the rix mix

In my neighborhood of Elizabeth one learns what the future will be like for the Anglo-American national minority. On Morris Ave. between here & Broad St. there are only four shops that are not run by black, hispanic or South Asian merchants; an auto parts store, a small restaurant, shoe store; & a sheet music store that looks exactly the same as it did thirty five years ago when I first set foot in it. & owned by the same man, now old & with the rosy cheeks of a bum ticker, still coming to work every day in coat & tie, standing behind the counter by the window. I have no idea how he's stayed in business through the decline of the Morris Ave shopping district - it was in very poor shape in the 70s & 80s, & its comeback as a lively Spanish-flavored street, & into the age of online catalogues. Through the loyalty of many church organists & choir directors, I would imagine. He was never well-stocked with piano teaching materials - I used to drive out to a self-serve warehouse in South Plainfield for my music books. Two blocks of Morris Ave. support at least ten eateries, including Chinese, pizza & Dunkin' Donuts; about six hair & nail salons; a very popular bar; three bakeries; three shoe stores; only one small food market; & a bunch of places that I can't tell exactly what they sell - phone cards, insurance, religious items, legal services.

Broad Street is another world, & not my neighborhood; there no vacant storefronts, & one can find a great pair of name brand sneakers & "authorized" sports logo clothing but it's going to cost you plenty. Most of everything else is crap: badly made furniture in weird hybrid Italian-Spanish designs, incredibly tasteless home decor items, off-brand electronics, $9.99 watches, 14 karat gold jewelry displays sharing space with luggage & cell phones. But why be snobbish? Perfectly average suburban people who wouldn't dream of shopping in downtown Elizabeth buy this shit at the Jersey shore in July & August.


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