wins, our citizens will demand an ongoing commitment to the continued health and wellbeing of this great town. And enjoy summer in the city. Our cover boy should get you in the mood for taking a plunge, enjoying a street festival, or dining al fresco.
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HUDSON COUNTY’S PENINSULA CITY IS ON THE MOVE!
DATES
2017
Want your event listed? Please email us at bcneditorial@hudsonreporter.co m and put “Bayonne Magazine calendar listings” in the subject line.
ONGOI NG Bayonne Farmers Market, Fitzpatrick Park,
Avenue C and 27th Street, Tuesdays, 2-7 p.m., May through October. Atlantic City Monthly Trip to Golden Nugget, second Thursday of each month. Cost is $30 which gets you $25 slots play and $5 for food. Bus leaves 10 a.m. from Fourth Street and Broadway. Jitney tickets available. For information, call Barbara at (201) 437-0902 or Jim at (201) 339-5750.
The Hudson Toastmasters Club, Bayonne Public Library, 697 Avenue C, first and third Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Toastmasters International encourages the art of public speaking and develops leadership skills. Guests are welcome. Book Worms Wanted, Senior Center, Avenue B and 56th Street, every Thursday, 1-2:30 p.m. Do you like to read? Do you
enjoy discussing books? We read a variety of books which the library gets for us. You do not have to be a senior to join. Give us a try; new members are always welcome. For information, call Ralph at (201) 437-9608. St. Henry Flea Market, (201) 339-0319. St. Henry hosts a flea market on the third Saturday of every month 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the continued on page 19
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Estelle Sladowski O’Connell
Estelle published her book in 2017.
Christmastime, 1958 A Bayonne native chooses triumph over tragedy BY KATE ROUNDS
S
ometime after 10 p.m. on the evening of Dec. 18, 1958, a Staten Island thug named Dick Biegenwald and his benighted accomplice, a droopy-eyed, full-lipped loser named Jimmy Sparnroft headed to Bayonne by ferry to steal a car and rob a store. They were packing a twelve-gauge sawed-off J.C. Higgins, so they were clearly looking for trouble. Dick was the ringleader and gunslinger, but it was Jimmy who supplied the buckshot, slugs, disguise, a saw, flashlight, and jumper wires. They stole a cream-colored 1952 Mercury sedan. Jimmy was the getaway driver. Eliminating stores that looked too crowded, they decided on 168 Avenue B, where a man was talking to another man in a white apron. The man in the apron was store owner Stephen Sladowski. When he wouldn’t give up his money, Dick shot him. Stephen Sladowski died from his wounds.
Peace, Not Pain Those are the irrefutable facts. That’s what happened but not how Estelle Sladowski O’Connell wants to remember her father, and what she wants the world to know. In 2017, she published Je t’aime, Stephen F. Sladowski: His Life, His Love, His Legacy. This volume is her attempt, not to set the record straight, but to give voice to the voice that was silenced. “The light side, the good side was eradicated by a violent act,” she tells me in early December. “My goal is to remember him as he lived rather than as he died.” December, it turns out, is an important month for her family. Her father died on the 18th of the month in 1958. Estelle turned 19, just four days earlier, on the 14th. She was living at home at the time and going to school in New York City. A younger sister and two younger brothers were also at home. As it happens, my chat with Estelle took place on another
Stephen Sladowski was the Grand Marshall for the Holy Name Societies Parade.
Estelle with her father dressed in authentic Polish costume for the Pulaski Day Parade
December anniversary. Sadly, this is the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death. Edward O’Connell died on Dec. 9, 2016. This very painful moment in Estelle’s life helped her to understand on an even deeper level what her mother went through in that shocking instant, when she was left to bring up four children on her own and commit to memory the love of her life.
Love Will Go On Estelle’s memoir is a testament to enduring love. Early on in the book, she describes her parents’ 20th wedding anniversary. It reads like a teen’s junior prom. “Mom had purchased a cocktail dress … It cost a small fortune but was gorgeous: midnight blue taffeta, tea length with spaghetti straps and a full skirt and beading.” The dress is a sign of the times—very much an artifact of the 1950s. But don’t think this was a celebration for middle-aged, mid-century fogies. Stephen also gave his bride a long apricot slipper satin nightgown cut on the bias and trimmed with ecru lace. Estelle describes it as “elegant and sexy,” clearly meant to be removed. As her mother grew older, Estelle relates how her mother would sit in a boat in Bayville where she was living with her daughter, Cathie, and read Danielle Steele novels. “Daddy and I are in those scenes,” she tells her daughters.
Minding the Store Reading the accounts of Stephen’s last day—a man in a store at night wearing a white apron—you could be forgiven for thinking that Stephen was a shopkeeper. He was, but by day he was a well-respected attorney and assistant city prosecutor.
Estelle with her father
The gravestone for Estelle’s parents Owning a store was a second career that would serve his family well, offering job opportunities and a revenue source for his wife and sons. “My father’s parents were in the grocery business,” Estelle says. “They built up the business and owned three stores. My father worked in the store growing up. Then when he became an attorney he went to school at night and helped in the store during the day.” Estelle says, “Our store was our future. It wasn’t the future we anticipated, but our lives were not destroyed. We carried on.” In fact, it was her future husband, Ed O’Connell, who was there for her from the moment the tragedy struck. “He came into my life the night my father was killed,” Estelle says. “I knew he was the one for me. I was dating several boys, and Ed was there through it all. We had 56 years of a happy marriage after that.”
November 5, a Day That Will Live in Dignity “I grew up in Bayonne,” Estelle says. “My whole family was there, in three square miles; we all lived there, cousins, aunts, uncles. Getting together, that was happiness. That’s what I remember about Bayonne. I thought everyone had a family like this. That’s not the case; I’m blessed.” Estelle has visited a few times since moving out of town. “I was so happy to see changes have been made, but for the good. It looks lovely. The house we lived in has a new porch and landscaping.” Mt. Carmel Church, she says “was gorgeous.” The church played a major role in the lives of her family members. Her grandparents were married there on Nov. 5, 1907. Her parents were married there on Nov. 5, 1938. Estelle and Ed were married there on Nov. 5, 1960. “We have a legacy of marriage in that church on that day,” she says. On Nov. 5, 2017, there was a Mass celebrating her father’s
The Mayor of Bayonne and the Board of Commissioners presented a citation. life. This was during a weekend reunion which featured a dedication of her father’s portrait and a citation to the City of Bayonne. “The church looked beautiful and was packed,” Estelle says. “People participated. It was a wonderful feeling. This is the way I remember Bayonne.” Many still remembered her father. “He was respected and admired by judges and other attorneys in the system,” Estelle says. “It was touching to me to see two former mayors of Bayonne and several members of the law department. They remembered him and actually worked with him. They were filled with glowing things to say about him.”
Author! Author! In 2014, a retired New Jersey State Trooper named John O’Rourke published The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer, a truecrime account of the murderer who killed Stephen Sladowski. Estelle has high praise for the book and its author. In writing this story, I, too, learned details about the crime from him. But it was O’Rourke’s book that spurred Estelle to tell a different story. “I always felt that I wanted to do something with my father’s story,” Estelle says. “When John’s book came out, I didn’t want my father to be remembered for the way he died but for the way he lived. This was a very worthwhile life, a significant life extinguished by evil.” In the end, she says, “Faith and love prevailed over all that evil.”—BLP
18 • Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018
from page 15
Pine Room (basement) of the school. Enter via the parking lot. Tables are $20 for one, $25 for two. Call Barbara Silvay at (201) 339-0319. Kings Knight Chess McCafe, McDonalds, 25th Street, Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. Kings Knight Chess will provide chess instruction for youth, adults, and seniors. Free meals for youth. The Bayonne Women’s Club, Grace Lutheran Church, 826 Avenue C, first Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. For more information, please like us on Facebook at Bayonne Women’s Club. Chair Yoga for Seniors with the Division of Recreation 56th Street Senior Center. Every Wednesday 10-11 a.m. For information, contact the 56th Street Senior Center at (201) 437-5996. Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation is looking for volunteers and foster homes for pets. If you would like to help, please contact Kathy at (201) 823-2363. Hudson County Animal League Adoptions, every Sunday, 12-4:30 p.m., Fussy Friends, 148 Newark Ave., Jersey City (1/2 block from Grove Street PATH). For information, call Kathleen, (201) 895-3874; every Sunday 1-3:30 p.m., Petsmart, 400 Mill Creek Mall, Secaucus. For information, call Charlene, (201) 5980952 or Kathleen, (201) 8953874; Petvalu, 307 Bayonne Crossing Way, Bayonne. Every Saturday, 12-4 p.m. For information, call Charlene, (201) 895-0952 or Kathleen, (201) 895-3874. Joyce-Herbert V.F.W. Post 226 Museum seeks military history, continued on page 27
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Monumental Impression Tears of joy and sadness for a giant memorial
T
here has probably been no time in the last seven decades when Russia has so dominated the headlines of U.S. newspapers: We were allies during the Second World War. We were chilly adversaries during the Cold War. Since then, we’ve had our ups and downs, with Russian interference in our 2016 presidential election, lately inflaming Russia-U.S. relations even further. This makes Russia’s 2004 gift to the United States of the Teardrop Memorial all the more newsworthy. Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli sculpted the 175-ton monument to honor those who died at the World Trade center on Sept. 11, 2001. His present gives new meaning to the phrase, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Seems like everyone was looking down the maw of this gift horse and coming away disgusted or alarmed. Reportedly, the sculptor wanted to install his memorial on the Jersey side of the Hudson because that’s where so many survivors were taken. Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham was a delighted recipient. Unfortunately, Mayor Cunningham died on May 25, 2004. He was succeeded by Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who served until 2013. Healy was having none of it. Though not an established art or architecture critic, Healy waxed indignant in the
Fall/Winter 2009 issue of Jersey City Magazine. “Trump Tower is an aesthetically pleasing sight,” he told JCMag. “It’s a good thing for Jersey City and gets us in the media. Goldman Sachs, the tallest building in New Jersey, is a beautiful building, though some artists may think both are ugly.” What’s ugly, he said, is that “100-foot tear drop. I consider that a hideous monstrosity in the same category of offensive as Xanadu.” Phew! The New Yorker magazine was no more admiring, snarkily calling the sculpture a giant tea biscuit. Regular wags routinely compare its 40-foot, four-ton stainless steel teardrop to a part of the male anatomy.
