Tag: street parked cars

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W side Johnson Ave looking SW from #284 on December 9, 1961

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Jane Davis​ writes:
​”The beautiful ​Weequahic section I lived in was murdered by politicians and the real estate industry as their answer to the Black migration. (My parents came to Newark from Georgia in the late 1940s.) My family’s home — 141 Watson Ave. — was the last house torn down on that street to make way for the highway. Such a travesty. ​[….] It’s amazing how the Newark that was — and thus how/why it was dismantled — nowadays is unknown to… most people. And Blacks often get blamed for driving the city into the ground–for the historically ignorant, the myth/slander/libel of ‘there goes the neighborhood’ really took hold. In any case, Newark still means so much to me and is most certainly my ‘home.’​

​”In any case, I just wanted to say that the part of the website that has ‘before and after’ photos showing what had been in contrast to the emptiness of the highway is SO amazingly meaningful and essential — at last, I can SEE the houses, stores, etc., that made up my home but that have been erased for decades now. So, though there is much more to say about Newark, I just want to say a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart​.”

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E side Bergen looking NE from SW corner Jeffery Place on December 3, 1961

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Charmelle Vickers writes:
“My family lived at 34 Conklin Avenue in Weequahic. In Newark. Mary Alice and Clifford Hubbard lost their home when city planners forced through Interstate 78. That highway displaced thousands of people. After losing their home on Conklin Avenue, my family moved south to a part of Weequahic that was not yet destroyed. Their old wooden home was beautiful. I remember it. Thank you.”

Note: No known photo survives of 34 Conklin Avenue. The above image shows a similar-looking home on the next street over.

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E side Searing St looking N from NW corner Summit Place on July 24, 1960

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Anthony DiPalma​ writes:
​”I was actually born and lived my first years on the West Side of that same street: at 23 Searing Street. It is unfortunately not in the photo – except for a small portion of the garage.​ I would give anything to see a picture of that building or of that side of the street before it was torn down​.”

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N side Warren St looking W from SE corner Summit St on July 24, 1960

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T​om C writes:
​”As an engineering student at NJIT from 1981 to ​’86 I was able to still see some of the beautiful old Newark intact. My parents ​– who were both natives from the 1920s to late ​’50s ​–​ spoke sadly about the aftermath of the riots and downfall of the huge hi​-rise low​-income ​’housing projects​.’
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“Thanks for bringing back some good memories – Newark Museum and the Ballantine House are true gems. Behind NJIT there was a restaurant called the Italian Kitchen. ​The building dated to the late 1880s​, and it was run by an elderly couple who had been there since the ​1950s. No menu, just what they wanted to make. Torn down in 1986​.”

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S side James St looking W from opposite #18 is now a parking lot on July 21, 1960

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Tony Russo (pseudonym) writes:
“That car in the foreground looks just like the car I owned. When they built those monstrous skyscrapers in the 1970s, the work crews were all Italians. They were mafia. They hired vandals and homeless to go in these homes and set them on fire, in order to justify demolition. Everybody lost. Nobody won. Nobody won because the parking lot and skyscraper they built in place of these homes is now empty and has so few tenants. You could say that the bad blood came around. The animals. They tore up our beautiful neighborhood for this.”

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S side James St looking W from NE corner Plane on July 21, 1960

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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.”

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Wiss Building, W side Littleton between West Market & 11th Ave on July 2, 1969

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D​amon Pressman writes:
“I’ve been doing research on Newark, specifically from about 1909-1923. My great-great grandfather apparently had a luggage factory at the corner of Seventh and Summer Streets. He was Max Naidis, and the M. Naidis Trunk & Bag company operated there during this time. It’s an empty lot now​.​”

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S side Orange St looking SW from NE corner Jay on July 2, 1961

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“​Geozinger” (username) writes:
“This is a treasure trove of pics from back in the day. I love these ‘slice of life’ candids; showing everything frozen in time and the sometimes odd juxtapositions of objects.

