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Thursday, June 28, 2012

2012: LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS, WE GET..."

Many visitor do not read the very intelligent and historically relevant comments many visitors post on a given graphic.
Only the more senior visitors to this website will remember Perry Como's Saturday night 1950's TV show when the weekly "Letters to Perry" arrived with the song, "Letters, we get letters; we get stacks and stacks of letters, Dear Perry will you,,,,.
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Thus it is with this website. The many comments that are attached to many of the posts on this site provide a rare historic embellishment to sections of town with which I, and many others are not familiar. This is one of the goals I wanted to accomplish when I started this website way back in 2005. As a result, we have many "old timers" who add their knowledge of living and growing up in sections of the area in which I am completely unfamiliar. Ray Paskiewicz, brings his knowledge of autos, Lucarella, Kuzma, Gilman, "Omad," Belardino, "SJ Joe," " Lakeside Girl," Millerick, and many other frequent contributors lend their remarkably and historically relevant retrospectives to certain posts, resulting in a treasure trove of first person local history. These comments are not only of great interest to many contemporary visitors, but will be even more important to future generations should this website somehow survive the rapid advance of digital technology. With an average "hit" count Monday through Friday of anywhere between 300 and 450 hits per day (Much lower on weekends (250 to 300), It is gratifying to know that there are so many people interested in our fabulous historical heritage; still more gratifying that there are local old time residents who will share their memories of our local neighborhoods.

SO:
TO ALL VISITORS, AND THE AFOREMENTIONED CONTRIBUTORS, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

CERTAIN POSTS GARNER LIVELY COMMENTS,
AS DID THE RECENT CLOSEUP OF STATE AND BROAD STREET, NEDICK'S, S.P. DUNHAM, ET AL, AS THEY WERE AT MID-CENTURY. HERE ARE ONLY A FEW:




Sally Logan Gilman said...

Way to go Tom: Congratulations on a great job. Your website keeps us all in the loop and gives us a place to remember and share memories. Please keep it up. We need you. Regards



4 comments:

Sally Logan Gilman said...

Way to go Tom: Congratulations on a great job. Your website keeps us all in the loop and gives us a place to remember and share memories. Please keep it up. We need you. Regards

Mack said...

You are the best local history site Tom:))

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Glover: I just wanted to take a moment and express what an incredible treasure you have made at this website.

I was born in Trenton and our family members were proud residents back when life was much simpler and safer there. I drive through many of the old town areas there today and think what a toll time has taken. As many other cities have changed as ours did, I think how wonderful it would be to live there as it was back then. People who hear "Trenton" today stare in amazement at the stories of a beautiful, thriving, convenient and friendly city.

I have so many stories about Trenton from the 60's and from what my folks told of it from the 50's. My father came to Trenton for a job and worked at Crane Company, and was on production qc for Frank Sinatra's gold-veined bathtub!

The bus from Lalor would take my mom and me downtown, where elegant ladies shopped at Arnold Constable. Men gave up their seats for my young-ish mom and me to sit if the bus was crowded. My job was pulling the cord that signaled the driver to stop. The ladies at the department store on Jersey Ave, Atlantic Mills, would always flatter my mother by making kind comments about her little daughter (me) when she would shop there in summer for a "sun suit" for me. It was not simply about the change in buildings, but something very beautiful and precious was lost in the city as the 70's came on. Our family then moved near Hopewell.

I could still take a bus to Trenton from near the Teacher's College, and go spend a few hours in summer afternoons where I had once toddled along mom.

My dad told us that when he was dating my mother in the mid-50's, they would walk all the way from Lalor and Home down to Centre St. and all the way into town to have a "movie date night". Then at night they would walk all the way back and stop for ice cream. (He didn't have a car until after I was born.) It would be late at night after the movie let out, maybe 10 PM, and no one walked in fear. People would pass you on the sidewalk and say "good evening" and "hello, you are a lovely couple" or stop to shake your hand.

I was not old enough to know the Trenton of the early- to mid-1900s and I do wish that I could. The history, the stories exchanged here, the wonderful memories being shared make me wish that Trenton could more resemble today its brighter past. For those who never knew it, they missed a true gem.

Thank you for preserving its beautiful legacy with your efforts. I will be here often.
Maria

Tom Glover said...

FASCINATING STORY, MARIA! THANK YOU FOR THE VERY KIND WORDS. IT'S FOLKS LIKE YOU AND "MY GAL SAL" IN THE MESSAGE ABOVE THAT MAKE ALL THE HARD WORK WORTHWHILE.

XO

TOM