New Life on the Peninsula Meanwhile, Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria and Frank P. Perrucci, president of the September 11 Bayonne Remembers committee, were ready to receive it with open arms. Vladimir Putin himself gave the keynote address at the groundbreaking ceremony at the Military Ocean Terminal on Sept. 16, 2005. Renamed “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism,” the monument was installed at MOTBY on Sept. 11, 2006. Among the dignitaries on hand were former President Bill Clinton and the sculptor himself. As it happens, a Staten Island photographer and retired teacher, just minutes away from the site, across the Bayonne Bridge, was coming under its spell.
Though the monument is visible from ships navigating through the Narrows, that’s not where she first saw it. And she didn’t happen to be wandering around MOTBY—most outsiders don’t even know where MOTBY is. Marianna Troia came across it while surfing the web. She was overwhelmed, and even more so when she visited the site and laid eyes on the real thing. Her book of images, Russia Sheds Tears for Americans, was published by the Austin, Texas-based Next Century Publishing in 2017. “A lot of people don’t even know about it being there,” Troia told BLP. “People taking the ferry into Manhattan take pictures of the Statue of Liberty. When I ask them if they’ve heard of the teardrop, they say, ‘No, what’s that?’”
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Troia is happy to tell them the story and point it out to them. “The teardrop itself symbolizes great loss,” she says. “I love the design. I was in awe the first time I went to see it. I’ve gone back several times and brought friends and family to see it. I just think it’s spectacular.” Troia’s brother, Salvatore Troia, was a first responder. He survived, but the memory of those who didn’t has stayed with him. Marianne Troia has reverence for all the 9/11 monuments. Included in her book and on these pages are pictures of the Empty Sky Memorial in Liberty State Park in Jersey City. “I just don’t want anybody to ever forget what happened,” Troia says. “It scarred a lot of people in many different ways. People lost family members, and people were affected who breathed in the dust and debris. When the bombing happened in Oklahoma City, I felt sorry, but when it happens in your own backyard, the impact of it all is so much bigger.”—Kate Rounds
Photos courtesy of Marianne Troia
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Here He Comes…
BY TARA RYAZANSKY PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMEZ ELI
jamezeli.com Instagram: @jamezeli
J
amez Eli’s Instagram feed is heavy with images of gorgeous women. They each have flawless makeup, picture-perfect tresses, and glowing smiles. They know that thanks to Eli, they look good. But you have to dig a little deeper to find a photo of the stylist himself. “It’s kind of scary to be up front on stage,” says Eli, who has battled anxiety for much of his life. “I’m usually more behind the scenes.” Eli is a self-described glamour guy. He does hair and makeup, designs and makes custom clothing and accessories, and mixes up batches of homemade lip gloss in his Bayonne kitchen.
One day while scrolling through Instagram, he saw a post about the Mr. United States pageant. Eli had been involved in the pageant scene for years, doing hair and makeup backstage and sewing sequins on costumes for many women and girls. He had never before considered stepping into the spotlight and competing. He was intrigued by the idea of a pageant for men, so he decided to face his fears. He went to the casting call in New York City, where he stood in a long line of hopefuls. About a week after the audition, he got an email that said he was selected to compete for New Jersey as Mr. Garden State.
On the Borderline Eli grew up in Jersey City on the border of Bayonne, where he eventually moved. Even before he called Bayonne home, Eli came here often to dine and shop with his fami-
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ly. He remembers the Bayonne of his childhood as a more glamorous place than it is today. “Broadway used to be phenomenal,” he says, recalling fun-filled days of shopping locally, but as he grew up, he noticed a downturn. Residents were traveling out of town to find stylish stores and salons, as Bayonne favorites closed. “There was kind of a death of Broadway,” he says. As a child, Eli knew that he wanted to work in the beauty industry. Though supportive, his parents wanted him to go to college instead of beauty school. “I decided to follow another passion, which is fashion,” Eli says. He earned a degree in fashion design from The Art Institute of New York City. After college he worked in cosmetics for about seven years before deciding to go back to school to get his license in cosmetology. “Now, having both my degree in fashion design and my cosmetology license I am focusing on building my empire and bringing fashion and beauty back into cities like Bayonne, one client at a time.”
New Jersey’s Gentleman
The search for the Nation’s Gentleman
The Mr. United States Pageant bills itself as the search for The Nation’s Gentleman. Dozens of men were picked to compete for the title. When Eli headed to the event in New Orleans, he thought that because of his years in the pageant industry he knew what to expect. “Female pageantry can be very cutthroat,” Eli says. The men’s pageant was nothing like that. When he arrived at the Bourbon Street hotel he formed fast friendships with his competitors. “From day one the organization was telling us we were bonding in ways that they have never seen before,” he says. “I had never seen a group of men from all walks of life bond like this. We cried together and we prayed together. It really was a lifechanging experience for everyone, and being in a place that was so high-spirited and high energy, the atmosphere of New Orleans had an impact.”
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“We cried together and we prayed together,” Eli says.
As part of the competition, Eli had to pick a community platform or social cause. Since being a part of the pageant meant confronting his anxiety, he decided that would be the perfect platform. He created #anxietyspeaksup, a social-media movement that urges anxiety sufferers to speak up without shame. “For me, anxiety was not being able to control my emotions and my feelings,” he says. “Being in a room with multiple conversations going on was a trigger for me.” Eli says that anxiety can mean different things to different people and that PTSD and OCD are linked with anxiety. “In most kinds of anxiety people feel like they don’t have control,” he says. “I’m learning to live with it rather than suffer from it.” He does not take medication but rather combats it through exercise and art, which can mean yoga or even adult coloring books.
A Good Showing Eli made it to the top eight in the Mr. United States competition and hopes to go back next year. He took home a special award for his social activism and won a brand ambassador position that he shares with five other contestants. This year, Eli will attend Mr. United States promotional events because of this position.
#anxietyspeaksup continues to flourish. “My voice gave them a voice to speak up about it,” Eli says. “I’ve had strangers reach out to me from across the world. When I started to get that kind of feedback I realized there was no way that I could ever stop doing this.” He connected the cause with fashion by creating #anxietyspeaksup T-shirts, which are available on his online store, jamezeli.com. Eli also plans to host a local event to support the cause. “I’ve been to city hall, and I’ve had a couple of meetings to put together an anxiety walk,” he says. “Hopefully that will be this spring.” He wants to have his first event in Bayonne because he sees the city returning to what it once was. He wants to be part of restoring Broadway to the shopping destination that he remembers fondly. “Bayonne is a great town, and it has a lot of potential,” he says. “I’m in the process of trying to find the perfect place for a beauty bar in Bayonne where women can come to be fabulous.” He envisions a salon with a retail space and just the right ambiance. “I’m trying to bring that glamorous aspect back to Bayonne. I want to create a safe haven for glamour.”—BLP
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from page 19
military memorabilia and military paraphernalia, and donations to support the growing military museum. All items are either donated or loaned to our museum. The contact persons for donations are Commander Glen J. Flora and Director and Senior Vice Commander Joseph Kennedy. The museum at 16 W. Ninth Street is open Saturdays, 12-4 p.m. Young at Heart Seniors meet on the second and fourth Fridays of the month at 12:30 p.m. at the Senior Center at West Fourth Street.
APRIL 28 Trinity Church in Bergen Point’s Bus Ride to Resorts Casino. Bus leaves at 9:30 a.m. from East 35th Street. Cost is $35 per person with a $25 slot play. For reservation, call Judy at (201) 437-0464.
29 Phyllis & Adelaide’s FunFilled Bus Ride to the Resorts Casino. Cost is $36 per person with $25 slot play. Bus leaves at 10:30 a.m. from East 35th Street. For information or to purchase tickets, call Phyllis at (201) 339-4517. Please purchase tickets in advance; all proceeds will benefit various charities in Bayonne. ACI Italian Society’s Atlantic City Bus Trip to Tropicana Casino. Bus leaves 11 a.m. from 23rd Street. Cost is $35 which gets you $25 slot play. Refreshments served on the bus. Please call Elisabette at (201) 858-2069, Rachel at (201) 3106607, or Lucy at (201) 8588582. continued on page 50
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BUEZ
It’s Not Even a Word … … but it’s the last word in robust businesses
Bergen Point - Photo by Rory Pasquariello
T
he Bayonne Urban Enterprise Zone (BUEZ) came onboard in 2002 and in those 16 years, prospects for enterprises of all kinds have continued to improve. At the helm of the operation is BUEZ Coordinator Terrence Malloy, and his longtime assistant, DeeDee Bottino. Together, they continually strive to improve Bayonne’s shopping district and promote business activity. This is done not only with advertising, but with the sponsorship of family activities, music and cultural events, and programs designed to help beautify the shopping district. Popular events that the BUEZ have had a hand in include holiday celebrations, sidewalk sales, classic car shows, concerts, the Bergen Point Fall Festival and Bayonne Hometown Fair. The BUEZ has used various funds, grants, and donations to help create jobs and boost business. It has been instrumental in Bayonne’s development and has lent its hand to many projects, including converting a brown-field site which is now The Bayonne Crossings Shopping Plaza, development of the Maidenform factory to SilkLofts, and purchasing land for the development of the 19 East 19 luxury rental building. Helping local businesses launch and thrive is important to the BUEZ team, continually striving to beautify the Broadway shopping district. Initiatives such as Clean Team, building façade improvements, security cameras, and street paving are only part of the multi-dimensional plan.