“For as downtrodden as the area may be described, there seems to be decent looking cars on the streets. Many of the pics show cars 3-4 years old. On the other hand, cars were usually pretty much finished after three years of daily use…”

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W side Roseville Ave looking SW from NE corner Orange St on July 2, 1961

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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.”

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S side Mercer St looking W from Mercer Court on July 2, 1960

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​Allan Lacki writes:
“My dad grew up in Newark, NJ during the 1920s and 1930s. When I was a kid in the ’60s, he used to drive us through the old neighborhoods where he used to live.

“They were used-up by then. Unlike the brownstone sections of Manhattan and Brooklyn, the houses were made of wood and could not be restored because they had been neglected for so many years. And they were mixed in with gritty factories, garages, and other industrial establishments that detracted from whatever visual appeal the streets may have had. After the 1967 riots, the flight to the suburbs accelerated, leaving the city destitute for so many years.”

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Baxter Terrace, S side Orange St looking SE from NE corner Nesbitt on July 2, 1961

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Phil Yourish writes:
“After my dad returned from fighting in Europe during World War II, we moved with my mom into Baxter Terrace public housing. Public Housing was still racially segregated. I remember growing up in public housing. On snow days, I remember riding my sled on the sidewalk down the slope of James Street to Washington Park. On the way, we passed the houses and corner store where my parents shopped for groceries. All of this is now demolished.”

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#18-26 Fulton St, Hotel Tremont & 4 houses on June 24, 1960

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June Williamson writes about her grandfather’s house at 26 Fulton Street, the townhouse at far-right of above image:
“My grandfather landed in Newark (from Scranton) as a young man in the depths of the Depression. In the 1930 Census, his address is 26 Fulton Street #16 (lodger of Katherine Graves), which is now, of course, a parking lot! He worked as a coil winder for Western Electric.”

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E side Newton looking NE from SW corner 12th Ave on June 18, 1961

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Haarith Alston-Taalib writes:
“My twin cousin GiGi lived on the 2nd floor on 12th Ave. and I lived on the 2nd floor on the corner of Wallace Street; we would stand in our front windows and wave to one another from a distance. She was crying on the phone when she saw this photo. She’s going to cry again when she sees these photos. We played and spent a lot of time together; we got separated after the Newark riots in 1967, and I didn’t see her again until 2024. I’m going to show these to her today, thank you. This part of our lives was lost after the riots; you are helping us remember.”

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N side James St looking W between Eagles & Burnet on June 10, 1960

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James Hollaway writes:
“I grew up on this street. On the corner was the Armel “French Ice Cream” shop. Next door there was a candy shop. And next to that a Chinese laundry. I bought ice cream and candy there ever day. One block down was Frank’s Meat Market. When Mr. Frank grew old and left town during white flight, I bought his shop. I had just returned as a GI from the Vietnam War, and it was the first business I owned. I put my heart and soul into that place, selling meat to all the neighbors on my street. One day, some youths came into my shop and held me up at gunpoint for my money. That was it for me. I closed my shop the next day. My old meat shop is now a corner store church. It belongs to my neighbor Bernard Wilks from Dominion Fellowship Ministries.”

Bill Chappel writes:
“One day the City came and demolished the ice cream shop, the candy store, and the Chinese hand laundry. My house is right next door and shared a party wall. I was afraid that my house would collapse along with it. The laundry is now a vacant lot and our neighborhood dog park. The City owns the land, and it’s their job to mow the lawn. A few years ago, I called the City to tell them this, and they told me they had forgotten this land was still theirs. So I took it on myself to mow the grass with the machine Mr. Hollaway bought me. As I get older, keeping this vacant lot clean gets more and more difficult.”

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#50 Burnet on June 10, 1960

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James Hollaway writes:
“I was born on this street and lived here all my life. I just turned 80 last year. This was the Piacek house, belonging to a white family from Poland. I used to play with their son. Their kid grew up and left home. One day, the house went silent. We learned weeks later that there had been a murder in that house.”

