The Event (on the Route 4 pedestrian overpass):

 

Since I couldn’t do my Veterans Day shoot of the huge George Washington Bridge U.S. flag (“Too windy to fly it today”…..“But those are the best shots!”), I had time to devote to shooting this worthwhile protest on the Route 4 pedestrian overpass in Paramus.

I followed the “letter carrier” (not a mailman) up onto the overpass. I’m guessing that the letters are already in their proper sequence and that the message will begin with a “V” (not a lot of brainpower required for that guess) Click to enlarge:

 

 

The spell-out takes place. First dopey guess: “Vets fought fast”?

 

 

Oh, OK………….“Vets fought fascism” (but I’ll bet it wasn’t slowly):

 

 

Man, it was already pretty cold out, but then it got incredibly windy – especially on that overpass. It got so bad that the woman who had carried the letters for the eastbound cars to see and set them down against the west wall (on the right), saw the wind suddenly pick up her letters and FLY them across to the east wall, where you see them wind-stacked together:

Only the O didn’t get tossed.

 

Back to the messages:

So we know what the east-facing message says. Let’s see how the west-facing one is doing: “No P Pies”? I certainly hope not!

 

 

Lettering out of sequence to spell “No Purple Pies”? Why not?

 

 

“No Pup Pies”? Better not be any of those!

Ohhhhhh………“No Puppies”! Wait……….why not?

 

 

I walked across the overpass and down the south-side ramp while they completed the message and got this:

 

…….and then brought the image to the creators (who couldn’t see what the drivers would see) so they could give the E and the S a little more space.

 

 

Quick aside: While I was walking back up that ramp, I noticed something strange: two U.S. flags flying in the Bergen Town Center (formerly the Bergen Mall) were at half-staff on Veterans Day:

 

Somebody there needs to brush up on holiday flag etiquette. Veterans Day is not a mournful holiday and flags should always be at full-staff on November 11.

Not a good/intelligent look, BTC!

 

Back to our show:

A few smaller signs were added to the westbound side:

 

 

……..and the eastbound side’s E and S got some breathing room:

 

 

I couldn’t stand the freezing winds anymore, so I took one almost-full-length PANO shot of the overpass’ current residents (click twice to fully-enlarge and then scroll side-to-side):

 

…..and then I left, but I also took a driving-home shot of the eastbound message:

 

Enough of the pix…………..time for some flix below and in the overpass:

 

Click it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ae-gdrqewg

 

 

 

And it only took me a week to put this together…….

 

These events occurred in River Edge, Paramus and Teaneck on October 18, 2025. Their start times were 11am, 12pm and 12pm, respectively.

 

RIVER EDGE

First up: River Edge (about 2 miles from home). The given location was 135 Kinderkamack Rd (corner of Main St), where a CVS Pharmacy is located. It’s a block away from a McDonald’s I worked in last century.

The intersection is a very busy one, as it feeds traffic from north, south and east onto Route 4 West, going to VERY busy Paramus (where my second stop was).

The CVS was at the eastern end of a 2-3 block-long strip of stores. Strategically, I parked my car at the western end, so – when I left – I could avoid the busy Kinderkamack/Main intersection and the couple hundred protesters and hop right onto Rt. 4 (the Paramus event was right ON Rt. 4, at a pedestrian overpass).

 

As I was walking the 2-3 blocks to the intersection, I suddenly noticed someone in one of the parked cars, but it was not just anyone…………..it was:

………..a rather jovial former person, who was singing an Iggy Pop song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fWw7FE9tTo&list=RD-fWw7FE9tTo&start_radio=1

 

Well, that’s a rather obvious selection…………except he changed the words a bit to suit his situation better:

I am the passenger

I keep my foot on the dash

I hope and pray that I won’t die again

In another car crash…………

 

Well, he looks pretty happy singing it……..and it’s a great shot to start my day with, but I’ve got an event to shoot.

There’s just one problem……………nobody’s here.

Yeah, it’s 10:30am, but there are ALWAYS people who come early to get the best spot.

 

I decided to take a walk up Kinderkamack Rd. I got about a half-block when I met a guy carrying a sign. We got to talking and it turns out he’s a local organizer, who takes me to task for parking in a store lot and for not wearing yellow – a pre-rally suggestion that signifies unity (uh……….I don’t own any yellow clothes).

But he was a nice guy and we had some things in common………….and all of a sudden, people started showing up.

 

“Our” corner became the place to be – maybe because the cars from north, south and east heading for Rt. 4 all had to pass us as they turned. The other corners started filling up, but ours generated all the car horn honks as they passed us.

I became the corner photographer, shooting some of the interesting signs, making sure to ask everyone if they wanted their faces in the shot (most didn’t care): -7

 

Time for a video walk in the street (becoming a bit dangerous with all the honking cars speeding by to Rt. 4) past all the people on our corner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-hnYEHZSHU

 

It was getting near noon and I had another rally to get to (Paramus), so I concentrated on shooting ALL of the interesting signs.

Can you stand 30 more sign pictures?

 

 

PARAMUS

As mentioned before, I went back to my car, hopped on Rt. 4 and drove about 2 miles to that pedestrian overpass. Not many people were on the overpass or on the ground at 11:50am. Here’s what all the westbound drivers saw and heard:

 

I said hello to the person in charge, whom I met on the previous “No Kings” rally here this past June 14 and walked around, crossed the highway on the overpass, went down a series of ramps on the other side and then reversed the route back to my car, taking pictures all along the way.

As you can see, I’ve got moving vehicles on both sides of me as I frame the main message:

 

This one of the whole overpass included a certain friend on mine on the sidewalk:

 

If you follow politics, you know that the frog has become a sign of peaceful anti-authoritarian protest:

 

“CONS”? Hard to tell from down below………..and even harder to see point-blank (click to enlarge):

 

The message that’s shown to eastbound traffic:

 

My first costumed encounter on the ramp – posed and not:

 

Encounter #2 on the ramp:

 

Looking back across Rt. 4:

 

Encounter #3 on ramp:

I could have just stayed on the ramp and had a good shoot.

