(ignore May 1, 2017 publish date. This was published on November 18, 2019.)

 

The world’s largest free-flying US flag adorns the George Washington Bridge on nine holidays a year:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Presidents Day
• Memorial Day
• Flag Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• September 11
• Columbus Day
• Veterans Day

On most of those days, it’s either too hot or too cold or there’s too much going on. The one that seems to work out the best for me is Veterans Day and I’ve done that lately in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2017 and this year.

Usually, I just shoot the bridge and the flag, but since I’ve never walked around the Ross Dock Picnic Area – just north of the bridge – I decided to include that too…………especially since it has a great view of the bridge AND the Palisades.

 

There’s a 7-mile-long paved road under the bridge called Henry Hudson Drive that was built into the Palisades between 1912 and 1940. Heading south, you have to be careful not to run into the mighty cliffs. Heading north, be sure not to roll down them.

I shot that from the bridge sidewalk. I was on my knees trying to shoot under the new protective fencing that was installed two years ago to prevent suicides. There’s a white bird flying towards the middle of the image.

 

You’re not supposed to stop on this road because it’s one lane in each direction, but when you see sights like this, you kind of have to (though I did not get out, so this is a windshield shot):

 

The Ross Dock Picnic Area at this time of year is a great place not only to shoot the bridge, but also the fall colors of the Palisades, as shown in this not-glitch-free photo stitch (click image for initial enlargement – > when mouse over image becomes a + sign, click again for full size. You will need to scroll to see the whole thing. Click again to go down one size and hit back button to go back to the starting size):

This is an almost-360-degree shot. The same straight Hudson River is on either side.

 

This was taken from the northern end of the park. I’m not sure, but I think the sun-drenched buildings on the other side of the river may be Yonkers, NY:

 

This may be my favorite unexpected shot of the day. I took it a considerable distance from the guy, who looks quite comfortable lounging on the big rocks:

 

Last park shot before I head for the bridge:

 

Back on Henry Hudson Drive, the previous northbound windshield shot is now a southbound open-window shot:

 

After parking on Hudson Terrace – a real road that goes under the bridge approach, I hiked up to where the bridge sidewalk began. BTW – they’re in the process of replacing the giant cables that hold the bridge together. You can see the difference between the being-worked-on northern cables and the normal-looking southern ones – ESPECIALLY beyond the tower:

 

Some of the vehicles coming out of the toll booths:

 

You can see the new vertical fencing on the bottom right and the netting above it. This is bad news for those trying to take nice pictures of Manhattan from the southern walkway:

 

Is this Americana or what? A huge Walmart truck is going under the largest hanging US flag. I smell a big sale……………

 

The cables:

 

I had been dodging tons of bicycles, but as I headed back down to Hudson Terrace to my car, I had to dodge some much smaller wheels:

 

If you’re in the area and you’ve never walked the GWB…………..GO!

 

It’s a powerful experience………..with or without the flag.

 

(ignore May 1, 2017 publish date. This was published on December 12, 2019.)

 

Trust me – I have NO expertise at this type of scam, but maybe this’ll help somebody who’s wary of an outsider’s ability to get into your computer and control its webcam.

In the last 14 months, I’ve gotten 42 scam spam emails – including one in Chinese – that are variations of this one:

 

I hacked you and your devices!

 Hello!

As you may have noticed, I sent this message from your account.

This means that I have full access to your device and accounts. I’ve been watching you for a few months now.

The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

After that, I made a full dump of your disk (I have all your address book, history of viewing sites, all files, phone numbers and addresses of all your contacts).

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.

Virus gives me full access and control your devices.

This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.

Why your antivirus did not detect malware? answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.

With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts.

If you want to prevent this, transfer the amount of $772 to my bitcoin address

(if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: “Buy Bitcoin”).

My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 1AirieZr8Ax9gUjZhyVeZqJzGaAkvUEBqq

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.

I give you 48 hours to pay.

I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.

Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.

I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.

 

Most of these emails have seemingly come from my site’s email address (“Hmmm………..I don’t remember sending this to myself.”) and the demanded money is always some unusual number – never like $600 or $850.

Anyway, they all have me over a barrel because all I do 24 hours a day is “satisfy” myself within sight of my computer’s – or my tablet’s – camera (boy, am I sore……….and tired!).

Oh, wait! When I got this computer 4 years ago, it was my first one with a webcam. This may sound strange for a photographer, but I had no interest in (and didn’t trust) that cam, so I looked for an easy way to disable it in case any of these “threats” were real.

Of course, eBay turned out to have the solution……………and cheaply:

 

Yep – black adhesive dots that cost me 4 or 5 bucks at the time and are now 7 bucks (https://tinyurl.com/DotsWebcamCovers). You can see that I’ve used 2 so far (one for each device) with enough left over to last until I’m at least 140 – when I’d be ecstatic if I could still be the subject of the video these people say they’re going to blackmail me with. ADDED BONUS: you guys won’t be around to see it!

So, if you’re not addicted to your computer’s camera – and you can always peel the sticker off and replace it with another after FaceTiming with someone – invest in black dots because the technology to do what these pseudo-hackers threaten DOES exist!

Lastly, expect a video of me soon because I just realized that I ignored the warning in the above email’s last sentence.

I’m not worried………..I look good in black.

 

NEXT DAY UPDATE:

I got threat #43 today and it’s even funnier! Try this on for size:

At the moment, I have harvested a solid dirt… on you…

I know what you like hard funs (adult sites).

Oh, yes .. I’m know your secret life, which you are hiding from everyone.

Oh my God, what are your like… I saw THIS … Oh, you dirty naughty person …

I took photos and videos of your most passionate funs with adult content, and synchronized them in real time with the image of your camera.

Believe it turned out very high quality!

 

“HARD FUNS”? Seriously?

Somebody else must have received this and snarked about it, so I googled it………………39,000 hits!

I haven’t dived into it yet, but I DID read one you might like: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2175580-i-know-what-you-like-the-hard-funs

Today’s clown wants $803 from me. Hmmmm……………I wonder what country’s currency converts to that number from a nice round local figure.

 

 

 

………………………….((iI………..       (ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 17, 2019)

 

No – I’m not referring to that 1962 Dickie Lee teen-tragedy song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpjs9nEBVO

Did you ever start to look for something and you wind up finding things you had forgotten about? Well, I found this one day:

 

It’s gotta contain the reject pile of patches for one of my many 70s jeans that were constantly patched by my friend Elaine (see the last picture in this post: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=6541).

Nope.

The contents turned out to be from about 20 years ago when I saw an odd wearable patch and decided to see what else was out there.

Below are about 40 patches I acquired, courtesy of eBay.

This first bunch is of local interest. The first two on top are where I live and the third is where I grew up.

Bergen Pines – when I was growing up – was supposedly where they sent crazy people, so I HAD to get that one.

Teterboro, which is 3 or 4 miles south of me, is known for the airport by that name. The town’s population was 18 in the 2000 census. It doesn’t have its own police force (Moonachie PD covers Teterboro), so I was surprised when I saw this patch. Wishful thinking?:

 

There’s a guy I know in the Hackensack Fire Department who’s probably seen this before, but if not, enjoy:

 

Time for a little – but important – history lesson (I used to moderate the online forum of the Bergen County Historical Society’s site):

One of the most historic local sites is the Steuben House at New Bridge in what is now River Edge, NJ – just across the Hackensack River from Teaneck and New Milford.

In November, 1776, the British held Manhattan while George Washington’s forces – after having been driven out by General Cornwallis – kept an eye on them from Fort Lee atop the Palisades. One night, Cornwallis marched about 6,000 troops to the northern tip of Manhattan, crossed the Hudson River, scaled the Palisades in the town of Closter and were ready to march about 6 miles south to surprise and slaughter the Americans.

A shaky legend has it that a local patriot saw the redcoats, surmised what was happening and rode his horse to Fort Lee to warn Washington. (Note: that person was referred to as “The Lone Horseman” and is featured in Closter’s official seal. The next time you get pulled over by a Closter cop, be sure to admire his shoulder patch, which shows the same image.)

But Washington wasn’t in Fort Lee; he was in Hackensack, so someone was dispatched to get him…………quickly.

George beat it back to Fort Lee and ordered the troops to drop everything and retreat through what are now Leonia, Englewood and Teaneck. The British weren’t far behind.

When they reached the Hackensack River, the Americans crossed New Bridge and promptly burned it down. As night fell, they camped out on the grounds of the Steuben House right by the river. They could see the campfires of the frustrated British troops on the near opposite shore in Teaneck.

Thomas Paine was with Washington’s troops and wrote his famous “These are the times that try men’s souls” line here.

Thus began the retreat across New Jersey, which led to the horrible winter at Valley Forge, PA. After that, Washington and his men re-crossed the Delaware River (he was probably NOT standing in his boat), surprised (and beat) the British at Trenton and went on to win the war.

What this all boils down to is that if not for the Lone Horseman and New Bridge – the bridge that saved a nation – we’d all be speaking with British accents today.

Hardly anyone seems to know about this. I went to a good school 2 miles from this bridge and never heard anything about it growing up.

That kinda pisses me off.

 

In this group, I find two to be of interest. Obviously, the “releaf” patch is one and I just read a headline in my paper today that says that NJ will place the pot legalization question on the November 2020 ballot, so maybe the anti-pot patch might become more valuable if that gets passed:

 

I bought the “Yankees” patch, but wondered what it had to do with “United States Marshall” or what the hell “S D” was. Thanks(?) to the current White House occupant, a lot of people are now aware of the federal court for the Southern District of New York:

 

From this point on, the patches get progressively weirder:

 

There’s nothing weird about the lower right patch………….I just want to see if it catches a certain someone’s eye:

 

Things just got a lot weirder:

 

My Top 5 (Google “Pineapple Face” if you don’t know who that is. M.N. pops right up.):

 

Though I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it, this is the only patch that I display in my living room because it was the only one I ever saw that mentioned my career camera brand:

 

LATE ADDITION

Frosty the Gunslinger:

 

 

 

……………………………………………..(ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 26, 2019)

 

After posting about a not-very-serious collection (and before I make the next not-very-serious collection post), it’s time to stick a real one in here.

I’ve always loved the GWB and have photographed it quite often from myriad angles. As I got more into local history in general in the 90s, I started focusing on the bridge in particular.

As Mr. eBay in the late 90s-early 2000s, I snapped up every GWB-related item I found interesting. Besides the hundreds of postcards that were available, I found lots of other things I had no idea even existed.

And they’re all below (after a week of scanning).

 

EARLY PROPOSALS

Wikipedia tells me that the idea of a cross-Hudson River bridge between NYC and NJ has been around since 1906. The first serious one I have is this 2-sided 1921 proposal for an absolute monstrosity from Manhattan to Jersey City that would accommodate cars, trolleys and trains.

 

FOLLOW THIS PROCEDURE FOR MOST ENLARGEABLE IMAGES:

Click on the image. Hover the cursor over the image. If it becomes a plus sign, click on the image again. This is the largest it’ll get and you may have to do some scrolling to see everything. TO GO BACK: the cursor is now a minus sign. Click the image to get to the initial enlargement, then click your back button to get back to normal.

 

This postcard from the same time period refers to it as the “West Jersey Bridge”:

 

This double-clickable 1926 proposal was the first I have for a Fort Lee-to-Washington Heights location. It was another massive structure and it would have faster traffic (cars) on the upper level and slower traffic (trucks, trains, etc.) on the lower level:

The Fort Lee location was eventually picked because the Hudson River was the narrowest at this point.

 

 

KICKOFF GOODIES

The two commemorative medals are about 1¼” in diameter and the pinback/flag is about 3” in length.

The first medal is from a 1925 testimonial dinner for influential Bergen County Senator William B. Mackay, who is referred to as “the father of the first NJ-NY Hudson River Bridge”.

The two September 21,1927 ground-breaking ceremonies items have different names for the bridge: “Interstate Hudson River Bridge” and “Fort Lee Bridge”.

 

 

“BERGEN COUNTY SONG”

With construction now underway, it was obvious that Bergen County stood to be the biggest beneficiary. It was comparatively sparsely-populated farmland that would soon become VERY populated.

One organization to which this was extremely obvious was the Bergen County Chamber of Commerce. A County resident – Henry I. Marshall – wrote “Bergen County Song” in 1929 and dedicated it to the Chamber of Commerce.

I found all this out when I located (and bought) sheet music for the song. The cover features the bridge’s original design along with what appear to be two ridiculously-large parts of Alps-like mountains in the New Jersey background.

The bridge is referred to on the cover as the “Interstate Hudson River Bridge”. My scanner cut off slivers of the sides and the publisher’s address (1595 Broadway, NYC) on the bottom.

I scanned every page, so besides the covers, all the music and corny lyrics are here in case you want play it as a sing-along at your next party (especially if you don’t want your guests to come back to subsequent parties).

The first image shows the front and back covers. The two after that show the four song pages.

Follow the double-enlargement procedure:

 

 

THE ORIGINAL DESIGN

These four PCs are all from the late 20s/early 30s and show the original design of the bridge. It was supposed to be clad in granite, but two things nixed that:

– The Great Depression began in 1929 and the money for extravagances dried up.

– People liked the look of the unclad metal framework better.

Smart people. The look is timeless and the original, expensive design looks pretty dated to me.

The top two cards show the New York and the New Jersey approaches to the bridge. The bottom two show the bridge with Riverside Drive in Manhattan (looks like a dirt road) and the New York bridge base, whose sign says,

                                                 Hudson River Bridge

                                                       being built by

                                         The Port of New York Authority

                                                          1927-1932

 

 

I CAN’T SELL YOU THE BRIDGE…..HOW ABOUT SOME CHEAP NEARBY LAND INSTEAD ?

I had never seen this offer before nor have I seen one since……………and I have five of them (that’s how it was sold):

You can tell – especially from the second picture – that some serious digging into the Palisades still needs to be done before the Jersey approach lines up with the bridge’s roadway.

This is a long image, so follow the double-click procedure to see and read everything at its largest:

 

 

“NOT FOR USE IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE”?

Great picture, but the description is horrible.

