Brunswick Square Mall: 1973-2026

Both films on this marquee opened on June 12, 1981.

So did Raiders of the Lost Ark, the 1st Indiana Jones film.

Unfortunately, this was also a day when a baseball strike began.

Two days ago, the Brunswick Square Mall closed.

I can't say "the Brunswick Square Mall as I knew it," because that was over a long time ago.

It opened on April 5, 1973, at the intersection of New Jersey Route 18 and Rues Lane (County Route 617). The 1st anchor store, the New Jersey institution Bamberger's, had already been open since September 10, 1970. The new Mall opened with just 16 stores.

Among the few debut stores were Walden Books, pharmacy CVS, and clothing stores Jeans West and Chess King. Eventually, they would be joined by Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby Shop, McCrory's, Kinney Shoes, The GAP Store (the first one to open in New Jersey), record stores Sam Goody and Harmony Hut, Spencer Gifts (the oldest store left in the Mall at the end, but by then in its 5th different location), and many more tenants. JCPenney opened in the Autumn of that year, as the Mall's 2nd anchor store.

In the early days, the Mall had a tropical paradise-themed atmosphere, with many trees planted throughout the building, as well as fountains near the entrance. In 1975, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor opened as the Mall's 1st major restaurant tenant, following smaller stores such as Bun-n-Burger, Orange Julius, Bresler's Ice Cream (advertising themselves as having 33 flavors, as opposed to Baskin-Robbins' 31), and Hot Sam pretzels, where my mother worked for a time.

The tunnel that led from the Mall concourse to Farrell's

Farrell's was followed by a cheap steak place called the Highlander, replaced by a York Steak House. On the grounds, but not attached to the main building, there would be a British railroad-themed restaurant called Victoria Station, which was eventually replaced by an Olive Garden. The only major burger chain ever to call the Mall home was Roy Rogers.

Aside from shopping and eating, the Mall provided some amenities to keep the experience a satisfying one, such as the two-screen Brunswick Square Cinema, as well as its ever-popular arcade, Fun-N-Games. The Mall was basically the anchor for much of the Route 18 corridor.

I grew up a mile down the hill from the Mall. If I had back half the quarters I pumped into the arcade games at Fun-N-Games... I could probably afford dinner and a movie at a mall now.

In 1986, after just 13 years, the golden age came to an end, as far as I was concerned, when Bamberger's was absorbed by parent company Macy's. I was between my junior and senior years at East Brunswick High School, and the Mall was a convenient halfway point between school and home. If I left the Mall at sunset, the orange glow from the Bamberger's sign would match the color of the sky perfectly. But when that sign was replaced by a Macy's sign, lit up in white, the effect just wasn't the same.

On May 6, 1993, the two-screen Brunswick Square Cinema shut down after General Cinema Corporation decided not to renew its lease. It then became the five-screen Movies at the Brunswick Square. Also, that same year, Ruby Tuesday opened, replacing Farrell's. By that point, Fun-N-Games and Kay-Bee were also gone. If there were truly glory days at Brunswick Square, they were irrevocably over.

The Mall was built, owned and operated by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation, based in Youngstown, Ohio. Edward DeBartolo Sr. owned the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, and his son Eddie owned the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

In 1996, the EJD Corporation was bought by the Simon Property Group, owned by brothers Melvin and Herbert Simon, who owned the NBA's Indiana Pacers. (As of April 5, 2022, Eddie DeBartolo Jr. is still alive, but had to sell the 49ers to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York; while Herbert Simon is still alive, and the sole owner of the Pacers.)

In 1999, an expansion took place, which added eight extra screens to the movie theater that became Mega Movies. A third anchor store was added, which was Barnes & Noble, which was necessary, since both Walden Books and B. Dalton Bookseller had gone out of business. In 2000, the physical interior of the Mall was renovated, which added new flooring, new skylights, and a mini-food court that was formerly occupied by Kinney Shoes.

