THE BLACK HAND FORUM

AG777 wrote:Wow! Rocco, I knew it was bad but not THAT bad. I can't imagine my cousin having to fight like you did. He's so calm and quiet. But I'm sure everyone had to. Like you, they had a hard family life, struggled for a while. I looked up their address and they lived on Paul Street close to a playground/field.

Sounds like your cousin really helped you out with your situation. That's good advice.

"The term fair Fight applied to sports like boxing. lol "

^^^What you say here. I completely understand. You have to do what you need to do to survive.

Glad you turned out all right.

sdeitche wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.


The difference between the two are that Jimmy Buffs uses pizza dough as the bread and Dickie Dees uses fresh Italian bread from Calandra's. I am a sucker for Fresh Italian bread. That's really the only reason I prefer Dickie Dees. They both deep fry their hotdogs. And you have to take at least one baby aspirin after eating at any of the 2. lol

I did like Jimmy's. The presentation was excellent for a hot dog shack.

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.


The difference between the two are that Jimmy Buffs uses pizza dough as the bread and Dickie Dees uses fresh Italian bread from Calandra's. I am a sucker for Fresh Italian bread. That's really the only reason I prefer Dickie Dees. They both deep fry their hotdogs. And you have to take at least one baby aspirin after eating at any of the 2. lol

Rocco wrote:

AG777 wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

Highland Ave off of Bloomfield Ave by BranchBrook park is called the Forrest Hills section of North Newark which borders Bloomfield and Belleville. Probably the nicest section of Newark today except for a few streets in the Downneck area. Basically today if you were George Jefferson and you wanted to move on up from the south ward this is where you would move. You got Calandras Bakery down the street and Dickie Dees (best Italian hotdog in NJ) on a fresh Italian roll from Calandra's. There are still some Italians that live in that area of Forrest hills/North Newark. But most have moved out to the burbs. Some have stayed close by in Belleville (which has gone done hill bigtime). Others with more money that want to stay close to the olde nieghborhood have moved to Nutley. I spent a good part of my Childhood playing in Branchbrook park and riding my bike with my cousins who lived on Lake Street which is one block from Highland Ave. (this is in the early-mid 70s.). Today you have allot of Minority proffessionals that live in Forrest hills on Lake Street and Highland Ave...but its slipping away as the Ghetto expands. after the Newark riots allot of the Italians move either north to Forrest Hills/North Newark, Belleville and Nutley or South to Hillside and Union etc. Hillside is a shithole today all black. Back in the late 70s and early 80s Hillside had working class Blacks that worked hard and kept their yards perfect and wanted the best for their kids but that is slipping away as the ghetto of Irvington and Newark expanded. I went to Highschool in Hillside in the late 70s. Part of Union is hanging on. The other half is not that great anymore.

When I Was a kid in the early 70s their were still allot of Italian businesses and Social clubs in Forrest Hills/North Newark..today that has slipped away almost completely except for a few longstanding business that still have Italians come in from out of town to give them business like Calandra's Bakery and Dicky Dees etc. What really saved Calandra's was building their business model to almost entirely focus on wholesale delivering bread to stores and deli's in the tristate area. Without it they would have been toast like all the other bakeries and business because their community moved away.

Rocco, two of my cousins grew up in Hillside same time as you did. That would be weird if you knew them. When we used to go visit them my Dad would go down a couple times to check on our rental car to make sure it was still there lol. That was late 70's, early 80's. Same thing when we'd visit my other Grandma in Jersey City. Guys would be leaning up against the car. Then, my Grandma moved to Kearny which was a little bit better. So, when I'd come in from Newark I'd take the same route that Tony drives in the opening credits lol. He drives through Kearny. You can see Pizzaland etc. I thought I'd throw that in since we're talking about the Soprano's.

Hillside was a nice place to live in the 50s and 60s. By the late 70s it was nearly 55-70% black. Today its about 93% with the remaining 7% being white and a small Armenian section that borders union. I lived not far from the Police station about 2 blocks off Liberty Ave. I used to get jumped all the time by groups of blacks walking home from school on Liberty Ave. It was all about sucker punches and getting over on someone. The term fair Fight applied to sports like boxing. lol So if 4 guys kicked the shit out of me walking home from school and 1 was in my gym class. When that kid was putting his pants on in the locker room I would put the ring of the pad lock thru my finger make a fist and smash him in the nose and then just unload on that one kid as he struggled putting his pants on. That's how it went down back then. Then you would get your ass kicked by the same 4 kids except one of them had his nose smashed in from me earlier in the day. White man problems in the hood. You cant win but you had to hurt at least one of them so you were not a constant target unless they were in groups. My older cousin taught me that. But he was a total animal and tough kid. Most normal people like me have a natural fear in those situations. My cousin it just wasn't in his DNA. He did time in Rahway..(almost 20yrs) the entire 1980s to mid 90s. . He is a teamsters truck driver now. We moved to HIllside due to financial issues to live with family. My friends I grew up and my cousins went to Essex Catholic and they are lived in Forrest Hills section of Newark ,Belleville and Nutley area. Though we had allot of old timers hanging on Down Neck and where Broad almost meets Bloomfield ave. (Bad area). Bars on their windows etc. Hard to get the old timers to move out.

