Articles
Hadrosaurus Foulkii: New Jersey’s Oldest Resident
By Stephen Finn
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF JOHN GIANNOTTI
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Former Rutgers University professor John Giannotti is responsible for creating the Hadrosaurus Foulkii sculpture in downtown Haddonfield, N.J.
HADDONFIELD – A small South Jersey town with picturesque, old-time charm, Haddonfield is home to corner cafes, boutiques, gourmet restaurants… and a ten-foot dinosaur.
While strangers to the town might not believe their eyes, Haddonfield’s residents livecomfortably in the shadow of a giant reptile. The Hadrosaurus foulkii is actually one of local artist John Giannotti’s lifelike pieces of public art proudly displayed in the center of the town’s shopping district.
Giannotti is an artist, sculptor, and a former professor of fine arts at Rutgers University. His work can be seen in public areas everywhere from his hometown in Haddonfield to Soka University in Tokyo, Japan. In 2002, he was commissioned by his town to build a sculpture commemorating the 1858 discovery in Haddonfield of the first intact dinosaur skeleton found in North America.
The historic discovery of the Hadrosaurus led to its being named New Jersey’s official state dinosaur in 1991. The prehistoric addition to Jersey’s state symbols was made possible by the efforts of elementary school teacher Joyce Berry and her fourth grade class at Strawbridge Elementary School in Haddon Township.
Over the roughly ten-month period it took to complete the dinosaur, Giannotti invited children from surrounding schools to visit his studio. Each one was given a piece of clay to place anywhere on the framework of the Hadrosaurus, or “Haddy” as they started calling it. The project was gradually becoming theirs and Giannotti wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It became a real community project,” Giannotti recalls. “I was really happy with how it turned out. Children still come to visit the sculpture and point to the spot where they put their piece of clay.”
There’s not many places you can go and tell someone to “meet me at the dinosaur” without sounding slightly deranged, but for Haddonfield locals the Hadrosaurus represents not only a landmark centerpiece for the town’s business district, but a community project that brought people together and will continue to do so for years to come.
Glory Days: A Night with a Springsteen Cover Band
Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle
By Sean Randazzo
LISTEN TO A CLIP OF THE E-STREET SHUFFLE
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MANASQUAN – At 10:30 on a Saturday night, more than 70 people cram into Edgar’s Pub in Sea Girt to hear Sean Loughlin and his rock band play some music. But the crowd did not come to hear Loughlin’s original songs, they’ve come to hear Bruce Springsteen. And Loughlin, who fronts the Springsteen tribute band, E-Street Shuffle, is as close as anyone in the bar is going to get “The Boss” on this night.
The band begins the night with “Badlands” and immediately the crowd starts singing along and dancing.
Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle
“Springsteen has always been number one to me,” said Loughlin, 34, after the show. “Everyone else is a distant second. I want to sing something that I believe in, and my goal for the night when we go out is to get as many people dancing and having fun as possible.”
In just a few years, E-Street Shuffle has traveled extensively, going as far as West Virginia, and playing in venues such as the Trump Plaza, Trump Marina, and the Atlantic City Hilton.
“Playing the big places is a lot of fun,” said Loughlin. “You play for maybe an hour and get paid three times the money you would playing at a bar like this.”
In addition to Loughlin, who has been the lead singer for the band since 2007, E-Street Shuffle consists of his younger brother, Ryan Loughlin, Bill Shanker, Rich Hodder, Chris Rudo, David Turner, and Mark Bistis. They come from all walks of life. Rudo is an airline pilot for Continental Airlines. Shanker, the saxophonist, is an executive at GMAC. Turner, the pianist, is a civil engineer. Bistis, the organist, owns his own printing company.
All the band members have played in various bands, but came together to cover Springsteen tunes. “It’s the right lineup, it really is,” said Rudo, the band’s bassist.
Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle
While they haven’t played with The Boss, they have come pretty close.
“He knows about us,” said Ryan, the guitarist. “We played with the original E-Street drummer, Vinny Lopez, a few years ago.”
At Edgar’s Pub, the band played a three-and-a-half hour set, with just one 15-minute break. The show didn’t end until 2 a.m.
“He’s got a ton of hits and hits that sustain a night of music,” said Loughlin.
The set hit its highpoint when the band went into “Glory Days,” one of Springsteen’s most famous songs and one that taps into the sense of nostalgia that is the appeal of any cover band.