It sure looks like it’s the bridge’s Opening Day to me, but instead of mentioning that rather important fact, it just lists all the boilerplate stuff that was on every other early Bridge publicity document……………..and oh-by-the-way………..”NOT FOR USE IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE”???

What the hell is THAT about?

As a professional photographer, I’ve seen many restrictions placed on (or attached to) photographs, but I’ve never encountered a ban of such magnitude on ANY photo before.

And what is the approval-giving “APPROPRIATE U.S. AUTHORITY”? Not very specific, are they……

 

 

EARLY 1930s POSTCARDS

The first card shows no bridge roadway yet, so that’s the earliest of the three. I originally thought that the PC below it was from 1930 (the white borders generally mean 1915-1930………….but not always).

I think I have to add at least 5 years because there seems to be a bright beacon atop the NY tower and the Post-Rogers Memorial Beacon was dedicated in late 1935 (famed aviator Wiley Post and humorist Will Rogers died in a plane crash in Alaska three months earlier).

As for the third card, it appears to show the original bridge design, so I’ll stick with 1930:

 

 

1931,32 COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPES

1. Louis Hoebel – Mayor of Fort Lee – sent this October 24, 1931-postmarked (the day the GWB was officially dedicated and opened) GWB/Fort Lee commemorative envelope to the Assistant Superintendent of Delivery at the New York General Post office. It’s probably one of MANY he had to send that day because getting these usually-empty, sealed commemorative envelopes with “DAY OF” postmarks was a big deal back then. I just noticed that all the black lettering and design in the lower left is shiny and raised.

 

2. 1932 was celebrated in Fort Lee because it was not only THEIR bicentennial, but it was also the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth………….you know – the guy whose troops occupied the town in 1776 and then got their big bridge named for him.

 

3. The last one seems like a bit of a stretch as far as commemorations go. It commemorates the LAST DAY of the Washington Bicentennial and was postmarked December 31, 1932 at the Washington Bridge Station in New York. I wonder if there was a wild celebration in early January 1933 in Northville, Michigan when C.M. Chase received this prize.

 

 

MORE 1931/1932 ITEMS

If you’re from this area, this map is very interesting. It’s also the only item of the three that’s actually from 1931,32. More on this map after I take care of the other two items shown:

 

The stamps commemorate the “Centennial Of Engineering” (1852-1952) and prominently show the GWB. It only misses 1932 by 20 years (but DOES include it!). Here they are blown up:

 

The third item shows no year whatsoever, but it has yellowed enough to be from 1931,32. (I think this group was what was left over after putting everything else in year groups)

Now on to that map…………

It’s really a guide to navigating locally from the new GWB. It shows the highways and main streets in different towns, but the reason you needed it was because the highways were only partially built.

If you can find Route 4 coming off the bridge, it’s only built as far as Englewood. To get to Hackensack, you have to get off 4 at Engle St, take that to Forest Ave and make a left all the way to its end in Teaneck, where you’d take a left on Queen Anne Rd to Cedar Lane and a right into Hackensack.

As you’ll see in the image after the map (and the booklet cover), red highways mean they’re built and usable, white are unbuilt and red Xs mean those parts will open by February 1932.

The map is another large, double-clickable image. It’s also a photo stitch with one noticeable glitch: Palisade Ave in Englewood shows an unfortunate (and non-existent) break between Engle St and 9W.

Note: “Route 6” is what we know as Route 46. If you see “Route 2”, that’s Route 17, and “Fort Lee Turnpike” is now Main St in Bogota, Fort Lee Rd in Teaneck and Leonia and Main St in Fort Lee (Oops! Just noticed another glitch on that “Turnpike” in Leonia):

 

 

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS: ERROR POSTCARDS

There’s only one of those in this group. Just read the captions:

 

 

MORE EXCITING COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPES (I’m being facetious)

The first one is the aforementioned Post-Rogers Beacon, postmarked on the day of dedication. Despite the depiction of the beacon as being in the middle of the bridge – where it would do absolutely no good on the cables’ lowest point while it blinds drivers – it sits atop the New York tower.

“National Air Mail Week”: I’ve seen hundreds of these commemorating God-knows-what. They’ve never made any sense to me.

About 7 years before he became president, General Dwight Eisenhower was commemorated on a Washington Bridge Station-postmarked envelope one month and 11 days after the official end of WWII:

 

 

1930s to 1960s GWB postcards

The top left one shows a 1930s view of the NJ approach. The top right one……….WHAT? You don’t know about the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge? Google it – quite interesting. There’s even a 1942 child’s book about it and its big gray neighbor which you can find on YouTube.

The bottom two inform about the 1962 opening of the “Martha” (Lower Level) and the 1963 opening of the GWB Bus Station:

 

 

ODDS & ENDS (click once to enlarge a bit)

Top left: an official 1964 World’s Fair/GWB card

Top right: A busy (or lazy) person’s correspondence card

Bottom left: I thought only the Brooklyn Bridge was bought this way

Bottom right: This is the earliest of the bunch (no bridge roadway yet). As you can probably tell from the black material in the photo’s upper left, this was ripped out of someone’s photo album and sold:

 

 

THE BIG MEDALLIONS – EVERY 50 YEARS (so far)

These are both about 3″ in diameter. On the left are the two sides of the original 1931 commemorative medallion for the dedication ceremony of the GWB. On the right is what was issued in 1981 for the 50th anniversary:

The latter shows its original color at the very bottom of the top right image. Because it sits in a wooden holder and has gotten blasted by the sun every morning for the last two decades, the rest of it has darkened considerably. Maybe I should have turned it around so the unimaginative reverse darkened instead.

 

 

 

THE SILVER TRAY

Well, it’s silver-looking anyway. Don’t know when it was made, but it’s after 1935 because the beacon is atop the NY tower. I have another of these trays that’s turned black and is fairly brittle. They’re both 7.5” x 5.25”:

 

 

THE 60’ X 90’ US FLAG IN THE 1940s

The cars looks 40s-ish, but they could be early 50s (I’m too young to know for sure):

 

 

THE CUTE GIRL NEXT DOOR – THE RIVIERA NIGHTCLUB

Do yourself a favor and google this place in Fort Lee………..it’s WAY too much for me to write about here. EVERYBODY who was anybody went there. It’s a shame it had to be torn down to make way for the Palisade Interstate Parkway (one PIP replaces another!).

This is the front of the souvenir folder, followed by the contents (photo of unidentified couple) with the back cover info (the price) superimposed on the bottom:

 

This is an actual chip from the Riviera Casino. What other gambling establishment would put a picture of the GWB on it?

 

The Riviera menu cover:

 

Here’s what’s on the menu that has a September 1, 1946 (a Sunday) date on it. This is a large image, so do the double-enlargement steps outlined earlier so you can read everything – especially the prices:

 

 

3” X 7/8” ACRYLIC GWB+BUS STATION DISC (post-1963)

The title says it all (and it’s too light to be a paperweight):

 

 

PRE-AUGUST 1970 NJ APPROACHES TO THE GWB

Originally, I had no idea when this picture might have been taken. The only clue I could find was that the tollbooths for both directions are shown and tolls became eastbound-only on August 12, 1970. Of course, this could have been taken for some time after that until the westbound tollbooths were actually torn down, but this guess is close enough:

 

 

 

SPEAKING OF TOLLS 1

According to Wiki, these are the tolls rates since the GWB opened in 1931:

I’m not sure, but there may have been another rate increase since 2015.

 

 

SPEAKING OF TOLLS 2

Around the turn of this century, I came across this neat item on eBay and really wanted to add it to the collection. I tried my best, but someone outbid me for it.

But it may not have been the loss I thought it was. According to the Wiki toll rate list above, the toll on the GWB was never $2.50. So either there are other GWBs in the US or this is a fake created to deceive collectors. If my initial interest in it makes me a fool, at least I know there’s a much bigger one out there who paid a lot of money for it while I didn’t lose a cent:

 

 

THE 1976 GWB ART EXHIBIT

What a great shot! Follow double-click procedure to enlarge:

 

 

MODERN MARVELS: THE GWB

Do you remember a series on the History Channel called “Modern Marvels”? It ran from 1992 to 2015.

In 2004, when they started production on an episode about the GWB, they contacted the president of the Bergen County Historical Society, Robert Griffin, whom they knew would be a wellspring of information and documentation.

Bob Griffin is a friend of mine and was aware of my GWB collection. He suggested they contact me as well. They did.

I sent them whatever seemed to fit their requests and wound up with something used on the show. Both Bob and I have a contributor’s credit on the show and the producers sent us both a tape of the episode on August 30, 2004:

On September 1, 2004, the show aired (Season 11 – Episode 34). I recall trying to figure out what was mine. I saw a couple of possibilities, but still don’t know what actual item of mine they used.

 

 

FOUR OTHER GWB PHOTOS

As mentioned in the beginning of this post, I’ve photographed the GWB a lot……but so have many other people. I’m sure we each like to think that our photos are unique, but the truth is that many of our shots wind up being similar to everyone else’s.

So – I’m gonna show four GWB images of mine that I think are truly unique – that I’ve never seen from anyone else…………..EVER.

They cover a span of 37 years, which means that I take a good shot once every 9 years.

Sequentially, they are:

July 5, 1982 – I was sitting in the back right seat of a four-seater seaplane that took off from the Hackensack River/Overpeck Creek area in Ridgefield Park. I was shooting what I could of Manhattan from the World Trade Center and north. I had hoped the pilot would be flying over the GWB so I could get some straight-down traffic and tower shots, but he started to make a left turn well before the bridge.

Rather than uselessly complain about his normal commercial flight path (and miss this shot), I saw an opportunity to get a full shot of the bridge (AND the river AND the Palisades AND two states AND two boats) from a just-high-enough elevated position.

Click!

 

November 11, 2011 – I’m underneath the bridge at ground level by the river and shooting straight up. This 11-11-11 Veterans Day was VERY windy and the largest hanging US flag – which is usually vertical – was temporarily blown completely horizontal. I have NEVER seen a shot like this before!

Click!

 

January 30, 2014 – This was taken from the Fort Lee Historic Park right next to the bridge, where LOTS of people take GWB shots.

I’m pretty sure the lights of the bridge’s necklace have never been orange and green before (or since), but for a week or so before the 2014 Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos (orange) and the Seattle Seahawks (green) at MetLife Stadium, they were.

Nobody was there the night I was. The park was closed to cars, but you could take the long, unlit hike up if you wanted to on a VERY cold night, so I did and this was my reward.

Click!

I’ve seen a few other pictures of this…………..nothing special (he says snobbily). By the way – that’s the Post-Rogers beacon you see shining atop the tower. Bonus!

 

THE GWB FROM HOME!

I’ve been working on this post for two weeks and it just so happens that I’m finishing up the writing on Christmas Day, 2019. As of the day before, there were only going to be three pictures in this section, but I happened to get up on Christmas morning just before the sun showed its face and took the below picture that shows something that’s 5 or 6 miles away that I can only see when the foliage is off the trees:

Click!

I took this at 7:25am. If you look just above my watermark, you can see part of the New Jersey tower of the GWB and part of one of its cables. You can also see the sun beginning to rise behind it……..what fortunate timing!

I KNOW nobody else has this shot from this perspective (my living room), so I immediately added it to my most unique GWB shots.

This may be the adult equivalent of a kid getting up on Christmas morning and seeing Santa’s gifts, except Nature is Santa and the gift unwrapped itself before my eyes.

YOWZAH!

 

 

SPEAKING OF WRAPPING, CAN WE WRAP THIS POST UP, BOB?

Chure, man. Here’s the perfect ending:

While digging through all this GWB stuff, I found some buried treasure signed by artist Rick London when I acquired it in 2004.

What better way is there to end a post about THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE than showing……………

 

 

 

 

 

 

LATE ADDITIONS

 

May 9, 2020

 

I have a LOT of stuff and when I decide to gather everything for one of these posts, it’s not unusual to find related items months later amidst other stuff. Such was the case recently when I located the below GWB items.

 

This is a page from a 1928 magazine that featured images of the “Hudson River Bridge” and its “engineering genius”, Othmar Ammann. At this stage, the old design (and name) were still in play. The magazine was not identified:

 

 

This 8.5 x 11.5″ (with borders) GWB image has no identification other than “V, C,  PLATE 10” and “Courtesy-The Port of New York Authority”:

 

 

This odd 10.5 x 13″piece has an attached 10-24-90 commemorative Cover with an American Society of Engineers stamp – which I covered earlier in this post – on the top (why would they put out a 59-year commemorative?). The bottom and the back show the front page of the 10-25-31 New York Times’ story on the bridge’s opening:

 

 

I’m guessing that this small “Travelers’ Tips from the GWB” brochure is circa 1939 because it mentions the World’s Fair. For any of you Jersey people wondering what Route 2 is, it’s what we know as Route 17 (in 1942, Route 2 became Route 17 to match the designation of NY17. You’ll notice the brochure mentions Route 2 in NJ and Route 17 in NY – same road. Route 210 is up by Greenwood Lake, NY:

 

 

I had forgotten all about this 1931 yearbook from Fort Lee High School, but I remember why I bought it: pure speculation that since it was the year the GWB opened in Fort Lee, I had a feeling that there might be a strong GWB influence coming from the minds of the student creators. I guessed correctly and am glad I did because I’ve never seen anyone mention the event historically from this angle.

 

Here is every single image (I found a dozen) that I could find in this yearbook that – to my mind, at least – is GWB-connected. Note that many of the images use the bridge’s original design:

Pages 6 and 7 – the new design, but the old “Hudson River Bridge” name on the pic:

 

Page 11 – old design:

 

Page 31: old design for Class of ’32, new design for ’33 and ’34……..could those designs represent what the designs were when each class started at FLHS?

 

Page 37: it appears to be the GWB, but what job is the worker doing?

 

Page 39: I have no idea who that’s supposed to be (Walter Matthau as an Indian?)

