Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

I got to do a very quick and unplanned 180º, 7-image photo stitch from the 4th-floor southwest balcony of the cool-looking building at 505 Main St yesterday - thanks to Michael O'Dea , VP of Property Management Operations for Hekemian & Co, Inc.

It's a great perspective that I had never seen before (the Empire State Building between Sears and Holman's?). Personally, I liked the fact that in a pretty small area of the picture (third picture below), I could see the church I was baptized in (1), the grammar school I attended (2), and the place where I live (3).

The timing was visually advantageous because the Holy Trinity Church carnival was set up in the church parking lot.

There are a couple of sky issues on the end frames. I could eliminate those frames, but I wanted to get as much ground info as possible into the merged photo. Overall, the stitch went pretty well.

Below are:

1. The 505 building and the balcony I shot from

2. The stitched image - click to enlarge and scroll away

3. The small area I mentioned above

The hole that was dug took up almost the entire Union St/Passaic St intersection.

Almost.........but not quite.

Recently, a smooth and unbumpy piece of the intersection was discovered, so the crews are all over that today correcting the oversight.

http://xrl.us/FunkyFridge

Description:

You are bidding on a vintage GE Refrigerator from the 1920's

It works

It is located in Hackensack, NJ

Local pickup only



The auction ended, but there were no bidders, so it's still available.



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So I took a look to see if the 1896 Hackensack map was still available on eBay and found the 30" x 24" size at a good price (a smaller one is not good for details). The seller's in Fort Lee, so if you don't want to spend $6 for shipping, maybe you can pick it up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hackensack-NJ-c1896-repro-30x24-/150592106387?pt=Art_Posters&hash=item230ffd2f93

I've circled where the Fairmount Hotel is shown. The other structures are also quite interesting. This is almost like getting a mini-1896 Hackensack atlas for under 10 bucks.

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We got some information a while back (thanks, Gene) about a big old commercial refrigerator at 824 Main St (first picture) and that it might be worth taking some pictures of it.

The site is where the old Fairmount Hotel was located, so there was the added interest in finding some remnant of the hotel.............maybe the fridge belonged to the hotel.

If you hunt around, you can find a pdf on this site that has all the old info from George Scudder, including mention of the hotel and some businesses that have been at that location over the years. Or you can just look at the second picture.

The image is a fairly recent one. Note that I tried to take the first picture at an angle similar to the second. From what you see and what you can read, it appears that there have been at least two food businesses in that space.

Currently, the space is being prepped for a new business that's slated to open next week (picture 3). Maybe Kim will pamper me in exchange for the plug.


Back to the fridge: I had envisioned some big clunky rusted metal box and was pleasantly surprised by what I found (pictures 4 and 5) - a great-looking meat locker.

Owner Scott Padovano wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It's too big to take home and too cool-looking to toss, so - for now at least- it stays.

Scott pointed out the manufacturer's name above the unit (picture 6) and on the inside of the door (picture 7). The C.V. Hill Co. is still in Trenton, so Scott contacted them. Apparently, their enthusiasm was less than stellar and they never got back to him.

On the plate in the center of picture 7 is what appears to be a 1934 date, so that rules out any Fairmount Hotel connection (the hotel existed in the last few decades of the 19th century).

Picture 8 shows the inside of the locker, picture 9 shows the mirror on the door, and picture 10 shows the door's open/close mechanism.

I asked Scott if he was aware of ANYTHING in the building that might date back to the hotel's time. He mentioned an old radiator upstairs that had a year on it, but it turned out to be 1919.

So, while it was disappointing to find no trace of the Fairmount Hotel, the meat locker was pretty cool (pun intended).