 

Well, I take that back. The overpass was pretty interesting (I didn’t expect to meet Tweety Bird). Click to enlarge:

 

………..or a panda eyeballing this rotten taco (another political reference – look it up………….and click to enlarge):

 

The view from the overpass of protesters by the highway:

 

The view of some protesters directly under the overpass:

 

Two views at ground level:

 

Last pix at the site – mostly non-human (click to enlarge):

 

The last Paramus pic was taken on Rt. 4 eastbound at 12:22pm on my way to the Teaneck rally:

 

TEANECK

 

I got off Rt. 4 at Teaneck Rd and headed south to the Municipal Green at about 12:30pm (I had been told that Teaneck had a 12pm start – just like Paramus, so things should be poppin’ by now.

As I approached the Green, we were narrowed down to one lane by a long line of traffic cones, which you can see in the below picture’s rear view mirror. I was trying to get a decent crowd shot as I passed by, heading for the rear parking lot entrance:

 

My first impression was that the crowd looked a bit sparse. I parked in back and came in from behind to include the flagpole and the weirdly-streaky sky:

 

So far, there’s no truth to the rumor that one of those streaky jets was piloted by a guy wearing a crown and dumping a self-supplied shirtload of over ten billion former Big Macs on crowds attending various towns’ rallies.

If there was such a pilot, he missed my hometown (the whole Municipal area is located on the northwest corner of Teaneck Rd and Cedar Lane. On the other side of Cedar Lane on Teaneck Rd is Holy Name Hospital, where I (and Ricky Nelson) were born, so………smart move staying away, King Brownjeans.

 

Back to our show: At the base of the flagpole, it appeared that somebody took a page out of the Visibility Brigade’s playbook (VB was in charge of the same kind of lettering on the Paramus Rt. 4 pedestrian overpass) to spell out the theme of the event:

 

By now, the crowd had thickened a bit, so I went across the street to get a shot of this sign-happy group:

 

After that, it was all “Shoot the signs” time.

 

Ready?

 

Two-Sided Sign Guy is actually wearing a third sign – his t-shirt – that King BrownJeans won’t like:

 

Can’t argue with these protesters:

 

Eggzactly!

 

Good question:

 

A popular theme:

 

Another two-sided winner (click to enlarge):

 

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of these:

 

A cop wasn’t happy that I went out into the street (just a bit!) – where all the cars were trying to get through – to get this shot:

 

So I finished up my shooting day by going across the street to get the width of this group. It was too wide for my regular lens, so I tried something I haven’t done in a long time: a photo stitch!

 

I took 4 side-by-side shots, hoping they would line up in a photo-stitching program. Everything cooperated except for the closest-to-me street stripes (click to enlarge):

 

Time to hop on Cedar Lane and go home for lunch (and an afternoon of photo-editing). I got home at 1:05pm, so it was a well-spent 2½ hours shooting three No Kings rallies.

 

By the way – on my way up Cedar Lane, I saw a lot of people walking toward Teaneck Rd…………a little late, I thought.

But then later in the week, I was told that the Teaneck rally was supposed to start at 1pm, which I then confirmed online with Google’s AI.

I was given bad information, but I don’t feel bad. I shot all the good signs and none of the people I later saw walking toward Teaneck Rd were carrying any signs, so I got what I wanted.

 

Now if only I could figure out a way to send this to the rest of the 7million+ attendees across the country………………..

Just kidding…………they’ve probably all seen similar (or better) signs.

Maybe there should be a national No Kings sign repository of EVERONE’S photos for all to enjoy.

 

This IS history, after all.

 

 

 

September 2

 

The curtain rises on another work month:

 

Look at all the work that has to be done before they can even think about pouring a cement floor:

 

This is State Street – the western edge of the property. It’s a one-way street, going south (to the right). Every one of these cement mixers is parked in the wrong direction:

 

Ticketable offense? Nope!

 

What you don’t see is the cement pumper vehicle – which is parked further south – and is waiting to be serviced by each of the mixer trucks. The pumper’s cement receptacle is on its back end while the mixers dispense from THEIR back ends. All the mixers have to do is simply back up a bit when the lead mixer empties.

 

 

And here IS that lead mixer dumping into the pumper:

 

And here is the other end of the pumper, doing its job – all the way from State Street:

 

Meanwhile, the elevator shaft continues its upward climb……..

 

……..while the handy bucket hoists up cinder blocks and brings used items down:

 

 

I borrowed a video from the next day to illustrate the point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02JTRhS7vKA

 

 

September 3

 

Installing the next floor’s wood planks from which to work on the elevator shaft:

 

I never did find out precisely what the unit on top was for, but it was apparently important enough to be covered before rain rolled in:

 

Meanwhile, back on the ground…………

 

 

I can’t identify this gentleman, but I think I heard him say, “Thank you – good night!” (assuming all that light is stage lighting and not the morning sun):

 

September 4

 

Yellow Lumber Day:

 

Yellow Lumber Day (Christian version):

 

Time to start covering up all that yellow lumber:

 

Where yellow lumber comes from (Passaic St – where else?):

 

Click to enlarge this State St PANO (minus all the cement pumpers and backward cement mixers):

(You might need to click it 3 times on these PANOs for full enlargement – I have no idea why).

 

 

September 5

 

Down on the floor and up the elevator shaft:

 

 

 

September 6

 

Hand-me-downs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1U9T8Xnrsg

 

Related, but not from the video:

 

A couple more from up top:

 

Two more shafts shots (stairwell is much taller than elevator):

 

Strain before the rain:

 

The rain (a very difficult shot to get from 2 blocks away):

 

After the rain (by the mortar mixer):

 

 

September 8

 

Continuing the mortar mixer theme…….this time with steam.

 

Removing wood forms from concrete columns/surfaces (not an easy thing to do – more on that later in the month):

 

Lunch!

 

This was somewhat messy. A large garbage truck that was servicing a residential building right next to the star of this show, accidentally dumped a load of….something….on State St as it was leaving.

