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I especially hate posters that spell Paterson with 2 "t"s. Makes me think that their knowledge is second-hand at best. There is a "Patterson" in NY state! Paterson will never be a place to attract the wealthy. Most of its history is that of a lower middle-class city and immigrant city. It has an appeal to NJ's poor who can't afford anything better, who basically have been steered there by outside forces. There are tons of two-family houses on 25x100 lots that comprise the vast majority of its housing. Most of the folks with more middle-class aspirations left for the suburbs ages ago. They were the children and grandchildren of those who got "off the boat" in the late 19th and early 20th century prospered a bit and left. There has always been the vacuum left by the "latest to go" who are replaced with immigrants - legal and otherwise. Paterson, like other NJ cities, are places you live in bacause you have to, due to economics and then, as you move up the economic scale, you move away from! Paterson, like most NJ cities is simply too small in land area to really transform itself into something much greater than it is. The negativity expressed about NJ cities is due in part to crime and the fact that even as a country of immigrants, we don't like immigrants and if you're a poor immigrant, NJ cities are your only choice.
I'd like to see what would happen if a block of existing houses on say, Van Dien Ave in Ridgewood were bulldozed for a Section 8 housing complex. I suspect I could hear the screams down here in NC. Those that complain about Abbott money for schools, should realize that's the price you pay to keep the foreign and poor "out of sight" and to a large extent, "out of mind"!
its very funny that you mentioned Ridgewood, some of the housing in Ridgewood looks very similiar to Paterson, if you just changed the landscaping of trees and people you could actually think on some street you are in Paterson!!!
its very funny that you mentioned Ridgewood, some of the housing in Ridgewood looks very similiar to Paterson, if you just changed the landscaping of trees and people you could actually think on some street you are in Paterson!!!
stevemorse - It's funny you mention that. A lot of the housing stock in Ridgewood was built in the 1920's. My neighbors here in NC would take a look at some of those older and certainly not cheap homes and say "They're so old and the properties are so small, I wouldn't want to live there"!
yes it has a paterson quality, I live on a road called Hillside ave in Ridgewood and used to say if closed my eyes are re-opened them I was in Paterson. Now take Glen Rock or even Fair Lawn which both towns are actually closer to Paterson but dont have a Paterson feel at all. Interesting. You know to me now that I am out of Bergen County, which your in your own little insulated world there, everything is so right at your fingertips I find it a ghetto. I mean drive around Harding, and some other counties and Bergen is a complete no land , overcrowded Ghetto, funny 30 miles makes a big difference!
yes it has a paterson quality, I live on a road called Hillside ave in Ridgewood and used to say if closed my eyes are re-opened them I was in Paterson. Now take Glen Rock or even Fair Lawn which both towns are actually closer to Paterson but dont have a Paterson feel at all. Interesting. You know to me now that I am out of Bergen County, which your in your own little insulated world there, everything is so right at your fingertips I find it a ghetto. I mean drive around Harding, and some other counties and Bergen is a complete no land , overcrowded Ghetto, funny 30 miles makes a big difference!
A couple of blocks of homes by me have a very similar design as many of the older homes in Glen Rock and Ridgewood. They are bigger than the Capes surrounding them (at least by my old house near the Totowa Border). I don't know exactly what style they are, but you tend to see them more in the Northeast. Dutch Colonial? I'm not sure. My old girlfriend used to live on Rock Rd in Glen Rock and they had a similar type house.
actually you go by Duke there are alot of great houses and trees! Its almost like your in NJ. To me personally that was the best part of NC! We travelled the whole state and I actually rented a house go to web site Mountain Majasty.com, it was a great area there until I found weird footprint in the house when we went out hiking. Now the house was very secluded so whose foot prints were they. Well a guy named Ruldoph was living in the woods in Murphy NC the same area!! He was the abortion doctor killer. It was creepy!! Beautiful but creepy. I liked Lake Lure, I liked Ralley - DUrham area the best actually. But my real love would be to go to the furniture outlets..... ohhh I am longing for a winston-salem furniture salvation trip sooooo bad!! Nothing like beautful carved woods all different grains, shapes and stains!! It a hidden passion I have. I wish there were still the great american chestnut tree for more furniture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
actually you go by Duke there are alot of great houses and trees! Its almost like your in NJ. To me personally that was the best part of NC! We travelled the whole state and I actually rented a house go to web site Mountain Majasty.com, it was a great area there until I found weird footprint in the house when we went out hiking. Now the house was very secluded so whose foot prints were they. Well a guy named Ruldoph was living in the woods in Murphy NC the same area!! He was the abortion doctor killer. It was creepy!! Beautiful but creepy. I liked Lake Lure, I liked Ralley - DUrham area the best actually. But my real love would be to go to the furniture outlets..... ohhh I am longing for a winston-salem furniture salvation trip sooooo bad!! Nothing like beautful carved woods all different grains, shapes and stains!! It a hidden passion I have. I wish there were still the great american chestnut tree for more furniture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad thing is most of the furniture places that actually made furniture have closed. The big furniture stores are still there (Hickory, NC)and have great prices but most of the furniture (even the very pricey stuff) is made in China and Vietnam while the locals are unemployed! I well remember that Rudolph guy! Lake Lure is beautiful - they film stuff there on a regular basis!
really China, ohh my dream trip is wreck! I just read a great book on the American Chestnut tree!! Ohh and by the way where is Monroe, NC? Your such a pleasure to talk with!!! Let me say whats your story. How did you get to NC, how do you like it, and why did you leave and do you miss it, have you seen NC change!!