In 2011, Mega Movies was bought out by Starplex Cinemas, which has been bought out by AMC Theaters. This theater includes new recliner seating. Starplex was also the first movie theater in New Jersey to test out seats that would move along with the action of the film.

In 2013, a new entrance was added, which opened up a Panera Bread, Tilted Kilt, and GoWireless. In 2016, Ruby Tuesday closed, and in its place are the restaurants Bar Louie and Red Robin. Also, that same year, Simon Property Group sold the mall to WP Glimcher. Tilted Kilt -- a weak knockoff of Bennigan's Irish pub theme and Hooters' skimpy-outfits-on-the-waitresses theme -- was a victim of COVID, and was replaced by The Twisted Crab.

Brunswick Square was never a top-tier mall -- and not just because, as a single-level facility, it doesn't have a top tier. (Macy's has 3 floors, and Penney's 2, but the rest of the Mall, only 1.) It has never been the equal of Middlesex County's other 2 malls, Menlo Park in Edison and Woodbridge Center. But for people in East Brunswick, South River, Old Bridge, Spotswood, Monroe, North Brunswick and Milltown, it has been an inescapable part of public life for half a century.

In 2025, as more and more stores, including the restaurants Red Robin and Bar Louie, left due to rising rents, the Township of East Brunswick approved a plan to redesign the Mall, giving it a more open feel, with residential buildings on the grounds. A similar plan is currently under construction with the Monmouth Mall, 25 miles to the southeast in Eatontown.

Ironically, Monmouth, Menlo Park, and Garden State Plaza in Paramus all had that original idea, but each replaced it with a fully-enclosed mall. The idea is to give Brunswick Square a "downtown shopping district" feel. East Brunswick has never really had a downtown. It has a Main Street, but it's hardly a main street, the way it is further down for the Boroughs of Spotswood and Helmetta.

On January 10, 2026 -- 52 years, 9 months and 5 days after the complex as a whole opened -- the Mall's interior closed. The conversion is underway. During it, Macy's, JCPenney, Barnes & Noble, and the theater will remain open.

I'm reminded of the words of Kris Kristofferson, in his song "For the Good Times":

Don't look so sad.

I know it's over.

But life goes on

and this old world

will keep on turning.

Let's just be glad

we had some time

to spend together.

There's no need to watch

the bridges that we're burning.

September 23, 1961: East Brunswick High School Football Debuts

September 23, 1961, 60 years ago: East Brunswick High School plays its first varsity football game. They beat Carteret High School, 7-0.

EBHS, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, 38 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan and 60 miles northeast of Center City Philadelphia, opened on September 8, 1958. Until then, public school students from the Township of East Brunswick attended South River High School, in the next-door town of the same name. E.B. experienced tremendous growth in the 1950s, and they knew even more was coming in the 1960s, so in 1955, they began building their high school. Two junior highs, eventually named for world statesmen Dag Hammarskjold and Winston Churchill, would open in 1961 and 1963, respectively.

When EBHS opened, it housed grades 6 through 9. Students in grades 10 through 12 were allowed to remain at South River. By the 1960-61 schoolyear, EBHS was ready to begin most varsity sports. In 1961-62, with grades 8 through 12, it was ready to begin varsity football.

James F. "Jay" Doyle was the school's 1st head coach in football, and also in wrestling, and also its 1st athletic director. He would coach the 1st 2 football seasons, then stick to coaching wrestling and running the athletic department. He died of a heart attack during Christmas Week 1972, only 41 years old. The school named its football stadium for him.

That stadium wouldn't be built until 1965. For the 1st 4 seasons, EBHS played on what became its practice field. As part of the 1998-2001 renovation of the school, that practice field and the varsity baseball field switched locations, so the baseball field, from the 1st base line to left field, is now the site of the 1st EBHS football field.

But that field would have to wait for the team's 2nd game, 2 weeks after its 1st. The opener was held at Carteret's field, names Walter B. Overholt Jr. Stadium, for a Carteret football player who died in service in World War II. With its distinctive overhanging roof, Overholt Stadium is known as "The Pit."