It was right near where some concrete product was being off-loaded (by blue vehicle on the left) from a truck. The load needed to go somewhere in the vicinity of the garbage that I think contained food, because a few dozen crows swarmed down to inspect it. Lots of passing cars and buses dispersed them.

Someone must have contacted people in charge at that building because someone came out and shoveled it away.

 

The delivery continued unaffected (except for this poor tenant of that building who was now blocked from exiting his parking lot………..I guess he thought that putting on his headlights would help his cause):

That was Part 1. Part 2 (above) consisted of the same vehicle loading wood construction pieces into a side area on State St, after a piece of fencing was moved away. Another container of that concrete product was placed on top of the wood containers. The fencing was then moved back.

 

 

September 9

 

9/9 seemed kind of slow. How slow? The big observation of the day was that the elevator shaft’s height was starting to gain on the stairwell (yawn!):

 

 

September 10

 

Ditto 9/10…………..Oh, wait – here’s some guys carrying rebar! (Double-yawn!):

 

 

September 11

 

This project gave me a September 11 moment and it’s all in my 9/11 blog post:

https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=24252

 

September 12

From a distance, I thought this was another shot of guys having lunch, but it’s just a shot of their backpacks having lunch:

 

Here are the guys………..dining atop the elevator shaft?

 

A nice, wide Passaic St PANO (between Main St and State St) for you to click on:

 

And – at the risk of repeating myself from yesterday – the Main and Passaic elevator shaft flag shot:

 

……and maybe one more flag shot you haven’t seen yet:

 

 

September 13

 

The scaffolding between the elevator and stairwell shafts being removed. You’ll see the result of that on the15th:

 

There was a MASSIVE amount of concrete flooring on the section nearest me that needed to be poured and they spent this entire Saturday doing it. They even doubled up on the cement pumpers, bringing out patriotically-colored ones (there’s white where they cross in the below pic:

 

What’s the rush? The framers were coming on Monday afternoon. What are framers?

 

From Google AI: In construction, a framer is a skilled tradesperson who builds the structural framework (the “frame”) of a building, such as the walls, floors, and roofs, using materials like wood, steel, or engineered wood products. They work from blueprints and architectural plans to create the skeleton of a structure, ensuring its stability and integrity before other finishing trades begin their work.

 

So this concrete had two days (or less) to solidify enough for the framers to do their work. It HAD to get done today!

All this pumped concrete HAD to lead to decent hose-exiting pix from a block-and-a-half away, right?

Well, you be the judge:

 

And, of course, THAT led to an army of concrete zambonis and other smooth(out) operators who didn’t leave until every square inch was perfect:

 

 

September 15

 

Way back on August 29, I received an email from site project manager Chris Polizois, asking me if I was free around lunch time on September 15.

 

Me: “Probably. Is something happening that day?”

CP: “Please contact me on the 15th to confirm.”

 

Mucho mysterioso so far in advance!

 

So I called on the 15th and was asked if I could meet him there at around 11:30am.

“Sure”.

 

On the way there, I took a picture of a crane on Passaic St:

(BTW – most of the horizontal shots should be clicked to enlarge.)

 

Two minutes later, I saw him and he said he’d have to go back to his office to get me a hard hat.

Once I had the hard hat sitting somewhat unfashionably on my black cap, we walked up one flight to a wide-open room that had multiple possibilities for entertaining the building’s tenants.

I HAD to take a panoramic shot of the entire thing (in case you forgot, click to enlarge)………..a “before” shot, if you will (an “after” shot or 3 might be quite interesting):

 

We continued up the stairs to the current “roof” – a sight I had only ever seen from the opposite direction.

The first thing I saw was that crane I had just photographed on Passaic St. It was already active:

 

 

Next, I turned around to see the empty elevator shaft (l.) and the stairwell shaft (r.) that we had just come out of and thought this might make an interesting PANO shot from close range:

I took it just before the sun would have blinded me and got the shafts to frame an interesting building at the corner of Main and Passaic.

 

I backed up a bit to get the shafts and the scaffolding that had been around the elevator one, when I noticed a worker doing some metal cutting:

 

 

At first, I wasn’t sure if the sparks were coming from the saw/metal contact or from the guy himself (THAT would have been interesting!).

 

As we walked near the area closest to where I live, Chris mentioned that it was the most-recently concreted surface.

“Oh, I know. They worked all day on it 2 days ago.”

He then mentioned that I could be like Neil Armstrong and be the first man to set foot on the new concrete surface.

I gave him my phone (I shot this whole visit on my phone).

CLICK!

 

How close DO I live to this new building?

My watermark is under my two bedroom windows and my living room picture window (the one I shoot from):

 

We took a walk around the perimeter. He made very sure that I got no closer than 10 feet from the edge.

The Hackensack YMCA building is directly across Main St. It was sold and is supposedly going to be torn down (I’m not sure about that).

It’s slightly sentimental to me – Mom took me there when I was a little kid to learn how to swim (I still can’t swim), so I wanted to get a close shot that may be my last from this vantage point. I took two………..here’s the first:

 

I also took a PANO shot:

You can see how close I seem to be to the edge, but it’s just an optical illusion, courtesy of the phone’s panoramic setting.

 

Turning around, I had to take a nice shot of Hackensack’s new twin towers and new flag. I’m not sure why the elevator shaft looks tilted, but it probably has to do with the phone’s optics (it better be!):

Walking over to the Passaic St side, I immediately came across that same crane making a delivery:

 

 

I zoomed in for a second shot to make it look even closer:

 

 

 

Continuing up along Passaic St, I took this PANO shot that shows (from upper left): a new residential building (behind the flag) that’s only been open for less than a year, the Parisian Beauty Academy and its 50-space parking lot with 12,000 cars in it (how does someone in the middle get out?), (crossing State St) the Hackensack Middle School with its nice green soccer pitch/athletic field and the Hackensack high-rise skyline:

 

Moving up to State St and making a right, I took this PANO, which shows some of the Middle School, a nice-looking apartment building, the back of my building (and municipal parking lot), the Second Reformed Church, Holy Trinity Church (under my watermark) and some more residential buildings:

 

For the last PANO, we moved slightly more to the right to where we could see the next-door neighbor’s driveway that’s also been used by this company to build the structure I’m standing on.