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Music on Broadway - Photo by Victor M. Rodriguez
Bayonne Hometown Fair - Photo by Rory Pasquariello
Outdoor art - Photo by Rory Pasquariello
Outdoor Art The BUEZ, in partnership with the The Bridge Art Gallery, facilitated a renewed cityscape, with local artists painting seven utility- and fireboxes in Bergen Point and a mural on the light rail bridge. Residents will recall that the bridge featured an ad for a long-closed Burger King. Another mural is featured behind European Day Spa, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Last summer seasonal flower boxes were placed on nearly every corner on Broadway. The BUEZ plans to introduce life-size bronze statues on Broadway. “Our goal is that by beautifying the area, we will continue to attract new people and new businesses,” Bottino said.
Fairs and Festivals The BUEZ had a hand in reviving the much-loved Bayonne Hometown Fair, which had a two-day debut on Broadway between 22nd and 24th streets in June 2015. It was popular in the 1990s, and nostalgic Bayonne natives with memories of Ferris wheels and fair fare, re-launched it with play houses, face painting, mini-golf, bands, karate, cheerleaders, police cars, health units, souvenirs, and tons of fun food. “Bayonne is becoming an initiativedriven town,” Adam Semanchick, president of the Bayonne Theater Company, told the Bayonne Community News. “Individual people are taking initiative, such as with the Hometown Fair.” Bottino also organized 2016’s Bergen Point Festival. The fair, which took place on a beautiful October weekend, featured food, apparel, prizes for various
Music on Broadway - Photo by Victor M. Rodriguez. contests, musicians, and artists, with galleries and restaurants opening their doors to fair-goers. “We try to help highlight the Bergen Point merchants and remind people who live uptown about the unique appeal of this business district,” Bottino said at the time. “We’re also working to help promote the area and attract people beyond the border of Bayonne. Bergen Point is very convenient and is just a short walk from the 8th Street Light Rail Station.”
The Soul of the Street The Music on Broadway series, which debuted in fall 2016, is hosted jointly by the BUEZ and partnering businesses. The concept started as a monthly music
show at the Bayonne Community Museum. “Music Mondays at the Museum was a hit, but it was only once a month and we wanted to do something more for businesses.” Bottino said. The popular program has been successful in promoting Bayonne’s musical talent, while boosting traffic in the shopping district every Friday. “Restaurants or taverns pay a portion of the musician’s fee for that artist to perform at their location,” Bottino said, adding that the BUEZ is trying to encourage local businesses to experiment with unique ways to attract new business. “Stephanie Tych, co-owner of The Rock, a pub in Bergen Point, told BCN, “We almost never have music in here. I thought it would be perfect to give our customers something different.” Cheryl Mack, co-owner of the Bridge Art Gallery, which also hosts musicians, said, “It makes live music accessible, so people don’t have to leave Bayonne to find it.”
Heritage and Cutting Edge “Bayonne is unique in Hudson County,” BUEZ Coordinator Terrence Malloy told BLP. “It’s a city of over 60,000. It’s always had a hometown feel about it, which we want to maintain while attracting new residents.” Noting that Bayonne has a lot to offer both longtime residents and urban adventurers, he said, “We want to bring Bayonne forward with great neighborhoods, quality homes, and new luxury development, while maintaining its hometown character.”—Kate Rounds
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From the Boulevard to Verdun A European pilgrimage to honor Bayonne’s World War I veterans
Meuse- Argonne American Cemetery at Romagnesous-Montfaucon, France. Photo by Pat Bonner 19th Street, John Harz of Avenue C, and Patrick Fitzpatrick of West 30th. Their family names are still in the Bayonne phonebook, but their families know them only as faded, sepia photographs.
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Sharing the Sorrow
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No part of the city was spared from grieving for so many young men. From the Tisco family on East 7th Street and the Wades of Evergreen Street to the Ulozas on Prospect Avenue and the Suydams on West 43rd, everyone knew a family who had lost a son, brother, father, uncle, or cousin. One reason for the high death toll was the influenza epidemic of 1918. So many men in close quarters allowed the disease to run rampant. At least 35 Bayonne soldiers in their
BY PAT BONNER
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ue to the passage of time, there are probably few people living today who knew or even spoke to any of the Bayonne servicemen who died in World War I. Eighty-seven names are listed in the state archives, but the actual number is higher. For most, the 100th anniversary of their deaths will occur during the coming year, and it’s fitting that we remember them because they were and remain a part of Bayonne. Then, as now, Bayonne had many immigrants, and many gave their all for their adopted country. Sixteen men, including Stanley Grzybowski of 51st Street, are listed as being born in Russia, Poland, and Austria-Hungary. Though many were Polish, Poland was not an independent country at the time. Eight of the dead were born in Ireland, including Frank Freeman of Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, and 19th Street in Bayonne. The remaining six immigrants listed were from Italy, including Joseph Mongialomini of Sicily and Avenue C. In all, about one third of the young men were born overseas. They had familiar Bayonne names like Cornelius Lefante of
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20s died due to disease, primarily influenza. This scourge continued throughout the war and into the months following. It was as deadly as the bullets and bombs. A young man like John Russell of East 25th Street could survive the battles of Verdun, Chateau-Thierry, Saint Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne, only to succumb to influenza in February 1919.
The First Shots
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The war began in 1914. There were three years of trench warfare and stalemate until the United States entered in 1917. We began to send men overseas in late 1917. Among the first casualties was Harold Andrews, who was killed in action at
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American Battle Monuments Commission, he insisted that the government approve every monument and memorial erected overseas.
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Cemeteries in France
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Due to Pershing, we have the serene American cemeteries with rows and rows of crosses on manicured lawns with an occasional Star of David like the one above the grave of Jacob Mannis of Avenue C in the Oise-Aisne Cemetery, Fere-EnTardenois, France. Six Bayonne men are buried at the peaceful St. Mihiel Cemetery outside of Thiaucourt, France. Patrick Kane of West 30th Street was once a neighbor of Harold Connelly of the Boulevard. They are neighbors again in Plot A, rows 18 and 19 at St. Mihiel. There is a special plaque at the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery in Romagne for Michael Holmes, an Irish immigrant who lived on Silver Street and is missing in action. You can also visit the graves of 19 other Bayonne men who are buried there, including John Esker, formerly of 293 Broadway now in Plot D, row 39, grave 40. If you do visit any of the World War I cemeteries in Europe, you’ll be moved by the astonishing number of young men who died for our country—believing that it was the war to end all wars. Adding to our sense of collective loss is the grim reality that it was not.—BLP
Gouzeacourt, France, in November of that year. The death toll climbed significantly with the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns in September and October 1918. Twelve Bayonne men died in September 1918, including Felix Ramatowski of Broadway, Martin Stanton of 11th Street, and Tony Kamalski of 17th Street, who were all killed in action on Sept. 28. The worst month, though, was October when at least 33 Bayonne men died. The 312th Calvary Regiment of the famed 78th Infantry Lightning Division was the “point of the wedge” during these campaigns. Six Bayonne members of the regiment died during October: William Lauenstein of 14th Street, John Chula of 22nd Street, John Harchar of 23rd Street, Michael Sullivan of Avenue E, John Szalyko of 19th Street, and Wasil Ucinowicz of Avenue C. PHOTOS OF SOLDIERS COURTESY OF THE BAYONNE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Last Shots When the Armistice was signed in November 1918, the U.S. government faced the question of what to do with the roughly 80,000 men who were buried in temporary graves in France and Belgium. Eventually, a compromise was reached, when the government agreed to pay to repatriate the remains of any American killed during the war. However, General John Pershing was among those proposing that the families let their sons lie where they were buried with their units in special cemeteries in France and Belgium. About 40 percent of the families agreed. These soldiers remain buried in American cemeteries, mostly in rural France. General Pershing had strong views about these cemeteries. He wanted to avoid the hodgepodge of Gettysburg with divisions and units building their own monuments and taking undue credit for certain victories or actions. As head of the
Grave of Jacob Mannis - Oise-Aisne Cemetery, Fere- En-Tardenois, France. Photo by Pat Bonner
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High and Dry Bayonne Dry Dock’s indispensable mission
PHOTOS BY VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
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nless you happen to be taking a cruise or are visiting the Tear Drop, you probably have never seen Bayonne Dry Dock up close. MOTBY is one of the most interesting locales in all of Bayonne. In previous issues of this magazine we’ve highlighted the Coast Guard station, the container terminal, and the cruise port, and in this issue we have a story on the Tear Drop (page 20). These four entities comprise an unusual mix of industry, art, entertainment, and the military. When it comes to industry, the container port represents the commercial arm. Huge container ships ferry their cargo of foodstuffs and manufactured goods all over the world. The cruise port, meanwhile, which is part of the travel and tourism industry, is pure entertainment. As for art? If more people could find their way to the Tear Drop, it would probably be one of the TriState’s most visited pieces of outdoor art. The Bayonne Dry Dock, along with the Coast Guard, represents the military arm. The ships are just as monumental as those at
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ON THE WATERFRONT BLP
the cruise port, but they have the no-nonsense splendor of military vessels, everything the term “battleship gray” calls to mind. We visit on a cold but bright afternoon. The entrance has all the high security you’d expect from a facility that serves the military, but it’s a friendly crew. When we get clearance, a worker approaches to show us the way. The main office is at the end of the yard; to our left, the Tear Drop’s stainless steel tear glistens in the sun. We sit down in a conference room with Bayonne Dry Dock Manager Kevin Sullivan and Yard Superintendent Mike Dimesa. A few elegant ship artifacts, such as a vintage wheel, add a touch of class to the otherwise bland décor. The entrance to the dry dock office has been decked out with nautical elements, including 10,000-pound anchors and mammoth anchor chains. Propellers can be 24 feet in diameter.
