Hi Just Watching,
Thanks for the link! It looks very comprehensive and I plan on looking through all of it.
I will post more on some of the topics covered in existing threads, but regarding open spaces, I was describing the two largest areas that I remember that were subsequently developed into residential housing. There were other woodland areas that were not developed before I left NJ. One was south of Mary St. and just west of Polifly Rd., but I assume it was eventually cleared when the I80 expressway was built. Another area was north of there and to the east of Polifly Rd. Every year there were pink wild roses growing that you could see from the road. There were also cattails in the swampier areas, and we would sometimes collect them, dry them out, and smoke them. Very effective in keeping away mosquitoes!
Some people have mentioned the park at Polifly Rd. and Sutton Ave. in other threads. There was, and perhaps still is, a wooded area that extended up the steep hill to a fenced playground right behind Hillers school. We would often play ball on the playground, but if it went over the fence and into the woods it was usually a goner. The park itself was a fairly popular place for kids. I remember a structure that was built there for storing equipment that consisted of two enclosed storage areas connected by a wide cement breezeway. Around July 4th, kids would sometimes toss cherry bombs into the breezeway because the sound was magnified into a such a loud blast.
Looking back, I can’t ever remember encountering any dangerous wildlife in the areas I mentioned. But I did once stumble on a venomous snake, and believe it or not, it was less than 30 feet away from a bus stop on the SW corner of Essex St. and Prospect Ave. This would have been in the late 1940s and there was a vacant lot at this corner covered with bushes and undergrowth. I was traipsing through the lot with some friends while waiting for the #80 bus to take us downtown and we must have disturbed the snake. Someone thought it was a rattlesnake, but it didn’t make much noise and I didn’t think there were any rattlesnakes in Hackensack. Well, it turned out that it was not only one rattlesnake, but a den of them that had to be removed by the city.