One of the people quoted, Israel Aponte, is said to own an exotic fish store. That's the pet shop that was on the corner of Newark and Jersey where the Pet Shop bar now is.

Also, Railroad Ave is now Colombis Ave.

I wonder how those original residents would feel now, jersey city has probably changed beyond their wildest imagination.

I don’t think any original residents were around in 1979. I think that would be more like 1579.

/s

>It was without that kind of agreement, Mr. Cucci said in an interview before the meeting, that the turnpike extension was built in 1948, 'splitting The Village and “starting the deterioration.”
>
>“The northern part couldn't have absorbed even 10 percent of the people who were displaced,” he said. “The turnpike destroyed the economic base of the community.”

So glad we don't do that anymore.

My dad was born and raised in jersey city and never left. I remember his favorite driving game was "That Place Used To Be a Bar". The changes were both a surprise and a reminder to just how much the neighborhoods he lived in had changed.

I moved here in 1988, downtown was not very safe then. I lived on Christopher Columbus Dr just off Jersey, on the same block as the bagel store (which opened a few years later), and for a while the building next door was a crack den (right on CC Dr!).

I bet you’ve seen a lot of change, I’ve been here since 2004 and never imagined to see what it’s become. Back then I was young and naive and wished it was “more fun like hoboken” and now I’m middle aged and want quiet and wondering why it’s so damn loud all the time…like hoboken.

one thing I always tell people is that there was so little here at that point, that if it was a holiday and you needed food, literally your only alternative was to take the PATH into Manhattan, as all of the few places to get food in Downtown JC were closed.

also I watched the second WTC tower come down that day, from Christopher Columbus Dr. I will never ever forget the collective gasp from the people filling the street around me, crazy.

I was even here for the earlier WTC bombing in 93, I was working nights in the city then and couldn't get to work because (of course) the PATH had shut down.

Railroad ave is a much cuter, better name

In 2004? Shoprite, La Conga, P&K, Tendershoot (now Oliva), Lee’s grocery, Key foods… they were all here then

in like 1990, but anything that did exist was not open on holidays.

once Big Chef (RIP) opened, they were usually open on holidays, but that was a little later.

also Key Food was quite disgusting for a long time, they have had a few changes of ownership over the years and I like the current one, but Pathmark where 99 Ranch is now was the place to go back then.

[deleted]

The end of the article mentions the interior of 'spice of Life,’ at 114 Brunswick Street, although there is no photo in this archive. That's the old Iris Records address. Does anybody remember what Spice of Life was?

I responded to that same person saying “I bet you’ve seen a lot of change”, why are you making me regret posting here?

Thanks for sharing, been in the first/Brunswick area for 3 years now and it's hard to imagine tons of shops and housing as described before the turnpike and schools came in. Hopefully the turnpike widening gets shut down, I feel like we almost got rid of all the abandoned stuff over here in the last few years, hate to see regression.

I misread it, apologies. There were a couple of ways to interpret your reply, I picked the wrong one lol. It’s only reddit, No Ragrets! 😂

We should switch it back

Big Chef would treat you like royalty if you dined in.

There was a laundromat on 1st and Brunswick when I first moved to DTJC. Nicest shopkeeps!

I think Key Foods was a C Town when I moved here in 1995.

And more apt given there was a huge elevated railroad running down the middle of it.

From what I've seen the residents from the 1900s were mostly some of the poorest immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Poland who couldn't afford to leave after getting through Ellis Island. Most of the waterfront was docks and industrial, pretty much everything is an improvement. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82197.Five_Finger_Discount is a good read btw