I got a funny story to tell you, when we were touring the whole damn state, we stayed in a place called the Ballentyne Resort. Well we put on the tv at night and saw this show of crazy old ladies looking a vicky Lawerence in Mama's Family dancing and singing and toothless. Well we thought it was a Saturday night live skit, nope it was the real deal a show for some Baptist Church in a town called Hiddennight, well I new not to move anywhere near that town!!!!
really China, ohh my dream trip is wreck! I just read a great book on the American Chestnut tree!! Ohh and by the way where is Monroe, NC? Your such a pleasure to talk with!!! Let me say whats your story. How did you get to NC, how do you like it, and why did you leave and do you miss it, have you seen NC change!!
I got a funny story to tell you, when we were touring the whole damn state, we stayed in a place called the Ballentyne Resort. Well we put on the tv at night and saw this show of crazy old ladies looking a vicky Lawerence in Mama's Family dancing and singing and toothless. Well we thought it was a Saturday night live skit, nope it was the real deal a show for some Baptist Church in a town called Hiddennight, well I new not to move anywhere near that town!!!!
stevemorse - I moved out of Paterson in 2005 after living in the same Cape Cod all my life. I retired in 2004 at 51. Twenty-five years in the P.O. was enough! My neighborhood was slowly turning Hispanic and I was one of the few children of the original owners left. It was long overdue. I visited my old boss in Monroe in 2005 and decided it was time to go. Like most Patersonians, you have to leave at some point. My parents had died a few years before and I had property in PA. The problem with building on that lot was the community (Penn Estates) was not what it was when I bought it in 1986. Before I retired, I'd been checking out NC. When I came down for a visit, I went house shopping and my eyes bugged out for what you could get for the price of my old house. Sold the PA lot and had a house built here with an 850 sq ft bedroom and bath and I was gone! I love living in a town that's got a cute downtown and yet has farms on both sides of my development with horses to boot! I live about 15 miles away from Charlotte so the shopping is great! The taxes are a joke - about a quarter of what I paid for a little Cape compared to a 3000 sq ft house! Do I miss Paterson? Hell no! Do I miss NJ? Yes, sometimes, but just for a few food items and the attitude of its inhabitants which is singularly unique! But, all-in-all, I've adjusted to life here quite nicely. I'm VP of my HOA and fix all the neighbors' computers for free which endears me to them no end! The truth is, that in my area, so many of the residents are from NJ and NY that it feels like I just moved to another part of Jersey that a little warmer in the summer with no (well, hardly any) snow! So was Paterson dangerous for me? I grew up in better times (for Paterson) and no, not really, I was right by the Totowa border. But Paterson certainly wasn't a desirable place for me to live anymore.
Last edited by TheEmissary; 08-16-2008 at 08:07 PM..
Reason: sp
stevemorse - I moved out of Paterson in 2005 after living in the same Cape Cod all my life. I retired in 2004 at 51. Twenty-five years in the P.O. was enough! My neighborhood was slowly turning Hispanic and I was one of the few children of the original owners left. It was long overdue. I visited my old boss in Monroe in 2005 and decided it was time to go. Like most Patersonians, you have to leave at some point. My parents had died a few years before and I had property in PA. The problem with building on that lot was the community (Penn Estates) was not what it was when I bought it in 1986. Before I retired, I'd been checking out NC. When I came down for a visit, I went house shopping and my eyes bugged out for what you could get for the price of my old house. Sold the PA lot and had a house built here with an 850 sq ft bedroom and bath and I was gone! I love living in a town that's got a cute downtown and yet has farms on both sides of my development with horses to boot! I live about 15 miles away from Charlotte so the shopping is great! The taxes are a joke - about a quarter of what I paid for a little Cape compared to a 3000 sq ft house! Do I miss Paterson? Hell no! Do I miss NJ? Yes, sometimes, but just for a few food items and the attitude of its inhabitants which is singularly unique! But, all-in-all, I've adjusted to life here quite nicely. I'm VP of my HOA and fix all the neighbors' computers for free which endears me to them no end! The truth is, that in my area, so many of the residents are from NJ and NY that it feels like I just moved to another part of Jersey that a little warmer in the summer with no (well, hardly any) snow! So was Paterson dangerous for me? I grew up in better times (for Paterson) and no, not really, I was right by the Totowa border. But Paterson certainly wasn't a desirable place for me to live anymore.
glad , its sounds like you have it all. It appears you not lacking for good conversation and visual stimulation! This was my problem when I tried to move I just picked the wrong place too move. I think if when we were looking decided to pick the R/Durham area it could have easily been jump right into life. However we had that live in the Mountains, romatic notions of fishing , hiking and making fires . Boy how stupid we were. Problem is all the big mountain areas bring a different kinda of element that was resourceful at fixing an old lawn tractor but not on the things I like to talk about. The trailer element seems to exsist in the mountains and I guess there is a truth to stir crazy. I enjoyed your story alot.
Now you can see how my mind things too much here is a postal question for you. Lets say I mail my taxes post marked on time but put the wrong amount of money on the Big envelope. Now it gets post marked by the Federal Post office for mailing on time, but since I sent lets say fifty cents short on postage and they deliver it back to me can I get away with out interest not paying my taxes on time? The envelope comes back to me and it was postmarked by a federal govt branch which is part of the us gov irs. What do you think?
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I well remember that Rudolph guy! Lake Lure is beautiful - they film stuff there on a regular basis!
So was Paterson dangerous for me? I grew up in better times (for Paterson) and no, not really, I was right by the Totowa border. But Paterson certainly wasn't a desirable place for me to live anymore.