THE JOB DESCRIPTION Kevin and Mike are a tag team, explaining the day-to-day workings of the yard. The dry Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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dock’s mission is to repair and overhaul naval ships as well as commercial vessels, such as tugs, barges, and ferries. Kevin says that the
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We’re helping our navy, and it’s helpful to our country.” — Mike Dimesa
majority of the work is for the military. On the day we visit, there are two military ships, officially called LMSRs, tied to the dock. The two docks are 1,050 feet and 311 feet; the ships are about 950 feet by 106 feet. The ships come from everywhere, from home ports as close as Norfolk or Charleston to just about anywhere overseas. The overhauls include upgrading freeboard, superstructure, decks, and hulls. Many ships need to be repainted every five years. The complete overhaul can take anywhere from 60 to 90 days. Rush jobs may be completed in as little as a month. While some ships are in for routine repairs, others are in dry dock as a result of running aground in heavy weather, running into piers, or colliding with other ships.
GETTING THE JOB DONE Repairing and overhauling ships requires highly skilled laborers. It’s a great gig but hard work. Kevin says that men and women work seven days a week for 12-hour days. With low temperatures, and wind whipping off the water, working outside in winter can be brutal. Kevin says that if the temperature falls below about 15 degrees, they suspend operations for the safety of the workers. With new technology, the electronics have changed over the years, but parts such as valves can be as old as 45 years. He says the dry dock often “interacts” with its neighbors over at the cruise port, helping Captain Thomas Hinderhofer and his crew with any jobs that might need to be done. “We’re neighborly,” Hinderhofer says. “If we need maintenance for something on the dock or pier or in the terminal, it’s like borrowing a cup of sugar or an egg. We look out for each other. We keep our eyes and ears open and communicate. They let us know when a ship is in or out of dry dock. They help us out with an emergency repair or cleaning crew.” One of the dry dock’s most high-profile cases was painting the Intrepid. Many of us remember it being towed in 2006 from Pier 86 in Manhattan to the Bayonne Dry Dock, where the team worked on the flight deck and the underwater hull. Kevin says it was the only aircraft carrier they’d ever repaired.
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THE REST IS HISTORY During World War II, ships were built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and outfitted in Bayonne. Now that the navy yard has been transformed into a 21st century complex with a production studio, businesses, artist studios, and office space, it’s hard to imagine those fraught days. On another historic date, Sept. 11, 2001, the managers and workers at the Bayonne Dry Dock were ordered to evacuate. From the end of the yard which faces downtown Manhattan, workers had a clear view of the second plane hitting the North Tower. Dry docks may not have the exciting, anticipatory feel of a cruise port or the commercial hubbub of a container port, but you get a sense of purpose and majesty when you experience one. While they’re being repaired, the ships have a scrappy, rusted look. When the work is done, they may not be opulent, but they’re shipshape and ready for their important work. “Ship repair is a great industry,” Kevin says. “It takes skill, and it’s hard work.” Adds Mike, “We’re helping our navy, and it’s helpful to our country.”—Kate Rounds.
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PEOPLE POWER BLP
From Mom’s Kitchen to
Hell’s Kitchen Chef Giovanni Filippone cooks up a storm
one Chef Giovanni Filipp If you have any lingering doubts about the bond between culture and cuisine, talk to TV Chef Giovanni Filippone. Giovanni arrived in Bayonne by way of Italy when he was 10 and still relies on his native country for inspiration and comfort. He attended the Samuel A. Roberson School, which is no longer in operation, and graduated from BHS. After graduation, he worked in a couple of Bayonne restaurants “to get a feel for the business,” including The Big Apple Sports Palace at 412-414 Broadway, now closed, and what used to be Trattoria on 29th Street. He also worked at the Sheraton in the Meadowlands. “I grew up in a true Italian household around fresh food, homemade pasta, and home-cooked meals,” he recalls. “There was always livestock and a garden in the yard, and my father had
fresh vegetables and herbs.” He and his two brothers were “constantly around food.” His gigs working at various local restaurants did not turn him off to the business. Far from it. “I was lucky; I loved it, and wanted to do it for a living.” That experience led him to a twoyear course of study at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), one of the country’s top training grounds for chefs. And then it was off to pay his dues as a line cook. “It’s funny, I enjoyed being a line cook more than the head guy,” he says. “It’s more fun—you tell jokes in the back, no one ever sees the kitchen—you can enjoy the cooking aspect without the responsibility of management.” He’s had varied cooking experiences. “I like to do a little bit of everything,” he
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says. “I never like to get cornered into one kind of cooking, but when I get in a jam, I fall back on Italian.” Giovanni, who has cooked just about everything, doesn’t think of himself as a pastry chef. “That’s a whole different animal,” he says. “If you miss a pinch of an ingredient, you have to start all over.” Though he himself would cook on TV, he doesn’t habitually follow celebrity chefs. But he did tune in to the original Iron Chef from time to time. “I used to watch that,” he says. “They had crazy products and ingredients, something I’d never think about. I like that aspect.”
Small Town to Small Screen Giovanni had a friend who owned a restaurant in Jersey, but things weren’t
going well, so his friend contacted the hit reality show Kitchen Nightmares. The show, which ran from 2007 to 2014, featured terrorist chef Gordon Ramsay trying to save failing restaurants. Giovanni played the chef in the segment. One thing led to another. “I had no idea who Chef Ramsay was,” Giovanni says. Be that as it may, he soon found himself on Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, a weekly television cooking competition on Fox in which teams of chefs compete for a job as head chef in a restaurant. The show is a high-stress food fight of cooking and serving that ends in humiliation, elimination, or jubilation. “You have to know what you’re doing in the kitchen,” Giovanni says, “and you have to have a great personality.” Meaning? “Crazy and funny, but you have to have talent.” That’s an understatement. Contestants aren’t informed until five minutes before show time what they will be cooking. Giovanni says they could find themselves doing anything from shucking oysters and throwing pizza dough to preparing beef welling-
ton, fish, steaks, or lamb. There’s lots of nail-biting. The stakes are high. The winner will be head chef at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, a $250,000 gig. (Sadly, he didn’t win.)
Day Job When he’s not competing on Hell’s Kitchen, Giovanni is executive chef at Vue on 30A in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Among his pet peeves are online restaurant reviews written, not by professionals, but patrons. “If you’re going to write a review, never say that you just don’t like the restaurant. Offer constructive criticism. Say what you had and what you didn’t like about it. If the chef has no idea what you didn’t like, he can’t fix it. Tell us your experience. Was it too salty, too dry? If you just say it sucks, that doesn’t help the consumer.” When he goes to a restaurant himself, he looks for a couple of things. “I like good food and a great atmosphere,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be fine dining. It can be a good slice of pizza. I like having fun.”
Home Town Giovanni has a perspective of Bayonne that comes from being out of town for almost 14 years. “It’s changed a lot since I was a kid,” he says. “I had a fun time. It was awesome.” But Bayonne still holds a place in his heart. “It’s evolved and turned into a different place for me,” he says. “The light rail system has been great for business.” Meanwhile, he’s got a wife and two kids whom they’re raising in Florida— and in the kitchen. “My daughter likes to help mommy in the kitchen,” he says. At Vue on 30A, he’s cooking up Italian, French, and American dishes, “with a twist on Asia.” He and this lovely waterfront restaurant have won lots of awards. Just a reminder, Giovanni, there are no beautiful oceans in Las Vegas. Just saying! Win or lose, Giovanni says, “Cooking is the real joy.”—Kate Rounds
“I grew up in a true Italian household around fresh food, homemade pasta, and home-cooked meals,” Giovanni says. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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At Lincoln Community, a Pool, Life Skills, and Lots of Learning
T
PHOTOS BY VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
he heady mix of angst, nostalgia, and sensory overload; corridors bedecked with construction paper; the smell of lunch and lockers and science projects; the stray kid let loose in the hall; the teacher with the guiding hand and warning gaze. It’s school! You visit enough of them, and you think you’ve got it down. But then you come face to face with whatever makes each one unique. At Lincoln Community School, it’s the smell of chlorine in the humid cocoon of the Olympic-size pool. If you tell someone you’re visiting Lincoln School, they invariably mention the pool, but there’s another program that Principal Keith Makowski is very proud of: the curriculum for mentally disabled students and preschool kids with special needs. These services come up numerous times on our tour of the school.
