Joe Bilby sent in this shot of a familiar building. His description: "196 Roseville Avenue, taken December 30, 2002. Building is at the corner of Roseville and 6th avenues. The photo is taken from Roseville Avenue, and our apartment (1959-70) was around the corner, facing on 6th, across the street from the basement apartment where the 'Birdman' lived."
I had a couple friends here too, including Maureen Sauce.
John F. Crowley
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"Strong before our birth are the Sons and Daughters of the Garden State!"
This message has been edited by cbonaire from IP address 63.208.118.146 on Jan 19, 2003 1:48 PM
And Maureen's older brother John was a good friend of mine. Back in the 50s and 60s, there was some shrubbery out in front of old 196, and no concertina wire around the 6th Avenue side. There was also a step up stone, now missing, which was probably originally intended for streetcars or horsecars. The bus for downtown Newark (#34?)used to stop out front.
I remember when my Mother's sister lived in this building. We would watch a parade (Thanksgiving Day, I think) from her window. She also had a "dumbwaiter" that fascinated me.
Frank, you would remember more than I do. Was this Aunt Nora's old apartment building?...and wasn't it bigger?
That parade would be, I think, Bamberger's Thanksgiving Day parade, which expired in the early 1950s. It was Bambergers' equivalent of Macy's NYC parade and might have died out when the option of watching the Macy's parade on TV became a reality. I seem to remember another route for that as well, perhaps Central Avenue, when I was very little, in the late 1940s.
As for size, the building extends a bit to the right of the photo, and there are a few extra stories not in the picture. And yes there were "dumbwaiters" for garbage.
At least one year ('52?) the Thanksgiving Day parade sponsored by Bamberger's went up Orange Street toward East Orange. I remember watching from 6th Street when Diana Dors was the guest. Naturally, the parade ended with Santa.
Aunt Nora Stutzman lived there. Husband Harry left in 1950 to buy cigarettes and never returned. I remember seeing Al "Captain Video" Hodge atop a float in the early 50's. They moved the parade to Weequahic Park in the mid-50's and it was televised with John Charles Dailey the commentator Yes, it was the Bamberger's parade.
Harry returned in 1968 to reappear from the Produce Department in the Newburgh A+P where he uttered the famous, "helen these greenstamps are for you" remark.
Haven't seen Norman Jackie shultz at the Orange Dunkin Donuts in awhile.
Two years ago i worked with Gary Grimsely at the Union County Educational Services Commission in Westfield. he is still there if anyone is looking for him.
Gary is now a top administrator with the Union county Educational Services Commission in Scotch Plains. he is also one of the best dressed men around. I bet he'd love to be part of this web site.
Sorry about that, I was cut off.
As I was saying, all of those buildings had dumbwaiters in the apartments. A good idea at the time and stillis a god idea. More new apartments and housing should offer that as well.
I also new Johnny and his older brother Barry wholived in that apartment.
I wonder what they are doing and if they know about this site?
I remember the apartment building very well. The building looked a lot better in the 50's. Johnny Sause (I believe that was the spelling) was a good friend of mine. We were in the same class at SRL. I lived around the corner on 9th Street. Johnny's older brother, Barry, became a pharmacist and as I recall worked for a period of time at the drug store on Orange Street that was near 11th Street.
That was Chase's Pharmacy where Barry worked. He went to St. Benedict's prep and then Fordham U. the store was owned by the Chase brothers. Since the statute of limitations has long passed, I can now state that a couple of us (ok, Kevin Haran and I)used to buy the ingredients to make black gunpowder there. We never succeeded in making real gunpowder (fortunately for us, as we probably would have blown ourselves up) but we got some "poof and fizzle" powder and destroyed a few anthills on 11th Street in the process.
And the name was indeed spelled "Sause." Johnny's father used to take us Fluke fishing down at Atlantic Highlands on occasion, creating a passion I still avidly follow today.
joe bilby was that ed haran's kid brother . ed graduitated withm me class of 52 retired from newark fire dept last year i see ed twice a year tax time and st pactrick's day in nutley . this year it will be 3/08/03.
Probably, Mike. Kevin had a couple of older brothers. They lived on 7th Avenue between 9th street and 11th Street. Kevin was a pretty wild and crazy guy, and I was involved in a few of his tamer adventures. His picture is in the class of 1958 photo accessible on the main website.
