2019 – Collections: Patches
………………………….((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:
What a great variety of patches! Funny! – Next, you should show all your concert passes.
What a great collection
Frank’s office? Some of these are hysterical!
Interesting, after the Felix the cat patch I only got blank squares ? Your posts are always entertaining, thanks Bob.