Thursday, May 14, 2009
Clouds lowered & wind blew in gusts but sky never opened up & poured as I walked back across town from the clinic. You can't dress properly for this kind of warm, muggy day. The main library was so uncomfortable I nearly walked out without my hoodie. I checked out the new Elmore Leonard, I don't know if I'll get around to reading it within 14 days. Two copies there, none at my branch. The new Abe Lincoln bio was too imposing, & although the Andrew Jackson book looks good, I know the Trail of Tears will happen & cancel out everything I might otherwise admire about the guy.
There's a lot of new, vacant retail space in this city, buildings & a strip mall constructed over the past year. A 7-11 is moving into the strip mall next to the Dunkin', but a Drug Fair in a large space near to it closed, & the other store remain empty. . Most of the failing businesses seem to be small Hispanic-owned markets & restaurants. Goodman's, a well-known, non-Kosher, over-priced Jewish deli-luncheonette became a Colombian place with an expensive new sign, & the new ethnic identity lasted under a year. Goodman's "special" was half-a-corned beef sandwich & a cup of soup for $7. There a was beautiful new cafe on Morris Ave., warm wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling front windows that folded open & made it like an outdoor cafe, Mets games on the TVs. Adult crowd, bustled on weekends. Looked to me like it was doing alright. Then it closed & was completely renovated into a dark, uninviting restaurant-bar with a fancy menu, everything steel & black formica, it was ugly. That went out of business. In large part, I suspect, because you wouldn't dress up & spend a lot of money where nobody could see you. Meanwhile, another old free-standing bar a block away, near the train station, opened with a patio, cute bar girls, & $3 Happy Hour Coronas. Don't know about the inside but the patio is very popular.
I can't use my kitchen sink. There's a clog in the wall pipe & the sink upstairs in draining in my mine, & mine drains very slowly. It's not nice. Thank heavens the guy up there doesn't use his much. The fixit man knows but there was nothin' he could do today. I had this same problem in my old place & grossness flowed up the drain & overflowed the sink, I was filling up a bucket & tossing the awful soup out the fire escape door. I told fixit man, "Trust me, you don't wanna wait on this. "
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
There's a lot of new, vacant retail space in this city, buildings & a strip mall constructed over the past year. A 7-11 is moving into the strip mall next to the Dunkin', but a Drug Fair in a large space near to it closed, & the other store remain empty. . Most of the failing businesses seem to be small Hispanic-owned markets & restaurants. Goodman's, a well-known, non-Kosher, over-priced Jewish deli-luncheonette became a Colombian place with an expensive new sign, & the new ethnic identity lasted under a year. Goodman's "special" was half-a-corned beef sandwich & a cup of soup for $7. There a was beautiful new cafe on Morris Ave., warm wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling front windows that folded open & made it like an outdoor cafe, Mets games on the TVs. Adult crowd, bustled on weekends. Looked to me like it was doing alright. Then it closed & was completely renovated into a dark, uninviting restaurant-bar with a fancy menu, everything steel & black formica, it was ugly. That went out of business. In large part, I suspect, because you wouldn't dress up & spend a lot of money where nobody could see you. Meanwhile, another old free-standing bar a block away, near the train station, opened with a patio, cute bar girls, & $3 Happy Hour Coronas. Don't know about the inside but the patio is very popular.
I can't use my kitchen sink. There's a clog in the wall pipe & the sink upstairs in draining in my mine, & mine drains very slowly. It's not nice. Thank heavens the guy up there doesn't use his much. The fixit man knows but there was nothin' he could do today. I had this same problem in my old place & grossness flowed up the drain & overflowed the sink, I was filling up a bucket & tossing the awful soup out the fire escape door. I told fixit man, "Trust me, you don't wanna wait on this. "
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, home furnishings
