Pizza. Ask a thousand people where to find the best pizza in Jersey and you’ll get a thousand different answers.
Yesterday I took the family up to the place that gets my vote…..an out of the way place in Hackensack ironically named “Brooklyn’s Pizza”. Funny thing is that there’s really nothing unique about it, since you can find coal-fired brick oven pie just about anywhere….not just in Jersey or Brooklyn. However, I’d been going there since my buddy Eugene from Lodi first took me there in 1991, so they’d become a habit ever since.
Ironic too that just yesterday, while we were sitting there enjoying the pie, we were talking about the place that was the precursor to many of these brick oven joints you find all over. It happens that, unbeknown to us, the place we were talking about had burnt down in a fire just that morning. It was a landmark in Brooklyn….so much so that it’s demise made the 11 o’clock news on Channel 4. My wife and I looked at each other in shock. “Weren’t we just talking about Totonno’s today?”
How the fire got started God only knows….the place had to be over a hundred years old. But if you had ever been there, you’d remember it. Character. No frills. Get what you want, and get the hell out. “We close when the dough runs out”…..that’s the kind of place it was. As kids, my mom used to drive us down to Coney Island on a Friday to eat there. She grew up a block away from the place. The 3 of us used to cry, “…but ma, we don’t want to eat pizza in the slums!” Not that we lived in the lap of luxury, but why go there!
But just like a nationally known chain uses the slogan, “when you’re here, you’re family.”…this place lived it. My mom knew the woman who was the only waitress, and the guy behind the counter who made the pies. They were brother and sister who inherited the place from their father, who happened to come from the same town in Italy as my mother’s father.
The guy behind the counter always seemed like an eternal grouch. Ask him how long you’d have to wait for a pie, and he’d bite your head off. Better just to shut up and wait, and if the dough ran out while you were waiting….well, too bad! His sister was a pretty sweet woman, although like her brother, she never smiled much. But thousands of people knew the place…..knew that they were only open 3 days a week….knew that they had the same marble fixtures and the same ice box where the soda was stored that dated back to the year of the flood! Knew that the tomatoes were always the best, the mozzarella was always the freshest, and even if the brother just schmered on the ingredients, it didn’t matter. The pie was still the tastiest.
So it came as no surprise that when the piemaker died in '93 or '94, the Daily News ran a spread on him…..detailing the history of the place and all the accommodations they’d won in years past. It was so much of a legend that their niece and her husband, not wanting to see it fade into history, took the place over, and shocker to think this, even opened up a place like it on the Upper East Side!
Well yesterday, a little piece of history was taken out in a fire. Will Coney Island see one of its original landmarks again? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But it does make you remember all those great places you may have been to in the past that had “character”. Jimmy Buff’s in Irvington, where the hot dogs are deep fried in oil, and buried inside a "pizza bread" with greasy home fris…..Agostino’s in Hoboken. I’ve never been, but I’m told the waitress there is a trip….if you can get a reservation...because they only have 5 tables! Pat’s in Philly…..know what the hell you want or get off the line.
When you’re there, you really are like family…verbal abuse and all! Too bad the slogan’s gone corporate.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It was 30 years ago…..more or less
Recently, the AOL homepage featured one of those wacky questions like…”Do You Regret Marrying Your Spouse?” I’m sure this is due to the results of the TV show, “The Bachelor”, Jason Mesnick backing out on his proposal to marry the perky Melissa, and instead falling back on his “true love” Molly. (There had to be a classier way to handle the end of that show, but then again, who says good television has to be “classy”?)
Anyway, I guess everyone gets a case of “cold feet” once the moment of truth presents itself. I did. And, boy, am I glad I had someone like Larry Sheets to help put me over the top!
Who’s Larry Sheets? Well, he’s a guy I worked with when I was a DJ down in Georgia.
Larry’s dad owned a real estate brokerage, and as a hobby, Larry did some fill in work at the radio station. Larry was what you’d call a sensitive guy….sensitive, but not very decisive. It seems that Larry was in a relationship for a number of years, holding out the possibility of marriage to his girlfriend, but never quite sealed the deal! One day Larry came to the radio station looking as though he was diagnosed with some fatal disease. “My girl dumped me” he said with tears in his eyes. “After so many years that we’d been together, she just decided that it was time. I never saw it coming…..I always figured she’d be the one I’d marry….but because I never popped the question, she just went ahead and told me she’d been seeing someone else.”