Kevin died while he was still quite young, although I can't recall now whether it was when I was in my last year of college (graduated Seton Hall in 1965) or after I came home from the army (1968). I do recall going to the wake, which was at Cole's Funeral Home on Roseville Avenue, with Johnny Sause. He was a smart kid, and it was a waste.
joe ed was no slouch . at one holoween parade ed & i got thrown our of the roosevelt armory for fighting . officer jerry o'conner was the officer that threw us out .he put ed out one door and me out another.
Wasn't O'Connor the local juvenile officer? I seem to remember that worthy taking Kevin home by the scruff of his neck a number of times. I never really knew Kevin's older brothers, who appeared to be considerably older than he was, but we were well aware that they were pretty tough characters. Kevin, on the other hand, although he would fight at the drop of the proverbial hat, sometimes whirling like a dervish with one hand in his mouth and the other swinging wildly for some reason, was not a good fighter. I, for one, could drop him any time I wanted, and I certainly wasn't a tough guy.
PS: Those Pumpkin Parades were, of course, designed by the local merchants to short circuit the potential for Halloween vandalism. I do remember a number of fights, however, and one year a bunch of hoods tossed firecrackers at us goofy little kids marching along.
Joe (Deehan) or Dan Moore, do either of you remember an incident in 8th grade when Kevin Haran's hands were all cut up? Word was that he'd been in a big fight, but when Sr. Agnes Bernadette (AKA "the flea" because she was so small) asked him about his injuries he told some cock and bull story about hurting them when he went fishing!!
It's certainly believeable -- classic Kevin Haran. When I took my oldest daughter and then my son back to tour the old neighborhood last month, I was pointing out various sites and found myself saying "and Kevin did this here," or "that's where Kevin and I did that." He was indeed a legend in his own brief time, by my lights anyway.
Fortunately for me, I guess, Kevin and I only hung around together in elementary school (along with Tommy Donoghue, Brian Bowler, Ray Rizzi and a few other guys on North 9th and 11th Streets), and not later in life when he got involved in more dangerous activities. Still, getting chased by the cops for blowing the bark off trees with firecrackers, being chased by the vegetable man for shooting his wagon horse in the behind with paper clips,(up 11th Street dodging women walking their babies in carriages with the guy yelling "help, police, murder") making flamethrowers out of cigarette lighter fuel cans, etc. were only a few of the marginal (to say the least) activities I got involved in with him back in the mid-1950s.
I remember once after one of those corny movie matinees at the Tivoli where we saw a film in which the Indians stayed away from a guy who pretended to be crazy, Ray Rizzi said to me "that guy could be Kevin."
Back when I was about 11 or so, I was standing in Ray's driveway, which was to the rear of the 7th Avenue row of houses where Kevin Haran lived and he suddenly appeared at an upstairs window. He was apparently being confined there by his parents for some offense and called out "hey Joe, you like army stuff, right?" He then threw me an unlikely book, "With the Victorious Bulgarians," a 1912 account of the First Balkan War of 1911. Where he got it I don't know, but I still have the book. Down the road I ended up writing and editing six books on military history, so I guess I could say that Kevin Haran gave me my start. I remember him fondly, if sadly.
One of Kevin's brother lived in an apartment on the same floor as we did. When Kevin could not go home for what ever reason. He would stay at his brother's. He found out I lived across the hall. When his brother was not home he would come to our apartment. Until my Father found out what he was into that was the end of Kevin at my apartment.
jerry o'connor was the local police officer but he was very active in the pal police athletic league at the origional 5th precent. it seemed hw always turned up when we were trying our tricks .
how about the stink balms , old camera film rolled in paper ant set fire to , would stink up a building for hours.
Small world... when I ran track at Essex, Jerry O'Connor was our biggest fan. His son had run a few years before us. Jerry was brass by then and would bring his police car to Branch Brook and cheer our workouts into a frenzy (usually frustrating the coaches a little) but we all loved the guy. We'd also run past his house near Mt. Prospect Ave and say hi.
I remember finding out that he worked the desk at the 2nd precinct because one of our friends was caught by a guy who chased us when we threw snowballs at the guy's car. Our friend wasn't involved in the incident--he was just walking out of his house when we all ran past, but the guy grabbed him and started beating the hell out of him--the police came, and hauled them all up in front of Jerry at the "desk".
To add insult to injury, Jerry gave the kid who had just been beaten up a stern lecture on "upholding the Essex Catholic image"
Not surprising to hear that Jerry was involved in PAL. He did a lot for his St. Michael's parish. He was responsible for helping a lot of kids get into Essex Catholic. He started the Keough brothers running for St. Michael's and Mike eventually became a national HS star at Essex, NCAA champ at Manhattan, and '72 Olympian.