The Grand Tour About 460 kids are enrolled in Lincoln Community, which Makowski says is fairly small compared with other schools in the district. Viewing the multi-purpose audi-
About 460 kids are enrolled in the school.
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torium and cafeteria, it looks just about the right size to accommodate assemblies of that size. The first stop is the life-skills room. This is set up with kitchen, laundry, and other common household amenities for mentally disabled kids who need a little extra help navigating life’s daily challenges. The room smells deliciously of home-baked cookies. Up next, first grade. These kids are eager and enthusiastic, each one boasting that he or she has already reached “the last page” of the assignment. They wave their papers in the air and raise their hands to be called on.
EDUCATION BLP
Water Logged On the way to the gym, we run into Assistant Principal Alana Ryan. A sign on the wall behind her reads “Best Students, Best Staff, Best School.” Ryan clearly agrees, remarking on the “energy and magic” of the place. These students are “not from the richest part of town,” she says. “They work harder; nothing was given to them.” She also praises the PTO. “They do great things, family swims, movie nights, yoga. They raise a ton of money at fundraisers and holiday bazaars.” As we approach the gym, the obligatory trophy case advertises the school’s many athletic triumphs. After a zigzag through the locker room, we enter the pool area. It’s warm and sultry, too warm for winter coats. Though empty and quiet, you can almost hear the din of kids competing in a swim meet. Along the walls are school banners and signs with sayings such as, “I promise to be safe in and out of the water.” The pool no longer has a high diving board. A standard one does the trick. The pool stays open 11 months of the year, closing in August.
Principal Keith Makowski
Kids learn respect for students, staff, and family. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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Art And Older Kids Our return trip takes us to the occupational-therapy room, where kids get physical support and services to improve flexibility, hand/eye coordination, fine motor coordination, and muscle tone. A fifth-grader gets help tying his shoes. Outside the room are mobility devices and wheelchairs. In a fifth-grade classroom we observe how the class is divided into groups or “centers.” Some students even sit on the floor to discuss the topic at hand. The older kids are a flight up. We stop in at an 8th grade technology class. Makowski advises them to “act normal.” You can already see the confident high-school swagger in these students, who will be going on to BHS, High Tech, County Prep, St. Dom’s, and Saint Peter’s Prep, among other area high schools. Last stop, the art room. This is one of the most pleasing spaces in the school because it is on the top floor with lots of light and views of Bayonne’s cityscape. There’s a general feeling of hubbub as students work on their projects.
Princi-PAl Makowski is a Bayonne native who attended the Vroom School and graduated from Bayonne High School. He went on to Pace University in New York City, where he studied business management and earned a degree in Business Administration. But the business track wasn’t doing it for Makowski. “I’d played baseball and coached kids at Bayonne High School in junior varsity baseball,” he says. “I wanted to be a manager; I wanted to be in charge.”
A student gets one-on-one attention.
Students will go on to BHS and other area high schools.
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Students are proud of their work. He enrolled in what was then St. Peter’s College to get the credits he needed to be an educator, and the rest is history. He’s been at Lincoln Community for five years. He’d like the older students to be role models. Principal Makowski teaches “respect for all—students, staff, and family. You should give and get respect.”—Kate Rounds
Students work together. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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Domestic Tranquility WomenRising helps break the cycle of violence
BY TARA RYAZANSKY
The onto the national consciousness, exposing sexual #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have exploded
predators in Hollywood, the media, and the United States government, and emboldening women to speak out and seek help. It’s a pivotal moment for organizations like WomenRising, a safe place for women in crisis. Though headquartered in Jersey City, it serves all of Hudson County. In 1988, the YWCA of Bayonne and the YWCA of Jersey City merged to better serve the county. “The rate of victimization has not gone up,” says Devan Tierney, WomenRising’s development and communication coordinator and a Bayonne resident. “However, interestingly enough, the rate of reporting has increased. Any time there is a public tragedy, or a celebrity or person of interest
speaks up about their experience with sexual or domestic violence, we tend to see a rise in calls to our hotline. It is extremely beneficial for clients to see tangible proof that they are not the only ones impacted by violence of this sort and that it is OK to speak out.”
Safe Exit Bayonne resident Margaret Abrams is a Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT) Coordinator at WomenRising, where she’s worked since 2005. Prior to that, she spent three years as a volunteer for DVRT, which she now leads. “We’ve had victims of domestic violence contact us through email to build escape plans,” Abrams says. “Maybe the perpetrator is leaving the house, and you only have a 20-minute time frame at 1 a.m.” The WomenRising website has a “safe exit” option, so that visitors can quickly switch pages if they don’t want to be spotted seeking help. Abrams tells the story of one woman with whom she was communicating via email for weeks. The time between each email was nerve-wracking for Abrams. So was the thought that the responses might not be from the victim, but her abuser trying to get information about the escape plan after finding the emails on her phone. One day, Abrams went to meet with a new client. “I had never seen this person or heard her voice, but as soon as she spoke her story, I knew who it was,” Abrams says. It was the woman she’d been exchanging emails with. “That woman was able to flee. She started a whole new life.” Joaneileen Coughlan, the organization’s director of domestic violence services, says, “Margaret was a clear leader of the group. She always took initiative. Since then, Margaret has worked day and night to serve victims of domestic violence and WomenRising.” For more than 110 years, WomenRising has provided counseling, 24/7 crisis intervention, workforce development, and permanent supportive housing. All services, which are free and confidential, help clients achieve self-sufficiency.
Behind Closed Doors Abrams was inspired to do this work because she is a survivor of domestic violence. When she saw a story about WomenRising in her local paper in the early 2000s, she wanted to give back. “When I was in an abusive relationship there were no opportunities like these,” she says, referring to WomenRising’s ever-growing list of services. “It happened behind closed doors. It was a very hush-hush issue.”
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Abrams brings the issue to the forefront by facilitating teen dating anti-violence workshops at local schools and staffing tables at the Bayonne Hometown Fair, National Night Out, and other community events. These initiatives help break the isolation that abuse fosters, even if the victim isn’t ready to leave her batterer. “It allows the person going through it to know that there are services, and they are not alone,” Abrams says. “Even if the clients don’t ever make contact, they at least know that there’s an option. Just knowing the name WomenRising is making that connection.”
HELPING
Expert Assistance The next 50-hour volunteer-training course begins at the end of September at WomenRising’s Jersey City headquarters. “The DVRT process requires a certain level of dedication, but we work with the volunteers’ availability,” Abrams says. “Some people may say it takes a village to make a difference in others’ lives. I say it takes one domestic violence response team member to not only make a difference in the survivor’s life but for future generations, by offering the tools to end the cycle of violence.” The DVRT informs victims of their rights and helps them make a safety plan, whether they decide to leave their abusers or not. Sometimes its most important service is simply listening without judgment.
Community Support Local events help to educate the community about domestic violence and to find supporters and volunteers, who work with Hudson County police departments. WomenRising has many volunteers from Bayonne, as well as a long list of sponsors, including Suez Bayonne, BCB, Garden State Community Bank, I.M.T.T, GCT Bayonne, The Little Food Cafe, Pizza Masters, Rocheny Photography, Hudacko’s, Delta Storage, Bayonne Market, GFWC Peninsula Women’s Club, Family Florist, Mayor Jimmy Davis, and Training for Warriors. WomenRising has been running a domestic abuse support group in Bayonne for three years. Says Abrams, “It’s essential that clients access resources within their community.” — BLP 24-hour hotline: (201) 333-5700 Website: womenrising.org Twitter: twitter.com/womenrisinginc Facebook: facebook.com/womenrisinginc Instagram: instagram.com/womenrisinginc WomenRising Newsletter: bit.ly/2ChUaSz General inquiry: info@womenrising.org
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SPORTS & FITNESS BLP
Dwayne Williams with members of his humongous family
Gridiron Great For Dwayne Williams, home is where the sisters are— all 11 of them STORY AND PHOTO BY JIM HAGUE
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ortia Motley thinks it’s business as usual that she comes from a family of 11 girls and one boy. “It’s a blessing,” she said. Patricia Bennett agrees: “I always had someone to look up to or someone looking up to me.” Bennett can rattle off all 12 names without missing a beat: “Judy, Cynthia, Patricia, Portia, Karen, Barbara, then comes Dwayne, then Lynn, Lorrie, Lisa, Maria, and Mickey. And thank God we’re all still here.” So is the matriarch, 88-year-old Julia Williams. “I thank the good Lord for such a big family,” she said. “It sort of grew on us that we had only one boy.” She still lives in Bayonne, as do several of her daughters. Williams’s husband, James, died in 1993. When the family gets together—12 children, 35 grandchildren, 66 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great grandchildren—there isn’t a living room to fit them all. “We have to rent a hall,” Bennett said. The Williams family was so big that they had to occupy two apartments at 411 Avenue C. “I tell people how big my family is, and they don’t believe it,” said Motley, a respiratory therapist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark.
“We had a whole lot of different personalities,” said Maria Thaxton, who is a freight forwarder and No. 11 of 12 children. “I had to look up to all of my sisters and my brother. But by the time I came into the picture, he didn’t need anyone to protect him.” Except from perhaps his own sisters. “I used to get beat up by a few of them,” Dwayne said. “I also fought a few of my sisters’ boyfriends.”
