I Remember...
going food shopping with my mother at the A&P store on Monticello Avenue
using brown paper bags for book covers, lunches, and garbage
John's Bargain Store in Journal Square
listening to my transistor radio
going swimming on hot summer days at the Municipal Swimming Pool on Communipaw Avenue
when Martin Luther King Boulevard was Jackson Avenue
when Kennedy Boulevard was Hudson Boulevard and it had islands
buying tons of comic books at a store at the Junction and on Communipaw Avenue near Jackson Avenue (regular issues were ten cents; the large issues were a quarter each)
trading comic books with my friend Olin Henry (he would leave comic books within the wood panels of our house)
the Good Humor man and Mister Softee
my father taking us for car rides and to the park (when he was going to take us to the park, he wore blue pants). We would say that 'Daddy has his park pants on'.
collecting empty soda bottles from the Lincoln High School students and taking them to the delicatessen on the corner of Crescent and Communipaw Avenues (we got two cents for the regular sized bottles). I remember asking politely if I could have their empty bottles.
shooting high school girls from across the street with paper clips from a rubber band
riding to the ferry on my bicycle
listening to the foghorns from boats on the Hudson River while in bed
listening to the church bells from the church at the intersection of Madison and Clinton Avenues playing Christmas carols
the time when a policeman chased a car thief down Madison Avenue towards Communipaw Avenue and firing a warning shot into the air (our livingroom faced Madison Avenue and I was sitting on a chair on that side; the bullet penetrated the wall and thankfully dropped to the floor before hitting the chair)
my mother taking us to Bergen Point in Bayonne on a bus
going Christmas shopping with my mother on Jackson Avenue (I remember we caught either the #7 or #8 bus on the corner of Monticello and Communipaw Avenues)
we had a telephone and a Henderson (HE) exchange
my father's black 1953 Henry J
watching Farmer Gray and other cartoons such as Mighty Mouse on Saturday mornings
Brummer's Ice Cream Parlor at the Junction
going to St. John's Episcopal Church on Summit Avenue during the summers (once we went on a trip to South Beach on Staten Island
the milkman delivering bottled milk
walking to my part-time job at a dental laboratory located in Journal Square
Robert "Kool" Bell of Kool & the Gang being in my math class at Lincoln High School
watching high school students on the way to school as my mother fed me in the kitchen overlooking Harrison Avenue
wrapping food and sandwiches in waxed paper
a family of gypsies living across the street from us
my father telling me that as a baby the doctor called me Joe Louis
my very first friend named Martin
beginning every school day with pledging allegiance to the flag
going to Teddy's, a candy store on the corner of Monticello Avenue and Astor Place
listening to deejay Pat the Cat on station WNJR on our kitchen radio
that Elder Barrett designated me a Sunday School teacher for my brothers and sisters
our mother preparing Sunday breakfast consisting of her delicious home-made biscuits and sausage; my favorite Sunday dinner was roast chicken and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and succotash
school students carrying their brown paper bag-covered books in their hands
the Monticello Theater right around the corner from us
the Esso gas station at the corner of Communipaw and Madision Avenues
the drug store on the corner of Harrison and Monticello Avenues
my mother calling us out of the window to come in for dinner
the beatings with a leather belt we got from my father (my father didn't whip the girls, just us boys)
when theaters showed a second feature
being fascinated by drive-in theaters
Beat 'Em All gas station on Bergen Avenue owned by my father's friend, Elder Lawrence (my father worked there part-time pumping gas)
the Loew's theater in Journal Square and the Stanley and State theaters near Journal Square
the post office on the corner of Harrison and Bergen Avenues
the Jersey City Armory at 678 Montgomery Street (near Summit Avenue)
reading comic strips such as Mutt and Jeff, Prince Valiant, Gasoline Alley, Smilin' Jack, Little Orphan Annie, and others in my father's Sunday Daily News
the telephone company building on Madison Avenue (we could see it by looking out of our livingroom window)