I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone take a breakup as badly as that. Just the admission that he needed something like ‘ludes just to be able to function was enough to convince me that there was no way to console him.
How fortuitous for me this little meeting. Not wanting to take any glee or comfort in his obvious misfortune, I told him that it wasn’t but a couple of days before that that I’d decided to give my relationship with my then girlfriend a “cooling off” period. I look back at it now and shudder. I mean, here was someone who stuck with me through all my own indecisiveness about leaving family and friends to pursue my dream…and I actually had the audacity to tell her that we needed a “cooling off”? Just writing this aggravates me…..but enough of that!
Mentioning this to Larry, he looked at me with those tear filled doleful eyes and said in his Garth Brooks like twang, “…..do you think she’s the one you’d be spending the rest of your life with?” “Well, yeah”, I said, unassumingly. “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t let her get awaaaayyyyyy! “Go tell her nowwwwwww!” Don’t let what happened to me happen to you!
Later that day I was on the phone to the woman who would eventual consent to become my wife, and in my most unromantic proposal, said, “…babe, I think we should do this…..what do you say?”
Perhaps if AOL were asking the question and my wife were to answer, who knows, she might answer differently. As for me, I don’t regret a thing…….and will always be in Larry’s debt, wherever he is. Hopefully happily married and owning most of the real estate in Middle Georgia.
Anyway, I guess everyone gets a case of “cold feet” once the moment of truth presents itself. I did. And, boy, am I glad I had someone like Larry Sheets to help put me over the top!
Who’s Larry Sheets? Well, he’s a guy I worked with when I was a DJ down in Georgia.
Larry’s dad owned a real estate brokerage, and as a hobby, Larry did some fill in work at the radio station. Larry was what you’d call a sensitive guy….sensitive, but not very decisive. It seems that Larry was in a relationship for a number of years, holding out the possibility of marriage to his girlfriend, but never quite sealed the deal! One day Larry came to the radio station looking as though he was diagnosed with some fatal disease. “My girl dumped me” he said with tears in his eyes. “After so many years that we’d been together, she just decided that it was time. I never saw it coming…..I always figured she’d be the one I’d marry….but because I never popped the question, she just went ahead and told me she’d been seeing someone else.”
I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone take a breakup as badly as that. Just the admission that he needed something like ‘ludes just to be able to function was enough to convince me that there was no way to console him.
How fortuitous for me this little meeting. Not wanting to take any glee or comfort in his obvious misfortune, I told him that it wasn’t but a couple of days before that that I’d decided to give my relationship with my then girlfriend a “cooling off” period. I look back at it now and shudder. I mean, here was someone who stuck with me through all my own indecisiveness about leaving family and friends to pursue my dream…and I actually had the audacity to tell her that we needed a “cooling off”? Just writing this aggravates me…..but enough of that!
Mentioning this to Larry, he looked at me with those tear filled doleful eyes and said in his Garth Brooks like twang, “…..do you think she’s the one you’d be spending the rest of your life with?” “Well, yeah”, I said, unassumingly. “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t let her get awaaaayyyyyy! “Go tell her nowwwwwww!” Don’t let what happened to me happen to you!
Later that day I was on the phone to the woman who would eventual consent to become my wife, and in my most unromantic proposal, said, “…babe, I think we should do this…..what do you say?”
Perhaps if AOL were asking the question and my wife were to answer, who knows, she might answer differently. As for me, I don’t regret a thing…….and will always be in Larry’s debt, wherever he is. Hopefully happily married and owning most of the real estate in Middle Georgia.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Is no pocket sacred?
As many of you know, in the past year I’ve worked toward my certification to become a personal trainer. It’s a fascination I’ve had over the last couple of years, and was encouraged to pursue it as a sideline, especially since so many people my age share my interest in fitness and overall wellness.
Well, almost as if on cue, the New Jersey state government has found yet another pocket they’d like to pick…..anyone who has or will try to make a living as a personal trainer! Consider this recent letter from a concerned listener in the fitness trade:
Hi, Casey & Rossi
I run the group fitness programs at Princeton University, and recently a piece of legislation has been introduced (S 2164, Fitness Professionals Licensing Act) that would put most, if not all, personal trainers and group instructors in New Jersey out of business. It requires trainers/instructors to have 300 hours of classroom instruction, 50 hours of which has to be an unpaid internship. Even though I have excellent instructors that have been teaching for 10, 20 or even 30 years, literally every one of the 60 individuals I supervise at Princeton would be unable to continue working unless they spent thousands on a program.