 

Page 53 – the cables aren’t much wider than the guitar/banjo strings:

 

Page 60: that’s easily the GWB………

 

Page 70 – First impression: a tribute to the first GWB suicide? Actually, instead of the Grim Reaper, I think this must be some version of Father Time. As you can see, it heads a Calendar, which is a rather humorous look at the school year and is 4 pages long:

 

Page 73 – Well, it’s a bridge and it crosses water, so……… (and it’s at the end of the Calendar, where it’s noted that the yearbook is ready to be printed:

 

Page 80 – I would imagine that this is a nocturnal view of the GWB from the north side, where FLHS is located:

 

Page 93: Do the two windows of this old covered bridge suggest the cables of the future GWB?

 

Page 100 (last page) – Father Time has had a long, busy year and takes a rest on the creation that took 4 years of his time:

 

At least that’s how this all looks to me……….

I don’t remember what I paid for this yearbook, but it was worth it (or so say my speculative “powers”).

 

 

August 19, 2020

I found this 26.75″ x 19.25″ photo last week in a frame behind something a lot less interesting. I’ll go through that process in an upcoming post. Right now, I just want to get both the original image and a cropped version I prefer up here. The original says “Boeing Stratocruiser (I almost wrote ‘Stratocaster’) – George Washington Bridge – 1949” (Could this plane name be the inspiration for the guitar’s name?).

 

The original:

 

The cropped version:

 

 

 

(Ignore May 1, 2017 publish date. This was published on December 30, 2019.)

 

This will be a short and sweet post to end the year (and the decade).

Despite what you see here, I don’t drink beer (or schnapps), chew tobacco or play the lottery. These are just ten affordable lit signs that caught my eye two decades ago. One is in my kitchen, one in the foyer, two in the living room, two in the bedroom and four in the back room.

I don’t light them up much anymore and I don’t know why I bought the Tennent one. It’s pretty boring, so it must have been cheap.

One of the shown brands will be the subject of a future post.

Happy New Year to you all. It’s my wish that – tomorrow night – you imbibe way too much beer, schnapps, vodka AND Mountain Dew.

Remember:

 

 

The signs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signing out…………..

 

 

(ignore publish date of May 1, 2017 – this was published on January 10, 2020)

Click to enlarge (you’ll see this one again later).

 

Basically, this is my photographic year in review. Because I get a lot of questions about some of the photos (and a lot of them require explanation) or I have thoughts about them, I’ve now made comments on nearly every picture. That’s why this post contains over 8,000 words.

It also contains over 500 pictures – more than any other post I’ve ever made. It’s a MONSTER post that I hope you’ll make it through. It might be worth your while (and time). Take small bites. Since they’re presented chronologically, try a month or two at a time.

Useless fact: 68% of them were taken from home. The opportunity to do that year after year is primarily why I live here.

I’m still shooting all the construction projects, but I’m not going to feature them as much as I did last year – it’s way too time-consuming for me and may produce too many yawns from anyone who doesn’t live around here (and from some who do).

I will post some interesting-looking (I hope) shots from those projects, but if you really want to see ALL of that stuff, here are some links with the complete stories and pix:

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,3580.0.html

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,3648.0.html

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,3789.0.html

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,3872.0.html

 

PLEASE VIEW ON SOMETHING MUCH LARGER THAN A PHONE

 

NOTE: Whenever you see the word “STITCH”, that image can be enlarged with a one- or two-click process. For the latter, click the image once for the initial enlargement. When you run your cursor over the enlargement and it becomes a plus sign, click it again for the full enlargement. Usually, it will be bigger than your screen, so you’ll have to start scrolling to see everything.

Your cursor will now be a minus sign. Click the image to get back to the initial enlargement and then hit your back button to get back to regular size.

 

Here we go:

JANUARY

New Year’s Day has started for me since 2009 with an Ecuadorian procession to Our Lady of the Cloud. I’m not religious, but it goes right by my building, so – hangover or not – it’s an easy and interesting shoot from the sidewalk or my roof (the roof, this year).

The lady in the last pic is scattering flower petals in advance of the statue.

 

“Hey, mister – did you bring enough for all of us?”

 

This triptych shows the best photos of an American kestrel – the smallest raptor – I have ever taken and it was right outside my living room window on top of a tree. Notice that its head has swiveled 180 degrees in the middle image:

 

Someone’s headlight is shining on a nice-looking wheel after a rain shower:

 

If he drove slower, he might not have spilled the milk:

 

The shadow of the First Presbyterian Church’s steeple two blocks away falls on a building that doesn’t exist anymore (and who knows how long this Sears will survive?):

 

The steel beams of the 395 Main project shine in the setting sun. A few months later, the view of the river (and Chicken Supreme!) were gone:

 

I love roof shots:

 

This happens twice a year:

 

Why is there a balloon here?

 

This was part of that wall of the building mentioned above that came down soon after (beginning 3 pictures from now):

 

How do these cloud slices get put together?

 

From the Empire State building to the World Trade Center (and from my living room):

 

The next 3 pix involve that doomed building and a drone:

 

I’m sure this happens a lot, but I’ve never seen a pressurized tank in flight before:

 

The ear muffs are big enough for a Ferengi:

 

More balloons!

 

Total address: 814 State St:

 

Science night on the roof (click to enlarge):

 

Interesting same-evening sky colors:

 

Neighbor hauling a wood table:

 

In case you weren’t sure what these were:

 

Geese:

 

I saw a medical chopper approaching Hackensack Hospital a mile away, so I took 6 shots before it landed (click to enlarge):

 

 

FEBRUARY

These are 3 almost-identical shots I took from home of a bald eagle that was flying WAY too high to get good images:

 

This is the sequence of work on a rooftop unit almost two blocks away:

 

Nature’s frigid artwork on my roof storm door window:

 

This is a pretty dull, colorless shot when the door’s closed:

 

I never cease to be amazed by these cloudy skies at sunset:

 

It’s amazing how many people use their cars to shield themselves from the view of moving cars on the street at the end of the lot and COMPLETELY ignore the fact that there’s a big apartment building right behind them where many STATIONARY people can see (and photograph) them. I’m guessing that’s because it’s the BACK of the building and they must think those are all bedrooms and the people are in the front of the building during the day, although I’m sure there are other stupid reasons as well:

 

You’ve heard of Whack-A-Mole? This is Whack-A-Pole to clean your car floor mats:

 

Gulls: feeding, bathing and taking off:

 

Arboreal residences for NOISY fish crows:

 

A jet swerves to avoid the crane:

 

Vane birds, consecutive pictures:

 

In case he falls, I’m ready to take the insurance pictures:

 

Manhattan skyline and closeup:

 

I’ll bet you’ve never seen a sign like this before. It’s on the clubhouse of a motorcycle group that’s comprised of EMTs and law enforcement people:

 

From my apartment, I could see these fireworks going off in or near Manhattan. But why on February 11? I found out the next day that they were shot off on the Hudson River in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year:

 

This church is next door to me. On Valentine’s Day, I happened to go visit someone I know who works there. On the way in, I saw the sign. The sermon title seemed sort of appropriate for Valentine’s Day, but the sermon was scheduled to be delivered 4 days later. I wonder if the husband-and-wife reverends delivered it (and if there’s an mp3 of it on their site).

When I walked into the office, I saw the message in the box of donuts.

I’m guessing that the missing donut was a “T”, but I have no idea (and I didn’t ask), nor do I know who the “writer” and recipient were, but the photos just belonged together in a strangely un-churchlike way:

 

This reflection was SO bright that it lit up my living room:

 

These 3 photos were taken at sunset on February 16:

 

I took these two photos on the Hackensack River Walkway by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack. The first one – I’m told by a birding columnist friend – is a female downy woodpecker. Dunno the gender of the gull:

 

Still on the avian tip………I had never before seen a red-tailed hawk on the First Presbyterian Church’s weather vane until 2/22, so that means I had also never gotten a shot of one flying off of it before either:

 

Um………….OK:

 

I had never photographed a dog being packed into a (ventilated) carrier bag before, but if you look closely at pix 2,3 and 4, its face appears to be jammed into a corner:

 

When I initially looked at this picture, I thought it was a young falconer flying a snowy owl from his arm. Well, at least I got the “snowy” part right:

 

I have absolutely no clue what that yellow stuff is or its purpose. If you know, enlighten me:

 

An actual, non-military DOG tag:

 

This is what exists between an old residential building and one that was just built (Click to enlarge twice):

 

MARCH

These are 15 stitched-together stills taken from my living room during the course of a day when the sculpture atop the old bank building was constructed. Every piece is shown. The skies don’t match up because the amount of cloudiness varied throughout the day. Click twice to see it all:

 

Looking straight down from my living room after a light snowfall (which gives excellent definition to whatever it covers versus a heavy snowfall):

 

This is what replaced the very colorful Geri’s Deli on Main St:

 

Another lovely light snowfall (or maybe it’s the same one from 3 days before). If only it kept those steel girders from rising higher:

 

Here’s a local first! We’ll see him again:

 

Fun in the snow:

 

Dumping stuff off a roof (that garbage bag hit my watermark):

 

Geese fly by The Modern 1 and 2 towers in Fort Lee (by the George Washington Bridge):

 

One of the few happy people at tax time:

 

Interesting reflection:

 

The is above the entrance to what was a very large bank building in Hackensack that has just been converted to residential. They wisely kept this:

 

This is my old darkroom, which was converted from a small second bathroom in 1988 by my brother, Ed. I don’t recall when it was last used as a darkroom (mid-90s?), but everything’s still there (why hasn’t the Smithsonian called yet?)

 

An interesting silhouette on the sun:

 

Taken on the Ides of March. Beware!

 

There’s no stopping this guy:

 

From the roof: cloud-to-cloud lightning:

 

If you’re up on the news, you’ll get the title:

 

AND he does windows, ladies:

 

Riding the wild cement-pouring hose at 395 Main:

 

Smooth operator with a big handle:

 

Later, I got this really close cement-pouring shot:

 

Unfortunately, this hungry cement-mixing truck pulled this guy in (good in$urance shot):

 

 

Overall shot of the huge cement-pumper system from home:

 

Another apparatus for smoothing the wet cement floor:

 

Need a taillight?

 

Ever get stuck at a railroad crossing as a LOOOOOOOOONG oil train goes by? After the first 50,000 or so cars went by, I started taking pictures: first close, then wider and then waited an eternity or two until I finally saw the caboose:

 

A tourist group of geese visits the new sculpture atop the old bank building:

 

“Whut the hell IS this thang?

 

An interesting pair:

 

This poor kid had no one to throw a football to, so he threw to himself:

 

Boy, there are a bunch of captions you could write about this picture, but I’ll just say that the woman is with child (or that she was due two years ago or…………):

 

The Modern Tower 2 shines into my living room from 5 or so miles away:

 

Oh, look! There’s a Leafe on the tree!

 

The smoking section at Wimbledon:

 

This is a video still taken while I was stopped by yet another train. Let’s see………..the gates came down, the bells were ringing, the lights were flashing – all by train tracks and they need a banner on the middle of the train telling me that I should always expect a train? What the hell else would I expect in that situation? A parade?

 

3 pix of the muscleman working at the church next door:

 

 

To shoot a mockingbird (from my living room):

 

I just liked the helmet:

 

A good Big Daddy:

 

I think they’re stuck:

 

Instant whitewall tires!

 

It’s not a secret anymore, kid:

 

The bigger Godzilla was given to me by a singer in a band that toured Japan (where he got it). The gold record came from an actual gold record that was presented to the Scorpions at a 1991 party at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ. It got smashed when someone dropped it and this was the largest surviving piece, so……………Godzilla did it:

 

“Are you feeling OK?”

“Mom!”

 

APRIL

Earlier in the year, my wheel got bent just enough to not let the tire hold air. I spent about 2 months trying to find a decent replacement while I drove around with a wheel-less spare tire. I found a local place that offered to straighten the wheel AND make it look like new for $125.

I was hesitant but getting desperate, so I went for it and MAN, did it come out good! It’s SO good that if I ever have to use this spare, it’ll make the other 3 wheels look like crap. Judge for yourself:

 

I think this stained mattress was standing up against the other trash and got blown over into the street by the wind. The local constabulary spotted it, one of them put on gloves and put it back where it belonged:

 

Unless one foot is behind and at its height, these pictures usually turn out boring:

 

These are easy to have not come out well, but I like this one:

 

This kid was still at it. He doesn’t live there anymore, so I’ll never know if I have early pictures of a future NFL star:

 

The guy looks a little old for Mickey Mouse stuff, but maybe it’s his kid’s:

 

It appears to be a dangerous day to fly:

 

Gotta love the architecture of the neighborhood (so says the bird):

 

Bingo appears to be fading away………..literally:

 

These are 3 same-day photo stitches of projects at 153, 170 and 435 Main St, respectively:

 

It must be ugly shoes day. Didn’t Daisy Duck wear shoes that were kind of like the ones on the right? (which are REALLY unflattering):

 

At the Second Reformed Church next door after Palm Sunday:

 

If the newly-poured concrete floor is smooth, why is rainwater puddling on it?

 

In a local store window (actually, I think it’s a pediatric dental office…..see the toothbrush?):

 

You’d better watch your step, man who is working to block my river view!

 

Butt-buddies in a public parking lot:

 

Osprey over the Bergen County Courthouse:

 

I told you he’d be back…………and he brought 3 clones with him:

 

The colors! The fashion! Oy!

 

Hey – it’s Soupy Sales doing The Mouse! No, wait – it’s an umpire signaling “safe at home”:

 

I featured this gentleman once before in a video titled, “He’s not even Italian!”:

 

Ever seen traffic cones in this position before?

 

This van has been sitting in a local bank parking lot with a flat tire for ages. I shot this last April because I had already seen it there for so long. I just checked two days ago and it’s still there……….now with 3 flat tires:

 

These are 2 same-day photo stitches of the 395 Main project and midtown Manhattan with low clouds:

 

 

Interesting outfit:

 

These snowplows with headlights are in a municipal DPW site:

 

This is the Court St Bridge between Hackensack and Bogota:

 

“………for running into my car”:

 

Towelhead:

 

I’m not sure what’s on her head:

 

Remember – it’s April:

 

This kid does NOT give up:

 

Looks like he’s been rejected by the washing machine of his choice and wants to end it all:

 

Note: an NFL kicking tee is only 1” tall:

 

The family funny guy?