I’m holding the phone above the fence while panning left to right and inadvertently got a picture of our shadows.

Two handsome guys, huh?

 

Chris had about 25 minutes to give me. I got pretty much what I wanted and time was running short, so we walked downstairs, where I took ONE ground-floor shot:

I’ll bet the rent’s pretty cheap in THAT unit!

 

 

Once I returned home, I continued shooting the site that suddenly had wood everywhere:

 

Before I knew it, they had built a fence around the perimeter where I had just been taking pictures!

 

I immediately sent an email to Chris titled “A First and a Last”:

 

“Besides me being the first to set foot on that section of the roof, WE were the last daredevils to walk near the Main St edge of the roof before a wooden fence was built this afternoon.”

 

I included the above fence pic.

 

 

September 16

 

Lunchtime:

 

Lunchtime gets interrupted by cinder block and mortar-mix muscle time:

 

We’ll see more of the measure-men later on:

 

 

September 17

 

Very busy day!

 

Let’s start off with 4 rebar shots:

 

Flying wood:

 

Vertical wood:

 

 

Scaffolding:

 

Cinder block build:

 

Mortar mix components:

 

Hoist and pour:

 

 

September 18

 

“I’m gonna need a ton of mortar for this second stairwell shaft I’m building, so it’s time to get that mixer going”.

 

In this wider shot, you can see the new stairwell. Nearby, the mixer is already steaming:

 

I hope you like multiples……….here are 7 of them:

 

It’s so busy, this guy almost forgot to eat lunch:

 

Dunno what they’re shoveling, but it’s almost time to go home:

 

I can’t tell from this pic if it’s a cold day or a hot one and the fact that I took these pictures 85 seconds apart doesn’t help, but these guys are done for the day:

 

The sun sets on a very busy day:

 

 

September 19

 

Heads up, guys!

3Pix

 

Indecision (Do I go in the Port-O-John or the crazy crate?):

 

 

More crazy multiples:

 

(fourth pic) “I saw Elon Musk do this, so it must be OK.”

 

(third pic) Man is parallel to the crate:

 

Another flying wood heads-up:

 

No offense to anyone else, but – to me – this man appears to be the hardest-working man on the site. (It seems as if he built that semi-symmetrical structure – shown next to…and above…him – by himself):

 

The afore-mentioned measure-men:

 

Shouldering the load cross-site:

 

Late afternoon and sunset:

 

Can you stand one more multiple? Dragging and delivering scaffolding and going back for more:

Extras……….

 

Given what they’re carrying, is this why these guys are called “framers”?

 

If this crate had been carrying a pinball machine, the game’s screen would be screaming, “TILT!”

 

 

September 20

 

Slim pickins today. A walkaround only produced two semi-interesting images:

Tall stuff:

 

The State Farm luxury stairwell shaft:

 

From home only produced two more:

Two guys living in an empty stairwell dump the garbage:

 

A Port-O-John stands next to a crazy crate as two guys use a yellow tape to measure the distance between them (there’s GOTTA be a great caption for all this that incorporates everything you see here, but I’m forked if I know what it is. If you’ve got one, send it along and maybe I’ll post it here).

Full credit will be given if it’s not well-received.

 

September 21

 

Interesting Shapes Day

 

This photo HAS to get the prize for the widest variety of interesting shapes in one small place:

 

Of course, my favorite of this group is the mortar mixer, which produced everything that holds this building together. AND it has a steering wheel!

 

A close second is this pulley and wood combo:

 

The wood by itself looks great, but the pulley closeup with some of the wood takes second place (you know how guys like round things………..and the resultant wood).

Say what?

 

 

All these vertical wood shapes! AND the horizontal blue scaffolding! Solid third place!

 

 

 

 

September 22

 

No one outstanding thing to talk about here – just a lot of hot mortar, cool wood and heavy cinder block shots to run by you in the order I took them:

Lost in the woods?

 

 

Blowing his nose?

 

 

Framers moving a frame.

 

Rinsing out a mortar mixer.

 

 

 

September 23

 

A load of ? (click to enlarge)

 

Shapes and colors:

 

 

Just a guess……..is the “3A” written on the crate an apartment number? They ARE all standing on the 3rd floor:

 

Adding walls to wood:

 

I hope that’s mortar………

 

Blocking off a crane parking space:

 

Lookin’ in the wrong direction, buddy:

 

 

Connecting one piece of street fencing back together……….

 

………… and then removing another:

 

 

September 24

 

Honestly, I don’t recall if he was adding water to mortar mix to create a new batch or rinsing out what’s left of the previous one:

 

 

So begins the tough task of removing wood forms from concrete columns…….

 

 

Speaking of tough tasks………this guy really has to pee. You can see where the toilet is. You can also see the extremely dense maze of wood between them:

My money’s on the soon-to-be-wet maze……….

 

Stacking the scaffolding:

 

Collecting and schlepping scaffolding:

 

 

No schlepping at lunchtime (or phonetime):

 

A nice concrete and wood mix that looks like two different projects:

 

 

Time to remove those wood forms (an arduous task):

 

 

Ignoring the bottom left glop, the concrete walls look really nice without the forms that made them:

 

 

September 25

 

Blows his nose in his shirt AND wears red drawers!

(Sorry, Bud – couldn’t resist)

 

Moving rainfall with a spade? Somebody get this man a giant squeegee!

 

Hey – guy on the left! Lose the purple broom handle and help out your partner with TWO hands pushing!

 

LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE JETPACK THIS GUY’S WEARING!

All I could think of when I saw that was how compact were the ones the Jetsons wore over 60 years ago. Technology is supposed to progress greatly over a time period that long – not regress.

 

(For anyone unfamiliar with the Jetsons, the show premiered in 1962. The setting was 100 years in the future – 2062. We’re only 37 years away from then and look at what we’re wearing on our backs for propulsion! Shameful!)

