Tell me about this Maplewoodonline

Still uncertain. I know it's based on Mary's jokes about eating roadkill, though.  

We used Maimonides instead of Lutheran. My first job was in sunset park industrial complex 33 st. I remembered all the cars being stripped down to the chassis underneath the BQE, rough neighborhood back in the 80’s.

Our little guy was in Maimonides at 11-weeks-old for a hernia operation!  I don't remember why we got directed there, but it was emergency surgery by that time, and we just followed directions from our OB/GYN.  Both hospitals were fine in '89, but the birthing rooms at Lutheran were luxurious compared to anything we saw at Maimonides.

(To the OP: This is how sizzling and exciting the posts could be "way back when" .... unless the school rankings had just come out.  Then there could be some "rip roarin' lashing out and frustration" around here, with lots of data accessed and reported along with much arm-chair data analysis.)

Ah yes, the Tax Re-adjustment days .... We kind of kept our heads down through that. Being situated as we were a few blocks from Irvington and one long block from Newark down on Boyden Ave. -- our taxes went DOWN as a result, to encourage home purchasing in that part of town.

MOL has always been the equivalent of the "stoops of Brooklyn" to me ... as a place to gather and exchange information, have your say, engage in debate (or not), and move on to the next piece of news.

jfinnegan said:

Mihali is playing in Westport next Friday! It can't be that bad. 

Yes, and a 2-day VIP ticket to that event went for $225; non-VIP tkts were $85.  Let's hope we're never faced with paying those prices for Maplewoodstock!

galileo said:

nohero - You are so right. At a neighborhood block party a few years ago I was speaking to new neighbors. I asked where they were from. They had moved from Brooklyn ,but then hesitated to say he had grown up in Maplewood.   I have only lived in Maplewood longer than anyone on MOL. Nevertheless anyone born in Maplewood then  would really be born in Orange in Orange Memorial Hospital. The empty building is still there. St Barnabas had not moved up to Livingston from Newark.

For the younger set (including Millenials, if not some Gen-Xers) it's Summit (Overlook) or Livingston (St. Barnabas.)  I'm not sure exactly when OMH closed and SOMA maternity business moved to those two, but my Millennial kids and their local friends growing up were almost all born in one of those two hospitals.

When my son was born in OMH in July of 1967, East Orange and Orange were filled with apartment buildings, maisonettes, private homes, movie theatres, and high end department stores, clothing shops, restaurants, etc etc. There were many medical  and professional office businesses.

Irvington Centre was a choice destination for me when my kids were school age — easy to get to, and offering a Sears, speciality butcher shops, 5&10s,  children’s clothing and toy stores, dry goods shops, fabric stores, etc.

Almost overnight, with the riots exploding daily/nightly in Newark, these neighborhoods changed dramatically— the OMH AND EOGH were  overwhelmed and many citizens from surrounding communities looked for safer hospitals. Medical folks closed their previous offices and relocated westward, following their patients.

The ‘70 and ‘80s in MOLand were tough years, complicated with the AIDS epidemic, but  still wonderful towns in which to raise a family. Were we and others we knew wrong not to make the “westward ho”movement? I would say “No.”

Yes, the '70s and '80s were tough years when Maplewood had a Republican mayor. 

Are you picking on Grasmere?  Back then Republican or Democratic was not the issue.  Grasmere got the job done and was not on anyone's payroll.   (hint, hint)

dave said:

Yes, the '70s and '80s were tough years when Maplewood had a Republican mayor. 

That is just the sort of remark we hear daily out of Washington today. Tiresome, and totally irrelevant to the Newark Riots era.

 You discount that Mayor Grasmere was at the helm, for over 20 years, during the worst of times this region had ever experienced. He was the face of sanity, a strong, diplomatic presence at the time when wagons of Maplewoodians were rushing to Millburn, and points west, seeking safety. 

The Township had been all Republican for a very long time. Remember the  three D state mandates? Desegregation, Deteriorating schools, and Declining enrollment? Yes, indeed, those decades were the worst of times, but Maplewood —and South Orange — survived and prospered.

dave said:

Yes, the '70s and '80s were tough years when Maplewood had a Republican mayor. 

Maplewood had Republican mayors until the 90's. Before Grasmere was Hume.  I've never voted for a Republican, but if Robert Grasmere was reincarnated, I'd vote for him without hesitation.  He was a wonderful mayor and person.  He came to my class when I was in 5th grade and I was elated to meet him (even though my parents were firmly Democrats).  

I've been on MOL since the late 90's, I think before the reval, but not sure of the exact year.  Maplewood born and bred, as was my father.  My great grandparents moved here when it was the end of the trolley line from Newark.

Time the  residents of Maplewood learn about Mayor Grasmere..