 

I’ve met this man and he was absolutely charming:

 

“Help! There’s a boulder on my head!”

 

Lunar vane:

 

Too true:

 

You could turn an ankle on that crumbling curb:

 

Agreement!

 

Seen at a local business:

 

Setting-sun reflections:

 

I’ll bet you didn’t notice she was wearing slippers:

 

3-wheeled van:

 

Wait’ll he tries to get it through the hoop:

 

Water-juggling:

 

MAY

The backpack got my attention:

 

“You’ll get a flat head if you do that!”

 

Six pix: I saw a car pull into the municipal lot behind my building. A man and a woman got out and the man placed a drone on the car’s hood. It flew a short distance in a northerly direction (across the street in the vicinity of the Second Reformed Church).

It was in the air for less than 40 seconds before it landed back on the car’s hood. The woman picked up the drone and both people got back in the car and left.

Total time between photo#1 and photo#6: 50 seconds (sound fishy to you?).

 

Bad aim:

 

Liquor in a Health Mart?

 

I like the kid’s hair:

 

Happy meter maid:

 

Two pix: Volleyball practice in the church lot (taken 10 days apart):

 

They’re both listening to the container:

 

Hackensack River:

 

MORE balloons!

 

Sharing:

 

Playing catch:

 

The joy of fine dining:

 

I didn’t feel like hiding my watermark in a corner:

 

Just outside my living room window:

 

One chopper twice and one Osprey once on the same day:

 

Osprey between The Modern 1 & 2 towers the next day:

 

I’m guessing, but I think they’re walking back to Teaneck after going to a Hackensack temple on the Sabbath (May 25):

 

Given the state of Sears’ affairs, I shoot any nice shot of the building that I see (this time, I’m stopped at a traffic light):

 

Caged Osprey:

 

Following directions:

 

I hope there’s not a baby under all that:

 

On the front steps of Hackensack’s Eastwick College circa Memorial Day:

 

In front of a clothing store on Main St (I think they both have a pen in their pocket):

 

The News4NewYork chopper finds something of interest locally:

 

JUNE

Two shots at the 435 Main project, including a sorta-selfie:

 

Something is distracting them from their ice pops:

 

Bogota Day – the borough’s 125th anniversary fireworks (taken from my living room):

 

Two planes flying into Newark Airport (shot on the same day from my roof):

 

On the left is one of my favorite albums of 1968 and on the right is something I saw in a liquor store (I was just there to do, um……research – yeah, that’s it):

 

The Hackensack Mourning Dove Rest Room Arch is in need of a cleansing rain (as will my watermark):

 

Camera-shy squirrels attempt a jailbreak:

 

Fish in the Hackensack River in very shallow water by the shore:

 

I wish I had shot video of that zigzag:

 

A tree near railroad tracks gets trimmed at the request of the RR company:

 

A smartphone pole rest stop:

 

On my LR window screen:

 

Clouds turn everything reddish:

 

I saw this little girl going down the street, followed a bit later by this guy with an “I’ll get you!” look and stance. A minute later, I saw the image on the right. I HOPE that’s her father:

 

Curious about things both small and large:

 

Check out the yellow claws!

 

Hey, buddy – they DO make smaller portable devices these days!

 

Another shot of Sears while stopped at a red light:

 

Interesting colors:

 

I couldn’t imagine what this crane was hooked up to (or working on), but you’ll see it next month:

 

Three of a kind:

 

Nice to see the woman walking ahead for a change. The hats suggest Ecuadorian culture:

 

Ever seen a Northern flicker before? Neither had I:

 

One minute, they’re holding hands as they walk somewhere. 18 minutes later, the man walks ahead in the opposite direction and she’s about 18 feet behind. They’re either texting each other or complaining about the other to their friends (I’m guessing). I wonder what happened – maybe some other photographer who’s a 9-minute walk away can tell you:

 

“TO THE LEFT! (Quit checking your phone so I can get around this car.)”

 

“But Mommy, it’s a Bob Leafe dirt pile and I wanna play!”

 

I have no idea what the people in the next 6 pictures are doing on church grounds. If you do, let me know:

 

“Thank God cars have outside mirrors.”

 

Saddle up!

 

“Mommy’s magic!”

 

I smelled something good coming from outside and looked straight down from my window (P.S. – I wasn’t invited):

 

Two more charmers on my living room window:

 

The next 4 images show unusual clouds and the moon:

 

A worker tends to whatever these are:

 

“I’m calling you from a spot where no one can see me” (oh, yeah?):

 

I couldn’t have placed this keyboard in a more obvious spot if I did it myself (I didn’t – I almost wanted to run downstairs and move it to make it look less fake):

 

A cement pumper at the 435 Main project (my apartment is between the two church towers):

 

Early (6/28) 4th of July fireworks from Hasbrouck Heights:

 

It is better to give than to receive:

 

I don’t wanna know what this guy was doing (Actually, he was working on the 395 Main project):

 

I captured this balloon at 4 different stages of its takeoff:

 

On the last day of the month – on a beautiful Sunday morning – I heard horrible-sounding metallic drilling coming from the area of my roof door. I opened the inner door to see this:

 

My landlord had jailed me in and took away my roof access! And for no reason (He claims “insurance made me do it”, but then will not listen when I offer to sign a “hold-harmless” agreement that would negate any insurance company worries).

The fire department made him remove the jail bars because they would not be able to break them quickly in the event of a fire, but they could not stop him when he replaced the bars with an equally-porous barrier that had an outside lock the HFD could break. The porosity is critical because when installing that barrier, he ripped out the exterior storm door that provided ventilation in the summer and protection from cold winter drafts.

Yeah – that looks pretty weather-tight to me. No way that drafts and west wind could get past that – it offers WAY more protection than a storm door, wouldn’t you say?

As I type this, that back room – which I had to close off – registers a way-below-legal temperature of 58 degrees…………and it’s only 44 outside. Imagine the fun when it gets down into single digits!

If that isn’t enough, that roof door was my second method of egress if there’s ever a fire. Now I can’t get out if there’s a fire near my front door.

Here’s a video of the “event”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPPaVU0Wx78

And here’s the 31 years worth of work it stopped:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lUxMJpJvug

 

Let’s hope the stoppage isn’t permanent.

 

JULY

Found outside a Family Dollar store:

 

NOTE: ALL fireworks – including the previous ones from Hasbrouck Heights – were photographed from home.

Fair Lawn, NJ’s July 1 fireworks:

 

Saddle Brook and Maywood’s July 3 fireworks:

 

Hackensack’s July 4 fireworks:

 

Remember that crane to nowhere from last month? It was replacing the pedestrian walkway over the Hackensack River that connected the two campuses (Teaneck and Hackensack) of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Here’s the new walkway on July 4, 13 and 27 (still unfinished as of the 27th):

 

Two bug-eyed creatures go at it on my living room window screen:

 

According to this dented eye, things got a little rough:

 

You don’t see this in the street every day:

 

No idea what’s going on here:

 

A teenager eating pizza – how unusual:

 

I was sitting in my car next to the fence in the lot where I park when I took this:

 

Oh, no! Another life claimed by the hungry cement mixer truck!

 

This cheerful and non-ostentatious gentleman was working for the church next door:

 

“Giddyap!”

 

Seen in a law office intake room:

 

Passing local showers between me and the full skyline of Manhattan:

 

Happy people (nice to see):

 

Unhappy people:

 

Finger food:

 

“Where’s the baby?”

“It’s coming…….any minute now………….”

 

Why is this somewhat-unkempt gentleman trying to hide behind a parking meter? And why didn’t he wear a bra?

 

She asked me to come back on a sunny day:

 

So I did – 11 days later:

 

Interesting orange clouds:

 

Photo Stitch of more low clouds over the entire Manhattan skyline:

 

Cleaning the parking lot:

 

The backside of the 395 Main project faces me a block away. At one point, the whole thing was covered with Resisto Redzone Stick VP, which – according to the Resisto site – is a self-adhesive vapor-permeable air-barrier membrane.

It’s VERY red and when the setting sun shines directly on it, everything that it reflects onto also becomes red, as you can see on this CD shelf and its backing wood cabinet:

 

Looks alive, but I think this possum is dead in the parking lot…………..or maybe it’s just “playing possum”?

 

Sister Emily was my siblings’ principal at Holy Trinity School in Hackensack. Later in life, she tirelessly visited the sick in hospitals and elsewhere. She once told me that she thought my mother was a saint.

When Mom died, Sr. Emily came to the funeral home to make arrangements for the funeral Mass. One of the choices we had was to pick the type of church bells music we wanted. We made a unanimous selection.

Sr. Emily suggested something completely opposite of our wishes. We declined. She stormed out.

At the funeral Mass, we waited to hear our choice of music for Mom. We heard………..ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It appeared that if Sr. Emily didn’t get her way, neither would the family of the deceased!

No one in our family will ever call this street anything other than “Maple Avenue”.

 

From my living room, the circa 1900 Johnson Public Library is shown against the Moore St side of the new 240 Main project:

 

Another flattop candidate:

 

Watch your step, lady. You don’t want to drop that melon:

 

The joys of dog ownership:

 

Another interesting look:

 

1966 Cadillac convertible:

 

Smart guy! Those will keep him afloat if he happens to ride into the river:

 

Window delivery at the 395 Main project:

 

Resisto Red strikes again!

 

At the 170 Main project:

 

Framed by Resisto Red:

 

Arrested and cuffed on Ward St (I don’t know why):

 

AUGUST

Triptych of a worker tying a rope around one of the scaffolding supports:

 

Happy workers at 7 E. Ward St:

 

Casualties of the new sidewalks project:

 

What? No pool noodles like the guy in July?

 

Resisto strikes yet again on my wall:

 

Interesting bug above the Resisto’d 395 Main and a closeup of the handsome guy:

 

Unusual-looking pipe setup at 395 Main:

 

Tossing the tubing:

 

Dunno what it was, but it wouldn’t dump, so a little assistance was needed to get it out:

 

Looks like some kid must have had a bad accident:

 

Resisto makes EVERYTHING red – even the clouds!

 

New dead roommate:

 

At the time, there was a joke that this was the Jeffrey Epstein apartment (sorry, couldn’t Resisto):

 

Seen in a Main St window (and with one of the 346 huge projects reflected in that window:

 

“Greetings from The Sack”? I don’t know where the artist gets his/her information from, but I’ve lived in or near Hackensack for my entire life and have never heard anyone refer to it as “The Sack”. Nice images in the letters, but thumbs down on the name:

 

If you can’t spell it, you can’t do it and that’s why this place is closed (there might be other reasons):

 

General Enoch Poor facing the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack. A favorite of George Washington, General Poor is buried a few feet behind this statue. The funeral service was conducted at the First Reformed Church (Church on the Green), which is right next to the cemetery. Washington attended.

 

Poor’s statue is on Court St. I walked a block east and crossed the Court St Bridge into Bogota. From that side of the Hackensack River, I took the best stitch of the USS Ling WWII submarine I’ve ever taken:

 

Coming back over the Court St Bridge, I got distracted halfway across and didn’t make it to the other side for about a half-hour. Why?

Birds – specifically, a Great Egret (big, yellow bill), a Snowy Egret (small, black bill) and a couple of gulls (incidental on this day).

I have 10 shots to post. Here are the first 8:

 

I put the first pair of feeding shots together because the left shot showed a fish in the beak, but the right one showed TWO in the beak (glutton!).

 

I thought I was done until I saw a third shot where only one fish was in the right picture, but that whole fish was sunlit (as was its reflection):

I couldn’t pick one over the other (can you?).

 

That was fun. I finally got off the bridge and walked back up Court St, where I took a nice sunlit shot of Enlightenment atop the Bergen County Courthouse (I think that’s who General Poor’s statue was looking at):

 

Usually, when a stitch screws up, it’s because the images just don’t line up. The program tries to make parts of it line up, but in doing so, entire images get tilted and many very obvious glitches are the result from top to bottom.

In this one, the side images get very tilted, but the whole image is practically glitch-free. Yeah – if you look closely, you can see a few problems, but if I was really unhappy with it, I wouldn’t post it:

 

Another window delivery at 395 Main, but this time it’s picking up a couple of hitchhikers, including one who’s quenching his thirst:

 

Unraveling another roll of Resisto Red while hands from above apply it to the wall:

 

The casualties of the new sidewalks project are now lying on those new sidewalks and are awaiting a return to verticality:

 

Great crate collection:

 

…………and he’s in the blue bag!

 

The wood on the bottom broke and I’m waiting for the contents to come crashing down (and I’m still waiting):

 

Congratulations to either this 15 year-old boy or to his 51 year-old father:

 

This is a photo stitch I took along the Hackensack River Walkway near Fairleigh Dickinson University:

 

Resisto: halfway there

 

ANOTHER Resisto roll? Aren’t things red enough? Just look at the crane and the guy:

 

So I’m walking around the 395 Main perimeter and I see this van parked on the street. There’s no one in it, but LOOK WHAT’S ON THE DASHBOARD!

I was tempted, but…………

 

A cement pumper at the 435 Main project:

 

Now that looks just a little odd:

 

395 Main at night:

 

Twirl, right the Razor, ride into September:

 

SEPTEMBER

Don’t GIRLS ride sidesaddle? (sorry, Bud)

 

Sucker on the sidewalk:

 

Saw the Teterboro-bound plane out of the corner of my eye and waited until it was between the steeple and Mount Resisto:

 

Interesting-looking guy – went to Waynestock AND buys yellow roses? I met him on the street one day and asked him if he went to Waynestock.

I had to tell him what it was.

BTW – it looks like Summer and Winter, judging by the clothes, but these were taken 8 days apart in the first half of September:

 

Resisto covers more cars:

 

395 Main worker enjoys lunch. Is he drinking a can of Resisto?

 

Saw this in my newspaper (yeah, I still get one): the front page of the circular touts all these “Fall Beauty must haves”, but by the time you get to the back page, you need “Krud Kutter” to get it all off your face.