the color-coded bus system: brown ran on Central Avenue; red ran on Montgomery and West Side Avenues; green ran on Bergen and Lafayette; orange ran on Bergen Avenue. Here is an early photo of a bus at Journal Square
when milk, juices, and soda all came in glass bottles (soda bottles could be redeemed for money or product)
when beef and pork came from farms and pastures (not CAFOs [concentrated animal feeding operation] or factory farms)
the library I often visited at 489 Bergen Avenue - walking distance from where I lived
putting baseball cards in the spokes of our bicycle tires to give the bicycle a loud sound as we rode
walking down the street with a friend with our arms around each others shoulders
having to turn down the television volume whenever a cigarette or liquor commercial came on
the TV repairman came to fix our television set (the problem was a vacuum tube)
sliding down the bannister from the second floor of our house
falling at the Municipal Swimming Pool while running (I skinned my chest badly)
that we weren't allowed to go to the movies and couldn't play on Sundays
my father collecting newspapers and taking them to a recycling center (I don't remember how much he got for them)
my mother's three-layered cakes
class spelling bees in P.S. 12 (I was among the last persons sitting down)
that my teacher would call on me to finish reading from the textbook when we were pressed for time (I was a fast and accurate reader)
my father driving my mother and us to buy clothes for school; I believe but am not 100 percent positive that he shopped at Great Eastern on Route 440
my mother didn't drive at all (I don't know if she even had a license at the time)
when New Jersey City University was Jersey City State College
At one time, my mother worked as a domestic; I remember her bringing home a book for me. I distinctly recall that the book had no pictures. The text looked very strange and intimidating because I couldn't read.
that we learned to read from the Dick, Jane, and Sally books at P.S. 12
watching 'A picture for a Sunday afternoon' at home after our church service downstairs; one of the movies I remember watching was "Objective Burma"
Anecdotes
We kept a large tin garbage can on the second floor. One particular time I recall putting a bag of garbage into the can and getting on top of it to squash the garbage bags down. The can was at the edge of the stairs and fell while I was on top. I rode all the way down the stairs to the first floor without the can ever tipping over and myself getting injured. Unbelievable but true! Afterwards I was shaking from the incident.
Many a night I would sneak out of bed to look at a television program my mother was watching. One time she was watching the Million Dollar Movie with its Gone With the Wind theme music. She was watching I Remember Mama. Our bedroom (the boys) was off the livingroom and there was a lamp table just outside the door. I would crawl unseen under that table.
It's amazing some of the things that I remember from my childhood. I recall my father changing my diaper. I must have been fidgeting because he said, "Joey, keep still". I replied, "I tee till". I don't know how or why I can remember this incident, but I do. And that exchange between my father and I are exact.
A family of gypsies used to live across the street from us. One time while outside playing, I somehow got into a discussion with a gypsy around my age of how much one plus one (1 + 1) is. (I honestly don't remember how we got on that subject). I told the person that one plus one is two. The gypsy said that one plus one is eleven. I was shocked and insisted that one plus one is two. The gypsy then took a piece of chalk and drew a one on the sidewalk and another one next to it. He then said, 'See, one plus one is eleven'!
I loved breaking paper clips in half and shooting them at people with a rubber band. The apartment building to the right of our house going towards Monticello Avenue housed a bicycle shop. One night while we were supposed to be in bed sleeping, I looked out of the window and saw the bicycle shop owner outside talking to another person. It must have been fall because he had an overcoat on. I shot him with a paper clip. I saw him brush his coat with his hand. I shot a couple of more times and he did the same thing while looking around. He didn't see me on the second floor because I was hiding. When I fired again, he took his coat off and shook it. Needless to say, I thought it was hilarious and laughed my head off.
