Hi Weequahic Blogsters,
Alan Lebowitz (6/63) is now receiving mail at alan@lebowitzlawllc.com.
Kenneth Teitelbaum (67) is new to the WHS exchange forum at kteitelb39@gmail.com.
Recent Star Ledger articles highlighted new beginnings at two hallowed Newark institutions:
Jac Toporek (6/63)
Hobby’s is open again, but caution, opening page photo will make your mouth water and cause memory pangs concerning every Newark deli ever mentioned in the “WHS Note.” Link to story: Hobby's reopens.
Pam Scott Threets (66)
For all who have those memories of working, performing or being part of the audience. check out the Star Ledger article on the refurbishing of Symphony Hall, formerly the Mosque. The place is a landmark and will resume performances this fall. If you drive through Broad and Chestnut Streets, one of the first things one notices is that the marquee is gone. It was knocked off by a bus, I think. Hopefully renovations will make this place a treasure to the city of Newark once more. To read the article go to Newark Symphony Hall.
Jerry Miller (51) shares a “Small Weequahic World” moment:
In 1997, after moving to North Carolina from Clark, NJ, my wife Charlotte and I walked into the most gorgeous temple at Shalom Park in Charlotte. A man comes over to us and introduces himself. Did not take long to determine he was a Weequahic graduate; Elias Roochvarg (67). Elias just this year retired as our synagogue’s cantor! Imagine? Very nice! Jerry
Reunion Calls to Classes of June 53 & 1966:
The WHS Class of June 53 is planning a 70 Year Celebratory Brunch on May 21, 2023. Please email either Ron Zevin (ronzevin@comcast.net) or Judie Seidman Gold (goldjegold@aol.com) if you'd be interested in attending and for more information. Gauging early the amount of interest will significantly the reunion planning process.
Class of 1966 will be holding a luncheon on Tuesday, October 11, at Sofia's on Morris Avenue in Springfield, NJ (11:00 AM-3:00 PM). For info, cost, response please contact Sy Mullman at 973-376-5929 or via e-mail, symullman@aol.com.
Chester Cohen (6/59) seeks an assist in locating a friend:
I am looking for an old friend, Donald Mintz who lived on Schley Street. Don's nickname was” Shanton” (something to do with the kind of shirts he wore.) I believe he graduated WHS in 1961 or 1962. Any help would be appreciated, my e-mail is checkdor3946@gmail.com. Chet
Warren Bratter (1/60) writes about how some Weequahicers would spend their summers:
The following shoals of summer memory may seem far removed from our Weequahic neighborhood. However, for me they are so much a part of my memories that they seem just a figurative step from my Clinton Place home. These recollections are not of my July-August days running all the way up Vassar Avenue arriving at Gerry Greenspan’s (59) house, the last residence before the street dead-ended at the Chancellor Avenue Playground; and then the two of us walking into the playground to immediately be hustled by Barry Gimblestob (61) for several rounds of coits; and then after having change removed from our pockets by him, drifting over to a knuckle-cracking knock hockey game with Howie Sharenow.
No, these reminiscences are reminders of other perambulations, of me not running or hop, step, and jumping up Vassar in the summer time, but of me leisurely and idly strolling along Bradley Beach’s LaReine Avenue to the Atlantic Ocean from my Aunt Etta and Uncle Aaron’s all-year -round home there. Walking half a block down the avenue, the tangy fragrance of the seashore salt air fresh from the Atlantic Ocean immediately reintroduced itself to me.
My leisurely Bradley Beach ramble usually continued along LaReine, appropriately named for the French word for queen. For us Weequahicers, this beach resort was our neighborhood’s equivalent of the dazzling French Riviera. Once I reached the midpoint between my aunt and uncle’s home and the Atlantic-facing Ocean Avenue, I was standing in front of the LaReine Arms -- the legendary rooming house, always filled with shared family quarters and on-the-prowl male adolescents who spent their summer days and nights chasing girls. For me though, the LaReine Arms, whose noisy precincts I often visited when some of my Weequahic crew stayed there for a weekend, meant making my obligatory stop at the cramped first floor LaReine Arms Deli, Bradley Beach’s humble imitation of our fabled Chancellor Avenue emporium, Tabatachnik’s.