 

 

September 26

 

Clean sweep:

 

Just think………..a few days ago, there was NO wood on this floor:

Now I understand why Chris invited me up when he did: he knew the framers were arriving that afternoon and – after that – there’d be no room to move around and take the pictures I took. And he knew that a half-month in advance when he invited me. Thanks again, Chris!

 

Look at all these hollowed-out sugar cubes!

 

 

Gotta get that other dolly underneath………

 

………so you can PUSH!!

 

 

Oh, look……..it’s them crazy measurin’ guys again!

It looks like they’re measuring absolutely nothing, but my guess is that they’re determining exactly where every little thing goes (“bathroom door here, closet here, etc., etc.”):

 

 

Another heads-up moment:

.

 

 

Almost there…………….and DONE!

 

“Time to roll on outta here!”

 

Damn! Caught on a street light!” (almost)

 

A little less-than-clean sweep:

 

“DON’T DO IT!!”

 

Sunset in the woods:

 

 

Sunset from Hackensack to Manhattan:

 

…….and GOOD NIGHT!

 

 

 

September 27

 

iPhone walkaround shoot (State St (8), Passaic St (8), Main St (2):

 

 

 

September 28

 

I have no idea what the tubing is about:

 

Nice catch!

 

“WHO THREW THAT DART?”

 

 

 

September 29

 

New unit on the 3^rd-floor corner appears to have all its interior wood on the floor…….ready for room construction, while long truck pulls up with a load of wood and has its own little red forklift attached to the truck’s rear end:

 

Site worker (I think) commandeers the lift, grabs some wood and brings it into the shared driveway………sideways!

Click this and the next one to enlarge:

 

Meanwhile, the truck backs up and parks across the street from that driveway and the red lift picks up some more wood for another sideways delivery ……….

 

 

 

September 30

 

WOOD EVERYWHERE!!

 

EVEN WOOD FORMS FROM CONCRETE COLUMNS!

 

 

Crane reaches toward Bogota:

 

Grainy closeup:

Catholic crane attempts to visit St. Joseph’s Church across the Hackensack River in Bogota. Probably needs to go to confession after hanging around Main St in Hackensack for weeks.

Interesting(?) fact: That high-rise building behind the church sits atop the Palisades in the Fort Lee/Cliffside Park/Hudson River area a few towns away. There’s actually a valley between the two structures.

 

September was a monster month that took me half of October to put together. I’m glad it’s over.

 

But it’s not…………..a few stragglers have just shown up.

 

Gentleman appears to be smiling and posing for me and then seems to have stepped in something nasty. 

 

Another gentleman appears to have speared a fish in one of the apartments:

 

And we close out the month of September with a first-floor night shot on the State St side:

You’ll see a lot of changes there in October.

 

 

As you may know, I’ve been documenting the construction of a residential building for the last few months that’s straight out from my living room window, albeit 1-2 blocks away.

I have a camera on a tripod aimed at that window at all times so I can shoot as soon as I see (or anticipate) something.

For the last couple of months, one of the things I’ve been documenting is the construction of the side-by-side elevator shaft and stairwell. All work is currently on the third floor. I think the shaft and stairwell are now as tall as they’re gonna be.

I took the below picture of both on 9/11. Later, while looking at the picture, it slightly reminded me of the Twin Towers – a rather appropriate day for that.

 

Fifteen minutes later, I saw a worker climbing the scaffolding between the two structures with something colorful in his hand. I zoomed in and saw it was a US flag. He disappeared behind the elevator shaft. Two minutes later (third pic), I saw his hard hat just above it (this was on the front side of the building facing Main St). Click to enlarge:

 

Hmmmm……..Given what day it was, it seemed that a two-block walk was in order. It also seemed right to wear a shirt I bought on eBay almost a quarter-century ago:

Front:

 

Back:

 

Closeup of the badge:

 

“Not genuine merchandise”, you say?

 

(Back to our show)

As I neared Main St, I took the first picture. I took the second one ON Main St:

This was not exactly a difficult guess.

 

OK, all you Hackensack readers – did anyone know about this in advance? Has anyone else even noticed the flag up there?

I didn’t know if it was a one-day thing or not, so I went back the next day and shot these (how nice of them to remove all the scaffolding that was there yesterday):

I’m guessing it’ll stay up for the duration.

 

Oh – back to that shirt………I used to get a LOT of comments whenever I wore it. But this time – even after going food-shopping later………….nada.

Actually, I think I may have gotten ONE comment while I was shooting on Main St on 9/11. I was near the curb and some guy was walking behind me, facing the back of the shirt.

I’m guessing he read it because just as he passed me, I heard him say, “YUUUUUUP!” (sort of like Dave Hester from “Storage Wars”).

 

Or maybe he was just talking on his phone…………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post of the third floor work might be the most thorough post of all, photo-wise (I originally selected over 200 pictures for this one). From my perspective, the third floor offered a view of most everything that went on there. Future (higher) floors will probably offer slightly less visibility……………stay tuned.

Everywhere on the floor I saw rebar structures which got covered on four sides by large wooden planks whose visible side looked like a ladder on top of a board. Together, they made the formwork for reinforced columns. At some point, cement pumpers that are hooked up to cement-mixing trucks fill these frameworks via thick hoses that seem to be a block or two long.

AUGUST 1

At some point, the framework is removed, revealing VERY strong columns. For more information: https://deslinc.com/blog/choosing-the-right-materials-for-column-formwork (click image to enlarge):

 

In the absence of cement pumpers, the bucket’ll do……….

 

Yellow #2 pencil flooring (first impression):

 

That almost looks like he’s carrying the plastic piece that goes under a desk chair to protect the carpet:

 

The State St entrance (click to enlarge):

 

The much more interesting, multi-reinforced columned Passaic St entrance (click to enlarge):

 

 

 

AUGUST 2

More columnal photography (interesting ladder embracing the reinforced column)

 

My two biggest photographic construction projects are next door neighbors:

 

AUGUST 4

This looks like 3 or 4 pictures jammed together, but it’s just one………….

 

Short video showing bucket-fed cement going into a framework:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3N8z0V75c

 

 

AUGUST 5

BIG rebar delivery:

 

Nice one-handed grab………..