 

Meanwhile, up on the roof (maybe they saw the Krud Kutter ad and ordered a ton of Resisto Remover):

 

“What IS that?”

“I don’t like it.”

 

This window was broken at the 395 Main project somehow last summer and – to my knowledge – still hasn’t been fixed. Maybe they should cover it with Resisto:

 

Oh, c’mon……it’s just a little spool of thread:

 

This was some sort of scrubber that got most of the dirt out (doesn’t the Z on the driver’s cap make him really look asleep?)

 

Another happy subject:

 

Should have kept the 3 of a kind we had earlier. A pair of twos and a joker doesn’t cut it:

 

“Nobody saw that, right?”

 

Made-up story: Dad tries to shame his son into getting a tattoo and then tries to sell him on an after-school program for 5th- and 6th-graders.

“Dad, I’m 21”:

 

“I give up”

 

Ferric mishmash at the 435 Main project:

 

This stitch was done on the same site:

 

See that little red X? At that spot on the other side of the wall is where I’m typing this:

 

An unusual stitch for a new sidewalk:

 

Is this bird saying that he’s a Ward of the State?

 

You can’t get much more private than NO patients:

 

Above the right tower is a small plane that’s pulling a GEICO advertising banner over the Hudson River, but it’s facing New York and not New Jersey. Maybe they’re worse drivers and NEED to spend the 15 minutes to save 15% or more on car insurance:

 

He’ll drink to that:

 

The caption for this picture was just thrown under the bus:

 

This is exactly how I found this small hand towel. It was right next to the Hackensack River Walkway.

So how does one build a small white hand towel with chocolate milk?

 

I saw this guy on the Fairleigh Dickenson University campus carrying what I thought was a giant pizza. I saw him later and asked him about that. “I wish that WAS a giant pizza”, he said, but it was only a standup sign advertising an FDU soccer game. What a boring story.

 

On the same campus stands a Martin Luther King, Jr, statue. This is a closeup with the bright sun behind his head illuminating what appears to be a spider web:

 

This is a comparison of the reflection from 9/21 (l.) with 3/23 (r.) – six months earlier. Both dates are 3 months away from the Summer Solstice, so I thought I’d see if the shots were identical. Obviously, they’re not.

Daylight Savings was in effect for both shots, so that’s not the problem, however, I just did further research and found that the September shot was taken 16 minutes earlier in the day than the March one, so that could very well be the difference.

Next time, I’ll do it to the minute:

 

Later that evening, I saw fireworks coming from south of me and the World Trade Center was in the background. I had NO idea what town they were coming from. I had to call more towns’ police departments than usual to finally determine that they were coming from Little Ferry. It turns out that they were celebrating their 125th anniversary (a lot of towns around here came into being in 1894) and they were happy to see shots of their fireworks with the WTC in the background:

 

After Sunday church:

 

If you read the Eric Leefe post – https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=6242 – ,  you may remember a woman named Carol Ross, who brought the Rascals’ Gene Cornish to visit Eric. Carol manages Tommy James and is friendly with Joan Jett’s management.

That got Eric and me into the 9-22-19 Joan Jett show (on her 61st birthday) at BergenPac in Englewood, where I took this pic of Eric with Joan (the flash not going off affected the picture quality):

 

A much better picture was taken of Joan, Carol, and Joan’s manager, Kenny Laguna:

 

Eric’s tickets were 32 rows back in the handicap section (he’s been in a wheelchair all his life with cerebral palsy). I got this shot from those seats:

 

Speaking of birthdays, this doesn’t look like a very happy one:

 

Standing on the edge of my bathtub, I was able to get a shot of this guy on the ceiling in the corner:

 

Eric Leefe might like to have one of these:

 

No comment:

 

Found on the 435 Main site:

 

 

OCTOBER

For all you Manhattanphiles who don’t recognize those two side-by-side bright red lights, they’re on a smokestack in Bogota, NJ:

 

These balloons continue to pop up, usually on weekends:

 

Open-meter surgery:

 

Hackensack street concert photo stitch:

 

Portable transportation:

 

Unusual-looking bike:

 

Similar bike – could it be an impatient husband of the above rider? (“She’s late!”)

 

No comment:

 

Found treasure:

 

I had gotten an email from Carol Ross inviting me to a meet-and-greet with Tommy James at a Barnes & Noble (he has a book out) in Clifton, NJ. The story and all pictures are here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=8132

Meeting Tommy in the elegant “backstage” of Barnes & Noble (photo by Carol Ross):

 

Tommy with musical collaborator T.O.N.E-z :

 

Kolorful kid:

 

Stitch from the 435 Main project:

 

My cute nosy neighbors:

 

I have a post on this blog about “Manhattanhenge” – this would fit right in:

 

Enlightenment suffers a broken arm (or “How’s THAT for timing?”):

 

Rooftop burglar enters Resistoland:

 

Lucky kid:

 

Reflection of a liquor store two blocks away:

 

Are those marshmallows on that stick? I hope she doesn’t try to toast them that way:

 

Ecuador battles a neighboring country for…………….something:

 

Head solitary confinement:

 

Nice flowers…………and then Resisto shows up:

Nice stitch of Manhattan at sunset:

 

Stitch of an entire block showing the 435 Main project (but not the entire cement pumper – see next pic):

 

Sears (at 436 Main St) framed by cement pumper at 435 Main project:

 

Resisto overtakes two more cars:

 

Sunrise:

 

Your guess is as good as mine:

 

Dinometer:

 

Fall colors (the balloon was probably green during the summer):

 

Things are looking up:

 

Reflections illuminate clouds/steam from a PSE&G plant in Ridgefield, NJ:

 

Ditto for this stitch:

 

You’re not allowed to have anything block your front or rear windows in NJ, but maybe enforcement doesn’t want to argue against this particular one?

 

Rooftop A/C units have arrived at 395 Main:

 

Maybe 395 Main needs a locker room for its workers:

 

High school flag twirlers practice at the Middle School:

 

 

NOVEMBER

 

On November 1, Tommy James and Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals played at BergenPac in Englewood, NJ. All the pictures and the story are here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=8163

 

On Veterans Day (11-11-19), I went to the George Washington Bridge to shoot the largest hanging US flag in the world (again). First, I drove under the bridge to get to the Ross Dock Picnic area – a spit of land that’s to the bridge’s immediate north:

 

I love this stitch: the GWB, the mighty Palisades hanging on to some Fall color, the Ross Dock Picnic Area and the same Hudson River on both ends of the stitch (and behind me), including New York probably up to Yonkers:

 

Then it was on to the bridge:

 

What’s more American than a Veterans Day shoot of the giant US flag on the George Washington Bridge with a big Walmart truck under the flag?

If you want the full blow-by-blow account: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=8238

 

Interesting position:

 

Early GrubHub:

 

Is this what we’ve become? Lions Clubs have to put up signs to scrounge for likes on Facebook?

 

A nice WTC shot:

 

The positioning of the box that’s still in sunlight was the only reason to take this shot:

 

Aren’t you supposed to remove the labels and flatten the containers as much as possible?

 

Interesting look:

 

Geese over Resisto:

 

Oh, goody! More balloons:

 

Main St is a mess (but it’s all for a good cause):

 

Another Resisto monster (170 Main) gets the cement pumper treatment for a new floor:

 

Heavy metal loads have red bottoms when Resisto is below them:

 

The crane arm just looks so powerful from this angle:

 

After the cement pumper does its thing, the floor-smoothing fan (I’m sure it has a more interesting name) gets hauled up by the huge monster crane that’s loomed over the 170 Main project for months:

 

Interesting-looking new establishment on Main St. Too bad that two of the “Coming Soon” enticements are for cigars and hookahs:

 

There’s one in every crowd:

 

“Greek Island Grill” – a touch of……………well, Wikipedia lists 40 Greek islands. Dunno which one has touched down in Hackensack:

 

Well, it’s late November and I wonder what this gentleman could be doing in a bucket over The Green – the park across the street from the Bergen County Courthouse:

 

Here’s a clue: “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

 

What an odd-looking barbershop:

 

Alright – time to end the balloon mystery. It’s this car dealership that thinks that festooning/ballooning the place on weekends will have the following effect on people who happen to be driving by: “Oh, look, dear – balloons! I suddenly have an uncontrollable urge to buy a car!”

Yeah – Sequitur City, right?

 

Like Sears’ finances, the flag is looking a little raggedy:

 

Two pix, one crane:

 

Just learned something………..this is not a gaggle (or gaggles) of geese. It’s a skein (or skeins) of geese. A gaggle is on the ground. In the air, it’s a skein. Who knew?

 

I like ’em both:

 

Resisto: still affecting everything in the neighborhood…….even my watermark:

 

 

DECEMBER

 

My trusty Canon SX160 (5 years) had a slight tumble onto carpeting sometime in November. It’s happened before with no ill effects, but this time, I noticed that my zoomed in shots suddenly weren’t sharp, no matter what I did. Can’t have that!

So I dug out a newer SX170 that Canon gave me a couple of years ago, but I didn’t want to use it unless I had to (they made some changes I didn’t like).

I started using the 170 on December 1. Its first assignment? Take a shot of its predecessors. Then I shot the 170 with the 160 and put them all together:

 

A light snow brought cleanup efforts that night that gave me these two images:

 

Sometimes when I’m sitting at my computer, I hear little noises coming from my window. It’s these guys:

 

A nice long stitch of a cement pumper in action at the 435 Main project:

 

Well, if they give me the space, I’m gonna use it!

 

Here’s something I’ll bet you never thought about:

 

This is a stitch of the entire Resisto roof with all of the unpacked A/C units (this is my last Resisto comment of the year. As I write this in January 2020, two sides of the building are almost totally Resisto-free. My neighborhood, apartment and parking lot car roofs no longer are red.

That’s a last-decade thing.

 

Every year on a Saturday afternoon in early December, the church next door has a Christmas party for kids and every year (almost), I see a guy in a Santa suit get out of an SUV. You might have seen him in past “Best Photos” posts (one time recently, I caught him putting on his beard………….good thing no kids were arriving simultaneously and seeing that).

I usually call out to him and focus on him while he looks around to see where I am. When he finds me, he waves and I take the shot.

This year, I saw kids (and parents) arriving, but no Santa. After the party, the kids leave and then I saw this guy come out, sans Santa outfit. But I didn’t have to ask, “Were you Santa?”. I called out “Santa!”, he looked around and called back: “Where are you?”

When he found me, he waved (click!) and yelled out, “Merry Christmas”. I did the same.

I guess he found a way to keep his outfit at the church so he didn’t have to drive around in a Santa suit:

 

Wood haulers:

 

I wish this kind of shot happened more often:

 

Overnight ice covered everything. I had to get these shots early in the morning before it all melted. I particularly like the fourth one because it was right outside my living room window at the top of a tree:

 

I think I like this one better than the above one. From top to bottom: Fort Lee’s towers, Teaneck’s icy trees and Hackensack’s 395 Main St’s roof with multiple A/C units (maybe they caused the icy trees above them):

 

 

In that same tree two days later:

 

This might be my favorite sunrise shot of the year:

 

Matching coat and cart – stylish!

 

To me, this reflection looks like a car’s front end has exploded before the rest of the car:

 

You might know from past posts that I can only get this type of shot on Christmas Eve between 7:30 and 8pm because of church services on both sides of me that begin at 8. I’ve been doing this since 1992 and this was the best one this year:

 

Nature’s Christmas present to me on the morning of 12-25-19. The sun is rising behind the NJ tower of the George Washington Bridge – something I can only partially view when all the foliage is off the trees. I took another picture right after this one that was way too bright, so this is fortunate timing:

 

Looks like the city is finally paying attention to this parking lot. Let’s hope it’s not just a holiday thing:

 

On December 28, I visited the Great Falls in Paterson with a family I’ve recently become friendly with. They had always wanted to go there, but never made it, so I was happy to be their tour guide. It was a lot of fun.

This is a stitch that shows what you see while walking on the sidewalk outside the park:

 

Why is this place now a National Park?

In 1778, Alexander Hamilton visited the falls and was impressed by its potential to provide power for industry. Paterson became the country’s first planned industrial city, thanks to Hamilton. For more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Falls_(Passaic_River)

So the first picture – of course – is of the statue of Hamilton overlooking the falls. This may be just how it looked in 1778 (minus the pedestal).

 

The Great Falls and the not-so-great falls:

 

The only blemish on this day was the fact that because the falls’ mist blew onto the pedestrian bridge over the falls and froze, the bridge was closed, and the best falls pictures could not be taken:

 

However, there were plenty of other things to see. Next door was Hinchliffe Stadium – of which my companions were unaware – so the tour guide was happy to provide the history lesson. Being baseball fans, they found it most interesting.

Here they are by a new mural that wasn’t there the last time I visited:

 

Unfortunately, everything was locked at the Stadium – there was no way in, like there was last time. But there were a couple of other things to see, like painted-tire flower pots:

 

…….and an unflattering depiction of the city:

 

How about a fancy garbage can?

 

On the park’s Wayne Ave periphery, I found a real rarity: the only remaining example of an original CORDED pay phone! You could walk around the falls with that cord!

 

While still on Wayne Ave, two men walked by and one of them said, “Take my picture”, so I did (I didn’t catch his name, so he’s now “Mr. Paterson”).

 

Back at Hinchliffe, there was a second new mural next to the previously-shown one:

 

I don’t know if that’s how it’s supposed to look or if the artist is coming back to finish the face, but if not, I nominate Mr. Paterson to fill in:

 

UPDATE: The DAY after I posted this, I saw the following in the paper:

I like my solution better. How is leaving the face blank the “finishing touches”?

 

My favorite picture of the day is the one I started this post with. It was taken where the Passaic River goes under the Wayne Avenue bridge by some mini-falls that are a few hundred feet before the real falls.

