where are all the Italians? (Edison, Toms River: best town, houses, schools)

[CJ-FROM-NJ]

Originally Posted by pixieshmoo

I've never been to the Vatican, that's about it...the rest pretty much apply LOL!!! I almost fell off my chair laughing at the one that said you thought Jesus was an Italian in Israel.....oh my God, I really thought he was Italian (when I was a kid), he even looks it any pictures (at least the ones in an Italian home)!! I remember being totally confused the first time I heard someone say that Jesus was Jewish NOO!! DUH, Jesus was an Italian Catholic who spoke English (and maybe a little Italian too LOL) I don't think CCD ever tells you that he's not Italian (or Irish, or black or white or anything)...you just assume he's exactly whatever you are until you're older and realize it...I think all kids must think strange things like that though Too funny!

My dad was the "tallest" on his side, coming in just a hair shy of 5'11" and we actually measured this years ago, my cousin Jeff (yeah, Jeff, not Joey ) takes second place, coming in at a little over 5'10" but not quite as close to 5'11"...now that my dad's gone, Jeff holds the trophy .

When I was growing up, all red wine did come in huge jugs from gramp's basement LOL and every holiday still starts off with macaroni (either stuffed shells, manicotti or ravioli...not regular macaroni, that's for Sundays and one night during the week)

As older kids and young-mid teens, the big joke was to run up to your Godfather at whatever family function you were attending, say "Godfather" to him and kiss his pinky (supposed to be a ring there)...we'd laugh everytime like it was some new joke

I could go on, as I always do, but I'll stop here

First of all Jesus is italian, his mother's name is "Mary" and Mary was married to Joseph (Joey), when he was born 3 wise-men (aka wise guys) came bearing gifts (which I am sure was an envelope filled with hundreds, a huge full tray of Manicotti, and a gold rope chain necklace with a Crist Head Cross pendant on it.) At the Last Supper he drank red wine (that I am sure his grandfather made in the basement and kept in a huge jug- only italians have the power to turn water into wine- of course after weeks in the basement) and he broke bread (which I have on good information that it came from Calandra's Bakery on Bloomfield Ave) So there, that settles it, Jesus was italian.

And just to set the record straight so was Santa Claus! His real name was Christophero Cringerlino. He was originally from Palermo and the reindeer were originally donkeys. My mom said so - so it has to be true. LOL

Since you are from this area you MUST remember cruising the "AVE" till all hours (I guess depending how old you are). We used to drive up and down Bloomfield Ave and Ridge Road until we had no gas left and we were always pumping the freestyle music on the kicker boxes in the back of the car. And I think I went through about 3 cans of Aqua Net Hair spray a week. I can't beileve I still have hair on my head between the "frosting highlights", hairspray and banana clips.

Anyway, I loved hearing your stories too. I love hearing other peoples memories of growing up. It's just not the same anymore so hearing old things makes me laugh. When I look at my niece and nephews I wonder if the things we do today will make them remember tomorrow when they are our age. I wonder if the fun things I do with them and funny things I say to them will make them post on a chat board 20-30 years from now? Either way, I still feel like they missed out on the best things that we experienced. They will never sit on a 2 sided swing under a grape vine and listen to the old timers play dominoes or botchy ball and drink red home made wine with Sinatra playing in the background. They will never experience running around outside and playing man-hunt or walk to the park by themselves to meet up with friends to play wiffle ball because there are too many nuts out there. What a shame. I think the kids today miss out on the best things in life.

<<<<<sighhhhhh>>>>It's so nice to remember things.

[pixieshmoo]

I think I may be a couple of years younger than you. My older cousins cruised the "ave" and hung with the "Nicky Norkers." When that was popular, I was "cruise-walking" Franklin Ave. in Nutley because of the movie theater and pizzeria. When I got my license, the new "ave" to cruise was Ridge Rd. in North Arlington/Kearny (couldn't pass a cop more than 3 times or you got pulled over) and instead of checking out the guidos in their caddies, we got to check out the burnouts in their camaros ( ). I hated the smell of Aquanet (but used it anyway) and I hated the stickiness of Stiff Stuff even more (but used it anyway). My father told me one time that I better not even waste my time cruising bloomfield ave. because if I ever got pulled over, no one would believe I was his kid. He said my cousins and their friends used his name so many times that one of his police buddies said to him "how the h*ll many nieces and nephews do you have in essex county". So of course, I got jipped out of that. I do remember however, begging my mother to let me go to 'teen night' at the Jetty before it burned down (he, he, he) never got to go. We were frequent Saturday night patrons at Studio One to watch bands though before it became Tequila Joe's (ugh).. Ahhh, the good old days.

[CJ-FROM-NJ]

Originally Posted by pixieshmoo

I think I may be a couple of years younger than you. My older cousins cruised the "ave" and hung with the "Nicky Norkers." When that was popular, I was "cruise-walking" Franklin Ave. in Nutley because of the movie theater and pizzeria. When I got my license, the new "ave" to cruise was Ridge Rd. in North Arlington/Kearny (couldn't pass a cop more than 3 times or you got pulled over) and instead of checking out the guidos in their caddies, we got to check out the burnouts in their camaros ( ). I hated the smell of Aquanet (but used it anyway) and I hated the stickiness of Stiff Stuff even more (but used it anyway). My father told me one time that I better not even waste my time cruising bloomfield ave. because if I ever got pulled over, no one would believe I was his kid. He said my cousins and their friends used his name so many times that one of his police buddies said to him "how the h*ll many nieces and nephews do you have in essex county". So of course, I got jipped out of that. I do remember however, begging my mother to let me go to 'teen night' at the Jetty before it burned down (he, he, he) never got to go. We were frequent Saturday night patrons at Studio One to watch bands though before it became Tequila Joe's (ugh).. Ahhh, the good old days.