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S side Waverly Ave looking W from NE corner Monmouth on May 30, 1960

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Fredrica Bey writes:
“My Aunt Ampa grew up here in an apartment. It had no hot water and no refrigerator. One day, she learned that she was eligible for Newark’s first urban renewal public housing project that had just opened. The new apartment was small. But she was very proud of it and proud to live in public housing because the space was hers. One day, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to give her an award for having the ‘best kept’ apartment in the complex. I still have the photo of Aunt Ampa with Lady Roosevelt.”

Aunt Ampa with Lady Roosevelt:

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S side Orange St between Plane & Eagle St looking SE on May 28, 1962

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Mrs. Bachmeier​ writes about her memory of the 1950s:

​”I lived on Burnet Street 1951, went to Burnet Street School – later moved to Orange​ Street around 1958. Left around 1963…

​”Even today after all that time I still see​ Orange​ Street the way it used to be​: It was a very busy and lived place. There used to be a diner​ on the corner of Burnet and Orange Streets​, The Orange Bar & Grill. Jimmy’s Barber​ Shop​. Rocco’s Pizza & Restaurant​. Schickhaus meat packing​. There was the candy store ​on the corner of Broad and Orange Streets​.

“Five years ago, my​ husband took me down to see the area.​ [….] I was in shock to see what had happened. I can’t​ believe where I used to live is now a gated parking lot. It was sad. I guess it’s true​: ​’you​ can’t go home again.​'”

The Orange Bar and Grill: (left)

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Theresa Randolph’s childhood home at 167 Pennsylvania Avenue was demolished to create a parking lot for garbage trucks.

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East side Pennsylvania looking northeast from southwest corner of Vanderpool on May 18, 1961:

Theresa Randolph writes:

In 1934, my parents paid $1,500* to buy that house at 167A Pennsylvania Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I was born five years later in 1939. We were the first black family in the neighborhood. Neighbors on one side of us were Italian. Neighbors on the other side were Polish and Irish. Most people in the neighborhood were white immigrants from Europe.

Now the tavern on the corner at 171 Pennsylvania Avenue was named Stern’s Bar and & Grill. It was owned by a Jewish man. My dad and other blacks soon learned that this store owner refused to sell to black customers. You could enter and sit down, but he would just refused to serve you. We learned to avoid Stern’s tavern and to bring our business elsewhere. That wasn’t much of a problem back in those days because we had a choice of many other taverns and corner stores in the neighborhood. We could walk everywhere, and all the businesses that we needed were within walking distance of our home.

*$1,500 in 1939 is equal to $15,000 adjusted for inflation in 2025.

167A Pennsylvania Avenue:

Stern’s Tavern is now closed. Theresa Randolph’s house was demolished and transformed into what is now a parking lot for City of Newark garbage trucks.

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Amiri Baraka’s House at 33# Stirling Street was demolished to build a parking garage. Photographed on April 22, 1962.

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The entirety of Stirling Street, along with all its dozens of brownstones, was cleared for the parking garage and parking lot of the Essex County Courts complex. Stirling street today runs through the middle of this super block.

#33 Stirling Street on left, #25-23 on right behind tree

“I came back to Newark the last day of 1965. Home, a few days, then I found a house on Stirling street, just above downtown Newark, where the interior neighborhoods began to unfold. It was an old three story building, now long gone. I moved in and had it painted light green, with details of red and green, like the flag of a Black nationalist movement. It was to be a site for poetry readings, a theater, a place to hold discussions formal and otherwise and a general gathering site . It soon became all those things.”

