Here's a great photo I found of the "Castle on the Hilltop" that Margo Dougher Downs' father lived in. Turns out it was Foster's Drug Store. If you recall, it was located at Seventh and Roseville Avenues before being demolished for some godforsaken reason. In the lot behind it the McAvoy Apartments were later built.

I wonder if that Foster was related to, or one and the same as, the owner of the apartment house on the corner of 6th Avenue and 9th Street, which we referred to as "Foster's. I lived in the row of houses adjacent to that building when I was very little, in the late '40s and early '50s and my pediatrician, a Dr.Gregory, had an office there.

As a boy, I used to work at the Roseville Drug Center, Doc Wasserman's Place. Worked Monday thru Saturday nites and Saturday mornings at the soda fountain. I shared that job with Jimmy O'Connell who lived on 9th street down toward Park avenue. Jimmy had seniority so he didn't have to do the Saturday A.M. cleanups. I also delivered prescriptions, in those days I could leave my unlocked bike leaning against the store window on the 9th street side of the building. Doc payed me $5.00 per week and I also made a few dollars on tips. I don't think you could ever meet a nicer, more caring guy then Doc Wasserman, wish I knew his whereabouts, guess he's gone by now. As for Mr Foster, if I remember right, he owned the Apartment house directly across from the drug store and Cafe 59. Foster would visit the store once in a while, I believe he had some one push him around in his wheelchair. He always reminded me of Winston Churchill. Does anyone remember Dakleman's Deli? Thanks for the memories of early 1940's to early 1950's. FLC

As a boy, I used to work at the Roseville Drug Center, Doc Wasserman's Place. Worked Monday thru Saturday nites and Saturday mornings at the soda fountain. I shared that job with Jimmy O'Connell who lived on 9th street down toward Park avenue. Jimmy had seniority so he didn't have to do the Saturday A.M. cleanups. I also delivered prescriptions, in those days I could leave my unlocked bike leaning against the store window on the 9th street side of the building. Doc payed me $5.00 per week and I also made a few dollars on tips. I don't think you could ever meet a nicer, more caring guy then Doc Wasserman, wish I knew his whereabouts, guess he's gone by now. As for Mr Foster, if I remember right, he owned the Apartment house directly across from the drug store and Cafe 59. Foster would visit the store once in a while, I believe he had some one push him around in his wheelchair. He always reminded me of Winston Churchill. Does anyone remember Dakleman's Deli? Thanks for the memories of early 1940's to early 1950's. FLC

Joe -
That's interesting. Dr. Gregory was also my Doctor in the 50's.
She was a nice elderly lady with offices on the first floor.
The McGrath's also lived in those apartments.
Across the street, on the corner, was Doc Wasserman's Pharmacy.

I remember Doc's tore. Would go there alot to buy ice cream, especially after Josie's was sold to the guy who scared me alot! Doc's store was around the corner from our house on N.11th. The McGrath's t moved to N.11th., a house away from us. They lived in the same house as the Regan's. Johnny McGrath is a good friend of both my sister, Diana and my brother-in-law Charlie Quinn. I had a school crush on Johnny McGrath before he went into the service.

Somewhere around here I have a 1950 era picture of me standing by the brick wall on the 9th street side of Doc's along with two of his kids, David and Elliot. I believe he had another kid named Allen.

So who took over Josie's? That was after my time. I remember that store when Josie's predecessors owned it -- a man and woman with two kids, I belive. The man was older, developed cancer and killed himself with a shotgun, I think. I seem to recall that they lived in Foster's apartment house on the corner of 6th and 9th.

I also remember that Josie's husband was named Angelo and that they had two kids, a boy and a girl. I bought a lot of comic books, penny candy and egg creams in that store -- and the occasional "Lupo" cigars for "Jap Jap" Santoro, who would give me a couple of pennies for going up there for him. Josie would say "hey kid, this ain't for you, is it?" A far cry from today's tobacco laws.

The Josie's that we know had two owners. They each called the store Josie's. The last being owned by the Caravassi's (Nick, Josie, Connie and Little Nickie who are on this website).
You are right. The first owner committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The nuns made us go to the wake at the Funeral Home.
I remember he had two sons (I'm not sure but I think one of their names was Edmond and the other was either Frank or Larry).
I thought they lived in the apartment right next door to Josie's.

That's the Josie I remember, with little Nick and Connie. I always thought her husband's name was Angelo -- which is why I always qualify my statemetns here to cover my fallible memory .

Ther store still stands, and is now a luncheonette of some sort.

Joe, I can't beleive that you knew Jap Jap too! Do you remember Mrs. Wicket? The two ladies that lived 2 houses from Ronnie and Richie DaSailva? They had a bunch of cats and their house caught on fire twice while we were living there.I would go over by their house with Rita DaSilva and look at their cats that would be out on the porch. They would always come out and talk to us and give us lollipops and sometimes coloring books. I remember when their house caught on fire the first time. It was in the winter and it stunk of dead cat.
They would take the train from the station around the corner. Said that they worked in New York. They had a car but gave it to Brendan's parents. Don't rmember his last name, but he and his parents lived across the street from Mrs. Wicket.
What house did you live in on N.11th? Was it across from Ronnie and Richie's house? By Jap Jap's?

I certainly knew the Wicket, aka the Wicker "sisters," perhaps the most notable of a notable band of Roseville eccentrics. I lived right across the street at 89 North 11th Street at the time and I remember waking up during the night to the glow of that fire -- and the pervasive odor of burning cats. If I recall, they also fed hordes of pigeons and their screened in porch had a barricade of old newspapers. When I lived on 9th Street we could see across the railroad cut to the back yard. Mrs. Bindi, who lived upstairs from us, remarked on the swarms of pigeons around the house and swore they were "crazy people."