That nickname was not in place in 1961. The game in question was scoreless until the last 4 minutes, when a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Bill Gruver gave E.B. the lead. The Bears' defense held on for the win against the Ramblers.

The Bears would finish a respectable 4-4 that 1st season. They've won Conference Championships in 1966, '67, '68, '69, '70, '72, '84, '86, '87, '90 and '94; made the State Playoffs in 1980, '84, '85, '87, '88, '90, '94, '98, 2004, 2009 and '10; and won Central Jersey Group IV Championships in 1966, 1972, 2004 and 2009. However, that 32-year gap between 1972 and 2004 -- including my tenure there from September 12, 1984 to June 23, 1987 was full of moments that could lead people to think the program was cursed.

The program celebrates its 60th Anniversary this season. Under new coach Andy Steinfeld, things are looking up. (UPDATE: He guided them to their 1st Playoff berth in 11 years.)

How to Attend the East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving Game

This is a test. It's a test to see if I can write the most disgusting things about teams that I hate
objectively, with the help of crossing things out.

Tomorrow morning, Thursday, November 24, Thanksgiving Day, at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge, New Jersey, "The Battle of Route 18" will be played, the 23rd annual Thanksgiving game, and the 56th game overall, between my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School, and their arch-rivals, The Scum the school now known as Old Bridge High School.

This is a rivalry between the most angelic of good and the most despicable of evil a pair of teams, and a pair of towns, that really don't like each other, but it's hardly the nastiest high school football rivalry in the State of New Jersey. But it would be, if my school cared enough to realize what a bunch of disgusting slimeballs these guys in Old Bridge really are.

Before You Go. The temperature is expected to be in the high 40s or low 50s during the game. It will be cloudy, but no rain is predicted.

Same time zone. No passport or change of money required. Though you might want to bring a gas mask.

Tickets. $5.00 for adults. The stadium seats about 4,000 people. They will not sell out. After all, it's not the view that keeps people away, it's the smell.

Getting There. It's 38 miles from Midtown Manhattan to Carl Sandburg Middle School. (Yes, a middle school. I'll explain shortly. It's not that these guys are too dumb to get out of the 8th grade. Although that would be an understandable misconception.) A plane is not necessary. There is no train service there. (New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line does go through the Township of Old Bridge, but in the Laurence Harbor section on Raritan Bay, not near the school, and there's no station in Laurence Harbor, anyway.) And if there was train service in Old Bridge, bandits would probably rob the train.

New Jersey Transit does offer bus service, although, being a holiday, they offer less than usual. Bus 139, with a destination sign saying, "Lakewood," leaves from Gate 325, upstairs at the North Wing of Port Authority Bus Terminal. If you take the 9:00 bus, it will drop you off at Throckmorton Lane at 9:46. (Or so they say.) Turn left, cross the overpass over Route 9, and Throckmorton Lane becomes Ticetown Road. Then turn left into the school. You should arrive right before the 10:00 kickoff.

If you're driving, take the New Jersey Turnpike South to Exit 11, to the Garden State Parkway. Take the Parkway South to Exit 123, for U.S. Route 9 South. Take 9 to County Route 516 East. Just past the interchange for 9 & 516, on your right, is the ramp for the school. Be advised that this is a one-way street, and you will not be able to exit this way. Yet another way that Old Bridge is a fucked-up place. I'll explain how to get out later.

They really don't have enough parking, and you may end up parking next to the gym, a 5-minute walk from the stadium. Also, be aware of kids demanding 5 bucks to "watch your car." If you do it right, the trip should take you about 50 minutes.

Once In the Town. Separated from South Amboy in 1869 because South Amboy couldn't stand them anymore, the town was originally Madison Township, named for President James Madison, as the town to the west was named for President James Monroe. But objections from the Madison family confusion with Madison Borough in Morris County resulted. So a new name was selected in 1975.