As the set ended, the people on the dance floor walked up to the band, and showered the group with praise and admiration. The band members talked with everyone they encountered. Some in the crowd are loyal fans who had seen the E-Street Shuffle previously.
“We play the hits, like ‘Glory Days’ and ‘Born to Run,’ but we also play the least-known songs, ones that only the most fanatical fan will know, and no other cover band of Bruce can really do that,” Loughlin said.
Champagne Wishes and Blueberry Dreams
"It's a fantastic, bubbly slice of South Jersey." - Susan Dawson, tour guide of Renault Winery in Atlantic County.
By Don Woods
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF SUSAN DAWSON AT THE RENAULT WINERY
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EGG HARBOR CITY – Renault Winery, which has been making champagne for 150 years, has an interesting twist on the official fruit of the State of New Jersey. The most popular beverage is their patented Blueberry Champagne.
“We’re the only winery in the country that makes blueberry champagne,” said Joseph Milza, assistant manager of Joseph’s Restaurant at Renault Winery, which is located in Atlantic County.
Louie Renault of Champagne, France, founded the winery in 1864. Because of being grandfathered into the champagne tradition, Renault is the only place in the United States that can call their sparkling wine champagne.
With blueberry farms in Hammonton so close by, it is no surprise that the winery chose the fruit for their special brand of champagne.
Bill Shipley from Williamstown visited Renault for his anniversary. After trying the bever
age he described it as, “Sweet and bubbly with a little bit of a kick.”
“I actually prefer a fruity champagne over a dry,” Shipley said. “It does give you that feeling of celebration.”
The champagne won the bronze award in the New Jersey State Wine Competition Awards in both 2007 and 2009. It also won the bronze in Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in 2010.
“We are the Garden State,” Milza said. “It kind of makes for a great match.”
Renault marries the New Jersey tradition of both blueberries and wine into one concoction.
“These two things together makes blueberry champagne a really local based phenomenon that just comes out to be a wonderful product and delicious,” Milza said.
Spotting the Eastern Goldfinch in Cape May
By Jodi Kovacs
LISTEN TO MIKE CREWE OF THE CAPE MAY BIRD OBSERVATORY
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Mike Crewe is a naturalist at the birding school and store manager at the Cape May Bird Observatory.
CAPE MAY – As spring approaches, many South Jersey residents are rediscovering the joy of bird watching at The Cape May Bird Observatory. But spotting the Eastern Goldfinch, the official bird of New Jersey, is difficult this time of year.
The New Jersey State Bird: American Goldfinch - Photo courtesy of creativecommons.org
In the summer, the bird is a golden-yellow in color. In the fall and winter, it turns a deep brown, making it hard to distinguish from other birds. Many people mistake the Eastern Goldfinch for sparrows.
“If you didn’t know your birds you probably wouldn’t even believe it was a Goldfinch,” said Mike Crewe, a naturalist at the birding school and store manager at the Cape May Bird Observatory.
The Eastern Goldfinch, which stays in the area for winter, often feeds on common backyard feeders in New Jersey.
The Cape May Bird Observatory offers educational walks and activities year round.
The Cape May Bird Observatory was founded in 1976 and remains a non-profit center for research, environmental education, bird conservation, and recreational birding activities. It is open year-round five days a week.
Members can visit the shop and bird watch. Experts offer guided walks on trails and to points where bird watching is especially popular.
Throughout the year, the observatory has festivals, bird walks and boat trips, photo exhibits, bird watching classes, and events for kids.
Racehorses Past Their Prime Find Retirement Haven
By Robert Stern
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF DOMINIKA NAWROT AND HER HORSES
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HAMILTON – When sudden blindness robbed Duke of his eyesight many years ago, it also abruptly ended his days as a competitive racehorse. Sightless, Duke was as good as dead.
Dominika Nawrot draws blood from Homer, a retired Standardbred in the care of the Standardbred Retirement Foundation, to test for equine infectious anemia.
As recently as five years ago, some 105,000 horses in the United States were slaughtered for their meat, many simply because they were past their prime as racing, riding or companion horses, according to a 2010 federal report on horse-slaughter prevention by the Congressional Research Service.