If the sea air spontaneously triggered sand-filled memories of cheek-by-jowl beach goers, bathing-suited sunworshippers, swimmers out beyond the ropes being shouted back onto our beach’s by the Life Guards, surf-casting fishermen, football tossing teens, strutting would-be Charles Atlases, and of course, for many teenagers like myself, kibbitzing parents, then opening the Deli’s front door and entering that establishment meant that along with those earlier first scents of seashore salt air came another Pavlovian olfactory response to an aroma. Emanating from an old-fashioned, waist-high metallic, rimmed uncovered wooden barrel came the briny, garlicky aroma of kosher dills. I headed straight for the barrel followed quickly by the Yinglish-speaking owner who told me not to put my hands into the barrel; and that, there were only half sours left. Fifteen cents and two small banana-sized half sours wrapped in wax paper later, I was munching in biblical delight. Warren
(More of Warren’s articulate and colorful recollections, will appear in the issue of the “WHS Note” next week and the following week)
Harvey Belfer’s (46) comment about the Weequahic Diner received responses:
Cynthia Cindy Josephson Best (56)
To Harvey Belfer: (2/56), I also remember the Weequahic Diner. The food was great; the service was great. My friends and I went there almost every night. I met my husband there. It was a great meeting place for young adults. I think about the Diner quite often. There will never be another place like it! Cindy
Marty Friedman (1/47)
On weekend nights, we would go there after dinner and wait in line to get in to the restaurant because it was always so crowded that there could be 30 or 40 people waiting to get seated. What was amazing and funny to all of us was seeing and hearing Leo Bauman walk over to a table and say in a loud voice, "You guys are finished. How about stopping with all the conversation, paying your bill and giving the next customer a chance. People are waiting!" I always loved to hear that. It was true, and if people wanted to sit and talk after eating, that was good anyplace else, but not at the Weequahic Diner when people were waiting. That was an example of a businessman who ran the best business. And his food was sensational. And his waitresses were young and pretty and always in a hurry.
What ever happened to Harvey's brother? Morty Belfer was a very fast runner and star halfback on the football team in 1947. Marty
Commenting on comments:
Sara Friedman Fishkin (60)
To Chet Cohen (6/59) and Mike Mandell (67), I lived on Schley Street between Keer Avenue and Field Place. So, Margie's was the place I bought my mother's Parliament "with the recessed filter" cigarettes, Classic Illustrated comic books and "songbooks" with lyrics to all the current hits. The words for all the radio favorites from Jo Stafford's "You Belong to Me" to "Don't Be Cruel" were printed on pink or blue pages.
The first owner, whom we knew as Margie, was a tiny, handicapped woman. Then it was purchased by Irving and Sylvia Blume. Billy Blume was their handsome, older son. His job was to move empty soda bottles down to the basement via steep narrow stairs accessed by a steel door that lay flat on the sidewalk.
On the adjacent block was the relative newcomer, Garden State Bakery. It wasn’t as famous as Wigler’s or Lehrhoff’s but, nowadays, where can you find three bread bakeries within a few short blocks of each other? If there was a triumvirate of my Chancellor Avenue favorites, I'd include Tabatchnik's. Nothing matched the amazing aromas (or pickle barrel) of Tabatchnik's. When friends here in Florida find Tabatchnik products in the freezer compartment of today's markets, they are incredulous to know that company has deep roots in our Newark.
I am thrilled to read comments by so many others who recall “Frankenstein's Cave.” I never called it that but others did. And how apt was that! Oh yes, that creek at the end of Fabyan Place was the place to dare brave friends to walk into the dark confines of the big viaduct. I still recall the chilling moment when I could no longer stand the imagined terror of its dark interior and O-U-T I ran really as fast as possible. Sara and Joel Enda (62)
To Steve Radin (53), my dad drove the #9 Clifton and it traveled on Bergen Street. Joel
Steve Epstein (6/63)
Edith Shaffer Jazman’s (1/54) comments about the Comet Pizzeria and Mickey Ackerman brought back some memories. Eddy and Mickey were two of my late sister Harriet’s closest friends. The came to our house numerous times.
In fact, I delivered pizza for Mickey. It was much safer back then, except for the night I had to deliver in the Weequahic section of Newark. I drove down Elizabeth Avenue and tried to make a left turn onto Lyons Avenue only to be confronted by armed military men and an armored tank. It happened to be the week of the Newark riots. I talked my way in. I was successful in my task, all for a $.50 tip. Now it seems a paltry sum, but 50 cents was big money to a college student in the 60’s. Steve
Jerry Wichinsky (64)
In the late 40s- early 1950s there were newly built 4-room army hospital barracks in the middle of Weequahic Park Race Track (pic, below). Due to the housing shortage following WWII, they were made available to veterans with families. We lived there from 1950-52, when they were torn down. Ultimately, my parents bought a house on Renner Avenue. Great memories! Who shares the same experience? Jerry
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