For the new name, they chose not any of the localities actually in the town, such as Browntown, Sayre Woods, Cheesequake, Laurence Harbor, or the one that would have been the easiest to use, Madison Park. They chose Old Bridge -- which was an adjoining part of East Brunswick. To this day, the oldest established part of East Brunswick, the southeastern corner, is "The Old Bridge Historic District." In other words, the bastards stole it from us. I was not happy about that as a 6-year-old boy, when the change was made, and I'm not happy about it now.

Regardless, if you head south on New Jersey Route 18 from E.B. to O.B., you can see a rusty old sign that says, "Madison Jaycees Welcomes You," possibly the last remaining reminder of the old name. Maybe the school color should have been rust, because it would match lots of things in the town.

Like E.B., O.B. experienced massive growth from 1950 to 1970, necessitating the building of Madison Township High School in 1961 and then Cedar Ridge High School in 1968. And yet, when the name of the town was changed in 1975, instead of renaming MTHS "Old Bridge High School," they renamed it "Madison Central High School." True, it was roughly in the town's geographic center, but it was no longer in a town named Madison. Regardless, it was still called "Madison" for short.

Madison/Old Bridge would eventually build middle schools named for polio conqueror Jonas Salk and poet Carl Sandburg, and elementary schools named for astronauts. Except for Sandburg Gus Grissom, the "Mercury 7" astronaut killed in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, all of these men, including Salk, were still alive when the schools named for them were opened. Now, only Gemini 4 and Apollo 9 astronaut James McDivitt is still alive, age 87 as I write this. Maybe all those guys became astronauts so they could get as far away from Madison/Old Bridge as possible.

In the early 1990s, enrollment began to go down, so the 2 high schools were reconsolidated into 1. Madison Central had been the Spartans, navy blue and sky blue. Cedar Ridge had been the Cougars, green and gold. In anticipation of the 1994-95 schoolyear, the incoming students -- then freshmen, sophomores and juniors at Madison Central and Cedar Ridge -- chose the mascot Knights and the colors purple and black for the new Old Bridge High School.

At first, though, OBHS had the idiotic unwieldy experiment of the freshmen and sophomores attending the old Madison Central, as OBHS West Campus; and the juniors and seniors going to the old Cedar Ridge, as OBHS East Campus. Finally, they changed it up: The old Cedar Ridge and the adjoining Sandburg Middle School were redesignated Old Bridge High School, and what was Madison Central was given the Sandburg Middle School label.

Which led to the current status of a high school football team playing its home games at a middle school. There are several schools in New Jersey that do this, because the current middle/junior high school is the old high school, the new high school was built elsewhere in town, and they decided to keep the old stadium. New Brunswick just became one of these schools. But I know of 3 schools in the State that did it the other way around, building the new high school adjacent to the established stadium: Belleville in Essex County, and Woodbridge and Perth Amboy in Middlesex County.

At any rate, today, Old Bridge is home to about 67,000 people, making it about half again as large as East Brunswick. It's a more conservative town than most of Middlesex County, which generally votes Democratic. They even had a Republican Mayor named George Bush. Before that, he was President of the Township Council, and so there's a plaque in the Municipal Complex with "President George Bush" on it, from before either of the George Bushes you know was President of the United States. Despite this, Democrat Frank Pallone remains the Congressman for the 6th District, which includes Old Bridge.

The ZIP Code is 08857. The Area Code is 666 (actually, that Area Code is not used, nor will it ever be) 732, with 848 overlaid.

Old Bridge is served by New Jersey Transit bus lines 67 and 139, down U.S. Route 9; 138, a rush-hour-only line down N.J. Route 18; and 818, down County Route 516. A 1-zone bus ride is $1.60, and a 2-zone ride is $2.55.

New Jersey Transit bus 139, on the

northbound side of the Old Bridge Park & Ride,

its last stop before going into New York's

Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Going In. The official address of Old Bridge High School is 4209 Route 516, although, oddly enough, the mailing address is Matawan, an adjoining town in Monmouth County. I'm sure the people of Matawan are thrilled with that. But the stadium is at the former Madison Central, now Carl Sandburg Middle School, with the address being 3439 County Route 516, which does use the Old Bridge postal address. It's almost directly across Route 516 from the Municipal Complex. The schools are 2 miles apart.

