“To know Jersey is to love her”

-Anthony Bourdain

Calico, often referred to as the “Evil Clown of Middletown,” is a well-known roadside attraction in Middletown, New Jersey.

White Manna in Hackensack, NJ, is a legendary burger joint known for its delicious sliders. Established in 1946, it has become a local institution and a must-visit for burger enthusiasts. 

In 1928, the diving horse show came to Atlantic City and became a permanent fixture, at the Steel Pier, for the next several decades. Trained horses took the plunge up to four times a day and seven days a week.

Funtown USA on the Seaside Heights boardwalk in the 1960s.

In 1971, there was a nationwide rail workers strike. This caused nineteen Barnum and Bailey Circus elephants, a zebra, a horse and a llama, stranded in Kearny, to have to march to NYC via the Lincoln Tunnel. Their destination was Madison Square Garden. There were over a thousand people watching this ordeal.

The Circus Drive-in restaurant, on route 35, in Wall, opened in 1954. It offered people inside dining as well as carhop services. The overall look of the building did not change. Sadly, it was demolished in 2018.

“Tillie” in neon lights, on the outside of the Palace Amusements, Asbury Park, 1964. The building was demolished in 2004.

The Empire State Building, looms over New Jersey in the 1940s.

This photo was taken at the Milltown Circle in North Brunswick, December 1952. The signs in the middle were the originals and the outer two are the “new” ones.

A Camden police officer wrestling with a worker who is on strike at the RCA Victor Plant, 1936.

“The Asbestos City”. This picture was taken in the early 1950s. At the time, no one knew the harmful affects of manufacturing asbestos. This small industrial town was just proud of its successes.

A TV floating in the swamps, 1980.

The Vera Coking House in the early 1990s. The one building Donald Trump couldn’t buy. It was eventually demolished in November of 2014.

Marilyn Monroe‘s “scantily clad” dress, Atlantic City, in 1952, was the reason she was never invited back to another Miss America parade. Some men in the crowd rushed the convertible and the organizers / judges of the parade were horrified by this commotion.

Next

Page 2