Read poet and activist’s Amiri Baraka full-length reflection about his life at Spirit House, written in 2013 >

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E side Hillside looking NE from #315 on April 21, 1962

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​Rochelle Pleasant writes:
“I was so glad I came across your website with pics of areas near my childhood home. I walked Watson Ave, Peshine Ave, and other streets described. I wondered if you have a photo of Conklin Ave. in your photos you took? Conklin Ave was one block from Seymour Ave to Osborne Terrace sandwiched between Yates and Nye Avenues. There was a synagogue on the corner of Conklin Ave and Osborne Terrace.

“A lovely community with a variety of races with children that played with one another. Some of us who lived there still communicate with one another. Sadly, our street was demolished and our family moved in 1968 due to the building of Highway 78. Our families fought for 10 years against the decision. It still pains me to think of having to move and our home no longer in existence, but, the good memories while living there warm my spirit. If you have any pics or know of organization or agency that may have pics, please let me know. Thank you for creating this site so people won’t forget these communities long displaced. This is history that needs to be shared to a larger audience.​”

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E side Hillside looking SE from SW corner Hawthorne on April 21, 1962

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Veronica Battle writes:
“Thank you for the old pictures from Newark Changing 1950s to today. I grew up in Newark. Mainly in the Clinton Hill & Weequahic Sections. I remember when they were demolishing some parts of these areas. Did you take any photos of the areas of Wainwright, Leslie, Hobson, Dewey, Bragraw, Schley Fabyan and surounding streets. These streets, homes and people were displaced because of I-78. They didn’t completely finish I-78 until the early 1980s.”

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N side Watson looking NW from SE corner Peshine on April 21, 1962

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Jane Davis writes:
“The second house in the 1962 photo labeled ‘N side Watson looking NW from SE corner Peshine’ is the house I grew up in!!!!! My father made those brick steps to replace the wooden ones that were there. I have not seen this house in many decades – the last house torn down on Watson Ave for the highway.”

The brick steps that Jane Davis’s father built:

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W side Hunterdon looking SW from NE corner Lawton on April 21, 1962

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Jane Davis writes:
“I must have been age eight or nine. I walked down the stairs of our family home at 161 Watson Avenue late at night. And I remember overhearing my parents arguing in whispered tones talking about what to do. They had just received the government notice, evicting them from their home to build the highway. They argued: ‘Should we sell right away and get away? Or should we stay and fight to get a fair price for the value of our home?’ In the end, we left. I remember their conversation all these decades later.”

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E side Hillside looking NE from Watson on April 21, 1962

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Carolyn Peggy Smith writes:
“I was renting an apartment at 29 Watson Avenue in fall 1965. I was living here with my dad Samuel Q Cody, my mother Shirley Cody, and my one-year-old son Anthony Smith. I don’t remember much about the other businesses on Watson Avenue. But I do remember that down the street at the bottom of the hill was White Castle, where we went for hamburgers and fast food on special days. That was a real treat!

“It was a racially integrated neighborhood. On the ground floor was C Nesmith’s grocery story, where I used to buy candy, sodas, and other daily goods for our home. All told, there were probably a dozen family-owned grocery stores and hundreds of small businesses in the area. And now there are almost none.

“I went to school just up the street at the Peshine Avenue Elementary School. Those were the days when we did not have a car. We had to walk everywhere. It was more work to get around. But it was easier to stay physically in shape when almost everything we needed to buy was nearby.

“After having my son Anthony, the highway came through our neighborhood and took us from our home.”

Note: Interstate 78 was built in the 1960s and displaced about 8,000 Newark residents in the Weequahic neighborhood, as well as at least 500 family-owned businesses. A few of these businesses were on Watson Avenue, which used to be a commercial street before the highway came through. The winter 1965 city directory records the names of a few of these Jewish-owned and black-owned family businesses, just months before they were demolished:
– McCall’s Hair Fashions
– Fisher Bros Cleaners
– Hillco Frozen Meats
– Les Femmes Beauty Shop
– Norman’s Beauty Shop
– C Fong Laundry
– Leola’s Variety Shop / Neighborhood Barber Shop
– Norman’s Prescription Pharmacy
– Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church of the Living God.