The odd thing is that Cedar Ridge never had its own football stadium, and played every "home game" in its 25-season history of varsity football at the home of its greatest rival. Perhaps because of this "groundsharing," Vince Lombardi Field was the 2nd football stadium in Middlesex County to have lights, enabling one school to play on Friday night and the other on Saturday afternoon, just in case one school had to postpone a game until the other school's home weekend.

(Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick, which the now-defunct St. Peter's shared, was the 1st. Now, most high schools in Middlesex County have lights at their field. South River is a notable exception.)

They named the stadium Vince Lombardi Field after the legendary football coach who died in 1970. Although his wife was from Red Bank, and he coached at the now-defunct St. Cecilia's High School in Englewood, he had no connection to Old Bridge. They just wanted to honor the most popular man in the history of the NFL. If he ever spent any time in the town, he probably would have said, "What the hell's goin' on out here?"

The field is aligned north-to-south. Route 9 runs behind the west stand, which is the visitors' stand. Prior to the 2009 reconstruction, which involved leveling the entire shit pit  replacing the wooden stands with aluminum bleachers and replacing the natural grass field with an artificial one, it was the other way around, with the home fans on the west stand. But the locker room was behind the east stand, and the home players got tired of having to go past the visiting fans who, naturally, would have hated their guts, if the people of Old Bridge had any guts to hate tended not to like them.

The 2013 East Brunswick-Old Bridge game.

The Scum Knights won.

The field hosts some of OBHS' soccer and field hockey games, and their track meets. The high school, down Route 516, hosts their gym sports like basketball and wrestling, their baseball and softball games, their tennis matches, and some soccer and field hockey games.

Food. The concession stand is at the south end of the west stand. It's standard high school football game fare. Nothing special like Woodbridge High School's popcorn or the great nachos available at either of the Edison Township schools, Edison and J.P. Stevens. But also nothing particularly bad, like the foul hot dogs at Sayreville. (This is a shock, considering how disgusting Old Bridge is.)

Team History Displays. There aren't any. You'd have to walk into the actual high school, down the road, and look at the trophies in the cases and the banners in the gym.

East Brunswick went 17-14-2 against Madison Township/Madison Central from 1963 to 1993, and 16-3 against Cedar Ridge from 1969 to 1993. But they're just 3-19 on Thanksgiving Day against the merged Old Bridge High School. If you count Madison and Old Bridge as a single school, Old Bridge leads the series 33-20-2. If you count all games between East Brunswick and schools from Old Bridge, then the series is tied, 36-36-2.

Cedar Ridge beat Madison on a last-minute field goal to complete an undefeated Conference and State Championship season in 1973 -- their only title. That season included their 1st-ever win over EB, after dropping the 1st 4, including the biggest blowout win in EB history, 64-0 in 1969 in only the 5th game CRHS ever played.

Cedar Ridge also beat EB in 1975, and that year, the year of the Township's name change from Madison to Old Bridge, was the only season in which both schools beat EB. 1973 and 1975 were also the only years in which Cedar Ridge beat Madison on Thanksgiving. Only 1 other time did Cedar Ridge beat EB, in a rain-soaked game in 1981.

Madison won Central Jersey Group IV Championships in 1987 and 1988, blowing EB out in the Semifinals both times. They do enjoy running up the score at that fucking school.

Stuff. There is a souvenir stand, but it's not much. No books. No videos.

During the Game. Most likely, your safety will not be an issue. The Old Bridge fans will not attack you. Maybe they would, if they vastly outnumbered you, but if the numbers are even close to being even, they will run like the pathetic cowards that they are. The situation is not unlike that of an English hooligan firm, except that the Old Bridge fans barely speak any determinable language, let alone English.

The Old Bridge Marching Knights are a pathetic excuse for a musical aggregation, even by high school standards, certainly not the equal of EB's Marching Bears will play the National Anthem before the game.

