On a recent walk through downtown Jersey City, a walk that traced many of the streets where Carlito Rivera, 39, grew up, the local native pointed to buildings on Newark Avenue that once housed old stores and businesses his family supported.
“Right over there, there was a bakery. My mom loved it,” he said. “She used to get our birthday cakes there when she didn’t have time to make them herself. Around the corner there was a sandwich place that made really good roti.”
Further up Newark Avenue, he believes, there used to be a bar where his parents would go on Saturday nights to hang out with friends.
Perhaps no one feature defines a neighborhood more than its community bars.
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“It was like an old juke joint. They had music and you could get some food and drinks. It wasn’t a club or anything special. It was just that spot you’d go to hang out with friends at the end of the work week.”
When asked what happened to his mother’s favorite deli and bakery, what happened to that old bar where his parents used to dance, Rivera said, “Oh! They closed down years ago. They been closed.”
There was silence for a moment before he added, “A lot of the people [who used to go to those businesses] either died or moved out.”
Rivera has moved out himself. He now lives in Union City, but he periodically returns to the old neighborhood. He likes what the neighborhood has become and still feels comfortable in what might be dubbed the “new” Jersey City. He sometimes meets up with friends at the Latin Lounge on Second Street, a watering hole that has become for some current downtown residents what the old “juke joint” probably was for his parents.
There are, it seems, certain features all communities have that define them, that give them their personality and define their sense of place in the larger world around them. And perhaps no one feature defines a neighborhood more than its community bars.
Then, and now
The downtown area is chock full of drinking establishments that range from upscale to “divey,” an indication maybe of the neighborhood’s enduring diversity, despite its changes.
“I live not far from here. So this place is convenient. It’s a nice spot to get a beer, take it easy with some friends,” said downtown resident Donna Travolta at a bar called Lucky 7 at Coles and Second streets. Travolta’s family has lived in town for generations. “I know there are other bars in town. I find them a little too fancy. I like this place better. Regular people just having a beer or two.”
Lucky 7 is, perhaps, the quintessential corner bar: Small, dark, loud pop and rock music, and few stools for patrons to park it while they down ice cold Buds. While JC natives like Travolta consider Lucky 7 a second home, one newcomer who owns a local business said fellow patrons were chilly toward her when she went in there a few times.
The newcomer, who preferred that her name not be used, said she likes the White Star, located at 230 Brunswick St.
“It’s not fancy,” she said, ironically repeating Travolta’s comment. “But it’s comfortable and low-key.”
Becca Richardson, who moved to Jersey City three years ago from Michigan, also likes the White Star.
When asked what makes a bar a community bar, she thought for a while and said, “I guess it’s an extension of the community, a place where you feel at home…A place where you keep returning to even if other places open up. It’s a hard question to answer, because lots of places serve beer and liquor. But not everyplace is a community bar.”
A homecoming
In interview after interview, the “community bar” was described by many patrons as that place where they felt welcomed and, as Richardson said, “at home.”
That second home for Tam O’Keefe is LITM, an establishment on Newark Ave. that often hosts arts events. O’Keefe said he feels “just as comfortable if I come by myself after work, or if I come out with my buddies on the weekend.”
It’s a laid-back atmosphere the LITM staff worked to cultivate.
“I think the biggest thing that puts us in synch with downtown is that we are a very eclectic place and everyone is welcome here. Our crowd enjoys that. Our crowd is a very accepting crowd. Different types of people mingle and meet new people in the neighborhood – or old people in the neighborhood,” said manager Andrea Morin. “I think the art shows we do here are a huge part of that.”
LITM has art openings the first Tuesday of every month, which Morin said “draws in a lot of the artists in the area. We represent a lot of artists in the area in these shows.”
Offering menu items that appeal to a changing community is also important. At LITM, Morin said they offer inexpensive happy hour specials and daily specials – staples at most restaurants. But, she said, they also try to keep up with the latest drink and culinary trends.
“We try to offer the neighborhood both an atmosphere and menu that people are accustomed to going into [New York City] to get,” she added.
A few doors down at Skinner’s Loft, co-owner William Kelly has seen firsthand how community haunts have changed over time as the neighborhood has reshaped itself. Kelly and his family have owned bars and restaurants in Jersey City for years. His mother once owned the Hamilton Park Ale House, which is now the Hamilton Inn, on Jersey Ave.
“That place [the Hamilton Park Ale House] pretty much started out as a neighborhood tavern. The emphasis was much more on beer and whiskey,” Kelly recently recalled. “When my mother bought it, she put a little more emphasis on food. It turned out to be a decent formula. The people who were regulars who already had a foothold in the place stuck around. And we were able to attract new customers as well. The menu there was less elegant than it is here at Skinner’s Loft.”
There were Buffalo wings, there were chicken tenders, there were burgers. But, in a sign of things to come later at Skinner’s Loft – which opened about three years ago – the menu also included a few gourmet pasta dishes.
“That place, I think transitioned nicely because it was able to retain the older client base as well as take in newer people,” said Kelly. “But there has been a change in the dynamic in the neighborhood. Ten years ago people weren’t necessarily watching the Food Network, weren’t really talking about celebrity chefs. Now they are. Food culture is part of the mainstream, and is part of the lives of people who are moving to Jersey City.”
To keep up with the new clientele, Kelly said the family now tries to offer menu items at Skinner’s that are “more off the beaten path, less explored, like venison sliders.”
Upon hearing about the venison sliders, the aforementioned Carlito Rivera thought for a moment before stating, “Venison huh? Could be good. I’ll have to give it a try. I’m open to a lot of things. I like to experiment.”
Proof that you can go home again.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.