232 Crazies: Fan group at New Jersey Devils games. They sit in Section 232 in the East Stand Balcony at the Prudential Center in Newark. They used to be the 228 Crazies, for their section at the Meadowlands Arena. But, like the Bleacher Creatures having to move from Section 39 to Section 203 at the new Yankee Stadium, they had to change their number. They're rowdy, but they're not
that
crazy -- unless you're a Ranger fan or a Flyer fan who wants to start something.
They should not be confused with the Devils Fan Club, who sit in Section 11 in the lower level of the southwest corner of The Rock.
A.C.: See "Atlantic City."
Action Park: An amusement park in Vernon, Sussex County, in the northernmost part of New Jersey. It opened in 1978, and the TV commercials for it made it look like a lot of fun.
I never went. It wasn't because my mother was cheap and my father always caved in to her cheapness. It was partly because Great Adventure was closer. But it was also because the place was genuinely dangerous. Between the ski-themed Alpine Center, the go-kart and motorcycle-themed Motorworld, and Waterworld, there were so many accidents, it became known as "Accident Park," "Traction Park".and "Class Action Park." There were 6 deaths in 18 years, before the lawsuits piled up, and it was finally closed in 1996.
It was bought, revamped, and reopened as Mountain Creek Waterpark in 1998. The name was changed back to Action Park in 2014, but the resulting bad publicity got the Mountain Creek name restored in 2016. New Jersey Route 94.
Next-door was New Jersey's only major ski resort, Vernon Valley Great Gorge, now also named Mountain Creek. See its entry.
Aldrin, Buzz: Born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on January 20, 1930 in Glen Ridge, Essex County, and grew up in adjoining Montclair. Buzz was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, and, on July 20, 1969, followed mission commander Neil Armstrong to become the 2nd man, and the only New Jerseyan, to walk on the Moon.
As of this writing, he is still alive, and active on Twitter despite approaching his 90th birthday.
Atlantic City: A resort city on the Jersey Shore, in Atlantic County, connected to the mainland by U.S. Route 30 (the White Horse Pike), the Atlantic City Expressway, U.S. Route 40/322 (the Black Horse Pike), and New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line. The luxury hotels there inspired the world's 1st boardwalk, in 1870, so people coming off the beach would track less sand into the hotels.
Many of the streets of Atlantic City gave their names to the board game Monopoly, introduced in 1935. This includes 4 railroads that had lines going there: The Pennsylvania, the Reading, the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) and the Short Line (based on the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad, a streetcar line that went from A.C. to Ocean City).
Also known as a hub for organized crime starting in the Prohibition Era, 1920-33, since it was distant enough from New York (120 miles) and Philadelphia (60 miles) to make it not really worth the law's effort to go down there, but close enough so that people who wanted to drink and party could go down there for a couple of days.
By the 1970s, it had become really run-down, and in 1976 voters approved legalized gambling, the 1st in the country outside Nevada, for the City of Atlantic City, in the hopes that it would revitalize the city. It began in 1978, and organized crime quickly took that over.
The revitalization worked, to a point: The neighborhoods away from the casinos were not helped much. As the comedian Alan King, who worked there both before and after, put it, "They spent $8 billion on the casinos, and 11 bucks on the rest of the city!"
This dichotomy inspired "Atlantic City," a 1980 film; and "Atlantic City," a 1982 song by Bruce Springsteen: "The Chicken Man" was Philadelphia Mob boss Phil Testa, and his enemies really did blow him up, and blow up his house, too, on March 15, 1981. (I guess no one told him to "Beware the Ides of March.") See "Springsteen, Bruce."
It also inspired Donald Trump to make his earliest big real-estate deals outside New York City. None of this made the parts of the city away from the casino-hotels any better, and a tunnel that Trump wanted resulted in a lot of people losing their homes. As a result, when Trump ran for President in 2016, he got just 44 percent in Atlantic County, most of that in the rural areas on the mainland, not on the island that includes Atlantic City. (He got 41 percent in the State overall, winning 9 of the 21 Counties, all of them majority-rural.)