Rutgers Universityhttps://oralhistory.rutgers.edu › 30-interview-html-textI was elected and re-elected eleven times in Maplewood and I was also president of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, which is all 567 communities.

Even though I always was a Democrat I must say Grasmere was an excellent mayor.He took his job so seriously for so many years.Unfortunately I’m not sure about today’s elected officials. The years when Roosevelt was president are another story. Lots of booing in the theater when Roosevelt was on the newsreel.As a child this really bothered me.

Before Grasmere, we had Edmund Hume:

Edmund T. Hume

Edmund T. Hume, the second Commissioner of DCA, was appointed in 1970 by Governor William T. Cahill. At the time, he was serving his ninth year as Mayor of the Township of Maplewood, and his tenth year as a member of its governing body.

Before his appointment, Commissioner Hume was employed as the executive assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs of the Bell Telephone Company. He acted as liaison with Federal and State legislators and was actively involved in dealing with urban problems.

Hume served in the Marine Corps during World War II. He received a certificate in management from Rutgers University in 1953 and subsequently completed the Executive Management Training Program at Penn State University.

Commissioner Hume died in 1996.

galileo said:

Even though I always was a Democrat I must say Grasmere was an excellent mayor.He took his job so seriously for so many years.Unfortunately I’m not sure about today’s elected officials. The years when Roosevelt was president are another story. Lots of booing in the theater when Roosevelt was on the newsreel.As a child this really bothered me.

I'm a lifelong Democrat, raised by Democrats who had been raised by Republicans (and one Democrat).  I take serious issue with our current township committee and especially the rude and dismissive manor in which I've witnessed the mayor speak to an older resident in an open meeting (he actually interrupted the gentleman about 30 seconds into his comments and said "can you get to the point?").  I'd love to have Grasmere back, he served the community, not his own ambitions.

Funny until recently I thought that South Orange and Maplewood shared the same mayor! I really like Sheena and was disappointed to learn, she wasn’t my mayor! I learned this after I told her I was going to vote for her, that’s when she informed me that I can’t!  Lol 

When Grasmere was mayor the two parties were more or less normal and could actually talk to and not through one another. I believe Ellen Davenport became the first Dem to win a TC seat (who would become M's first woman mayor). My friend Jerry Ryan (RIP) eventually unseated Grasmere in a tie-breaker election. He would become Maplewood's youngest mayor and first to bring Python quotes to meetings.  Both would and have served the town well. Maplewood has a good supply of talented people. As does South Orange. 

Fred Profeta, the most pliable and pragmatic of candidates ran as a Republican, Independent  and finally a Dem before winning a seat a the table.  Fun small town dynamics in Maplewood.

South Orange was a more dysfunctional town before Sheena brought her fire.

dave said:

It's been so long I'm not sure who the designer of the above was, but I can think of two possible artists, one of which is Mary and the other Joy.

You may recall Mary's Road Kill Recipes, perhaps inspiring her (wonderfully disturbing) original MOL logo design, & maybe the redesigns for Valentine's Day & St' Patrick's Day?

-s.

Jaytee said:

Mary designed it. She hasn’t posted here in a very long time. I often wonder how she’s doing with all the good works she does.

Mary's quite active on FB these days...

-s.

soda said:

Jaytee said:

Mary designed it. She hasn’t posted here in a very long time. I often wonder how she’s doing with all the good works she does.

Mary's quite active on FB these days...

-s.

I think someone with the initials JM designed it based on those funny stories from Mary.

Merrick, LI -> Great Neck, LI -> Brightwaters, LI -> Saratoga Springs, NY -> Amherst, MA -> Bay Shore, LI - > Ft Lauderdale, FL - > Panama City, Panama -> Manhattan, NY -> Hoboken, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ -> Maplewood, NJ -> So Orange, NJ -> Verona, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ. 

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Merrick, LI -> Great Neck, LI -> Brightwaters, LI -> Saratoga Springs, NY -> Amherst, MA -> Bay Shore, LI - > Ft Lauderdale, FL - > Panama City, Panama -> Manhattan, NY -> Hoboken, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ -> Maplewood, NJ -> So Orange, NJ -> Verona, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ. 

did you ever fully unpacked your luggage?

Jaytee said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Merrick, LI -> Great Neck, LI -> Brightwaters, LI -> Saratoga Springs, NY -> Amherst, MA -> Bay Shore, LI - > Ft Lauderdale, FL - > Panama City, Panama -> Manhattan, NY -> Hoboken, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ -> Maplewood, NJ -> So Orange, NJ -> Verona, NJ -> Jersey City, NJ. 

did you ever fully unpacked your luggage?

This is over 70 years. But, yeah, I get around.