‣ Click icons for thumbnail images.
‣ Click thumbnails for photo comparison with contemporary Google street view.
‣ Thumbnails launch photo comparison on new page.
April 22, 1962
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“I went to kindergarten and first grade here. Kindergarten was south (left) of the entrance on the first floor, and first grade was directly above it on the second floor. Playground was to the south (left) of the school. Pig Tail Alley ran behind the school, next to the fire escape. One day the bigger kids had a card game on the fire escape. I tried to play. Could not master holding the cards. Have not tried since.”
August 22, 1960
August 21, 1960
Bill Chappel writes:
“The mailbox in this image was right in the path of turning traffic. When cars sped through the intersection and bumped onto the sidewalk, they kept on hitting this mailbox. At my suggestion, the post master moved the mailbox to the other side of the street and better protected it behind a traffic pole. Zero accidents since then. That same mailbox is now decades old.
“These old photos show that Newark streets now have thousands more of those unsightly telecom wires dangling from the poles. In many streets, the buildings are all gone. But the telephone wires and poles are the last things left. I suppose someone will come along one day and say those are the only historic things left of our city.”
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“At the corner, at the right, is the Wonder Bar. Next to the Wonder Bar was a vacant lot where there were beer kegs. That’s the turn in Pig Tail Alley. Roseville Avenue School is visible further south on Roseville, to the left.”
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“The Wonder Bar from a different angle. Somewhere along this block was a candy store where we drank egg creams. Possibly it was called Ratner’s.”
John Smaldone writes:
“Looks a lot better in 1961. We know why that is.”
#565-567-569 Broad between Central Ave & Washington Pl
Washington Florist, founded 1906 and owned by the William Zois family:
Peggy Zois Kapco writes:
“My family is Greek-American going back a hundred years. Washington Florist was founded 1906 and was named after the nearby Washington Park. We’re now the fifth generation of the family to own this business. I don’t think my daughter will inherit the family business. She’s interested in the fashion industry. My generation will be the last.
“Business hasn’t been as good ever since the pandemic. One month, Verizon cut our phone lines, and we lost business for a month. Over time, the family-owned businesses up and down this whole part of Broad Street have closed. Decades ago, there was a film studio next door, a bank, a piano story, and a beauty salon. Now the neighbors are mostly vacant stored and fast food restaurants. As a small business owner, it’s hard to compete with Amazon and same-day flower delivery. Corporate’s products aren’t as good as ours, but they have speed. As small business owners, so many things are beyond our control.”
Washington Florist was established in 1906 at 577 Broad Street and the corner of Central Avenue. Six years later, they moved into their current location at 565 Broad Street, shown below in c.1920-1929:
Anne Mabry writes:
“Washington Florist on Broad Street is the only remaining family-owned florist left in Newark. I remember the first time I went in how enchanted I was by the resident cat, who could frequently be seen sleeping in the window. The business is threatened now by a developer who thinks Newark needs a 40-story apartment building at the corner of Broad Street and Central Avenue. The florist still hangs on while the developer looks for funding.”
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“There’s a guy named Jack Cashill who lived at 29 Myrtle as a kid in the 50s, right across Pig Tail Alley from me, and he says we hung out together. (We lived at 62 Roseville.) I believe him because he was older and we moved when I was 7, but he remembers things and people that jibe with my hazy memories. Like how I got a 6-inch scar on my left arm.”
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“We saw the film Old Yeller there in 1957. It was very very sad.”
Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“Pig Tail Alley is behind this church. In back of the church was a big (for me) wall along the alley.”
Fredrica Bey writes:
“I grew up here on Morris Avenue. We lived in a cold water tenement flat, with my mother from the Carolinas, my five siblings, and my adoptive father Mr. Chow from China. That tenement was demolished years ago. I was baptized at Gethsemane and remember the classic cars on our street. Later, I discovered the Nation of Islam and father Elijah Mohammed. I haven’t turned back since.”
Search by street name, not address