The Miss America Pageant began on the Boardwalk in 1921. In 1929, Convention Hall opened, and it hosted the Pageant from 1933 until 1997, when it was moved to the new Atlantic City Convention Center. It was held there until 2004, then moved to Las Vegas. (See "Boardwalk Hall.")
Atlantic City is accessible by Parkway Exits 37 to 40.
Atlantic City Expressway: The only toll road in South Jersey, operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority. The section from Turnersville to the Parkway was opened in 1964, and from the Parkway to Atlantic City in 1965. It was designed to alleviate traffic on U.S. Route 30, and to give people in South Jersey and Philadelphia easier access to Atlantic City.
Its eastern terminus is in downtown Atlantic City, and as it goes westward and northward, its exit numbers rise sequentially. Exit 5 connects it with U.S. Route 9, and Exit 7 with the Garden State Parkway. It terminates in Washington Township, Gloucester County (it's listed as "Turnersville"), merging with New Jersey Route 42, allowing access to the Turnpike and Interstates 76 and 295.
Atlantic City Line: New Jersey Transit's only local/commuter rail line in South Jersey, it opened in 1989, replacing the old Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line that ran from 1933 to 1976. Its irregular runs and frequent closings due to much-delayed maintenance are an unfortunate fact of life for Philadelphians and South Jerseyans wanting to reach Atlantic City and other beach towns.
It starts at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, where transfers are available to Amtrak and SEPTA. It then runs north and east across Center City, and crosses the Delaware River, before reaching the new (2013) Pennsauken Transit Center, where a transfer to the Trenton-to-Camden River Line is available. It goes to Cherry Hill, and then to Lindenwold, where a transfer to PATCO is available. From here, it is paralleled by U.S. Route 30 (the White Horse Pike) and New Jersey Transit Bus 554.
It moves on to Hammonton, Egg Harbor City, Absecon, and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal, which has the convenient official street address of 1 Atlantic City Expressway. Unfortunately, to get to most of the casinos and the boardwalk, you have to go through the Atlantic City Convention Center and around the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel.
Atlantic City Surf: See "Trenton Thunder."
Bamberger's: A department store chain founded in Newark in 1892 by Louis Bamberger and 2 of his brothers-in-law. In 1929, he sold the chain to Macy's, who kept the Bamberger's name (and the "Bam's" nickname) in New Jersey, while Macy's stores were only in New York. But in 1986, Macy's renamed all the Bamberger's stores "Macy's."
Bayonne Bridge: See "New York, Crossings Into."
Beggel: What South Jersey calls a bagel.
Ben Franklin Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Benny: What people who live full-time in Shore towns in Monmouth and Ocean Counties call day-trippers from New York City and North Jersey. Such people used to ride down the New York & Long Branch Railroad, now New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line. These travelers tended to come from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark and New York -- hence, "BENNY."
The locals despise these people. Compare "Shoobie."
Bergen County Line: Known as the Bergen Line for short, this is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail line, serving the County of the same name, and replacing a line of the former New York and Erie Railroad.
It begins at the Hoboken Terminal, and intersects with the Northeast Corridor and the North Jersey Coast Line at Secaucus Junction. It then stops at Rutherford, Westmont in Wood-Ridge, Garfield, Plauderville, Broadway and Radburn in Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Ridgewood, Ho-Ho-Kus, Waldwick, Allendale, Ramsey and Mahwah.
At Mahwah, it crosses the New York State Line, and, in co-operation with Metro-North Commuter Railroad, it continues as the Port Jervis Line in Rockland County: Suffern, Sloatsburg, Tuxedo, Harriman, Salisbury-Mills Cornwall, Campbell Hall in Hamptonburgh, Middletown-Town of Wallkill, Otisville and Port Jervis.