Rocco wrote:Hillside was a nice place to live in the 50s and 60s. By the late 70s it was nearly 55-70% black. Today its about 93% with the remaining 7% being white and a small Armenian section that borders union. I lived not far from the Police station about 2 blocks off Liberty Ave. I used to get jumped all the time by groups of blacks walking home from school on Liberty Ave. It was all about sucker punches and getting over on someone. The term fair Fight applied to sports like boxing. lol So if 4 guys kicked the shit out of me walking home from school and 1 was in my gym class. When that kid was putting his pants on in the locker room I would put the ring of the pad lock thru my finger make a fist and smash him in the nose and then just unload on that one kid as he struggled putting his pants on. That's how it went down back then. Then you would get your ass kicked by the same 4 kids except one of them had his nose smashed in from me earlier in the day. White man problems in the hood. You cant win but you had to hurt at least one of them so you were not a constant target unless they were in groups. My older cousin taught me that. But he was a total animal and tough kid. Most normal people like me have a natural fear in those situations. My cousin it just wasn't in his DNA. He did time in Rahway..(almost 20yrs) the entire 1980s to mid 90s. . He is a teamsters truck driver now. We moved to HIllside due to financial issues to live with family. My friends I grew up and my cousins went to Essex Catholic and they are lived in Forrest Hills section of Newark ,Belleville and Nutley area. Though we had allot of old timers hanging on Down Neck and where Broad almost meets Bloomfield ave. (Bad area). Bars on their windows etc. Hard to get the old timers to move out.

AG777 wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

Highland Ave off of Bloomfield Ave by BranchBrook park is called the Forrest Hills section of North Newark which borders Bloomfield and Belleville. Probably the nicest section of Newark today except for a few streets in the Downneck area. Basically today if you were George Jefferson and you wanted to move on up from the south ward this is where you would move. You got Calandras Bakery down the street and Dickie Dees (best Italian hotdog in NJ) on a fresh Italian roll from Calandra's. There are still some Italians that live in that area of Forrest hills/North Newark. But most have moved out to the burbs. Some have stayed close by in Belleville (which has gone done hill bigtime). Others with more money that want to stay close to the olde nieghborhood have moved to Nutley. I spent a good part of my Childhood playing in Branchbrook park and riding my bike with my cousins who lived on Lake Street which is one block from Highland Ave. (this is in the early-mid 70s.). Today you have allot of Minority proffessionals that live in Forrest hills on Lake Street and Highland Ave...but its slipping away as the Ghetto expands. after the Newark riots allot of the Italians move either north to Forrest Hills/North Newark, Belleville and Nutley or South to Hillside and Union etc. Hillside is a shithole today all black. Back in the late 70s and early 80s Hillside had working class Blacks that worked hard and kept their yards perfect and wanted the best for their kids but that is slipping away as the ghetto of Irvington and Newark expanded. I went to Highschool in Hillside in the late 70s. Part of Union is hanging on. The other half is not that great anymore.

When I Was a kid in the early 70s their were still allot of Italian businesses and Social clubs in Forrest Hills/North Newark..today that has slipped away almost completely except for a few longstanding business that still have Italians come in from out of town to give them business like Calandra's Bakery and Dicky Dees etc. What really saved Calandra's was building their business model to almost entirely focus on wholesale delivering bread to stores and deli's in the tristate area. Without it they would have been toast like all the other bakeries and business because their community moved away.

Rocco, two of my cousins grew up in Hillside same time as you did. That would be weird if you knew them. When we used to go visit them my Dad would go down a couple times to check on our rental car to make sure it was still there lol. That was late 70's, early 80's. Same thing when we'd visit my other Grandma in Jersey City. Guys would be leaning up against the car. Then, my Grandma moved to Kearny which was a little bit better. So, when I'd come in from Newark I'd take the same route that Tony drives in the opening credits lol. He drives through Kearny. You can see Pizzaland etc. I thought I'd throw that in since we're talking about the Soprano's.

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

Highland Ave off of Bloomfield Ave by BranchBrook park is called the Forrest Hills section of North Newark which borders Bloomfield and Belleville. Probably the nicest section of Newark today except for a few streets in the Downneck area. Basically today if you were George Jefferson and you wanted to move on up from the south ward this is where you would move. You got Calandras Bakery down the street and Dickie Dees (best Italian hotdog in NJ) on a fresh Italian roll from Calandra's. There are still some Italians that live in that area of Forrest hills/North Newark. But most have moved out to the burbs. Some have stayed close by in Belleville (which has gone done hill bigtime). Others with more money that want to stay close to the olde nieghborhood have moved to Nutley. I spent a good part of my Childhood playing in Branchbrook park and riding my bike with my cousins who lived on Lake Street which is one block from Highland Ave. (this is in the early-mid 70s.). Today you have allot of Minority proffessionals that live in Forrest hills on Lake Street and Highland Ave...but its slipping away as the Ghetto expands. after the Newark riots allot of the Italians move either north to Forrest Hills/North Newark, Belleville and Nutley or South to Hillside and Union etc. Hillside is a shithole today all black. Back in the late 70s and early 80s Hillside had working class Blacks that worked hard and kept their yards perfect and wanted the best for their kids but that is slipping away as the ghetto of Irvington and Newark expanded. I went to Highschool in Hillside in the late 70s. Part of Union is hanging on. The other half is not that great anymore.

