Holsten’s, not Holstein’s like the cow, though the ice cream is the best in region by far, but Holsten’s, is remodeling the diner’s interior. It’s about time. The red vinyl covered benches and cracked formica topped tables have been there for the forty years I’ve lived in Montclair (Holsten’s is in the neighboring town of Bloomfield) and probably a lot longer. The bathrooms may be of similar vintage. I don’t know I learned early on to avoid the bathroom except in cases of emergency. Now it’s all going to change.
Well, that is to say that one day when they were filming scene for the second season using my cousin's bird store as a location (you know, the scene where he buys the duck food) I did a shoot with James Gandolfini for a local magazine.
Now that I've got my 15 minute brush with Soprano fame out of the way, I want to mention that when I lived in Montclair, just on the other side of the park that sort of borders Holsten's I spent plenty of time there, with my son as he grew up. It was just the right kind of place to take a child, and the right kind of place in which to feel nostalgic about the kind of place it was, and of which there are now so very few. My son would happily have a hamburger and then some ice cream, and I would feast on the nostalgia remembering spending time in places like forty years earlier.
I live at the Jersey Shore now, so I don't get to Holsten's with any regularity anymore, but starting with my next birthday, wherever I am...I'm going to have a hot fudge sundae. While I'm eating it, I'll think about the anniversary of my birth, my childhood and that of my son, and also, a moment or two for my friend from Montclair who inspired this new tradition.
I never watched The Sopranos—too much violence for me—but I did have ice cream at Holsten’s once after a poetry reading—loved it. I’m not from Montclair but I do understand tradition. My best memories are from Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Bronx & Queens.
We were devotees of Grunnings in South Orange N.J. for ice cream and their store made candies. We loved Pals Tavern for "Broiled in Butter Franks"( a shonda!, ) They came in little paper trays with sweet onion relish in a tiny pleated paper cup. It was near the South Mountain Reservation where you could feed the deer.
The best restaurant in Newark was the Diner, near Weequahic Park, with their preposterously voluminous lemon merengue pie.
For lighter dining there was Cohen's K'nishes on Clinton Place in Newark, where the 14 bus stopped just before Irvington. (No one ever went there.). They had foot longs with "sweet works or hot works" and liver and also potato knishes.
Jimmy's Italian Hot Dogs in East Orange served hot dogs, fried in oil with peppers, onions and potatoes in half pita like flat loaves. Be still my beating heart!.
To cleanse one's palette there were lemon, cherry, chocolateI Italian ices ,3 cents a dip, served in a pleated paper cup which you nursed until it was papier mache'. Three cents a dip, two for a nickel!
Stop for an Awfull Awful , an icecream concoction.at Bond's. If you could eat 3 they would give you the fourth free which presumable you ingested on the way to the Emergency room at the Beth Israel. Also, try the White Castle for tiny, cheap burgers we'd buy by the dozen. Where.are those citadels of gastronomic pleasure today? Mickey Dee's, Burger King? Feh!
We share so many memories. When I was pregnant and didn’t worry as much about my weight, I treated myself to banana splits at Holstens.
Who shot Tony Soprano?
I did.
Well, that is to say that one day when they were filming scene for the second season using my cousin's bird store as a location (you know, the scene where he buys the duck food) I did a shoot with James Gandolfini for a local magazine.
Now that I've got my 15 minute brush with Soprano fame out of the way, I want to mention that when I lived in Montclair, just on the other side of the park that sort of borders Holsten's I spent plenty of time there, with my son as he grew up. It was just the right kind of place to take a child, and the right kind of place in which to feel nostalgic about the kind of place it was, and of which there are now so very few. My son would happily have a hamburger and then some ice cream, and I would feast on the nostalgia remembering spending time in places like forty years earlier.
I live at the Jersey Shore now, so I don't get to Holsten's with any regularity anymore, but starting with my next birthday, wherever I am...I'm going to have a hot fudge sundae. While I'm eating it, I'll think about the anniversary of my birth, my childhood and that of my son, and also, a moment or two for my friend from Montclair who inspired this new tradition.
I never watched The Sopranos—too much violence for me—but I did have ice cream at Holsten’s once after a poetry reading—loved it. I’m not from Montclair but I do understand tradition. My best memories are from Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Bronx & Queens.
We were devotees of Grunnings in South Orange N.J. for ice cream and their store made candies. We loved Pals Tavern for "Broiled in Butter Franks"( a shonda!, ) They came in little paper trays with sweet onion relish in a tiny pleated paper cup. It was near the South Mountain Reservation where you could feed the deer.
The best restaurant in Newark was the Diner, near Weequahic Park, with their preposterously voluminous lemon merengue pie.
For lighter dining there was Cohen's K'nishes on Clinton Place in Newark, where the 14 bus stopped just before Irvington. (No one ever went there.). They had foot longs with "sweet works or hot works" and liver and also potato knishes.
Jimmy's Italian Hot Dogs in East Orange served hot dogs, fried in oil with peppers, onions and potatoes in half pita like flat loaves. Be still my beating heart!.
To cleanse one's palette there were lemon, cherry, chocolateI Italian ices ,3 cents a dip, served in a pleated paper cup which you nursed until it was papier mache'. Three cents a dip, two for a nickel!
Stop for an Awfull Awful , an icecream concoction.at Bond's. If you could eat 3 they would give you the fourth free which presumable you ingested on the way to the Emergency room at the Beth Israel. Also, try the White Castle for tiny, cheap burgers we'd buy by the dozen. Where.are those citadels of gastronomic pleasure today? Mickey Dee's, Burger King? Feh!
I love you post so much