Betsy Ross Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Bloomfield: A Township in Essex County, where I spent the 1st 3 years of my life. Adjacent to Newark, where my parents are from. Although there's a nice Methodist Church, which is one reason my parents decided to live there, the town is mostly Catholic, Italian 1st, Irish 2nd. It's not a suburb, but it's not a small town, either. It's more like 4 or 5 small towns strung together.
The Leo Building, 2 Broad Street,
"the Six Points," downtown Bloomfield
The town famously refused to allow
The Sopranos to film there, until they finally got an offer they couldn't refuse. The series finale's famous final scene was shot at Holsten's, at Broad Street and Watchung Avenue. On the show, it looks like a diner. It's actually an ice cream parlor, and it's wonderful. Parkway Exits 148 to 151.
Blue Law: See "Paramus."
Boardwalk: Wooden planks separating street from beach in Shore towns. They usually have buildings on them, including changing rooms, showers, rest rooms, stores, restaurants, game arcades, and small amusement parks. And, yes, permanent, if small, houses that serve as second homes for people from elsewhere with a few bucks to blow.
Some Jersey Shore towns have only a boardwalk, and little shower stalls on the beach in front of them, and no stores, restaurants or amusements. Others have such businesses, but are separated from the boardwalk by a street, usually named "Ocean Avenue" or "Beach Avenue."
But when New Jerseyans say, "Boardwalk," they mean the full thing, like you find in Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Wildwood, etc. When they go to coast communities in other States, and see boardwalks but nothing like the places previously mentioned, they get very disappointed.
Boardwalk Hall: South Jersey's largest arena, it opened in 1929 as Convention Hall. It is best known as the most-frequent site of the Miss America Pageant. It hosted the Democratic National Convention from August 24 to 27, 1964. On August 30, it hosted The Beatles, their only concert in New Jersey. (Elvis Presley never played a concert in New Jersey.)
It was renovated in 2001, including wider seats, reducing capacity to 10,500; and renamed Boardwalk Hall. In 2013, it began hosting Miss America again. While the Pageant is still headquartered in Atlantic City, this year's Pageant was moved to another casino base, Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Boardwalk Hall has hosted many prizefights, including, in 1988, Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson's defeat of former Champ Larry Holmes and his 91-second demolition of Michael Spinks. In 1990, former Heavyweight Champion George Foreman knocked out Gerry Cooney, who had given Holmes a tough fight for the title in 1982. It was promoted by Don King as "The War at the Shore," but, given that Foreman was 41 and Cooney 33, and that the Hall is next-door to Caesars Atlantic City, it was called "Two Geezers at Caesars." The following year, Foreman fought current Champ Evander Holyfield, but lost.
In 2017, the arena was renamed Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, for the Mayor who served from 1990 to 2001 and got it renovated, and died earlier in the year while serving in the State Senate. Parkway Exit 38.
Boss, The: See "Springsteen, Bruce."
Brick City: See "Newark."
Burlington-Bristol Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Calhoun Street Bridge: "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Camden: A City across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, namesake of Camden County, of which it is the seat. The things that turned American cities around in the 1990s seem to have passed it by, as it remains terribly poor. It's the kind of city where they say the crime rate is finally going down because there's nothing left to steal. Turnpike Exits 3 and 4.
Camden, with the Philadelphia skyline
and the Ben Franklin Bridge in the background
Do not let this deter you from visiting other places in Camden County, such as Haddonfield and Cherry Hill. On the other hand, if you've been to Haddonfield or Cherry Hill and enjoyed it, remember that Camden City is also in Camden County.
Camden Riversharks: See "Trenton Thunder."
Cape May: The town at the southern tip of the State, and they sell T-shirts advertising themselves as the southern terminus of the Parkway: "Exit 0." (Compare Montauk, at the eastern end of Long Island: Their T-shirts read, "The End.") Cape May calls itself America's 1st beach resort, and many of its Victorian-era (1837-1901) houses still stand, and some are even open to tourists.
While it does have a boardwalk, it's not lined with shops and games. That starts a couple of blocks inland, including the Washington Street mall.