It’s been my monitor wallpaper for a couple of weeks:

 

So we all had a great time that was capped off by them taking me out to lunch, so thanks to Antoinette, Joseph and Angelo:

 

I finish up the year with two December 31 shots: a cute kid in a stroller and someone with a cart full of Easter eggs and Easter baskets – just what everyone wants on New Year’s Eve:

 

 

A few 2019 observations:

After I took the photo on the right sometime during the year, it reminded me of what was hoisted up onto shoulders in 1979. We may or may not be healthier after 40 years, but at least we’re hydrated:

 

I’m not on Twitter, have never been on Twitter and have never set up an account, but according to this, I have 43 followers. How does that work?

 

Apparently, I’m so popular in Ukraine, that they named something after me, but it’s nothing I ever aspired to have a connection to (click to enlarge – twice):

I DID insert the $ conversion figure for your convenience. I actually have emailed this company – twice – to ask how this product’s name came about, but have received no reply. I feel like I might be the Hunter Biden of water in Ukraine.

 

Lastly, please don’t confuse these two product names unless your goal is to have your hair smelling like real beef, pea (with an “a”), and brown rice.

 

That’s it – Happy 2020!

The pro- or anti-photography/verbosity Comments section is now open for business.

 

 

 

(ignore publication date of May 1, 2017 – this was published on January 27, 2020)

 

 

I got an email last week from a guy named Zak Wilson:

“Totally random question. Aside from being a graphic designer in the music biz I’m also a collector / historian of musician’s guitar picks. I’m on a quest to find some picks for the collection and thought I’d throw out some random inquires to folks from the music world. A needle in a hay stack but one never knows…

Was curious if you ever saved any band guitar picks (the one’s w/ band names or other printed on them) over your years working in the music biz?”

 

I didn’t actively collect them, but I knew I had a bag somewhere where I would toss any picks, buttons, etc., that came my way. It was probably in my closet.

 

Yep. Not only did I find the bag there, but I also found a cloth-covered cardboard thing that an ex-girlfriend created just for displaying buttons/pins. Behind all that was an old buttons poster from Trouser Press (I think I have ONE of their buttons).

 

Inside the bag were not only buttons and picks, but also patches, a bottle cap and a bowtie.

  

GUITAR PICKS

I’m sure I have more somewhere (and maybe I’ll add them as I come across them), but here’s what was in the bag:

 

Of those, the first 3 rows are the two-sided ones. The 4th row was included in this next pic primarily to show what’s on the blue pick (“G.E. Smith”, who was the goofily-grinning guitarist/band leader on SNL way back when, Gilda Radner’s husband in the early ‘80s (pre-Gene Wilder) and Hall & Oates’ lead guitar on tour.

 

I knew G.E. through a guitarist friend of mine named Danny Shea. They used to play together. Here’s a shot from my site of them in 1987:

Somewhere around that time period, George (G.E.) asked me for a picture of him because he was going to be in Bob Dylan’s band (late 80s/early 90s) and needed the shot for the tour booklet. I gave him an appropriate image, but never saw the tour booklet, so if you’re out there, George, and have an extra booklet from that tour lying around………………….

 

Scott St Clair Sheets was in both The Brats and Pat Benatar’s band. I shot both, but don’t know where I got this pick. I’m guessing that the Brats were probably too poor and too punk to have personalized picks, so that could be a clue.

 

This pic shows what’s on the reverse of those first 3 rows. I have no idea who wrote “sucks” on one of the Bobby Messano picks (or why). Bobby’s been a friend since 1976. (maybe HE wrote it!)

 

Equally puzzling are the “Pick ASCAP” picks (or why I have five of them). I know what ASCAP is, but if they were flooding the guitarist community with these picks to drum up some business, why can’t I find a single one for sale anywhere?

 

THE BUTTONS

Let’s start with the display, going left-to-right and top-to-bottom and see how many I can explain/figure out:

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours needs no explanation

Elvis Presley: Never shot him – fat or skinny – and don’t know where I got this. BTW – this is one of those double-image buttons where if you move it slightly, a different image shows up. I have a few of these, but can’t seem to photograph clear separate images. There’s always seems to be part of the other picture in the image. Anyway, there’s one posed shot and one in performance (see below closeup).

WPLR/David Johansen: PLR is in New Haven, CT. I shot a bunch of shows in NH around 1977-8, but not DavidJo, so I must have gotten this from PLR.

Tomato: A good friend of mine worked for Tomato Records in the 70s, so that must be where this one came from.

Elvis Costello: could be from anywhere…………probably the record company.

Iron City Houserockers: Same as above, but I only shot them once when they opened for Hunter/Ronson in Asbury Park in 1980. They’re a favorite of Bruce Springsteen.

Nils Lofgren: Who knows where? Maybe the Bottom Line in 1975 (4 days after Springsteen’s famous stand there).

Led Zeppelin: This is the first of many radio station – mostly WPLJ – handout buttons at concerts you’ll see here. This one was from their June 1977 stand at Madison Square Garden.

Stranglers – Who knows?

The Boyzz (AKA The Boyzz from Illinoizz): Probably from when I shot them at Great Gildersleeves in 1978.

City Boy – I shot them in ’77 and ’79, but probably got this from Atlantic Records.

Relax – Probably NOT a Frankie Goes To Hollywood button.

“We can’t go on meeting like this” – It also says “A&M Records and TAPES”, so “tapes” makes it old. The only related band I can find online is an A&M group called Hummingbird, but I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of them until I just found this online info.

“Slowhand” – Could be from anywhere (but not from the Slowhand coffee-table book I shot the cover for – that came out 14 years after the album)

Peter Frampton – Another PLJ show handout button for Peter’s memorable 3-night stand at the Garden in 1976

Leo Sayer – No idea………..

Stiff – Ditto

Rolling Stones – PLJ show handout for the Stones’ 1975 MSG stand

Fandango – This was Joe Lynn Turner’s local NJ band that I used to shoot before they were signed to RCA and before he hit it big with Rainbow and Deep Purple.

Sgt Peppers – no idea

“I Want You” – I photographed Marvin Gaye once in 1983 at Radio City Music Hall, so I must have gotten it there.

Elton John – PLJ handout for his 1976 MSG show

Vox Rules – No clue

KISS – PLJ handout for their 1977 MSG stand

The Who – PLJ handout for their 3-10-76 MSG show that got postponed to the 11th due to Keith Moon being “sick”.

The Dickies – no idea where I got this

Meat Loaf – shot him a zillion times, so I probably got this from his office.

 

 

PATCHES

Sacred Reich? – Never shot them, no idea why I have this

The Boyzz – shot them once, but dunno where I got this

Stiff – who knows?

Bottom Line Be Stiff Route 78 Tour – I shot that tour at the Bottom Line. I’m guessing the club handed these out that night.

 

 

BOW TIE

As I write this, someone’s selling one on eBay for $100.00. Don’t recall where I got this Cheap Trick neckwear:

 

PHOTO CARD

This photo of Stanley Snadowsky and Alan Pepper (The Bottom Line owners) is 3.5 x 2.25 and is inside a pinnable plastic holder. I didn’t recognize the saying until I saw it on a button that you’ll see later on.   (reason to continue reading!)

 

OTHER DOUBLE-IMAGE BUTTONS (I think they’re called 3D lenticular images)

 

The 3” button is from the old “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” TV show, but I have no idea why I have one.

 

Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds were the two main guys in Rockpile and here’s my poor photographic attempt to show Nick (left) and Dave (right):

 

Here are some more WPLJ handouts at shows. I went to 2 nights of the Stones and you’ve already seen one on the display piece, so this is the second button. I shot all 3 nights of Frampton. One is on the display piece and these are the other two.

I have no memory or record of having seen Journey in Central Park, so I have no idea where I got their PLJ button.

 

John Scher might appreciate that I kept these 3 buttons from my favorite venue:

 

Two more radio station handouts: WPLJ’s for the Agent Orange Benefit in 1982 and WPIX’s plug for themselves (and the Elvises). The Agent Orange show had a pretty good lineup:

Not listed was Lenny Kaye (w/Jim Carroll Band).

 

Looney Tunez Records was located in the Packanack Shopping Center on Rt 23 in Wayne NJ. It was run by some guys who later became Dramarama. They managed to get a lot of bands to visit, like the Plasmatics, David Johansen, and – as you can see – Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson:

 

A few pairs. When was the last time you saw a Slim Whitman button?

 

MEDIUM AND LARGER BUTTONS (almost half of these have nothing to do with music)

Deacon Jim was a character on the Uncle Floyd Show and I’m sure you know the Jukes, but the prize here is the one where I had forgotten who they were (sorry, “Suzy” and friends). Look it up if you also drew a blank:

 

I shot for WNEW-FM in the late 70s and early 80s. Rock doesn’t live there anymore.

 

SMALLER BUTTONS

You can read most of the names, but I’ll run through them anyway:

Row 1: Billy Squier, the BusBoys, Savoy Brown, Blue Oyster Cult, Red Light (does anyone know anything about this band? I’ve never heard of them and am wondering how I got this button.)

Row 2: Sammy Hagar, Bruce Springsteen, Adam & the Ants (2), Nude Ants (call the exterminator!)

Row 3: The Replacements, The Blockheads, Phil Garland, The Who, something by Philip D’Arrow

Row 4: The Manhattans, Tom Petty, Lene Lovich (3)

Row 5. Sid Vicious, Patti Smith (from the Wave album), The Photos, Armored Saint, The Cars

 

This is a closeup of the unreadable Blockheads one (dunno why it doesn’t say “Ian Dury & the Blockheads”) and the back of the Cars one:

 

For good measure, I found a much clearer Blockheads one:

 

 

MORE SMALLS

Row 1: The Boyzz (from Illinoizz – 3), the Smiths

Row 2: Blotto (4), Bob & Doug McKenzie (2)

Row 3: Cheap Trick (I think), Dirty Looks, The Photos, Bram Tchaikovsky (3)

Row 4: Plasmatics (2), David Werner (4)

 

STIFF (all…………..that last one sound familiar?):

 

Row 1: Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Carolyn Mas (4)

Row 2: not sure, Benny Mardones, Patti Smith, Joan Armatrading

Row 3: Ian Hunter (2), see Row 1 #1 (2), the only person I ever heard mention laughter from the stage was Robert Plant (“Does anybody remember laughter?”), but this button has nothing to do with that (but the combination of the three of them DOES sound like the atmosphere at a lot of 70s shows).

 

Row 1: More organizations I shot for (2), Remember the Tomato Records button? My friend who worked there was also a legendary DJ at WFMU. If you’d like to read about him, go here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=7764

Row 2: Touting Columbia Records’ publicity department’s publication, something from Relix magazine, the legendary Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, NJ, where I shot a lot of bands:

 

Still bagged within the big button bag:

Row 1: Five souvenir pins I got at the “New Jersey” album party at Roseland in 1988

Row 2: Bram T, NYC’s WAPP “The Apple”, Creem magazine’s Boy Howdy (strange – he doesn’t look Taiwanese), Relix redux

 

Nothing to do with music, though the slump/lump one puzzles me (5):

There’s an interesting suggestion by John O’Toole in the comments regarding Slump/Lump (hmmm…….the button’s coloration DOES look a bit minty, no?). If he’s accurate, you’ll want to see this:

 

I have no idea why this beer bottle cap was in the bag – maybe because of the leaf on it – but where would I have gotten it? I don’t drink beer.

 

That’s it! Everything’s back in the bag and the bag is back in the closet.

 

 

LATE ADDITIONS:

I just found these four items from Testament (still unopened), LA Guns (in and out of its filthy bag), Alice Cooper, and most of the world on 1-21-22:

 

So Zak, does this answer your question?   😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Ignore May, 1 2017 publish date – this was published on February 7, 2020)

 

How (and why) does someone collect the New Jersey Turnpike (or any of the other things I’ve collected)? “How” is easy – just go to eBay. “Why” is an altogether different story that I’m not sure I know.

I think I’ll blame history for making me do it. At one time, I was the moderator for the online boards of both the Bergen County Historical Society’s site and that of the Hackensack city historian (I still do the latter).

My goal was to find everything of even slightly-historical interest having anything and everything to do with the County, its towns and especially, Hackensack. Buildings, landmarks, roads, bridges, tunnels, deeds, receipts, commemorative items, famous people, early settlers, postcards, nicknacks……………you name it.

And they’re ALL on eBay.

I wasn’t going to buy all these things……….personally, I didn’t care that much about most of them, but other people in all those other local towns did. So I would search eBay every day and find lots of auctions of local items being sold by people all over the country and elsewhere who knew nothing about almost everything they sold and I would post all these auctions – and all the provided pictures – on the two historical sites, so members could find all the available items connected to their towns and “bring them home” by buying them (and possibly donating them to the Bergen County Historical Society). And if no one bought any of these things, we’d still have all of the pictures preserved in the historical database.

It was a good system that cost me nothing………..until I saw some of the items that I wanted. And once you start doing that, fuhgeddaboudit – you’re hooked and you now have to be complete and get everything.

I have no idea what the first Turnpike item I bought was, but then I kept seeing other Turnpike items I never saw before………AND YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE THEM!

Now I have them and they’ve collected dust for two decades, but THEY’RE MINE!

Does that make any sense?

 

I’m guessing the above picture may have caught your attention. I’m not even sure if the 5.25” x 3.5” piece is an ashtray or not, but I haven’t seen one since I bought it all those years ago. The image of the state on the right half looks misshapen and quite overweight and the depiction of the Turnpike across that state image looks like a sash on a very chubby Miss New Jersey. It’s interesting that the word “Morristown” is shown as being above (north of) “Geo Washington Bridge”. (Dear Out-of-Towners: it isn’t)

So while I’m here in Ashtraylia, I might as well go through the rest of the NJTPK ones I have.

I’m not sure that this 6.5” x 4.25” piece is an ashtray – there are no U-shaped side indentations to hold a cigarette and no burn marks, but it’s one of the many items you’ll see here that show the “famous tri-level crossing” at Woodbridge. Apparently, this was a big deal in the 50s, but I’m not sure why:

Although it looks like three overpasses in a row, my understanding is that this is where the Garden State Parkway intersects with the Turnpike. “But that only accounts for one overpass”, you say. For much of the Parkway, northbound and southbound lanes do not run together, so the GSP must count for two.

But if three roads are crossing the Turnpike, what’s the third?