Man Power Dwayne became one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of the Peninsula City. “Being the only boy with 11 sisters, I always felt like I had something to prove,” Williams said. He began playing football at age 9, in the Bayonne Recreation league and the Police Athletic League. “We won so many games back then that I thought winning was the only thing,” he said. He became proficient in basketball as well. “I would run to City Line [59th Street and Kennedy Boulevard] and back to First Street late at night,” he said. “I was out shooting baskets at 2 or 3 in the morning.” He went to all the Bayonne High School football games. “I
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remember walking down to Bayonne Stadium and seeing guys like Gary Danback and Gerry Castaldo,” Williams said. “I was playing Pee Wee football and asked for uniform No. 22, because I wanted to be like Gary Danback.” Danback was named the Hudson County Back of the Year in 1969. In 1977, Williams attained the same honor. Bayonne’s Rich Dimler earned Lineman of the Year. “The college coaches came in to recruit Dimler,” Williams said. “I said to my friend Grover Edwards [a fellow Hudson County Back of the Year in 1976] that those coaches will all come back for us.”
Lucky He Didn’t Quit When Williams was a sophomore, he said, “I didn’t get to make a lot of tackles, and I never carried the ball. I was about to quit, but my friend Keith McKinnie said, ‘Don’t. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’ He was right.” In the NJSIAA Group IV state playoffs, he scored a touchdown on an electrifying 85-yard run that avid Bayonne Bees followers still consider one of the best runs ever. After high school, he went to the University of Iowa. “There were about seven recruits from New Jersey who all decided to go to Iowa,” Williams said. Some went on to play in the NFL. “If I didn’t get hurt, the coaches all said I had a chance to play in the NFL,” he said.
But Williams wanted to head back to Kansas, finding a head coaching position at Schlagle High School and turn-
Dwayne became one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of the Peninsula City. ing that troubled inner-Kansas City program around. “We won the city, the county, and the conference championship,” Williams said. “The only thing we didn’t win was the state title.”
Family Guy “I’ve been blessed 10 times over,” said Williams, who came home for the holidays to undergo hip replacement surgery. A 58-year-old single dad, he remains close to his daughter Kaniesha Hallenbeck, who lives in Bayonne. “It’s a large family that is very diverse and very interesting,” Hallenbeck said. “When we get together, it’s nothing but
fun.”Kaniesha follows Stallions football. “I boast about him to everyone,” she said. “I love to cheer him on.” The Williams sisters agree. “I have a great sense of pride in my brother,” Patricia Bennett said. “I was working New Year’s Day in the pediatric department of United Hospital in Newark when he was in the Rose Bowl. I made sure that every single television was turned to the game.”
Honey Bees Family members manage to get together once or twice a year. “It’s pretty remarkable that we are all so close,” Maria Thaxton said. Williams will go back to Kansas after he rehabilitates from hip surgery. “I put all my faith in my Lord and Savior,” he said. “I have a lot more to give.” But there’s something tugging on his sleeve. “I always have my 11 sisters with me,” he said. “Bayonne is always going to be home. I want to come back.” If Dwayne Williams comes back to coach again, he already has a humungous cheering section. It’s called family.—BLP
Back in Bayonne When Williams graduated from Iowa in 1982, he returned to Bayonne, becoming an assistant under head coach, Don Ahern. After four years, he moved to Ferris High School in Jersey City for two more. After those two stints, Williams moved to Kansas to become head coach at Highland Park High School. In 1999, Williams came back to Bayonne to become an assistant coach under the Bees’ new head coach Tom Bulwith. After the 2009 season, he left Bayonne to coach one season at Roselle High School. In 2011, he became head coach at Marist High School. Imagine, one of the Bees’ all-time greats coaching the rival Royal Knights. In 2012, Williams led the Royal Knights to five victories and the program’s first trip to the NJSIAA state playoffs since 2005. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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BAYONNE
MEANS
BUSINESS
INTERVIEWS BY KATE ROUNDS | PHOTOS BY ALYSSA BREDIN QUIRÓS
ROBERT STAPF AND TEAM
BRITISH SWIM SCHOOL Jewish Community Center 1050 Kennedy Blvd. (201) 676-3630 robert.stapf@britishswimschool.com britishswimschool.com/hudsonwaterfront
H
uh? British Swim School in Bayonne? What the heck’s going on here? Turns out it’s a franchise started 35 years ago by Brit swimmer Rita Goldberg. Now headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, it operates 200 schools in 20 states. Hudson County towns with BSS franchises include Jersey City, Secaucus, Weehawken, and Bayonne, which serve more than 1,000 kids. The Bayonne franchise operates out of the Jewish Community Center. As we look toward the summer Olympics, don’t get all starry-eyed about grooming the next Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky. British Swim School is all about safety, full stop. And BSS students start early, as young as three months. Bayonne franchise owner Robert Stapf says that Goldberg “developed a method of teaching kids how to survive in a very special
way, how to float in the water and not drown.” Stapf is shocked by the CDC statistic that drowning is the number-one cause of accidental death for children under the age of 5. The second is car accidents. “Parents buy car safety seats for their kids, but they don’t always think about swim lessons, which are even more important,” he says. “We are here to raise awareness and change that. Our mission is to make sure that every child is safe in the water, not to teach the butterfly.” All instructors are former competitive swimmers. “The earlier you start them with professional swim lessons, the less likely they are to develop a fear of the water,” Stapf says. “Swimming lessons are important for everybody, not just towns with water access.” In fact, he says, most accidents occur in swimming pools. The British Swim School curriculum, which also serves adults, offers water safety, survival skills, and swimming skills development. While parental supervision is essential, Stapf says that research shows that formal swim programs reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children most at risk for
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drowning deaths. The BSS method prohibits floaties, promotes classes no bigger than four students, encourages year-round learning, and believes that learning safe swimming should be fun and goal-oriented. BSS operates on the premise that children progress at different rates. Each child, regardless of his or her skill level, is given certain achievable objectives. Classes start at the Tadpole level and go on to Swimboree, Seahorse, Starfish, Minnow, Turtle 1, Turtle 2, Shark 1, Shark 2, Barracudas Swim Team, and adult classes. Robert Stapf has no aquatics background, but feels so strongly about water safety and survival that he decided to become a BSS franchisee. “I was a corporate executive in the perfume business for 16 years,” he says. “It was not related to swimming at all.” The British Swim School often fills the gap left by schools. “Swimming is not mandatory any more,” Stapf says. “Nobody makes sure kids can swim. In phys-ed, often the first thing that goes is swimming.” The British Swim School puts swimming first.
HOW WE WORK BLP
DR. NOAH DE KOYER AND DR. MICHAEL ACANFORA
HEALTH COACHING ACADEMY 734 Broadway (201) 858-0444
“T
he community and the country are getting sicker and sicker.” Wow, that’s a strong statement. It’s coming from the mouth of Bayonne chiropractor Dr. Noah De Koyer, who runs the Family Chiropractic Center in Bayonne. He and fellow Bayonne chiropractor Dr. Michael Acanfora launched the Health Coaching Academy this year to promote better health and wellness. “After years and years of intense interest in health and wellness, we decided to use the knowledge we’ve gained over the years to create a comprehensive program to help a wider range of patients,” De Koyer says. The pair interviewed some 150 leaders in the healthcare field, took cues from their podcast “Beyond Your Wildest Genes,” and completed very specialized training in order to become health coaches. What are Americans suffering from? Both doctors agree that it’s the usual suspects: lack of sleep, poor diet, lack of exercise, and stress. “They’re sick and tired of being sick and tired,” De Koyer says. “There’s a great deal of confusion about what and how to eat and a lot of distractions—
social media, TV, video games—that are taking us away from proper sleep time.” Sleep deprivation is a major health hazard. “After a deep REM sleep, you won’t be as anxious, and you’ll be ready to conquer the world,” De Koyer says. Eating the right foods, getting enough exercise, and proper restful sleep, he says, are crucial for your overall health and wellbeing. At the Health Coaching Academy, they practice the “drug-free way to natural healing.” Why start an academy? “We’ve been helping and coaching patients for two decades, so we wanted to codify it in an academy with a defined name and space,” De Koyer says. What is the biggest complaint among patients? “Lack of energy and lack of drive,” he says. Where there’s a will there’s a way. “People coming to us are usually openminded people,” De Koyer says. “Some people want a magic pill, but health is a process, just like anything else. There are defined steps day in and day out, every day to reach a defined goal.” Each goal is different. “It’s not onesize-fits-all,” De Koyer says. “It’s a custom-made approach. No two people are alike.” Patients accustomed to traditional medicine will appreciate the change. Traditional practitioners, De Koyer says, “are trained in disease prevention instead of health creation. We’ve been
helping people get well for a combined 40 years.” Dr. Michael Acanfora studied at the Kresser Institute for Functional and Evolutionary Medicine and runs the Wellness Institute in Bayonne. “We focus on holistic, or alternative medicine, because the natural approach helps the body restore to its highest levels of wellbeing,” he says. “There’s a dramatic difference between what we do and everyone else. It’s not a quick fix. We address the root cause of each individual’s health issue.” It’s a team effort. “We partner with patients in getting their health back,” Acanfora says. “It’s not a doctor up on a pedestal.” He puts a lot of emphasis on combating the “standard American diet.” We all know the drill: processed and packaged food with lots of preservatives. In two words: junk food. “When you start eating right, you lose weight naturally,” he says. “One patient lost 12 pounds in two weeks, just by eating healthier, taking baby steps by starting with detox.” Acanfora likes to get patients before the heart attack. “They’re out of breath going upstairs, they’re unable to play with their grandkids, they can’t do things they want to do,” he says. Patients come to the coaching academy “when they’ve been through the gamut and not getting results.”—BLP
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e w w ho
E V LI
Hudson Flats PHOTOS BY VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
A
s Hudson County towns evolve, you can feel like you’ve lost your bearings. Wait a second, didn’t that used to be an empty lot? A gas station? An abandoned building? Increasingly, Bayonne is following behind Hoboken and Jersey City in transforming its vacant land and old structures into upscale dwellings. Hudson Flats went up a year ago in a space many remember as a crumbling gas station. Now its contemporary lines grace the streetscape on lower Broadway. Last October, Brian Bennett and Nikki Swan moved into a fourth-floor rental unit. Brian grew up on 26th Street and the Boulevard, and is back in Bayonne after stints as an adult in Austin, Texas, and New Orleans. Nikki is a Jersey girl from Brick, who came to Bayonne by way of Hoboken. Nikki works for PSE&G in Newark, and Brian is a chef at Hudson Table in Hoboken. Their new home makes for a pretty easy commute for both of them. Hudson Flats provides parking. The building feels spanking new. The door alarms work perfectly, there’s a tiny exercise room to the left of the front
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Br ia
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HOW WE LIVE BLP
entrance, and the elevator walls are still covered in green, protective padding. As you exit the elevator on the fourth floor, a table with a mirror above makes for a homey welcome. Doors on either side lead to the apartments. Your first impression on entering the Bennett/Swan unit is of light. Windows on three sides of the open-plan kitchen, dining room, and living room offer views of Bayonne rooftops, and in the distance, the Bayonne Bridge and Lower Manhattan. Nikki says these wonderful windows were a real plus when they invited friends over on New Year’s Eve, and fireworks were clearly visible. Brian cooked; Nikki “poured.” The unit has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and storage closet. Brian and Nikki have given it a modern, slightly industrial/IKEA feel with lots of whites, grays, and browns, as well as Brian’s black leather man-couch, with some of Nikki’s softer gray chairs. She also has a prized turntable. Next to it a vintage David Bowie album. Nikki keeps her snowboard in the guest bedroom, a signature emblem of a younger generation that’s finding its way to Bayonne. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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HOW WE LIVE BLP
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Signs of Brian’s chosen career are evident—a knife kit on a bench in the kitchen, and a book titled “The Art of Fermentation.” But the kitchen is for regular cooks. He says he looks for counter space and a stove that “works properly. I was skeptical at first of an electric stove, but it’s nice. It boils water in two minutes.” He thinks out-of-towners have not yet discovered Bayonne eateries. “It needs to be easier for people to get here,” he says, pointing to the bridge closures and the turnpike construc-
from page 27
Son of Italy’s Annual Salute to the Stars of Opera, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 979 Avenue C, 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Call Marie at (201) 858-0520 or Grace at (201) 8230293.