Because of its comparative isolation -- 159 miles from Times Square, 141 miles from the Rutgers Student Center, 122 miles from the State House in Trenton, 92 miles from Center City Philadelphia, and even 47 miles from the Atlantic City casinos -- it tends to resist outside influences. It's not a suburb of either New York or Philly. Cape May City doesn't even resemble most of Cape May County: While the County (except for Shore towns like Ocean City and Wildwood) is largely rural and conservative, Cape May City, mainly because it needs to attract tourists, is open and liberal.
Since 1964, the Cape May-Lewes Ferry has connected North Cape May in Lower Township with Lewes, Delaware, across 17 miles of Delaware Bay. Fare: $21 per car, and $8.00 per passenger therein, so $29.
Cape May Ferry Terminal
Central Jersey: In terms of geography, the Counties of Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex and Monmouth. In terms of population, Interstates 78 and 195 are convenient dividers, although that places parts of Hunterdon and Somerset in North Jersey; part of Ocean in Central Jersey; and parts of Mercer and Monmouth in South Jersey.
Other convenient, but hardly definitive, determinants are Area Codes and ZIP Codes. If your Area Code is 732 or 848, chances are, you live in Central Jersey. The 908 Area Code makes that a little tricky. And if your ZIP Code starts with 085 or 087, you could live in Central Jersey; if it starts with 086, 088 or 089, you definitely do.
People here root for the New York Tri-State Area sports teams: The Yankees more so than the Mets, the Giants more so than the Jets, the Devils more so than the Rangers, and the Red Bulls more so than New York City FC, in each case by about a 2-1 margin. In spite of the Nets' New Jersey tenure (1977-2012), the Knicks are overwhelmingly more popular, and Islanders fandom has faded tremendously since they stopped winning Stanley Cups in the mid-1980s.
But when you get to Mercer County, the southern parts of Hunterdon and Mercer, and the western part of Monmouth, this begins to change. Fans of the Philadelphia teams begin to show up regularly. In these areas, it's more like this: Yankees 50 percent, Mets 30, Phillies 20; Giants 40, Eagles 30, Jets 20; Knicks 50, 76ers 40, and the rest made up of the Nets and whichever team LeBron James is playing on at the moment; Devils 50, Flyers 30, Rangers 20; Red Bulls 50, Union 30, NYCFC 20.
If you have to fly, chances are, you do so out of Newark Liberty International Airport; but you may have discovered that doing so out of Philadelphia International Airport could be cheaper, although you're less likely to get a nonstop flight.
Some people in North Jersey say that Central Jersey doesn't exist. Some say that Central Jersey, by the definition I've given, is part of North Jersey. Others say it's part of South Jersey.
Central Railroad of New Jersey: Founded in 1849 by the merger of the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad and the Somerville and Easton Railroad, the "Jersey Central Lines" built a terminal at Jersey City in 1889, which is now part of Liberty State Park. From there, passengers could take the Communipaw Ferry to Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan.
The Reading Railroad bought the Jersey Central in 1901, but kept its name on all its existing lines. The railroad went bankrupt in 1967, and its operations were taken over by Penn Central. (See their entry.) New Jersey Transit now operates the North Jersey Coast Line and the Raritan Valley Line over former Jersey Central trackage.
Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge: "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Chairman of the Board: See "Sinatra, Frank."
Circle: See "Traffic Circle."
City, The: The New York City Borough of Manhattan. Even people from the Outer Boroughs of New York City (not so much The Bronx, but definitely Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island) tend to say, "I'm going into The City" when they mean "I'm going to Manhattan." Nobody calls Philadelphia "The City," unless they live in, like, Lancaster, or someplace like that.
Turnpike Exits 14C (for the Holland Tunnel), 16E (for the Lincoln Tunnel) and 18E (for the George Washington Bridge).