Duke avoided that fate because his compassionate racing family handed him off to a nonprofit organization in New Jersey – where the horse is the official state animal – that either serves as a sanctuary for retired harness racehorses like Duke or places them with loving adoptive caretakers.
In its 22-year existence, the Standardbred Retirement Foundation, which is located in Mercer County, has found adoptive homes for more than 2,300 horses.
Many others that are too old or too physically impaired to be easily adopted, including Duke, remain in the foundation’s care for life.
“No one wants to adopt him because it’s hard to cope with a blind horse,” said Dominika Nawrot, the foundation’s horse trainer, barn manager and volunteer coordinator.
Duke and other horses live at the leased 133-acre farm where the foundation is based in Hamilton, Mercer County, while others in the foundation’s care are at boarding facilities elsewhere.
Duke has learned to adjust to his blindness in remarkable ways, endearing himself as one of Nawrot’s favorites, she said.
He has the trust and confidence to run as long as a rider has him under saddle, she said.
“He’s kind of our wonder pony,” Nawrot said, using the term loosely since Duke is 21 years old and his pony days are long gone.
Duke even has a companion horse, Taxi, which he relies on as his “seeing-eye pony,” Nawrot said.
Dominika Nawrot leads a retired Standardbred, Graig, out of his paddock while her pit bull puppy, Herbie, checks things out on Feb. 14, 2011.
Every horse with which the foundation gets involved is a Standardbred because that was its founders’ desire.
Standardbreds are the horses in harness racing, where the horse is hitched to a two-wheeled cart.
That doesn’t mean Standardbreds, even those with a wildly independent streak like Nawrot’s own Ozzy, can’t be adapted to horseback riding, Nawrot said.
She said Ozzy’s willingness to be ridden is almost beyond belief, considering the nasty temperament of his younger years at the track.
“Now we use him for pony rides at our events. He’s kid-safe. He’s dog-safe,” Nawrot said. “I do 50-mile endurance rides with him.”
But there are vast numbers of other unwanted horses across the United States that caregivers like Nawrot and organizations like the Standardbred Retirement Foundation don’t have the resources to reach.
These days, many wind up exported to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada to be butchered for their meat because the last three horse slaughterhouses that operated in the United States shut down in 2007.
The “New” New Jersey Shore
By Jodi Kovacs
LONG BRANCH – At Pier Village in Long Branch, visitors won’t find boardwalk rides or greasy funnel cakes. It’s a new kind of “Jersey Shore” experience; one that is more upscale and exclusive and less like the backdrop for a raucous reality TV show.
Pier Village is a $400 million development of spacious ocean front condos, gourmet restaurants, and luxury boutiques. Brothers David and Michael Barry, owners of Ironstate Development, built it in 2005 after a fire destroyed the historic boardwalk and water park at the site in 1987.
Pier Village is built to look like a picture-perfect resort town. It features culinary hotspots like Avenue, a French restaurant offering cuisine that might be served at exotic locations like Saint-Tropez, and Sirena, an Italian restaurant that serves veal saltimbocca and an award-winning white Sangria. There is also a Hawaiian café called Shaka, which serves only organic food and uses 100 percent recyclable products.
“It’s strikingly stylish and beach chic,” said Megan Oliveira, the director of marketing and events at Pier Village. “That’s what the goal of Pier Village really was.”
Shopping is also a major draw. Stores like The Bee and Nirvana carry brands such as Free People and True Religion. There’s also a culinary shop, a crystal and glass shop, a high-end children‘s clothing boutique, and Paws N’ Pose, a store for those who bring their posh pups to Pier Village.
Marissa Rossi spends her summers at Pier Village. “We stay at the Bungalow [hotel] for a few weekends every summer,” said Rossi. “I can shop, suntan, sip cocktails by the beach. Ya know, who wouldn‘t love this place?”
While Pier Village may be one of the first beach towns of its kind in New Jersey, others towns like Asbury and Belmar are following the trend by opening similar high-end beachfront bars, restaurants, and specialty boutiques.
In the future, developers plan to expand Pier Village, which includes another luxury restaurant called Red Orange, which features a nightclub with a rooftop swimming pool.
“We’ve been coming here since it opened,” said Allison Carlone, who was visiting Pier Village for a day of martinis and shopping with her girlfriends. “The restaurants and stores remind you of Manhattan, but you’re at the beach. It’s lovely.”