 

Next up is a bronze-ish, grape-ified 6.25” x 5” version, showing the same scene:

Once again, there are no cigarette indentations or burn marks, so what is it?

 

This time, it’s a silvery 5.75” x 4”, un”famous” version with two old cars in the edge design:

A lot of the upcoming pieces also show ancient cars, but why? The Turnpike opened in 1951.

 

OK – this one (5” x 3.5”) shows a stretch of Turnpike with all red cars on it, a tollbooth with only one car…………..and at least half a dozen roses:

Why? Who knows? (but it looks good).

 

Finally! An actual (4.5” x 5”) ashtray!

(this one also doesn’t claim that the Tri-Level Crossing is “Famous”)

 

The center of this little 3” round ashtray pokes through the center of the packaging, whose side panel demonstrates how to use it:

Problem: that side panel shows a square ashtray.

 

Lastly, I have a 5.5” x 4” piece with roses and a tollbooth scene:

But what are those three odd-looking forms in the top half of the design edge? Does this crude, amateur-looking image mean anything to anyone?

It took a moment, but I recognized it:

HoJo’s! This souvenir could only be bought at the many Howard Johnson’s found at the Turnpike rest stops.

 

 

Plates, etc.

The prize in this group is this 9.75” beauty that was hand-painted in Germany and meant to be hung on a wall………………and who doesn’t want an image of a Turnpike tollbooth on their wall?                (me)

 

NOT meant for your wall is this 9” plate whose center image is that “famous” tri-level crossing. Two of the six other images are Delaware River Bridges that are technically not the New Jersey Turnpike and three even smaller spacer images show ancient cars that have nothing to do with the 1950s and later:

 

Yet another tollbooth depiction pops up on this 7.5” bowl. The car screams “CUSTOMIZED ‘54 MERCURY!”

 

 

Heavy Metal

Let’s start with this 3.5” x 1.25” brass bell that says “NEW JERSEY TPKE.” on it and still has its clapper:

 

Dunno what this “3.75 x 4.5” brass piece is………..a paperweight? Whatever it is, it’s got another ancient car on it (If they’re so integral to the highway’s image, how come I’ve never seen a photo or postcard of one of these relics cruising along on the Turnpike?).

The second photo shows the detail of both the vehicle and the dust it’s collected:

 

Before I started writing this post, I visited an old friend (eBay) to go through the hundreds of New Jersey Turnpike items that were currently available. It was mostly pennants and postcards. NONE of the ashtrays, plates, S&Ps, metal items, etc. were to be found EXCEPT for this 1.25” brass token. I saw three of them that ranged from $34.00 to $65.00 (which makes me wonder what the above better stuff would go for):

 

 

A 3” x 4.25” Turnpike bank! With a glued-on 1954 Denver Mint penny on the top (a certain family member will appreciate that)………….and Morristown is closer to where it should be:

 

 

S&Ps

 

Yes, the Turnpike put out salt & pepper sets for some reason. Here are three such sets:

1. Each shaker is 2” x 3” and has “New Jersey Turnpike” lightly scripted on the reverse:

 

2. These 2.5” x 3” S&Ps have to be among the weirdest I’ve ever seen. Why are the hands of these clocks-in-logs (I almost wrote “login clocks”) so crooked?

And that view from above…………the less said, the better. And to refill these things, you have to pull a cork out from between its legs.

But seriously, the biggest problem I had with these was handling them. So much of the “bark” was lost just setting them up to shoot that they now look pretty bare

 

3. My favorite of the S&Ps is 4” x 3” and should probably be in the “Heavy Metal” section, but those four holes in the cars’ roofs dictate otherwise.

We’ve seen the tollbooths and the ancient cars before, but never with the Swiss Alps right behind them. Pay a toll for the privilege of running smack into a mountain range? I’m not familiar with that part of the Turnpike.

Fortunately for the two cars, they’re too big to fit through the tollbooth, so your condiments are safe (though one of the cars needs some green paint for two of its wheels……………and what is that brown stuff leaking from its bottom plug? Depends may be in order):

 

 

Plastic

This is a commemorative New Jersey Turnpike “50 Years of Service” (1951 – 2001) toll ticket that was supposedly picked up at Exit 10 southbound in 1951. It’s encased in acrylic and embossed with Turnpike logos. It measures 6” x 2.5” x 0.75”:

 

This is a 3” x 1.25” New Jersey Turnpike acrylic paperweight with the never-seen-in-real-life red and yellow tollbooth:

 

 

Glasses/Mugs

This glass is 3” x 6.75”:

 

This mug – including the handle – measures 4.75” x 5”:

 

 

PAPER

1. Postcards

This packet of little PCs is 3.75” x 2.5”. Most of the views are either boring or too obscure for most local people to relate to, so I’m adding two full-size linen postcards that are found in the packet as miniatures:

 

 

Remember that mention of an “overweight” New Jersey depiction in a previous item? I’ve combined it with one of the above cards that shows more state-shape accuracy:

Every part of the state is off in the right image. Look at the barrier islands – they look like small island countries. Even the route of the Turnpike is forked-up.

 

 

Brochure

“Ten years of service” would make this a 1961 foldout brochure:

 

At the bottom of the foldout page is a box that tells you what the tolls were in 1961. To drive the full length of the Turnpike back then would have cost you $1.75:

Today, that same drive will set you back $13.85.

 

 

NJTPK Deck of Cards

Regulation size, showing the top and bottom of the box:

 

Ever seen a joker card that looks like this?

 

 

Books

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s 1950 book on Standard Specifications for the Turnpike is 5.5” x 7.5” and contains 253 pages:

 

This copy belonged to the infrastructure design firm of Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff (as stamped on top of the title page). The inside cover was signed in October of 1955, but the signature is difficult to read. I think the first name might be “Charles”. The Turnpike Authority’s chief engineer is listed on the title page as “Charles M. Noble”, so perhaps it’s his signature……..but that’s just a guess:

BTW – I found an 8-12-99 receipt inside the book made out to me. I paid $6.50 plus $2.00 S&H for the book.

 

I almost forgot I had this 1992 book:

 

There’s something written on the book’s first blank page:

I have no idea who wrote it or who owned the book before me, but it sounds like something I should explore.

 

 

Miscellaneous

This is an NJ TP tie clip. On the bottom of the cracked plastic case it’s in, it says,      “T CH 10yr”:

 

Patches – the Turnpike may have opened in 1951, but the Turnpike Authority was created in 1949:

 

This shows both sides of a 6-square-inch1974 enamel commemorative piece:

 

I’m guessing that this NJ TPK stamp was for receipts:

 

I found some old ink and a dried-out inkpad and tried to see what I could get out of this stamp. This is the best I could come up with:

 

OK – time for the big finish.

In 1993, when Christine Todd Whitman was running for NJ governor, she promised Howard Stern that she would name a rest stop after him in exchange for his support.

He did and she did.

Some people think it’s on the Turnpike, but it’s really just off Rt 295 (but it’s less than a mile from the Turnpike, so it maybe sorta kinda-like qualifies to be here):

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you this 2.75” treasure to close out the proceedings:

 

 

 

LATE ADDITIONS:

 

If you think that’s offensive, look what was allowed on a Massachusetts Turnpike item:

(Yes – I bought it. I couldn’t believe such a thing existed.)

Good thing the Boston Braves had left for Milwaukee before this road was built, but still……………..

 

 

August 19, 2020

How did I miss this ugly 8.25″ x 8.75″ burwood bowl? (and why did I have the urge to write “Kirby” before “bowl”? [think “Garry Moore Show” if you’re old enough]):

 

 

(Ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on February 14, 2020)

 

Apparently, I’ve coined a new term. Last year, I posted about autographs that I happened to acquire in person during the course of my career (https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=7963). But I also have some that I purchased either online or at auctions: bought autographs.

Admittedly, it’s a shakier proposition to do it that way – it’s not exactly an industry known for honestly – but some situations have a better feel than others and sometimes familiarity with certain signatures can increase your confidence by a couple of percentage points.

The vast majority of these sigs are sports-related and most of those are supposedly Mickey Mantle’s – my childhood hero – who I got to take ONE picture of (with Whitey Ford) at Yankees Spring Training camp in Fort Lauderdale in 1982. Go to http://bobleafe.com/ and find it under “New York Yankees”.

So let’s start with him:

I should mention that most sports signatures online come with a ”Certificate of Authenticity” (CoA) that can be as phony as some of the sigs. Some look absolutely legitimate and some really are, but it’s difficult to know for sure, so I’m including the CoAs I received. Maybe you can tell what’s legit.

This photo is of Yankees manager Casey Stengel and Mickey in 1956 when he won the Triple Crown for leading the league in batting (.353), home runs (52) and runs batted-in (130):

There was no actual CoA – just this sticker on the back:

 

This shows Mickey and RFK at Yankee Stadium in 1965. The CoA shows a blue signature. I don’t recall if mine was blue when I got it:

 

These are two photos involving Mickey and a mermaid; one includes Whitey Ford. Mickey’s signatures look different. So do the CoAs (“…from my personal accumulation”?):

 

Mickey, Billy Martin and Whitey Ford go fishing. I’ve found a couple of these online and either they all signed it or no one did. This is the only one I’ve ever seen where only Mantle signed it. This one is also a fairly crappy-quality print that I sharpened a bit. Still, the sig could be real (the CoA only mentions Mantle):

 

Plaques are notorious for having fake signatures. This sig doesn’t look too bad, but the CoA is a CoC: Certificate of Collectible, which I’ve never heard of and certainly doesn’t sound like authentication. Plus, this particular “limited edition” plaque is #2,010 of 5,000? I can’t imagine Mickey Mantle (or any star) willingly sitting down to sign 5,000 of anything, so I’m guessing that one pic with a good sig was copied 5,000 times and slapped on plaques:

 

One signature that I WAS fairly confident in was on the cover of the 1997 Mickey Mantle auction catalog cover that was also signed by his business manager, Greer Johnson. I have #110 of 536 – the latter number being the number of home runs he hit in his career.

However, Mickey died in 1995. See Lelands notes below:

 

On to other Yankees:

This fading signature belongs to Chris Chambliss, who is shown after hitting a walk-off home run against the Kansas City Royals in the deciding ALCS Game 5 that sent the Yankees to the World Series in 1976:

 

Another fading sig is that of Don Larsen, shown pitching in the 9th inning of his perfect game against the Dodgers in 1956 – the only perfect game in Major League postseason history. The CoA is kinda crappy:

 

Old Yankee Stadium, old Yankees’ signatures on this one. There are supposed to be 12 sigs, but only 9 are visible. Fading/faded away are those of Bobby Richardson, Joe Coleman and Bobby Brown. Whoever wrote on the C0A misspelled a couple of last names:

 

Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra are shown in their playing days:

 

Years later, here’s Phil as a Yankees announcer. His signature looks a little less steady (but the CoA sure looks classy):

 

Al Leiter is mostly remembered in the NY area for his time with the Mets, but over a decade earlier, he was a Yankee………….that’s what attracted me to this plaque. I haven’t bothered to check on the signature and there’s no CoA:

 

I bought this Joe DiMaggio plaque when I bought the Mantle one, so it has the same weird CoC that Mickey’s does. Joe D signed pix for 5,000 plaques? I don’t think so. Like the Mantle plaques, perhaps a pic with a good sig was copied 5,000 times and put on the plaques:

 

Other baseball people:

This pic shows the track of Bobby Thomson’s 1951 “shot heard ‘round the world” at the Polo Grounds in New York. Google the story if you’re unfamiliar with it. This is NOT a good photo copy. Perhaps the signature is better:

 

While I never liked the Red Sox (or Ted Williams), I’ve always liked this early shot of him and it’s a nice-looking signature. This not only has a very formal-looking CoA……..it also has an equally formal-looking CoG (Certificate of Guarantee), so it MUST be good (I hope):

 

Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry played against each other in high school and both made it to the major leagues, where they continued to play against each other. Because I had a musical encounter with Darryl in 1987, I decided to get this (no CoA):

 

When I was gathering all these pix for this post, I could not recall who Pete Gray was – surprising since his story is so unique. He played for only one season (1945) for the St. Louis Browns. He appeared in 77 games, batted .218 with no home runs and 13 RBI – not exactly memorable stats.

So why is he remembered? He lost his right arm as a child (he was right-handed), yet made it to the major leagues as an outfielder, as you can see in the pix. His story is quite interesting and worth Googling:

 

The last Major Leaguer shown here was not a player, but rather a long-time umpire whose name may sound familiar to those of a certain age: Al Barlick, whose career covered mostly the 40s, 50s and 60s. His loud call was memorable, but I can’t find a recording of it anywhere:

 

Other signatures:

Mixing sports and music, Muhammad Ali knocked out the Beatles in Miami in 1964 and signed this print that hangs in my living room:

 

 

Former NJ Governor Brendan Byrne apparently attended Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inauguration with a New Jersey contingent and signed this for someone.  Page 4 (bottom) has a Washington, DC street map:

 

In 1982, New Jersey Senator (and former New York Knick) Bill Bradley signed this for a noted autograph collector, Curtis Iddings, Jr:

 

These are the original members of Grand Funk Railroad – one of my favorite bands from ’69-’71 (no matter what the critics said). No CoA:

 

Uncle Floyd is probably New Jersey’s best-known funnyman/piano player/entertainer. His “Uncle Floyd Show” is legendary. I was the show’s photographer and had a great time, but I had nothing signed by him, so when I saw this little Casio keyboard with his distinctive (and now fading) signature, I grabbed it. Go to http://bobleafe.com/ and scroll down to “U” to see all the shenanigans (and bands):

 

Anybody remember watching “Dobie Gillis” in the early 60s? The left side of this pic is from the show and the right half is star Dwayne Hickman years later:

 

I was never a fan of British comedy shows – I couldn’t understand what they were saying most of the time – until “Keeping Up Appearances” came along. I think I’ve seen every episode multiple times.

One day, I looked it up on eBay just to see what popped up and found cast-signed 8x10s that were going for at least $200 each. So I employed an old buyer’s trick to see if I could save some money.