Commodore Barry Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Crazy Eddie: A chain of electronics stores that began in Brooklyn in 1971, founded by Eddie Antar. In 1972, Jerry Carroll, a disc jockey at New York radio station WPIX-FM, then the call letters for 101.9 on the FM dial -- "Champions of the new Rock 102!" -- read an ad on the air, and put a little emphasis on the tagline: "Crazy Eddie: His prices are in-sane!"
Antar was listening, called Jerry at the station, and said he wanted Jerry to do all his ads from then on. Jerry ended up doing 7,500 separate radio and TV ads. The radio ads tended to be 1 minute long, with Jerry yelling over a recording of Giaochino Rossini's
William Tell Overture (a.k.a. the Lone Ranger theme): "Shop around! Get the best prices you can find! Then go to Crazy Eddie, and he'll beat 'em!"
The TV ads were about 30 seconds, and showed Jerry standing in front of electronic equipment, usually wearing a navy blue blazer and a light blue turtleneck, and waving his hands or shaking his fists at the camera when he got to the end: "In-saaaane!"
Jerry Carroll. Not a crook.
I say, "usually," because he would sometimes put on costumes depending on the theme of the sale, including as Santa Claus (but never with the fake white beard) for the Christmas Sale and the Christmas In August Sale. At first, Jerry took the Santa hat off, and looked at it, and said, "In August?" As if Eddie had finally gotten too crazy even for him. The next year, an unseen audience would yell, "In August?" And Jerry would enthusiastically respond, "In August!"
By 1978, Eddie had opened his 6th store, and Jerry was seen getting shaken up: "Get ready for another Earth-shattering grand opening! Crazy Eddie is coming to Route 18 in East Brunswick, New Jersey!" I was excited: The only previous store in New Jersey was on Route 17 in Paramus, and now, it was coming to my hometown. Eventually, Crazy Eddie would have 43 stores.
On December 23, 1982, just after my 13th birthday, having finally saved up the $197 necessary -- about $519 in today's money -- I went there and bought the Atari 5200 SuperSystem, the new king of video games. It was the happiest day of my childhood. And every time I had saved up $20 and could buy a new game for it, it was a toss-up between that Crazy Eddie store and the Toys R Us half a mile up Route 18.
But, like a lot of big things in the New York Tri-State Area in the 1980s, it all came crashing down. In 1987, Eddie Antar began to be investigated for a lot of fraud, and all the stores had closed by 1989. Eventually, he made a plea deal, and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Jerry Carroll has never been suspected of any involvement in any of the company's criminal activity, but he also took a public beating, because, as the face of the franchise, people thought
he was Crazy Eddie, and thus thought he was a crook. He recovered enough to start a successful advertising agency, but wisely doesn't do his own commercials. Antar died in 2016. Some members of his family have made attempts to revive the chain, both brick-and-mortar and online, but the trademark has now lapsed, and it's unlikely we'll ever see a new Crazy Eddie store.
Cruise, Tom: Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York, he lived there and in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, before his mother took him to Glen Ridge, Essex County, as a teenager. He caught the acting bug in Ottawa, and acted in plays at Glen Ridge High School before going on to become one of America's greatest actors, but also one of its strangest celebrities. His courtroom duel with fellow New Jerseyan Jack Nicholson in the film version of
A Few Good Men is a classic.
"I want the truth!"
"Here it is: You're nuts! I told you, you can't handle the truth!"
I have a friend who was a freshman at Glen Ridge High when Cruise was a senior. They didn't know each other. She remembers him as "weird, but quiet." I asked her, "What happened to quiet?" She didn't know.
Cummon, Willya?: Jersey Accent for "Come on, will you?" In other words, "Hurry up!"
DeFuque: A contraction of "What the fuck?" An expression occasionally preceded by "Pardon my French, but... " as it sounds French.
Delaware Memorial Bridge: See "Twin Span." See also "State Line."