Most of our folks are part-time and to have to put out that kind of money for a job that earns them at most a few thousand would likely prevent them from continuing in the field. The state (unsurprisingly) is creating a board that would oversee this process and require instructors/trainers to be licensed through the state and renew every year ($$$ for the state).
I understand the need to have qualified people as fitness instructors/trainers so participants are safe. There's a lot of questionable certifications out there in the fitness industry, and passing one of those wouldn't qualify someone to lead a class or train a client.
However, that's why I have a job--I get tons of resumes from would-be instructors and probably follow up with 10% at best. I look for a few well-respected certifications, audition and interview potential hires, and re-evaluate them every semester. Setting this sort of arbitrary requirement (why 300 hours? why does the internship have to be unpaid? who will be on this "board") will put thousands of individuals who ARE diligent and qualified in their training out of work at a time when none of us can afford to be out of work.
Thanks for your time!
Susan Crane
Coordinator for Group & Instructional Fitness, Princeton University
I'd agree with Susan that there may be some trainers that are under qualified, but the various certification agencies have pretty stringent policies already in place for those calling themselves trainers. Could the government do a better job regulating an industry, that, for the most part, seems to be doing a pretty good job of regulating itself? Keep in mind, even though personal safety is the stated goal, the underlying goal is something we all know as revenue enhancement.
In order for me to keep my certification active, I would need to take a number of what are called Continuing Education Credits during the course of any given year. These could vary in subject, such as different exercise modalities, special populations, nutrition, etc. The more CEC’s I have, the better I am at my craft, and the more current my knowledge of a field that is constantly changing! Does a governmental body really have a better grip overseeing the industry and its many professionals? Seeing how the many governmental bodies regulate our lives now, I would think the answer to be pretty simple.
Thanks again to Susan Crane for taking the time to bring this to my attention. Nothing ever surprises me with the many ways the state looks to pick one’s pocket!
Well, almost as if on cue, the New Jersey state government has found yet another pocket they’d like to pick…..anyone who has or will try to make a living as a personal trainer! Consider this recent letter from a concerned listener in the fitness trade:
Hi, Casey & Rossi
I run the group fitness programs at Princeton University, and recently a piece of legislation has been introduced (S 2164, Fitness Professionals Licensing Act) that would put most, if not all, personal trainers and group instructors in New Jersey out of business. It requires trainers/instructors to have 300 hours of classroom instruction, 50 hours of which has to be an unpaid internship. Even though I have excellent instructors that have been teaching for 10, 20 or even 30 years, literally every one of the 60 individuals I supervise at Princeton would be unable to continue working unless they spent thousands on a program.
Most of our folks are part-time and to have to put out that kind of money for a job that earns them at most a few thousand would likely prevent them from continuing in the field. The state (unsurprisingly) is creating a board that would oversee this process and require instructors/trainers to be licensed through the state and renew every year ($$$ for the state).
I understand the need to have qualified people as fitness instructors/trainers so participants are safe. There's a lot of questionable certifications out there in the fitness industry, and passing one of those wouldn't qualify someone to lead a class or train a client.
However, that's why I have a job--I get tons of resumes from would-be instructors and probably follow up with 10% at best. I look for a few well-respected certifications, audition and interview potential hires, and re-evaluate them every semester. Setting this sort of arbitrary requirement (why 300 hours? why does the internship have to be unpaid? who will be on this "board") will put thousands of individuals who ARE diligent and qualified in their training out of work at a time when none of us can afford to be out of work.
Thanks for your time!
Susan Crane
Coordinator for Group & Instructional Fitness, Princeton University
I'd agree with Susan that there may be some trainers that are under qualified, but the various certification agencies have pretty stringent policies already in place for those calling themselves trainers. Could the government do a better job regulating an industry, that, for the most part, seems to be doing a pretty good job of regulating itself? Keep in mind, even though personal safety is the stated goal, the underlying goal is something we all know as revenue enhancement.
In order for me to keep my certification active, I would need to take a number of what are called Continuing Education Credits during the course of any given year. These could vary in subject, such as different exercise modalities, special populations, nutrition, etc. The more CEC’s I have, the better I am at my craft, and the more current my knowledge of a field that is constantly changing! Does a governmental body really have a better grip overseeing the industry and its many professionals? Seeing how the many governmental bodies regulate our lives now, I would think the answer to be pretty simple.
Thanks again to Susan Crane for taking the time to bring this to my attention. Nothing ever surprises me with the many ways the state looks to pick one’s pocket!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