 

 

AUGUST 6

Rebar EVERYWHERE!

 

AUGUST 7

Dust-free rebar floor……..

 

 

“Where the roads are made of iron and the curbs are made of wood……..”

 

Hey! Got my own drawing table!

 

Empty cranes V-frame Main St buildings and a bit of Foschini Park:

 

Rebar inspector?

 

Dust-Buster springs into action!

 

 

AUGUST 8

Waiting for the starting gun……….

 

BANG!

 

Knee- (and wrist-) deep in rebar:

 

When I first saw this in my camera’s viewfinder, I thought he was trying to attach the blue metal to the silver metal………….and then I realized that the silver metal was a street light…………..duh!

 

 

AUGUST 9

DUAL PUMPERS! I’VE GOTTA GET ME SOME SHOTS OF PUMPED CEMENT COMING OUTTA THEM THANGS!

 

Well, not quite cement, but getting closer!

 

They’re getting closer to each other……….SOMETHING’s gotta happen soon!

 

BINGO! JACKPOT!

 

And, for good measure, I shot some video as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7yeiq8wIoY

 

Time to smooth all that stuff out………

 

Then it dawned on me that I’ve gotta get over to Passaic St, where all the pumpers and mixers were happening!

That turned out to be an excellent idea! (click to enlarge everything from this point on):

 

 

But I wasn’t done yet – I saw an opportunity to get a shot that I could never get before: the point where mixer cement entered pumper receptacle.

 

I walked down Passaic St to just such a point. I saw it! I wanted it! A worker was handling things on the street. I asked him if I could take two steps closer and take just ONE shot with my phone.

“OK”

I didn’t have time to calculate all the angles.

I saw the flow and its entry (and the face of another worker…..and a STOP sign!). I ignored both.

BANG!

I nailed it!

I didn’t even check the phone to make sure it was OK. Sometimes, you just feel/KNOW that you got it.

I thanked the OK’er and moved on to other scenes:

A few feet east to get this – another phone shot that I love:

 

Now down at the corner of Main and Passaic (and shooting through the (semi-) covered fence:

 

Not sure why I took this one (yellow’s my favorite color?):

 

But there was ONE more shot I wanted, so I doubled back to the midpoint on Passaic St between State St and Main St to get this all-inclusive PANO phone shot that showed FIVE cement mixer trucks servicing the two dueling cement pumpers (see their crossed swords?)

I’m not gonna top any of this, so I am DONE for the day! (Best shooting day of the month!)

 

 

AUGUST 11

Small delivery:

 

Larger delivery:

 

The shiny, cement third floor (with orange trimming):

 

 

AUGUST 13

Cinder block delivery:

 

I can’t read the packaging, but since it showed up at around the same time as the cinder blocks, I’m guessing it’s anhydrous mortar (pre-water mortar!):

 

Many of both items are neatly-placed just south of where they are most likely to be used: the elevator shaft (though they might be used elsewhere):

 

 

AUGUST 14

Rebar fishing (must be for steelhead trout):

 

They’re not having much luck, so his friend decides to cut off his toes – including shoe leather – to be used as bait:

I didn’t stick around to see how this ended.

 

 

AUGUST 18

The first bright red cement pumper – GOTTA get a shot of that!

 

FOUR cement mixer trucks wait to service the redhead:

 

I have no idea what caused this, but you know the old rule…….”Shoot first and ask (unanswered) questions later”.

 

AUGUST 19

Some of the aforementioned cinder blocks and mortar positioned near the elevator shaft (it was all the cars that got my attention):

 

More #2 Yellow-luggin’:

 

 

“That’s a wrap!”, as orange fencing gets rolled-up for its next destination:

 

 

AUGUST 20

This is where the mortar gets mixed:

 

The mortar receptacle gets put in place:

 

Poured mortar (not an easy shot from 2 blocks away):

 

 

Cinder blocks and mortar – before and after:

 

AUGUST 21

More column formwork:

 

I wasn’t sure from where these sparks were emitting:

 

More work being done close to the next-door neighbor’s parking area:

 

Knock, Knock!

 

“Any day now………….”

 

“Finally……..”

 

The work gets done……….

 

Other 8-21-25 shots:

 

After everyone’s left:

 

 

AUGUST 22

Lunch!

 

Wood through iron:

 

How the site looks to me just before 9pm:

 

 

AUGUST 23

Ladies’ dressing room? (just a guess):

 

Initially, I thought this guy was giving me the finger (I still don’t know what he’s doing):

 

Rebar on two floors:

 

 

 

August 25

Another Yellow #2 pencil delivery:

 

 

AUGUST 26

Another cement pour and water squirt:

 

Smoothing it out:

 

Super-long handle:

 

Meanwhile, over by the stairwell…………

 

AUGUST 27

Drop something?

 

That looks kinda heavy:

 

I’ve never photographed that kind of guitar before – ESPECIALLY with the guitarist in that position:

 

I haven’t see any yellow cement pumpers, so when I saw this one waiting to get into position……….CLICK!

 

The name on it was kind of obscured, so when the pumper moved up a bit, I shot this:

 

PUTZMEISTER?

Accordng to Google, the word meister “denotes a person regarded as skilled or prominent in a specified area of activity”. I wouldn’t feel comfortable printing what it says about “putz”, so I’ll only ask: This guy is a prominent putz?

 

Passing around cinder blocks:

 

More column form work:

 

The stairwell progresses:

 

From my angle, the cement pumper appears to be operating out of someone’s apartment.

Did you notice that it was filling a column form?

 

Here’s a closeup of it:

 

 

AUGUST 28

Shoveling a column? (It probably does the job just as well as anything else.)

 

Speaking of column forms……….

 

The stairwell gets a little taller while the elevator shaft pops through on the left:

 

The shaft’s and stairs’ lifeblood gets delivered:

 

 

AUGUST 29

 

The mortar bucket brigade:

 

Three more column form shots:

 

Stairwell shots:

 

Hammering away………

 

Two more stairwell shots:

 

Rain’s coming……….

