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 Walter Johnson... Then there were
the later times up along the river in the area of the old high bridge where I used to go on Saturday to wash my
car with buckets of water from the river. I was eighteen years old and it was a common thing to do in those days.
I owned my first car then. At least I thought I did although I had to pay back my mother and father for the money
I borrowed to buy it. The Saturday car wash was in preparation for the Saturday night date with my girl friend.
I don't believe commercial car washes were in existence yet in those days. I don't remember any. But even if there
had been, the money I earned at odd jobs went to paying back the $250. I had borrowed from my folks and the cost
of the Saturday night movie and ice cream soda afterwards with my girl friend. |
Jen Lobosco Chiappetta
My oldest sister, Jen, was a friend of Teddy Bower, son of the owner of the boathouse on McBride Ave. She would
go canoeing with Teddy into Westside Park and beyond. Teddy's father equiped the canoe with a motor, which was
not too common at that time. He would scoot past the rowboats and weave around the canoes with speed and ease.
One day Teddy, Jen and another one of my sisters, Jo, and her boyfriend went canoeing together. As they approached
Westside Park, Jo's friend wanted to take some pictures with his camera and asked Teddy to get closer to the bank.
As he stepped out of the canoe, it tipped and water started coming in. They scrambled out with Teddy making a plunge
to rescue the motor. Jen said he was more concerned about the motor than how wet everyone was getting.As a youngster
I remember seeing the snapshots they took of the tipped canoe and the girls holding up their wet stockings as they
stood ankle deep in the river. She is going to try to locate those pictures. Mary Zanfino |
| My name is Alida Mandel. I live in
Ca.now. I was born in Lyndhurst, N.J. in 1924. I remember playing by the river. We kids would ride our imaginary
horses across the "Plains". I was the only girl (a tomboy) so I'd hear shouts of "Chicky, a girl!
and then splashes as the skinny dipping boys jumped back in the water. At one time whole families would come down
to the river to swim. Once a year the Gypsies would camp along the river at the foot of ValleyBrook Ave. I also
remember a river boat that docked along River Road in North Arlington. I don't know if it was for gambling or not.
There must have been some pollution in much earlier years tho. My Father was a painter & decorator and there
was a rumour that the river was causing paint to peel off some of the homes near the river! Don't know what that
was all about. I was a very little girl then.Hope you get that old river back to its former glory.
Alida99@aol.com |
Walter Johnson sent us these beautiful poems and story.... |
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