They once had a guy in a suit of purple armor (not sure what it was made of, but not the same metal as actual knights wore) as a mascot. Maybe they still do, but I can't find a picture of it online. Maybe they didn't want to scare anyone with its hideousness.

After the Game. If you drove in, you'll have to exit through the back way, regardless of whether you came in through the front or the back entrance. Just follow the directions of the cops, and you won't end up stuck in that godawful place for the rest of your life in Matawan. They'll lead you to turn right on Throckmorton Lane, and you'll be able to turn onto Route 9 North right after that, and head wherever you want to go.

There are a number of places to eat nearby, but, of course, you'll want to bypass them, because this is Old Bridge, and you'll want to get the hell out of there as fast as you possibly can Thanksgiving Day, and you're preparing for the big meal later today.

Sidelights. There's not exactly any tourist attractions in Old Bridge. You'll notice that I didn't cross that out. That's because it's not smack talk, it's the truth. It might not, objectively speaking, be a particularly bad place, but neither is it particularly interesting, let alone historic.

There are some famous people from Old Bridge. Singer and actress Colleen "Vitamin C" Fitzpatrick, Clerks actor Brian O'Halloran and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Diaz are all 1987 graduates of Cedar Ridge. Actor Ken Leung is a 1988 graduate of Madison Central. Jodi Lyn O'Keefe of The Vampire Diaries is a 1996 graduate of OBHS. And Laurie Hernandez, who was part of the U.S. women's gymnastics team that won the all-around Gold Medal at the recent Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is an OBHS student.

Then there's the soccer-playing brothers, R.J. Allen of New York City FC and Brandon Allen of the New York Red Bulls. But they went to St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen, not to OBHS. (I have separate issues with that school, which don't matter here.) But, as far as I can tell, no Madison, Cedar Ridge or Old Bridge athlete has ever made the major leagues in any sport.

There are 2 Madison Central High Schools in America today: One is in Kentucky, the other in Mississippi. There are 3 Cedar Ridge High Schools: In Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas. But the combined school is the only one in the country named Old Bridge.

*

Go, Bears, Go! Go Big Green! Bob Molarz' Green-White Army! Beat the Purple Bastards! Beat The Scum! And remember: You can't spell "slob" without "OB"!

Oh, did I forget to cross that out? No, I did not forget!

UPDATE: Old Bridge won, 35-7. Bastards.

November 8, 1988: My 1st Election

November 8, 1988, 25 years ago: My 1st election. At Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey, which I had attended (as Hammarskjold Junior High School) from September 9, 1981 to June 26, 1984, I cast a vote for the straight Democratic ticket, including for Joseph V. Chagnon for Mayor (making him the 1st person I ever voted for) and the Presidential nominee, Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts.

Chagnon lost to Congressman Jack Sinagra, who served 3 years before winning a State Senate seat. Dukakis lost to Vice President George H.W. Bush, 426 Electoral Votes to 111 (it should have been 112, but a "faithless elector" refused to vote for him), 53.4 percent of the popular vote to 45.6. He had blown it by inadequately responding to some truly filthy and (mostly) false attacks. Indeed, everybody that I voted for lost, with one exception.

The next day, I was in New Brunswick, job-hunting. I saw the Middlesex County Democratic Campaign Headquarters on George Street, and realized I'd never gotten a Dukakis button. I wanted one. So I went in, and there was the Mayor of New Brunswick at the time, John Lynch, talking to Senator Frank Lautenberg, the one person I voted for who won. Not wanting to interrupt, I waited for them to finish talking. When Lautenberg came my way, I offered him my hand and congratulated him on his re-election. He walked right past me.

I met Lynch a few years later, after he'd resigned as Mayor because he'd become President of the State Senate, making him effectively (we didn't have the office at the time) the Lieutenant Governor. He was a much nicer guy. Unfortunately, he later went to prison for corruption. But I'm still proud to have voted for Dukakis. I still don't have one of his buttons, though.