 

 

August 30

Dancing? Stomping bugs?

 

Oops! Not a bug – sorry!

 

The cinder block brigade (one just reached the top and the next one was just placed on the first level:

 

It looks a lot better in a video:

 

 

“Hmmm………I wonder what I could smack with this” (as he looks down to the right):

 

These two stairwell shots were taken 3hr and 45 minutes apart (to show the growth in that period):

 

Here’s how the project looked at the end of August (the 31st was a Sunday):

 

Third-floor work continues into September.

 

So it’s 10am on a Saturday morning and I’m relaxing on the sofa reading my local newspaper on my iPad when I’m suddenly jolted by a blast of loud music. It sounds like it might be coming from the apartment below me, but I’ve never heard a peep from them before.

I stuck my head out of my living room window to check the direction………and it’s NOT coming from another apartment. It’s coming from a block-and-a-half south of me!

It’s coming from the Middle School field and someone is trying to speak over the loud music with an over-amplified microphone that could be heard for blocks around.

I think she identified herself as the Middle School principal as she welcomed the crowd to:

 

Many of the activities were not visible to me, but they ALL were highly audible.

Before they started, I saw this interesting seating arrangement:

 

Later, when I heard the call for this event, I tripoded the camera. I missed the first few eliminations, but took it all the way to the end. Dunno if there was a prize or not (“King of the Tush-Push”?):

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

 

The last bit of major excitement (?) was the “Catch-The-Water-Balloon” competition. When the girl in the middle-left didn’t catch it dry, I caught the moment:

 

The final ONE SECOND of this extraordinary event?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIkDSUepw0A

 

 

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more exciting, a seemingly-endless list of winning raffle ticket numbers droned on and on…………

 

Which reminds me…………..

Maybe this’ll be the year they finally figure out how to keep internal announcements internal when there’s absolutely NO ONE outside? People 4 blocks away don’t need to hear that some student needs to report to the nurse’s office:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAoyih2OdKk

 

Maybe this’ll also be the year they realize that many of their outside lights are poorly-aimed and/or not properly-shielded and should not be shining brightly on the interior walls of apartments 2 blocks away and 7 floors up? Note that the first one was taken on Christmas Day, the second one was taken just after midnight and click the last one TWICE to fully-enlarge).

You’d think that institutions filled with highly-educated people would understand about light pollution and light trespass, but so far, no one is paying attention (and they’ve been sent NUMEROUS pictures……….including the above three).

 

But I’ll keep trying……………..what other choice IS there?

 

 

When this band’s 1983 Uncle Floyd Show appearance was featured on “This Was The Uncle Floyd Show” on StageIt.com on August 12, 2025, it got a favorable reaction. Their name didn’t ring a bell with me (I was the show’s photographer at the time), so I checked the archive master list – and sure enough – I shot their performance during the October 17, 1983 taping of the show.

I dug up the B&W negatives and contact sheet and picked these three images to scan:

 

But I noticed something else interesting in the contact sheet: some really good images I took during the rest of that day’s taping – images that had never been used, scanned, printed or even SEEN anywhere else before.

The band was not well-known and I had no other reason to revisit this shoot, so the negs sat untouched/unviewed in the file cabinet for over 40 years.

Some of the bits and cast members (and puppets!) shown on that contact sheet are still well-known and beloved today: Mrs. Brillohead (!), Julia StepChild, Jerry Jersino, Ricardo Romantico, his girlfriend Weenie (she wishes) and Looney Skip Rooney.

 

Let’s start with Mrs. B (“ah, look, Buster…”):

 

Julia:

 

Two Weenie bits:

 

Two shots of Jerry:

 

One very cool shot of Ricardo (this is not a posed shot – just a lucky candid):

 

Floyd, Weenie, and an off-(TV)camera Skip, who’s probably the phone voice talking to Floyd:

 

I was very happy to find these shots………..and that got me thinking: these are from ONE roll of B&W film (Roll #110, if you’re interested). I have almost 200 of these rolls, plus at least a thousand color slides. I wonder what else might be in there. These days, I might have the time to go through them all, but then what?

That would be a TON of scanning, but toward what end? I’ve been out of the business for over 30 years, so I’ve lost all my contacts, including book publishers.

 

Any good, realistic ideas out there? When (and if) I sell my archive, it’ll be all out of my hands, so I’m putting it out there to loyal Floydians now to see what you guys think is possible while I still have control of everything.

 

Feel free to leave any comments below. If you prefer to keep it private, there’s a contact info link on bobleafe.com.

 

One last thing that I found out while researching the band: Jose Loo, who is listed as Line Drive’s singer (but maybe not when the band was on UFS), had a stroke in June 2023, is in a rehab facility and cannot work.

Sound familiar?

 

(“Send any extra notes – as StageIt calls them – to……………….”)

 

 

July 1 – In the air and on the ground:

 

 

July 2 –

 

To build in a corner that adjoins another property, they had to carry lumber down the street and go through that other property’s parking garage entrance (at least that’s what it looked like to me) (Click all to enlarge):

(Note diagonal lumber on green-shirted guy’s shoulder behind garage gate in middle picture)

 

Higher-than-traffic-lights load:

 

Similar load with new orange component (What the heck is THAT for?)

(Uhhh…………the answer’s in the previous pic, dumbass.)

 

 

July 3 –

 

Me shooting before 6:30am? How’s THAT for dedication?

(Uhhh…….it doesn’t beat the concrete pumper driver)

 

The pumper seemingly reaches crosstown:

 

At this distance (2 blocks) and with so much construction in the way, it’s VERY difficult to actually SEE (and capture) wet concrete coming out of the tube, but these two shots do that………especially the top one, thanks to that orange component from yesterday (so THAT’S what it’s for! Thanks, guys, for keeping my photography in mind!)

3. 

 

The pumper’s arm reaches WAY into the unseen (from my apartment) northeast corner of the property as 3 concrete mixer trucks stand by.