MAY 5 Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation’s Trick Tray fundraiser, Heart of Jesus Church Parish Hall, 290 Avenue E, 6-10 p.m. Tickets are $14 and include cake, coffee, tea, soda, a sheet of first level tickets and table snacks. We will also be collecting cat food for our fur babies. For information or tickets, call Phyliss at (201) 339-4517. Bayonne Elks Lodge 434’s Derby Day, 364 Broadway, 3 p.m. $10 donation to eat authentic Southern food. Enter our “Best in Show” hat competition. For information, contact Lisa DiLorenzo at (201) 5894344.
7 Musical Mondays at the Museum: Rich Casella, Bayonne Museum, 229 Broadway, 6:30 p.m.
HOW WE LIVE BLP tion. “Ferry service would also help to bring people from out of the area.” Though Brian acknowledges that many of Bayonne’s restaurants are Italian, he and Nikki frequent the Polish deli on 24th and Avenue C. “Bayonne people don’t like to get too far out of their comfort zone with food,” he says. We visited in late January. Nikki says she’s looking forward to warmer weather when she can visit Bayonne’s many parks.—Kate Rounds
Doors open at 6 p.m. Entertainment begins at 6:30 p.m.
10 Andrea’s Trip to the Staten in Staten Island. Bus leaves from Fourth Street and Broadway at 10:30 a.m. There will be lunch then one-hour free bar, dancing with a live band, and a comedian. The theme is Rock and Roll. The cost is $75. For information, call (201) 858-4104.
20 Phyllis & Adelaide’s Fun-Filled Bus Ride to the Golden Nugget. Bus leaves at 10:30 a.m. from East 35th Street. Cost is $36 per person with a $25 slot play and $5 food coupon. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Phyllis at (201) 339-4517. Please purchase tickets in advance; all proceeds will benefit various charities in Bayonne.
JUNE 24 Phyllis & Adelaide’s Fun-Filled Bus Ride to the Sands Casino. Bus leaves at 10:30 a.m. from East 35th Street. Cost is $35 per person continued on page 59
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BLP
Rapper R &B Artist and
Cascio overcomes a bitter pill BY TARA RYAZANSKY PHOTOS BY CARLOS BODDEN
“I
do what I want ’cause I’m grown. Bayonne’s my city, I call it my home,” Lucas LoCascio says, recalling the lyrics of his first big single. “It was something like that,” he adds with a grin. In 2015, LoCascio, known in the music industry as Cascio, heard himself sing those words on the radio. It was that moment that propelled him to create his first full-length album, Blue Pill. “This DJ said that he would try to get my song on the radio during his set, which ended at 12,” Cascio says. Even though it wasn’t a definite thing, he invited friends over, hoping that his song would make it on the air. As the set wore on, Cascio began to have his doubts. “It was like, 11:56 and people started leaving,” he recalls. “I was just about to turn the radio off when I heard my name.” It was a victory in the final minutes. “I remember that one tear coming out of my eye.”
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After that, Cascio’s single, In My Zone, was played regularly on Hot 97 and Power 105.1. It caught some major label attention. The single was released by Entertainment One, a company that represents talent like Wu-Tang and The Game. When it was time for a debut full-length album, Cascio released it with Global Empire Music Group, an indie label that would give him more freedom. Blue Pill was released in the summer of 2017. It’s R&B with a classic sound, but he has no plans to stick to one genre. “I like to be eclectic,” he says. “I view myself as a writer first.” Growing up he loved everything from up-tempo pop like Michael Jackson to rock music like Evanescence.
those down,” he says. “Every time I say the name of that album it reminds me of what I’ve been through.” The hip-hop music scene often glorifies drugs. “The people that listen to this type music are kids,” Cascio says. “I never promote drug use. It ruins peoples’ lives. It ruined mine. I stayed home for a week, and I went through it. It was rough,” he says of his experience of withdrawal. “It was probably the most painful thing that I’ve gone through in my life”
KNACK FOR RAP
Now that Cascio is drug free, he’s working on his second album, aptly titled The Other Side. “I want to showcase my rapping ability,” he says. “Blue Pill was all me. I felt like I had a lot to get off my chest. This one, I just wanted to bring in more Cascio has been creating and people.” He’s collaborating with recording music since he was 6. artists like NJ singer Justin Love, He grew up in Bayonne on 23rd and Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey Street, but spent his weekends of Dipset. visiting his father in New York Cascio hopes that fans of Blue City. “My father, he was a Pill will embrace the change. Spanish language recording “That is one of the things that I artist,” he says. “It was someworry about most,” he says. thing that I took an interest in Though it will feature the same right away. I’ve always been lyrical storytelling as Blue Pill, writing and singing and rap“there might be people who love ping.” His mother encouraged my R&B stuff who might hear him, and he was also influenced this and feel disappointed or by the vibrant hip-hop culture confused.” in the city. “I kind of brought He looks forward to playing his some of that back to Bayonne,” new songs live. “When I do my he says. shows I like to make it really interacMany of the songs on Blue Pill tive with the crowd,” he says. Cascio have music videos. “I usually has performed at Newark write my songs with the video Lucas LoCascio Symphony Hall, Hot 97 Who’s Next, treatment in mind, he says. “It’s and Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. kind of like as I’m writing I’m “It’s one of those things where right imagining how it’s going to look. The visual is part of before I go on stage I’m telling myself there’s no way I can do the song; it’s part of the art.” Some of the videos are this, and as soon as I get on stage I’m like yeah, this is exactshot in local spots, including Classic Skate Shop on ly what I’m supposed to do,” he says. “It’s a great feeling when Broadway, the 25th Street housing projects, and the people respond well to the thing that you love to do most.” —BLP gazebo in Stephen R. Gregg Park.
EARLY START
HIGH TIMES Many of the songs are about love and yearning, but some of the lyrics come from a darker place, like the song Downfall. “People think that I’m talking about a girl, but I’m talking about pills,” Cascio reveals. “The name Blue Pill is because I had an addiction. I had a problem with drugs. I was partying a lot, and I started taking these blue pills called Roxies.” He kicked the opioid addiction with the help of his girlfriend. “Thank God I was strong enough to get it together and put
For more information about shows and to listen to Blue Pill, visit cascionj on Instagram and Twitter .