How New Jersey Became the Garden State
By Gabriel Arnold
In 1954, a new license plate design, which had the phrase `Garden State' printed on it, was vetoed by Governor Robert B. Meyner.
The slogan “The Garden State” seemed like a good idea at the time.
It was Jersey Day, August 24, 1876. The Centennial Exhibition was in full swing in Philadelphia, when a man named Abraham Browning, of Camden, New Jersey, took the stage to make an address. A talented speaker, Browning said that New Jersey was like “an immense barrel, filled with good things to eat and open at both ends, with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and the New Yorkers from the other.”
He went on to call New Jersey “The Garden State” and the name has stuck ever since. That is, if you believe Jersey Waggon Jaunts, a 1926 history of the state by Alfred M. Heston.
Some experts don’t believe it.
“The problem with this is that the image of a barrel tapped at both ends dates back at least to Benjamin Franklin,” Robert Lupp of the New Jersey State Library has said. “So this statement crediting Browning with naming the Garden State cannot be taken at face value.”
People have been debating the usefulness of the slogan for years.
In 1954, a new license plate design, which had the phrase `Garden State’ printed on it, was vetoed by Governor Robert B. Meyner. “My investigation discloses that there is no official recognition of the slogan ‘Garden State’ as an identification of the State of New Jersey,” Governor Meyer declared. Despite his condemnation, the bill was passed by the legislature anyway, giving us the unique license plate we have today.
Beyond the mystery and debate, New Jersey does have a rich farming history that dates back to the Revolutionary War, when the state was known as the Crossroads because of the mass volume of troops and supplies passing through it. With surprisingly good soil, climate, and geographical location, New Jersey residents were pivotal in supplying the Continental armies with food.
Although the nickname may seem comical to some, given that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, agriculture is still a major part of the state’s way of life.
The state ranks second in the nation in blueberry production, third in cranberry production, and third in spinach production, among several other crops and industries. Those are big numbers for the fourth smallest state in the country.
White Diamond Knows Burgers
By Brian Woods
CLARK – There was an ongoing joke in my family that my stepdad could not cook anything but burgers. When my mom was out, we all knew what we were going to be eating. My stepdad’s burgers were absolutely delicious, but many times, he was not doing the cooking. He got help from White Diamond, a local burger joint in Union County.
On those nights, dinner was served a white paper bag with the bottom soaked in grease.
For many residents of Union County, White Diamond is legendary. It has been in operation on the corner of the busiest intersection in town since 1947.
The White Diamond is small, little more than a grill and a counter. There are two booths and a few stools. It’s not really a place anybody would stay long, but there is virtually no time in the 24 hours that it is open each day when it isn’t packed.
“Everyone knows it’s the place to be when you’re craving a good burger at strange hours,” said Caitlin Reisel, 21, from Cranford. “I’ve never walked in and didn’t know someone. You always see someone you know.”
During the day, the White Diamond fills with regulars and families looking to grab a quick burger, but young adults own the night. Midnight is the time when White Diamond really flourishes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Saturday night or a Tuesday when the bars close, White Diamond is packed.
“I’ve been working here since before you were born,” said Joe Collins, brother of co-owner Kevin Collins, who has been working at White Diamond for 35 years. “During the night, it’s all drunks. It’s an interesting place.”
Even at 9 a.m. on at Thursday morning, a group of regulars are sitting at the counter.
“White Diamond is greasy and delicious,” said Chris Sheridan, a student at Rutgers University. “It is a great spot to get a burger at any time of the day or night, no matter how drunk, anyone is welcome to feast.”
While some places tend to fend off the disruptive customers that are loud and obnoxious, White Diamond seems to embrace them.
“I have had many drunken nights at the White Diamond,” said Anthony Pantano, a resident of Kenilworth.
“It’s a perfect place because it’s cheap and the food is good.”
There are plenty of things on the White Diamond menu, but it might as well be just a burger stand. Their burgers are a staple of the area. It’s not just good eating; it’s atmosphere and memories.
Richard Greco, a college student from Roselle Park, recalls his fondest memories of the White Diamond, “I loved coming here and eating in between double headers with all my teammates on my high school baseball team,” he said.
The Clark White Diamond does not do much marketing or any at all. Most people who are not from the area have not heard of it.
Visitors who ask too many questions are likely to hear Joe Collins respond, “You’re not from around here are ya?”