Hudson Reporter Archive

HOW WE WORK BLPBusinesses Make Bayonne Work

ADVANCED PHOTO PORTRAIT STUDIO
502 Broadway
(201) 823-0300
advancedportrait.com

Cheers without the beer. That’s how Ellen Colasurdo describes her Broadway photography studio. It may seem like an odd choice for a business that does portraits, custom framing, memorial plaques, film transfer, and restoration.
But that’s the feel you get when you walk through the door. Colasurdo owns the shop with her two daughters, Alana and Anita. Her son Patrick, a union pipefitter, has also worked there, so there’s a family feel from the get-go.
Manager Paul Rocheny is a jack of all trades, doing a lot of the photography and helping seniors with their new digital cameras.
The studio’s newest service is a party room, spelled “par-tea room.” “It came about because we had so much fun playing with the kids in the studio after holidays and communions,” Colasurdo says. So why not have a play day in the studio? “It was five years in the making,” she says. “We finally pulled it together this year.”
They decorate the room for a full tea party with a theme, such as fairies, dress your best, or Frozen. The kids have iced tea, juice, or water and cupcakes, and each goes home with a frame that she’s decorated herself. For boys, there are superhero birthday parties.
Colasurdo worked in finance before buying the store. “I was always interested in photography,” she says. She and Patrick beefed up their credentials by becoming certified framers.
It turns out that framing is one of the most interesting aspects of the business. “We’ve framed some fabulous things,” Colasurdo says. These include negative film from the Civil War era, which she made into a print and framed. She framed a picture from World War II which was on a canvas tent, with the grommets still visible.
“You never know what’s going to come through the door,” Colasurdo says. She gets pictures of kids eight days old and people 80 years old. She gets family reunions, sweet sixteens, and communions.
She’ll ask who is in the picture and what they’re doing. One image sticks in her mind. It was a tiny picture portraying a cave. It turned out to be a bunker in a backyard in Poland where a family lived for two years during World War II.
“You have to keep a box of tissues,” she says. “If it’s a relative who passed away or the only picture of an uncle who died in war, the tears are flowing.
“Framing has quadrupled in eight years,” she says. She credits part of the success to customer service. “Customers are not a number,” she says. “We know everybody’s name and they get a greeting. We have a following. People stop in to say hello.”
Customers bring their pictures and their families, and Colasurdo sends them home with framing corners, so they can see how the framed picture will look on their wall. She also makes house calls to actually hang the picture.
Colasurdo, who was born and raised in Bayonne, has seen a lot of changes.
“The face of Bayonne has become more urban and more ethnic,” she says. “We do international passport photos from all different countries.” She laughs that a few foreign customs took getting used to—like negotiating price. But she enjoys it. “I learn a lot about every country,” she says.
A portrait studio is a far cry from finance. “It’s a nice, clean, happy business,” Colasurdo says. “It’s making memories for everyone.”

DR. JORDAN ALTER
803 JFK Blvd.
(201) 339-6604
altersmiles.com

Log on to Dr. Alter’s website, and you’ll see the Bayonne Bridge with new eyes. Yes, it’s the same Bayonne Bridge, but at altersmiles.com, that beautiful arch all of a sudden looks like a dazzling smile.
Dr. Jordan Alter has been practicing all types of dentistry in Bayonne since 1990. Services include oral surgery, endodontic (root canal), implants, periodontal therapy, bonding, whitening, porcelain veneers, crowns, bridges, partials, dentures, non-mercury fillings, and Invisalign (orthodontia).
He also treats people with sleep apnea. “Sleep disorders are a new area of dentistry for people who cannot tolerate traditional treatments,” Alter says.
Alter practices with Dr. Alissa Selevan. Their office has the latest digital equipment, including that for early cancer detection, and impressions. If you had impressions made for braces when you were a kid, the digital advancement eliminates that old messy procedure.
“We’re always advancing, which makes what I do interesting and exciting,” Alter says. “I’m not doing the same things over and over. The best care for patients is interesting for us.”
Alter became a dentist in 1987, and the technological advances have come fast and furious in recent years. But it’s not the razzle-dazzle that attracts Alter to dentistry.
“I had a desire to work with people on a personal level and have a quality family life, where I was not on call 24/7,” Alter says. Alter has four sons and two grandchildren. “I wanted to help people and interact with patients in a positive way,” he says. “It’s rewarding to alleviate pain and make people feel comfortable and taken care of, and have an impact on their lives.”
Most rewarding, he says, is working with dental phobics. “We turn them around so they feel reasonably comfortable in the dental environment.
“There is a whole generation of people who were really fearful,” he says, pointing out that just a few decades ago, dentists did not routinely use anesthesia.
There’s a reason that Alter’s website is called altersmiles.com. His practice is not just about relieving pain. “We want patients to feel happy about their appearance and their smiles,” he says. Another new service that Alter offers is Botox therapy, a cosmetic treatment that affects not only the smile but the entire face.
Alter acknowledges that dentists are often the butt of comedians’ jokes. “Root canal jokes are a comedic fallback line,” he says. “Comedians usually have one or two of those in their bag of tricks, but it doesn’t bother me. It comes with the territory.”
What does concern Alter is his patients’ comfort. “The office is a kind, friendly place,” he says. “We’re not shuffling people in and out. We become friends with our patients. It’s a nice relationship.”

CARLO’S HAIRSPOT
1021 Broadway
(201) 437-0067

Carlos Cogliati and his son Roman used to work at Showcase Hair Salon, a unisex shop, before opening their own shop in May 2014. Juan Carlos had worked there for 14 years and Roman for a year.
Now they serve men of all ages from Bayonne, Jersey City, and other local towns, providing barbering, shaving, and all professional services for men, everything from classic haircuts to “newer style beards,” says Roman.
“We moved because we wanted to open our own business,” he says. “Now we’re our own bosses, and it’s going good.”
The Cogliatis moved from Argentina to Bayonne in 2000, and it’s a real family operation, with Roman’s brother Gino, 19, helping out at the shop. They were in the same line of work in Argentina, and Roman further cemented his place in the business by attending cosmetology school at Robert Fiance Beauty Schools in West New York. Gino is also headed to cosmetology school.
Hair salons and barber shops are often great venues for chatting and philosophizing. “We socialize,” Raman says. “Some clients become really close friends, but it’s not a hangout place. We keep it professional.” They have to because “it’s very creative work,” Roman says.
Roman attended Ferris High School in Jersey City and New Jersey City University, then went into the music business before going to work with his father.
He plays the guitar, often performing at the Cityline Church on the Bayonne/Jersey City border.
Roman is putting down roots in Bayonne. Recently married, he says, “We’re not going anywhere. You can bring up kids, and they can go to school here.” And it’s a good place for the salon because it’s “convenient for a lot of people,” he says.
Hairspot provides a much-needed service for men.
“We give advice to men on whatever we think is best for them,” Roman says. “People go out really happy. It makes them feel good to see the before and after. They look like a different person and become a different person.”—BLP
PHOTOS BY Alyssa Bredin

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