 

Ever heard of a concrete Zamboni? According to Ai:

A “concrete Zamboni” is a nickname for a ride-on power trowel, a piece of construction equipment used to smooth and finish concrete surfaces. Just like a Zamboni smooths and resurfaces ice, a power trowel uses rotating blades to create a smooth, level concrete slab. 

Here’s the one for this project, at rest and in use:

 

After use, it gets covered up in case it rains:

 

Smart move:

 

From a distance, I could see a moving creature in a green shirt and an interesting hat, carrying something large over his/her head. I started shooting – just in case – and sure enough, the item was tossed – hopefully onto someone else’s property (click to enlarge):

 

 

July 4 – No work today – well, not for everyone else anyway, so a good day for a perimeter walk……….or what’s left of it. In the last pic (east side, Main St), you can tell there’s not going to be much to see from the ground anymore as the structure rises (click some to enlarge):

Fortunately, I don’t live on the ground floor of my building, so I’ll be shooting everything else for a while…………

 

 

July 6 – An overall view from my living room:

 

 

July 7 – FIVE visible concrete mixer trucks standing by to service the pumper:

 

 

July 8 – Well, this was rather ominous-looking………..

 

……….until I zoomed back:

 

Concrete pumper and construction materials truck wait their turn on State St:

 

Distant concrete hose placements (but not a single visible drop of concrete):

 

 

July 10 – Not sure, but that might be an elevator shaft near the corner of Main St and Passaic St:

(NOTE FROM 2 MONTHS LATER: I visited the site on September 15  and found out that this is the stairwell. The elevator shaft is the structure to its left.)

 

Rebar and what looks like yellow wooden planks get carried all over the site:

 

July 11 – Watch your heads, guys:

 

What looks like a steel plate gets dropped into place:

 

 

July 12 – More luggin’ stuff around………

 

Another perimeter stroll (click to enlarge):

 

New Main St view (click to enlarge):

Looks like third-floor orange fencing is the only new thing to be seen in this view to the west (unless you want to include that ominous cloud in the center).

 

 

July 15 – More rebar and other interesting shapes:

 

 

July 16 – Another second-floor reachover:

 

I’m guessing you gotta master the power trowel before you get to ride the concrete Zamboni:

 

Dunno what caused this dust cloud, but gotta get a picture of it just in case……………

 

 

July 17 – All kinds of colors and shapes today:

 

 

July 18 – Same thing today:

 

 

July 19 – I’m running out of things to say, so just look at the pix:

 

 

July 20 –

Finally – something different! I saw this on the western perimeter (State St side). It appeared to be metal on a large metal sheet. I’m guessing it’s one in a series of plates in a grid:

I asked about it, but got no answer. Maybe I should ask (I)NGrid.

 

 

July 21 

 

 

July 22 –

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OORcOUPxUIc

 

 

July 23

 

   

 

July 24

 

July 25 

 

 

July 26 – LOTTA good stuff in this one, including SEVEN images of visible pumped concrete (look at the workers’ feet – they’re all standing in several inches of wet cement), ONE image showing SEVEN cement mixers, power trowels, a covered, concrete Zamboni and a video of that UNcovered Zamboni being taken for what looks like a joyride:

 

 

July 28:

 

July 29:

(click to enlarge)

 

July 30:

 

 

July 31 –

You may have noticed that – unlike the previous couple of months – there was no highlight worth spotlighting. This last day of the month may have had a subtle one.

It started raining in late afternoon. I saw a couple of flashes of lightning and heard lots more thunder.

As it was getting near quitting time, I expected the guys to call it a day.

But something else seemed to be going on in one area. Guys had been bringing out those yellow planks and their pace seemed to accelerate. It’s like they had a large quantity of these things and they had to bring them all out, come hell or high water………….or lightning.

I have no way of knowing if they got them all out or even if any of this was true, but it appeared to be very inspiring.

That’s why there are a whole bunch of pictures of them carrying these planks toward the end of this day. They just looked very devoted to gettin’ it done.

Is that a highlight? Take a look. If it’s all true, maybe…………

I photographed Ozzy lots of times and I’ve been trying to figure out how I want to pay proper tribute. Then I realized most of my favorite Ozzy shots are already on my site, but rather than send out a link to that – which few would bother clicking – I’m just gonna steal from myself and put my faves here.

Besides the photo, the site’s image SKU number and the story behind each pic is already included, so this’ll be easy.

Ready?

 

On August 27, 1978, Ozzy’s Black Sabbath headlined over new band Van Halen at Madison Square Garden:

I shot this from record company seats.

 

 

On May 2, 1981, Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz headlined at NYC’s Palladium (Motorhead was the opener):

 

 

Ozzy played The Ritz in Manhattan on September 26 and 27, 1982. This was taken on the 27th:

This show was recorded for his “Speak of the Devil” album.

 

 

On May 29, 1983, Ozzy played the Us Festival in California (at 3 days-long, it was the biggest show I ever shot):

 

On January 22, 1984, Ozzy headlined at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ over Motley Crue and Waysted:

 

On January 30, 1984, Ozzy headlined over the Crue once again, this time at Madison Square Garden:

 

After the show, these next two pictures were taken at a fun party at the Limelight:

 

On January 23, 1986, Ozzy and Sharon showed up at ATI Studios in Manhattan, but I don’t recall what they did there (and neither does AI! All that my notes say is “TV taping”)………but whatever it was, I got a couple of cool shots out of the deal:

 

 

On April 21, 1986, there was a great double bill in East Rutherford, NJ: Ozzy and Metallica!

 

 

Seven days later, the two bands did it again at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, NY:

 

 

On December 15, 1987, we were introduced to Ozzy’s new guitarist – Zakk Wylde – at the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan:

 

 

December 5, 1988 found Ozzy at Nassau Coliseum and me taking this picture, which became the front cover of the June 1989 issue of Guitar World magazine:

 

 

I got two more goodies at that show:

 

Finally, we finish up on June 25, 1989 back in the Meadowlands at my last Ozzy shoot. He did me the honor of looking right at me while he dumped a bucket of water on his head. Good timing on both our parts!

 

Thanks, Ozzy…………It’s been a real blast!