You wouldn’t believe how many people can’t spell the simplest words in their auction titles. Consequently, buyers who CAN spell can’t find their auctions, so I search using misspellings. In this case, I tried “appearances”, using only one “p”.

Bingo! Someone was selling a “Keeping Up Apearances” cast-signed photo, starting at $40 and was waiting for bidders to begin falling all over themselves while raising the price into the hundreds……….except that there were no bidders and the seller also neglected to set a minimum reserve price. I got it for $40 and the seller was PISSED!

Too bad.

Signature-wise, we’ve lost Emmet, Richard’s almost gone, and Onslow is starting to fade. It’s still worth a hell of a lot more than $40 – even without a CoA:

As a certain President likes to say, “I love the uneducated” (he also doesn’t spell well and he does love himself, doesn’t he?).

 

I always try to finish off each post with something out of left field, but none of what I had collected really fit the bill………….until I remembered something VERY unrelated to everything else (but related to me).

DAD!

You probably have the senior year high school yearbook of one or both parents, right? Inside are the signatures of everyone in the class……….except for your parent. Who signs their own yearbook?

So, years ago, I started searching eBay for a 1938 Teaneck (NJ) high school yearbook. When I finally found one, I contacted the seller and asked if it contained the signature of Norman S. Leafe.

I was told it did! I bought it.

The yearbook belonged to a Dorothy L. Parrish, who played a lot of sports and had a collection of lump sugar (that’s what it says under her picture). The book also contained the commencement program, a 50-year reunion booklet and her high school diploma.

My father (on the right) signed her yearbook thusly: “Best wishes to the quieter of the Parrishes”, but unfortunately, he did not write his normal signature.

Dad was the managing editor of the Te-Hi News and hoped to become editor of a metropolitan daily (way off on that one, Dad). It also mentioned that he “was fond of the weaker sex” (they talked that way 82 years ago), but yeah – he was a ladies’ man.

Because of his school paper duties, his nickname was “Loose Leafe” and that’s how he signed the yearbook: with one big “L” to begin, smaller “oos” above smaller “eaf” in the middle and one big “E” at the end.

 

Because I had to buy the yearbook, this is definitely a boughtograph – a word I’m going to start Googling periodically to see if it ever catches on.

 

(Don’t hold your breath, Bob.)

 

 

LATE ADDITION

May 8, 2020

This has been so much in plain sight in my living room for a couple of decades that I completely overlooked it. It hasn’t helped that the signature is pretty sun-faded.

Gaylord Perry – beside being well-known for throwing the spitball – is the only pitcher to ever win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. He has signed this cloth sack from his peanut farm in North Carolina:

 

 (ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on February 21, 2020)

I was gonna call this “Hey, Getcha Programs Here!”, but that sounded too much like a scorecard vendor at Yankee Stadium…….and probably every other stadium (but without the Noo Yawk accent). Besides, I’m not here to sell programs.

In total, there are close to 100 programs in this post, but fortunately for you, some individual images have as many as 16 programs in them.

Obviously, I’ve had some of them for over 50 years, but I’ve never kept them together or even knew where they all were. Basically, it was throw ‘em in a drawer and forget about ‘em.

So you can imagine how much time it took to find and collect them all. Then it’s, “Now what do I do with them? How do I present them in any sort of a cohesive manner?”

I settled on various combinations of venues and years.

I’m going to start with years. Most of the items from some years come from many venues. Some venues had many shows that I attended, so it makes sense to group those together.

After I had finished all the photography and scanning and figured out what I was going to do, I realized – speaking of Yankee Stadium – that I had a 1959 program signed by Yankee announcer Red Barber after a game and I had already posted it here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=2954

 

1968

This might be the rarest item of the bunch. I’ve never seen one of these anywhere EVER and never met anyone who attended this show…..or even heard of it.

I don’t know how I found out about this (most likely it was in the Village Voice). I was trying to impress a girl named Ginny, who I started dating and this “Channel One” thing somewhere in Manhattan’s East Village sounded promising:

 

I started having second thoughts when I had to help her step over drunken bodies on the sidewalk as we approached the venue.

The show was a bunch of strung-together funny bits that I don’t recall……….except for one, called “Safety Sam”, which you may have seen 6 or 7 years later in the “Groove Tube” movie. It starts off strange and, as the camera slowly zooms in, it elicits a lot of “Oh, my god! Is that what I think it is?” reactions.

The Safety Sam video can be found on YouTube. However, my date could not be found after seeing the Channel One show (“Tell him I’m not home”).

What WAS found was that one of the cast members shown on the back of this 6” x 4.5” handout became a big star 7 years later on SNL:

 

Here’s what was written on the inside:

 

A couple of months later, I was dating a girl named Holly, whose friend came from a well-off family that was about to spend a week down the shore in Point Pleasant. Holly and I were invited to stay with them, even though I had never met the parents before. Nice people.

A new nearby venue called the Garden State Arts Center – now the PNC Arts Center – had just opened the month before. The fairly-hip family took us all to the Supremes’ opening show of a 6-night stand:

 

This review was in The Record the next day:

 

1969

Although no programs were handed out at Woodstock, I DID get one when I saw Jimi Hendrix at Madison Square Garden 3 months earlier:

 

Here are a couple of the included photographs:

 

In case the year wasn’t clear:

 

I don’t know where I got this similar collection of photographs – I didn’t see Zep live until 1971:

 

And it’s another 1969 Visual Thing thing:

 

(“Thing thing”………….ithn’t that a prithon?)

 

 

 

1972

 

One good show and one bad……..

Let’s start with the bad:

 

Sounds like a pretty good lineup, doesn’t it?

There are a lot of online reviews from people who attended this show. Some think it was the greatest concert ever; the rest think quite the opposite. I (and the people I went with) lean toward the latter group.

It was pouring rain, we had no protection and we all had a negative reaction to something…………maybe it was the mud.

We weren’t there long. I think I recall seeing the Groundhogs in the afternoon. All we needed to hear was “rain delay” and we were out of there. I read that one lengthy delay lasted until 4am.

Oh yeah…………Black Sabbath and Badfinger canceled.

Here’s what was written inside the program:

(You failed)

 

A MUCH better time was had when the Stones came to Madison Square Garden a couple of weeks later – the first time I saw the Stones live. It was a great show that had Stevie Wonder as the opening act. It was also Mick Jagger’s birthday, so a big cake was wheeled out as the house sang “Happy Birthday To You” (Stevie joined the band).

 

This was a program worth getting:

 

This one might be better-placed in a subsequent listing, but it encompasses a lot of what 1973 was all about, whereas the other listing just shows the covers:

 

A list of the upcoming shows:

 

A local ad:

 

A ticket service I don’t remember, but sounds interesting (but apparently not enough to succeed). I enlarged the text to see if it refreshes anyone’s memory:

 

Did NOT make my Top 100 Concerts of All Time list:

 

I like Tull, but don’t recall this show at all:

 

1974

Off-Broadway (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band On The Road – Beacon Theater):

 

Madison Square Garden shows

David Bowie:

 

Elton John: this is the night (11-28-74) that John Lennon joined Elton onstage (while I was sitting next to Yoko Ono in the 11th row). It was Lennon’s last public performance and both I and Yoko took pictures of that performance with my camera (all on http://bobleafe.com) – one of the best shows ever:

 

George Harrison played two shows on December 20: 4:00pm and 9:30pm (I shot both – see my site):

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones!” movie from the ’72 Garden show I attended. The premiere run was at Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theatre. My date and I were there on April 20. Here are the front and back covers. Inside, I found my ticket stub taped.

Debbie and I also each wound up with one of the promotional styrofoam Frisbees:

 

 

1975

 

Long Island shows

Pink Floyd (Nassau Coliseum):

 

Bruce Springsteen (C.W.Post)

Not exactly a program, but this handout is all I have from that show (besides my photos). The reason this show was special is because this was where his famous live version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” was recorded. I can specifically remember him saying the “… not many, not many – you guys in trouble out here” line:

 

The First Rockages Rock and Roll Flea Market:

 

As you can see on the first inside page, this was held at the Hotel McAlpin in Manhattan. Note that the inside cover is a full-page ad for Hackensack’s “Record King”:

 

This famous shop still exists directly across the street at 303 Main, just a couple of blocks from where I live:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Record-King-215194853837/

 

The list of professionals and dealers shows someone by the name of Robert Leafe, probably because that’s what it said on my check:

 

The Second NYC Beatlefest was held the previous month at Manhattan’s Hotel Commodore, but I didn’t attend as a dealer. My roommate’s North Jersey band – Pegasus – was performing at the Fest as “Northern Song” (how Beatle-y) and I was there to photograph them.

As you can see on the below page, the Beatles’ road manager – Mal Evans – also made an appearance at the Fest and wound up getting friendly with Northern Song and shook a tambourine with them onstage.

I have pictures of that and an interesting short story about the pairing on http://bobleafe.com/ (Scroll down to “P” and click “Pegasus”):

 

1976

Madison Square Garden shows

The Who (lots of Who pix and stories on my site):

 

Peter Frampton – at his peak – had a 3-night stand at the Garden (same deal here – pix/stories of it all are on my site:

 

1978

The fourth Rockages Flea Market was held in Manhattan. This time, BOB Leafe was a dealer there (#22):

 

Stiff Records promoted the hell out of their Be Stiff Route 78 tour. This was a big deal. As I recall, several Stiff groups flew in from England to do two shows a night for four nights at the Bottom Line. The thing was, the shows were each about 3-4 hours long. I shot the first one:

 

Trade publication Record World made a big deal out of it and put this out:

 

I’m guessing that these two handouts were available at the Bottom Line during the run and not in the Record World publication:

 

1979

Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” tour (3rd pic added in case the listed cities were too small to read in the 2nd pic):

 

Even though Polydor Records put this Quadrophenia brochure out, I think I got it because of the 1979 movie (the album came out in 1973, when I didn’t exist in the industry):

 

This 6-page brochure was put out by Thunder Road Magazine for a Jackie Wilson Benefit concert at The Fast Lane in Asbury Park, NJ.

In short, the legendary Jackie Wilson, collapsed of a heart attack while performing on stage for Dick Clark’s “Good Ol’ Rock and Roll Revue” at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, N.J on September 29, 1975. He quickly lapsed into a coma and was in a virtual vegetative state until his death on Jan. 21, 1984.

Wilson was singing his hit, “Lonely Teardrops,” when he suffered the massive heart attack. When he collapsed on stage, audience members initially thought it was part of the singer’s act.

There’s a lot more information to be found online:

Late additions: early to mid-80s. Three weeks after I made this post, I found four major programs:

I have pictures in the last two, but only BOC credited me:

 

VENUES

By far, I’ve seen more shows at John Scher’s Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, than at any other venue on Earth. I attended the very first concert there in 1971 and was fortunate enough to be made the Capitol’s house photographer c.1978. Eventually, this title applied to all venues where/when John promoted shows and you’ll see some of them named in upcoming venue listings.

John had a great lighting director named Moyssi who also designed/drew all the program covers, which begin here in 1978 (John made some good choices in ’78!).

I’m not going to list all the performers (you can go to https://moyssi.com/ to see more than 300 program covers he created AND the names of all the performers).

I’ll point out some of the bigger show programs in these ’72-’78 images, such as Bette Midler (first row, in pink) from 1973, the Rolling Stones (1978, third row, pointing woman), and Bruce Springsteen (1978 third row, third pic……….and it was a three night stand – good things DO come in threes!):

 

Capitol 1979: The Who first row, middle pic (two nights!):

 

Capitol 1980: The Clash (Row 1, #1), Tom Petty (Row 1, #4), Jeff Beck (Row 2, #2, The Police (Row 4, #1):

 

Capitol 1982 (Rows 1 and 2). Capitol 1983 (bottom row): The Animals (Row 3, #1), Eddie Murphy, (Row 3, #2):

 

Two special editions:

1. The left one advertised the services of John’s company, Monarch Entertainment, such as artist promotion, management, tour management, the Grateful Dead movie, and college show booking:
2.  I could have listed the right one above as Capitol 1981, but it’s for a special show – the Capitol’s 10th anniversary – and is much thicker than the usual Capitol program.
   

Here’s who played at the anniversary show (as listed in the program alphabetically):

Allman Brothers

Gary U.S. Bonds

Jack Bruce and Friends

Dave Edmunds

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

Uncle Floyd

Edgar Winter

(with a special performance by the Bayonne Bear [otherwise known as Vin Scelsa from WNEW-FM])

Eleven of my pictures are in these two editions (he mentions for no particular reason).

 

South Mountain Music Fair, West Orange, NJ – 1981

These are the only programs I have from this venue:

1. Jefferson Starship/.38 Special
2. Santana/Gary U.S.Bonds
3. Squeeze/Greg Kihn Band

 

“John Scher Presents On The Boardwalk” refers to shows at either Convention Hall or the Paramount Theater (directly across the boardwalk from the Hall) in Asbury Park, NJ. These 6 shows occurred between 1978 and 1980:

 

Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ 1982,1983

I shot a ton of shows there, but only have these 3 programs featuring Journey, Supertramp, and the Police:

 

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ 1978 to 1980

Top row:

1978 – (First Giants Stadium concert ever): Beach Boys, Steve Miller Band, Pablo Cruise, Stanky Brown

1978 – (Second Giants Stadium concert ever): Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Journey, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush

1979 – Boston, The Outlaws, Todd Rundgren & Utopia, Poco

 

Bottom row:

Giants Stadium rules & regulations from the first show (+enlargement below that)

1980 – The Eagles, Heart, Little River Band

 

Those were ALL John Scher shows.

The rest are not.

 

Three other venues:

Fillmore East (1971 – my only Fillmore program): Mountain, Mylon, T. Rex

Island Music Center, Commack, NY (1975) – Blue Oyster Cult, Strawbs, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express

Montclair State College, Panzer Gym, Montclair, NJ (1978) – Meat Loaf

 

Two final venues:

Playhouse on the Mall, Paramus, NJ (1972) – Bette Midler, Ace Trucking Company

The Bottom Line, New York, NY (1978) – Rory Gallagher

 

 

 

                                                                 DONE!