Delaware River-Turnpike Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Delaware Water Gap: Short for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, straddling the Delaware River at Walpack, Sussex County, New Jersey and Lehman, Pike County, Pennsylvania. It contains campgrounds and scenic areas. A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range and still carries water today. Such a formation where water no longer flows is called a wind gap, and there is a nearby town in Pennsylvania called Wind Gap.
Don't let the name fool you: It's named for the River, not the State. It's 117 miles from the Delaware-Pennsylvania State Line. Accessible by Interstate 80.
Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
DEVCO: See "New Brunswick."
Diner: If you're from North Jersey, this is where you go in the middle of the night and you wake up hungry and there's nothing in the fridge, and a bag of chips from 7-Eleven just won't do the business for you. Compare "Wawa."
The Nevada Diner, Bloomfield
This could also be place you take a first date. If she likes you enough to give you a second date, you may have later dates at a diner at your own risk. But if she's not from Jersey, don't take her to one until she gets to know you a lot better.
The Colonial Diner, East Brunswick
In my hometown of East Brunswick, we have the Colonial Diner, rated as one of the best in the State. (There's also a Colonial Diner in Lyndhurst.) We also have the Seville Diner, which is 2 miles south of the Colonial on Route 18, and not nearly as good. Previously, it was known as the Red Fox Diner. This was in the 1970s, when Redd Foxx was starring on
Sanford & Son. The joke was that it was called the Redd Foxx because if you eat their stuff, you'll grab your chest and say, "This is the big one!"
Diners are the reason Waffle House doesn't dare come into New Jersey. They may also be the reason that it took so long for Wawa to make inroads into the New York part of New Jersey.
Dingman's Ferry Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
Dinky: See "Princeton."
Disco Fries: French fries topped with gravy and melted mozzarella cheese. Considerably more popular in the New York suburbs of North Jersey than in the rest of the State, particularly in diners. I left Bloomfield in Essex County for East Brunswick in Middlesex County at the age of 3, so I have never had this stuff. But it's gotta be better than poutine, the Quebec variation with cheese curds. Compare "Fries."
"Disco Fries" is also the name of the music production unit consisting of New Yorkers Nick Ditri and Danny Boselovic.
DMV: See "MVS."
Doo Wop Motel: See "Wildwoods, The."
Double-Dipping: This has nothing to do with chips and dip. This is the practice of holding 2 different political offices at once, which is legal in New Jersey, as long as one of them is not at the federal level. For example: Bob Menendez, now in the U.S. Senate, served as both Mayor of Union City (in Hudson County, not Union County) and a member of the State Assembly. He had to resign both offices when he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Down the Shore: Going to a town with a nearby beach. In New Jersey, nobody says, "We're going to the beach," unless they're already in a beach town. We say, "We're going down the shore."
This is true whether we live in the suburbs of New York in North Jersey (taking the Parkway to Monmouth or Ocean County) or in the suburbs of Philadelphia in South Jersey (taking the Atlantic City Expressway to the Parkway to Atlantic or Cape May County), because the direction is going to be south (or southeast, and then south).
See also "Pizza."
Drawbridge: The bane of the existence of many a person trying to go Down the Shore. You see the bridge opening, and it takes forever, and you know it'll take just as long to re-close it. Finally, you see why the bridge is opening: A tiny little boat with a tall, thin mast. And you wonder where the Germans' U-boats are now that you need them.
Drumthwacket: The Governor's Mansion, not in the capital of Trenton but in Princeton. The odd-sounding name is supposedly a Scottish Gaelic name meaning "wooded hill." The house was built in 1835 by Charles Smith Olden, who served as Governor from 1860 to 1863. His widow sold it, and in 1893 it was expanded to its current structure.
In 1981, it became the official residence of the Governor, replacing Morven, up the road, historic home of the Stockton family, and the Governor's residence since Governor Walter Edge bought it in 1944. Both can be reached by Turnpike Exit 8.
East Brunswick: A Township in Middlesex County, where I grew up. A great place to live if you're a kid, or a grownup with a car. If you're a grownup without a car, it's not so good. Home to the Brunswick Square Mall. (See "Mall.")