OH MY GOD THE JETTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now you really took me back. Holy! I am 30 years old, how old are you? When I was 12, yes 12 ( I thought I was grown) I snuck out of the house and went to teen night at the Jetty! I met a guy who was 17 and gave him my number. When he called the house my mom flipped out because she gave him the old Essex County Homocide Detective interrogation and he told her he met me at the Jetty! Whoa what a beatin with the wooden spoon I got. LOL It was so worth it! Then when I got older we would go to teen night at JOEY'S. LOL Oh man you used to have soo much fun.

Ok so if you went to Studio One you were definetly a head banger! LOL My friend dragged me there when I was 15 (she was into rock) and I felt soooo out of place.

Ahhh I would give anything to be 15 again and start over!

By the way, I meant to say it 3 posts before. I am sorry you lost your dad. And I still think you should write a book. LOL

[pixieshmoo]

Originally Posted by CJ-FROM-NJ

OH MY GOD THE JETTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now you really took me back. Holy! I am 30 years old, how old are you? When I was 12, yes 12 ( I thought I was grown) I snuck out of the house and went to teen night at the Jetty! I met a guy who was 17 and gave him my number. When he called the house my mom flipped out because she gave him the old Essex County Homocide Detective interrogation and he told her he met me at the Jetty! Whoa what a beatin with the wooden spoon I got. LOL It was so worth it! Then when I got older we would go to teen night at JOEY'S. LOL Oh man you used to have soo much fun.

Ok so if you went to Studio One you were definetly a head banger! LOL My friend dragged me there when I was 15 (she was into rock) and I felt soooo out of place.

Ahhh I would give anything to be 15 again and start over!

By the way, I meant to say it 3 posts before. I am sorry you lost your dad. And I still think you should write a book. LOL

Thank you...actually, that's weird, I'm older than you. I'm 32. But when I was old enough to "cruise", nobody from my town really did bloomfield ave. anymore. Yes, I was a "headbanger"...big time. I liked everything but that was my main music. I did the Studio One thing (I've even seen people there that were nobodies then and are big now), then I did the Tequila Joe's thing once it changed over (god, what a "meet" market that was, ugh, I hated that place). I also did "The Edge" in Newark, that was the one I got in trouble for going too. I did Joey's too, but I did all this when I was like 19-22 because I couldn't do any of that stuff as a young teen (even teen night was against the rules). I also did Joey's down the shore--aka Surf Club (I did Temps, XS and Beach Club too of course...we used to get stamped at Temps on one hand and stamped at XS on the other and run back and forth down the block all night, that is if you weren't stuck smashed against the wall at Temps), I frequented Casey's (before it was Joey's) and Yakety Yaks (after it was Joey's)...sheesh that was confusing. I remember begging my mother at like 14 to please, please, please let me go to this teen club with my friends. They all went every week and I wanted to go soooo bad. So my mom asked me what club it was that they were all allowed at and I told her "I don't know, I think it's called Wallace and Tiernan or something like that". She laughed right in my face and told me that Wallace and Tiernan was a factory on the border of Newark and Belleville and they were probably hanging in the parking lot...it wasn't a club. Well, I asked my friends, who also laughed in my face, and they confirmed my mom was right. So apparently, I wasn't too brilliant when it came to teen clubs. I'm glad I wasn't allowed though, it made the experiences more fun when I was in my 20's and I enjoyed those days. Besides, then I would've missed out on all my rock concerts if I was clubbing...and the concerts are sooo much better (I still go...saw Journey/Def Leppard twice this summer, want to see Justin next month...he's not rock, but he's hot, he can dance and after all, he's bringing Sexy Back) .

[gardenst]

there are many Italian neighborhoods such as Verona and Cedar Grove, Livingston also has a n Italian section but I would say Nutley has more Italians than the others if you haven't tried Calandra's bakery located in Newark and Fairfield they have the best bread... buying Calandra's bread in Kings, Shop Rite etc is not the same as going to the bakery itsself there is a big difference in the bread same bakery but the baking is done differently for these stores.

[Catherinelady]

Come to Toms River, NJ there are a ton of Italians and the italian restaurants too which are fantastic.

[kcov2005]

Thanks for all the input!

[gcpnjp]

Fairfield is a great town to live in. There are a lot of Italian families here, but not only Italian!! It has a good school system and recreational programs for the kids. The taxes are low. It's a nice town!

[Calcbunny]

The one near Blackwood. A lot of the South Philly Italians hightailed it outta there to NJ.

[Meyersd]

Bloomfield, Nutley, and Belleville used to be the Pasta triangle when i was coming up in the 70's and the 80's. I gre up in Montclair, and the lower part of town where I lived was primarily Italian. I bought a house in Bloomfield 3 years ago, and was suprised to see that hardly any Italians live in Bloomfield anymore. Times be a changin'