My father had also told a story that years ago a guy climbed the old "Hoffman Bottle" on South Orange Ave and was going to jump. Jerry climbed the thing and told the guy, "I've got a bunch of kids at home--you gotta come down so I can get off this thing"... It worked.
Barbara and Dan,
I don't recall that incident either. Here's a milder incident involving Kevin that these website messages have jogged from the archives of my brain. Our class was on a bustrip to New York to see a movie (I believe the Ten Commandments). It might have been in 7th grade, but I'm not sure. Naturally to maintain the appropriate level of holiness on the bustrip, the nun chaperone (I'm assuming it was Sister Regina Pierre)was leading us in a recitation of the rosary. We were well into our solemn prayers when we reached Broad Street in Newark. Kevin happened to see his father standing across the street. He immediately opened the bus window, stuck his head out and yelled as loud as he could "Hey Pop, its me". Most of the class broke out laughing. This of course destroyed any semblance of reverance that Sister was trying to achieve. She was furious at Kevin and sentenced him with some punishment although I can't remember what. Do either of you remember this? Most of my other Kevin memories are a lot more serious than this one.
Joe and Dan,
I guess my memories are pretty selective, as I don't recall the bus incident at all. He was one tough kid, or so it seemed to me. I doubt that I ever had the nerve to exchange two words with him. Was Michael Ruane a friend of his?
Barbara,
Mike and Kevin were friends but I don't know to what extent. Mike lived on Bathgate Place right around the corner from Kevin on 7th Avenue. I don't recall Mike getting in the kind of trouble that Kevin did.
I remember going to see "The Ten Commandments" in New York City and I believe the prayers were being said to keep us from the distractions we were about to be exposed to in NYC. I remember thinking someting like "Why are we being taken to such a 'hellish' place to see a religious movie?"
Wasn't Sister Regina Pierre that nutty nun who taught 7th grade? If she was, then she hated me with a passion, and I never could figure out why, as I was generally fairly innocuous in school, although I did pop Alfred Richland in the nose in class in 6th grade. She slapped me around and tried to get me expelled in 7th grade. She was, if I recall, a religious fanatic who assigned homework loads based on whether or not you went to mass in the morning -- more mass, less homework. I think she was eventually taken away to the neurotic nun home.
Since we're relating amusing Haran stories, here's another. I'm sure all you 1950s people remember the annual Rye Beach boat ride. I never knew where the hell Rye Beach was or where we were going on the us or boat, but went on all of those outings. I seem to remember that we would stop somewhere else while on the boat to let on other school groups. At one stop, I think on the way home, Kevin started throwing the wooden deck chairs overboard. When I asked him why, he said "to see them float" or words to that effect. As he was saying that I could see one of the mates, who looked like an old rummy, closing in on him, yelled "run" and did. The guy grabbed Kevin but did not bother the rest of us, so we walked back to where he was dangling Kevin over the side of the boat. Kevin was screaming "don't drop me, I can't swim," and the mate said "that's ok kid, shit floats." He then took him away to someone in authority, and the rest of us scattered.
Hi to Joe B, Joe D, Barbara, JaneAnn:
I recall taking that boat ride with the same thought...Where's Rye Beach, and why do we have to go to New York to go to a beach? I recall Turkey Walsh (Did he have a real first name?) buying one of those 18 inch cigars at Rye Beach and smoking it on the return trip. I think he wound up getting sick.And Joe, you're right - this site is great. It's a lot more than who did you go to St. Rose with. It's more of a bond we have with each other and everyone from the "old" neighborhood.
Dan
I always wondered why that rickety Rye Beach roller coaster didn't simply collapse and kil us all.
Here's another Haran story from the Rye Beach Rides. If you recall there was a sort of dance floor on the boat's first floor and you could go up to the second floor and look down on it Kevin would take some rubber bands and paper clips on the ride and then go up there and shoot paper clips at the behinds of the girls dancing downstairs -- then run, of course.
hey Barb, I remember that time Kevin came to school with all the cuts.Does anyone remember Ronnie Sudol and the milk money? Mary Bowler and I would usually hear all the crazy details from Brian and Ray. I'm with you, memories of those years are like watching little film clips.But do you remember when we got off the bus to see The 10 Comandments, there was this big billboard fo "Baby Doll" and the nuns were goimg ballistic trying to herd us in before we saw it?
Yes!! I do remember that! I also remember all those bus trips you and I took into the city by ourselves, just to explore Broadway, Eighth Avenue and equally seedy (at that time) environs. Our mothers never knew where we'd spent the day... How are things in the great Northwest, my friend?
I remember him fondly, if sadly.