One day while helping my father in his job at General Laboratories located near Journal Square, he needed to speak to his boss. (I was very young and my father always referred to his employer as "the boss"; I therefore came to associate that title only with him). My father knew that the boss ate lunch at a restaurant located in Journal Square. He stopped at the restaurant and told me to go inside and ask for the boss. I went inside and asked one of the workers if "the boss" was there. The worker said he was and took me to his boss. Knowing that 'the boss' I was taken to wasn't my father's boss, I left. I told my father that "the boss" wasn't there.
During our Jersey City years, our family was the entire congregation of Elder Barrett's church. During worship service, he played the guitar and I played a triangle. Once he asked me to invite my friend's mother to Sunday service. At that time, I had a friend named Warren. He invited his mother one Sunday and she was shocked to be the only non-family member there.
My father took me, James, and Paul with him to work at General Laboratories when we were old enough. He drove the car while we ran up and down the stairs to dentists making pickups and deliveries. We were left outside the laboratory when my father was inside getting the work for the day. One day we were throwing stones at the curb with the objective of hitting it. James missed the curb and hit the entrance to the building. The door was made of glass, and as you can probably guess, the stone broke it. James was given a whipping by my father who was very angry. (In retrospect, we all should have gotten a beating for that incident)!
You may call what I am going to relate a Jersey City ghost story. But it really did happen. Let me first offer the following disclaimer. I am not given to hallucinations nor flights of fancy. Neither was I on any type of medication or drug. Okay, here is what I experienced. I was outside one warm evening (it was dark) with my brothers and sisters. I was roller skating with one of my sibling's skates. Looking towards our house, I saw going inside who I thought to be whoever it was I had borrowed the skates from. I ran to him (or her) wanting to return the skates because I wished to remain outside a while longer. When I got to the door, I found it closed. I opened the door and saw no one inside. (We lived on the second floor and there was another door to go through before the stairs were reached). Returning outside, I was surprised to find that everyone who wwas playing outside, was still outside. The figure I saw entering our house did not open the door, but walked through it. It was a long and lanky male figure who had a tall hat on. I saw him profile, and the figure was black (like seeing a shadowy profile). I told this story to my sister Lois, and she said that she had seen the same thing. I intend to get Lois to relate her version of what she saw so stay tuned.
Lois' version: [According to Lois, she and I were near each other when we saw the ghost]. One night while outside playing, I saw a tall, black figure walk up the stairs to our house. We both looked at each other and asked, "Did you see that?". I ran up the stairs and saw no one.
One day our neighbors Ronnie Pettiford and Orenda (Rennie) Yarbrough went to Greenie Hill (located somewhere around Summit Avenue if I remember correctly) and caught a lot of grasshoppers. (I don't like insects particularly and would never handle one!) They brought these grasshoppers to Harrison Avenue and released them. They were all over the street. I recall Ronnie and Rennie chasing terrified girls with the grasshoppers. I ran over a few of them with my roller skates and put one in a glass jar and brought it inside the house. My father made me get rid of it.
One night (or was it during the day?), our neighbor from across the street baby sat us (Mrs. Lacy Pettiford). She had us play a game after she told us to sit together on the sofa. She whispered something into the first person's ear and she had to repeat what she heard to the person sitting next to her. When the message finally got to the last person, Miss Lacy had that person tell everyone what was told to her. The story was completely different from what was originally told.
I remember that my father took me with him often when he went to New York. Sometimes it would be to his sister's house, Aunt Margaret, who lived in Brooklyn or to a church. We would ride the subways. I recall the chewing gum vending machines attached to columns on the subway platform (I was reminded of them when watching 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' (1956). The Rocky character played by Paul Newman rode with his girlfriend home on the subway). One time while we were on the way to visit my aunt's house (87 Menaham Avenue) and after getting off the subway, we saw a drunk fallen to the sidewalk unable to get up. My father helped the man up. We walked past a movie theater which was showing 'Jack the Giant Killer'. The year was 1962 because that was the year this movie was released. I was 11 years old at that time.