Tower Center, off Exit 9 of the Turnpike and Route 18
Whoever laid the town out was an idiot, putting the Civic Center (including the Municipal Building, the Library and the Senior Center) 2 miles west of New Jersey Route 18, the town's main drag. Turnpike Exit 9 is located at the northern end of the Township, giving it great access to New York, but also making it feel like the ultimate "bedroom community" for New York commuters.
Marquee for the Brunswick Square Mall
East Brunswick had 5,000 residents in 1950, but 10,000 in 1960, and 34,000 in 1970. Today, it's got about 48,000, making it about the same size as my original hometown, Bloomfield. How are they different? East Brunswick people know they're in the suburbs, and they like it; Bloomfield people would punch you in the nose if you called their town a "suburb." Bloomfield is pasta, East Brunswick is pasta salad. East Brunswick has therapists, Bloomfield has bartenders.
The geography is also weird: East Brunswick and North Brunswick are both south of New Brunswick, South Brunswick is further south still, and there's no West Brunswick. If anything, North Brunswick should be South Brunswick, South Brunswick should be North Princeton, Franklin should be West Brunswick, Piscataway should be North Brunswick, Highland Park should be East Brunswick, and East Brunswick should be... I don't know, East Milltown? North Spotswood? South Edison?
Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge: See "Pennsylvania, Crossings Into."
East Pennsyltucky: See "Pennsyltucky."
East Philly: Pretty much any town in South Jersey that can be reached on the RiverLine. (See its entry.) In the Summer, this term can also be applied to Atlantic City and Wildwood.
Eatontown: A Borough in Monmouth County, home to about 13,000 people. From 1917 to 2011, it was home to the U.S. Army's Fort Monmouth. In 1960, Monmouth Shopping Center opened at the Eatontown Circle, where New Jersey Routes 35 and 36 and County Route 547 (Wyckoff Road).
In 1975, the shopping center was expanded, and was renamed Monmouth Mall, although some people still call it "Eatontown." This expansion made it unusual (as far as I know, unique) in that its original level was in one direction, while 2 new levels extended from the other, separated by stairwells and elevators. Parkway Exit 105.
Edison, Thomas: In the late 1870s, he invented the phonograph and the first practical light bulb at his laboratory in the Menlo Park section of Raritan Township, Middlesex County which was renamed Edison in 1954. ("Raritan" and "Washington" are popular town names in New Jersey.) Moved to West Orange, Essex County, where, in the 1890s, he became the 1st North American to build a working motion picture camera, and built the world's 1st movie studio.
He was a genius, who practically invented the 20th Century. He was also a bastard of a businessman, never hesitating to put his competitors of out of business, either through buying them out and claiming their accomplishments as his own, or using propaganda to scare their potential customers away.
The site of Edison's Menlo Park lab was replaced by the Edison Light Tower. Turnpike Exit 11 or Parkway Exit 132. For his West Orange lab, Turnpike Exit 15W or Parkway Exit 145.
Erie-Lackawanna Railroad: Formed by the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. It was known as The Friendly Service Route, and carried passenger rail from Hoboken Terminal across New Jersey to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and all the way to Buffalo, New York. This included a lot of coal country, and so the E-L, and the DL&W before it, was known as the Anthracite Route.
Damage to rail bridges by Hurricane Agnes doomed it in 1972, and Conrail took over its passenger operations in 1976. Today, former E-L routes are operated by New Jersey Transit as the Pascack Valley, Montclair-Boonton, Morristown and Gladstone Lines.
Exit: How you tell people where you live. You use the closest exit on either the New Jersey Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway. See their entries. This started as a joke by comedian Joe Piscopo, from North Caldwell, Essex County (Parkway Exit 148), and took on a life of its own.
If you don't do this, you're probably from the northwestern part of the State, where there's lots of space and not many people, and you wonder why people from the rest of the State called Chris Christie "mean."
Volume 2 follows.
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