When I Was a kid in the early 70s their were still allot of Italian businesses and Social clubs in Forrest Hills/North Newark..today that has slipped away almost completely except for a few longstanding business that still have Italians come in from out of town to give them business like Calandra's Bakery and Dicky Dees etc. What really saved Calandra's was building their business model to almost entirely focus on wholesale delivering bread to stores and deli's in the tristate area. Without it they would have been toast like all the other bakeries and business because their community moved away.

Rocco wrote:

BobbyPazzo wrote:

sdeitche wrote:

BobbyPazzo wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

How did you enjoy beautiful north Newark ? Hope you stopped by stretch's.

That was my first time in the old First and Third Ward (being half Portuguese, usually go to the Ironbound). Some parts were nicer than I thought, others not so much. Did have my first Italian/Newark hot dog at Jimmy Buffs.

Not familiar with Stretch's" Will probably be back in Jersey later this year.

Stretch's Aka Belmont tavern

The Chicken Savoy...lol Cant believe that place is still open. The customer base has changed since the olde days. I don't see that place staying open much longer.

BobbyPazzo wrote:

sdeitche wrote:

BobbyPazzo wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

How did you enjoy beautiful north Newark ? Hope you stopped by stretch's.

That was my first time in the old First and Third Ward (being half Portuguese, usually go to the Ironbound). Some parts were nicer than I thought, others not so much. Did have my first Italian/Newark hot dog at Jimmy Buffs.

Not familiar with Stretch's" Will probably be back in Jersey later this year.

Stretch's Aka Belmont tavern

sdeitche wrote:

Rocco wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

Highland Ave off of Bloomfield Ave by BranchBrook park is called the Forrest Hills section of North Newark which borders Bloomfield and Belleville. Probably the nicest section of Newark today except for a few streets in the Downneck area. Basically today if you were George Jefferson and you wanted to move on up from the south ward this is where you would move. You got Calandras Bakery down the street and Dickie Dees (best Italian hotdog in NJ) on a fresh Italian roll from Calandra's. There are still some Italians that live in that area of Forrest hills/North Newark. But most have moved out to the burbs. Some have stayed close by in Belleville (which has gone done hill bigtime). Others with more money that want to stay close to the olde nieghborhood have moved to Nutley. I spent a good part of my Childhood playing in Branchbrook park and riding my bike with my cousins who lived on Lake Street which is one block from Highland Ave. (this is in the early-mid 70s.). Today you have allot of Minority proffessionals that live in Forrest hills on Lake Street and Highland Ave...but its slipping away as the Ghetto expands. after the Newark riots allot of the Italians move either north to Forrest Hills/North Newark, Belleville and Nutley or South to Hillside and Union etc. Hillside is a shithole today all black. Back in the late 70s and early 80s Hillside had working class Blacks that worked hard and kept their yards perfect and wanted the best for their kids but that is slipping away as the ghetto of Irvington and Newark expanded. I went to Highschool in Hillside in the late 70s. Part of Union is hanging on. The other half is not that great anymore.

When I Was a kid in the early 70s their were still allot of Italian businesses and Social clubs in Forrest Hills/North Newark..today that has slipped away almost completely except for a few longstanding business that still have Italians come in from out of town to give them business like Calandra's Bakery and Dicky Dees etc. What really saved Calandra's was building their business model to almost entirely focus on wholesale delivering bread to stores and deli's in the tristate area. Without it they would have been toast like all the other bakeries and business because their community moved away.

Thanks for the info. I went to Jimmy Buffs for the dogs. Will hit Dickie Dees next time.

sdeitche wrote:

BobbyPazzo wrote:

sdeitche wrote:Took these yesterday in Newark. These are two buildings that Gaspare D'Amico lived in.

90 2nd Ave was his home in 1927 (top)

212 Highland Ave was listed as his residence in 1937, before he left town (bottom)

Both are located in the old First Ward neighborhood a couple blocks from each other.

How did you enjoy beautiful north Newark ? Hope you stopped by stretch's.

That was my first time in the old First and Third Ward (being half Portuguese, usually go to the Ironbound). Some parts were nicer than I thought, others not so much. Did have my first Italian/Newark hot dog at Jimmy Buffs.

Not familiar with Stretch's" Will probably be back in Jersey later this year.