There was a great picture on the front page of the "Newark News" after the fire -- it was of a city health officer attempting to inspect the place and the little "sister" (the one with the humped back)was poking her head out the window and refused to let him in.

They had that wacky little car but they never drove it. They would just go out and sit in it. I think someone tried to teach them to drive, but it was a hopeless proposition. They used to take the train to NYC at night and word was that they worked there cleaning offices, although they told us kids that they were detectives.

Ronnie DaSilva has, somewhere in his files, a picture he took from his house of the Wicket backyard, full of debris. I have been encouraging him to find it and send it in here.

Your assumption was probably right, Peggy, they were most likely bookies. My barber, who was on 6th Ave. between 9th and Roseville, wsa definitely a bookie.

I don't remember that change of the guard at Josie's. By 1966, I had graduated from Seton Hall and was in the army. I returned from Vietnam in August 1967 and then was stationed at Fort Dix through January 1968. Although I taught at Essex Catholic for a couple of years, my at the time girfriend, who later became my wife, lived "down the shore" and I spent most of my time there until I got married in 1970 and moved down here, so my link to the old neighborhood was tenuous at best in the late '60s.

I took a photo of the building Josie's (and Paul and Ed's Bar)occupied a month or so ago, and, aside from new occupants, it looks the same. Ron DaSilva tells me he has a picture of Rita coming out of Josies, which I am also pestering him to find and post here.

Joe, I would love to see both of thosse pictures! It would bring back so many great memories. I loved living on 11th Street. Rita emailed me recently. I haven't heard from her since the late 60's.

You lived up the street. I talked to my Dad tonight and asked if he remembered you. He said that didn't and that you probably lived up the street on the other side. He was right.

He probably missed me being chased by Freddie Peterson's old man (waving a big stick and calling me a little sonofabitch)for trespassing on his property, the vegetable man chasing me and Ray Rizzi for shooting paper clips at his horse, the cops chasing me and Kevin Haran for shooting off fireworks, and a guy whose name I do not recall but who worked nights chasing and threatening to beat a bunch of us (Ray Rizzi, Brian Bowler, Tom Donoghue, Kevin Haran etc.)to death with a large piece of pipe for playing touch football in the street and waking him up. Missing all that was probably a good thing -- for me at least.

I moved to 196 Roseville Ave. when I was a freshman at Our Lady of the Valley -- early 1958. Wow, that was a long time ago!

Joe Bilby

Joe, If you were walking up 11th Street towards 7th Ave., our house was the one just past the Peterson's. It was number 61. We moved there in 51 and sold it in Feb. 66. In 61 we moved from the 1st floor to the 2nd and Nason the Butcher, his wife Eleanor and their daughter Patty moved into our 1st floor apartment.
Patty Nason is the cousin of the Bradbury kids. Mr. Brad was the egg man. He was envolved with the CYO at St. Rose. Mr. Brad was very nice to all the kids on the block. He would take us swimming at Silver Brook on Rt.10 and to the airplane park in East Orange. He like to ice skate at the rink in Branch Brook. He was a pretty good skater. I liked to skate with him.He lived a house away from us. OUr house, then the Beard the policeman's house and next Bradbury's house.

Mr. Bradbury had a sterling reputation as a nice guy. Your mention of the policeman brought back another memory, on which the statute of limitations is long past. Beard was a target shooter and used to leave .38 caliber revolver ammunition in his car. Kevin Haran broke into the car and stole a couple of boxes. Kevin used to place the loaded rounds on the DL&W railroad tracks and wait for the train to run over them and explode them.

Oh My Gosh!!! That is so funny! I bet that Mr. Beard didn't think so. Whenever there was trouble on the block, he would come out after it was over with his gun in his hand! We all just thought that he was a little crazy! He had 2 kids, Rosemary and Gary.
Did you know Billy Metz? He lived in our house in the 2nd floor apartment with his parents. His father's name was Lenny, his mother Marion and his Aunt Marie.I'm not sure if he went to St.Rose or not. I know that he was older than my sister, class of 60. He had a friend name Charlie Backa(I'm not sure how you spell it). Charlie's father owned a factory on 7th Ave.It was the first one on the right if you were walking down to 12th Street. It may have been a machine shop.It was on the same side as the eraser factory. I remember that his sister had a "Litte Nash Rambler". I believe that they lived in the Peteron's house on the third floor. Then moved to West Orange.
I know that I remember Kevin's name, but I don't remember what he looked like. Did he live in the row houses on 6th Ave.? It sounds like the 3 of you, Kevin, Ray and yourself had a pretty good time on 11th Street!!!

Kevin Haran did indeed live in the row of houses on 7th Ave between 11th and 9th streets. If you take a look at the class of '58 picture accessible from the home page, you will see him smirking there in the top row.

Ray and I were actually goody two shoes types compared to Kevin. I was even an altar boy. Ray ended up as a court officer for Essex county, and I ended up running the NJ Department of Labor's Central Investigation office before I retired last summer. Kevin went in the other direction. He lived hard and died young.

If you check some other threads on this board you will see some more reminiscences of Kevin Haran and his antics, by myself and others.

Jeff, The Caravassi's sold the store while my family was still living on 11th Street.We were there until 66. The new owner was a man, possibly 2 men ran the store. I never liked going into the store after Josie left. It felt strange going in there. That guy gave me the creeps. They made me think of the Mafia.