“
I was just about to turn the radio off when I heard my name.” – Lucas LoCascio
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BLP
On Location in Bayonne A local production company is gradually making a scene
F
or the past eight years, an outfit called Narrow Bridge Films has been making inroads into indie movie-making. Narrow Bridge founder, actor, writer, producer, and Bayonne native Sam Platizky has deep local roots. He graduated from Bayonne’s Woodrow Wilson grammar school, Bayonne High School, and earned degrees in English and theater from New Jersey City University, where he applauds the “one-on-one” acting classes. After college, he did some off-off Broadway plays and indie films. You might wonder why a guy with a strong background in theater who wants to be in films wouldn’t head out to L.A. “I do want to go eventually,” he says. “I’ve been to the West Coast a few times, but, by accident we formed a nice core group of people in Bayonne, Jersey City, and outlying areas. It’s hard to find a group this passionate, and if I went to L.A., I’d have to start all over.” His loyalty to Bayonne extends to film locations, which have included his house, his friends’ houses, Hendricksons’ Corner, the Little Food Café, the Da Vinci Room, the Bayonne Museum, the Bayonne Bridge, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations, and the town’s many parks. The company prides itself on its Bayonne cred and wants to give back to the community. In the fall of 2015 it teamed up with Comic Book Fans United to host a charity art show at Manifest Comics.
Sam in “Yellow Scare.” Photo by Allan J. Carmona
ZOMBIE GUYS “I was writing scripts for a while, but I didn’t want to do anything with them,” Sam says. “They were basically real stories about my friends. There was nothing extraordinary about them, but if I took that friend thing and set it with zombies, it becomes something bigger and easier to film.” Not surprisingly, among his favorite films are The Empire Strikes Back and The Avengers. In 2010, Narrow Bridge made its first feature film, Blaming George Romero, a “zombie apocalypse” movie, which premiered at Frank Theatres and went on to the Bergenfield and Golden Door festivals. Its second film, Red Scare, was billed as a “zombie comedy set during World War II.” Narrow Bridge was honored with the Gold Kahuna Award at the 2012 Honolulu Film Awards for Red Scare. The film also won the Silver Ace Award at the 2012 Las Vegas Film Festival and an honorable mention at the Mock Film Festival in Los Angeles.
EARLY INFLUENCES Sam’s older brother Isaac is also on the Narrow Bridge team. “Our mother and father introduced us to film and theater at an early age,” Sam says. “We were avid watchers of movies and readers of books. Sam, Isaac, and his father are all employed at NJCU, Sam’s alma mater. “They know what my real passion is and let me go on auditions,” Sam says. Their mother is in the childcare field. Sam says he wasn’t inspired by any one play or movie when he was a kid. “We’d go to Broadway plays a lot, and we liked watching movies, but I never thought I’d make movies of my own,” he says. “I got into acting through a summer program at the JCC. I was in the chorus of Oliver and really liked it.” His adult influences include directors Edgar Wright, Guillermo de Toro, and Steven Spielberg. Actors who made an impact on him include Hugh Jackman, Gary Oldman, Cate Blanchett, and Natalie Portman. “They have the ability to play completely different parts,” he says.
Painting by Steven Defendini
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BLP of the Dangerous Kitten.” The feature Monster Mash is also in the works. Narrow Bridge has a web series titled Lost and Found. “The web series was a creatively rewarding collaborative effort, but we don’t really have the resources to make a web series on Netflix,” Sam says.
In 2015, Narrow Bridge snagged the reigning Miss New Jersey International, Jenna Kildosher, to act in a number of its films. Other ensemble members include William Farley and Dan Gregory. At Narrow Bridge, there’s a lot of learning on the job. When Sam didn’t have a producer, he added that title to his many jobs, which also included editor.
STARS IN THEIR EYES
THE LAUGHS KEEP COMING In the spring of 2016, Narrow Bridge premiered Summer Cabin, a comedy starring a roster of Bayonne natives and shown at Frank Theatres. Actors included Sam, his brother Isaac, Dan Gregory, William Farley, and Jenna Kildosher. Summer Cabin was shown at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre for the Golden Door Film Festival, where it was nominated for best local film. The previous year the company won for The Devil You Know, which won second place for Horror Comedy Shorts at the 2015 Horror Hotel Film Festival in Ohio and was an official selection of the Fantasmagorical Film Festival. Summer Cabin, later titled Cabin of Errors, was also screened at the New York Film Festival in October 2016. It was an official selection of the 2017 Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase, and won Best Feature Film at the 2017 Laugh or Die Film Festival. After attending the 2016 American Film Market in Santa Monica, Narrow Bridge secured a distribution deal for Cabin of Errors with Summer Hill Films. It can be streamed on Amazon Prime. Yellow Scare, the group’s fourth film, a comedy with musical numbers set during World War II, was shot in the spring of 2016 and went into post-production in the fall of that year. “We got help and support from the City of Bayonne, especially Mayor Davis and Pete Amadeo and businesses like Hendrickson’s,” Platizky says. This film, he says, reflects his appreciation for Mel Brooks’s sense of humor. Short films include “Click Send,” “Cupid’s First Day,” “The Girls in the Basement,” and “The Last Rehearsal
(left to right) Megan Bussiere, Sam Platizky, Laura Chaneski, Dan Gregory, Jenna Kildosher, and Isaac Platizky. Photo by Sean Feuer
“I’d like us to get to the point where we’re out there in the world,” Sam says. “I want people to see the work we’ve done and hire us for other things to propel our careers forward. We’re getting better in terms of quality. We want to be seen on Netflix and Amazon Prime.” But Bayonne will always be in his blood. “I have a sense of hometown pride,” he says. “I love the town, and not everybody loves their hometowns, especially in New Jersey. I love the businesses, the food, and the support we get.”—Kate Rounds
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PHOTOS BY TERRI SAULINO BISH
T
hough this unique venue is packed Friday through Sunday and can be seen for miles on busy Route 440, in many ways it’s Bayonne’s best-kept secret. Yes, it’s well-known for off-track betting. The dramatic neon sign and illuminated façade “say” horseracing, and once inside, 150 flat-screen TVs feature major racetracks with all the majesty of the track: gorgeous thoroughbreds, jockeys in their colorful silks, and spectators rooting for the horse that will win them the big bucks. But there’s so much more. When you think Winners, don’t think casino. One of the trademark characteristics of most casinos, whether in Atlantic City or Las Vegas,
is their dark, gaudy interiors, devoid of clocks, so you can lose track of time and space as you gamble into eternity. Winners has a contemporary feel with huge windows that shine light on the proceedings. Depending on where you are, you can view Bayonne’s signature landscape of oil
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drums in the marshlands, cranes on the waterfront, and in the distance, clearly visible, the World Trade Center alone on the horizon. On the other side, another towering feature, Bayonne’s majestic wind turbine. We were there on a Tuesday in late afternoon. (Hold that thought.) It was the end of winter, but it was still light. At this less-travelled day and time, the few customers were men of a certain age. One joked that he didn’t want his picture taken because he’d told his wife he was at work.
A huge open area features a vast bar, and to the right a simulcast center with screens and kiosks. There’s another simulcast area in back and, off that, a VIP room. I peaked into the VIP room. There was one guy in there with an ancient-looking hand-scribbled document that was mysterious to me but I’m sure vital to him. OK, let’s get back to that all-important day of the week—Tuesday. It’s Burger Night at McLoone’s Bayonne Grille, the self-contained restaurant to the left of the entrance. Who can beat a $6 burger? I’m not
even a big fan of burgers, but this one was delicious. Theresa, our server, recommended the ever-popular Belmont: Swiss cheese, sautéed onions, mushrooms, bacon, and spicy mayo on a brioche with French fries. Medium rare, it was perfectly cooked, not the least bit dry. The fixings were great, but I wager that even a plain one with ketchup would do the trick. Of course, you can’t have a burger without beer. Check out Terri’s picture of the beautiful one I ordered, sparkling in the sun.
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EATING AND DRINKING BLP
Eleven draft beers include Blue Moon, Sam Rebel IPA, and Angry Orchard. Eleven bottled beers include Becks, Heineken, and Corona. Wine- and cocktail-lovers are also in luck. There’s a full wine list and a selection of cocktails, including Bloody Marys, rum drinks, spiked pink lemonade, sangria, Bayonne iced coffee with a whole bunch of spirits, Saddler’s tea (vodka), and Margaritas. Next up, McLoone’s cheese pizza. This is a nice, bar-sized pie. It was crispy and beautifully seasoned and not at all greasy. And last, we ordered the fish tacos, composed of grilled tilapia, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, and
cilantro-lime sauce. This is a healthy choice for folks who want to lay off the pizza and burgers. The fish was very fresh and seasonings very zesty. But there’s lots more on the menu, a full range of small plates, soups, salads, handhelds, sides, grilled cheese bar, comfort food, and entrees. Listen up, Bayonne folks, you need to think of Winners as a dining option, not just a place to wager on horses. I know nothing about betting, but I would come back in a heartbeat to soak up the ambience and enjoy an evening out at the restaurant or bar. Though the clientele may be older, I’m talking to you, millennials— gather your friends, enjoy
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reasonably priced food and drink, learn how to bet or, if you’re already a pro, teach your pals. One caveat: ya gotta drive. No walking across 440, but there’s ample free parking. You can bet on Winners. —Kate Rounds McLoone’s Bayonne Grill (201) 858-0500 mcloonesbayonnegrille.com Winners (201) 436-2570 winnersbayonne.com 400 Route 440 N.
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Victor M. Rodriguez caught this beautiful sign of spring.
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with a $30 slot play and $5 food coupon. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Phyllis at (201) 339-4517. Please purchase tickets in advance; all proceeds will benefit various charities in Bayonne.
JULY 21 Bayonne Elks Lodge’s Trip to Monmouth Race Track. $45 includes round-trip bus, ice for your coolers, admission, and lunch. Contact Lisa DiLorenzo at (201) 589- 4344 for reservations (deposits are required). Rain or shine. Bayonne - Life on the Peninsula ~ SPRING/SUMMER 2018 •
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