Plofker’s Newest Plan for Glen Ridge Ave

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 4:41pm  |  COMMENTS (36)

plofker passageways.jpgDeveloper Steven Plofker, who bought two parcels in Glen Ridge in hopes of building a multi-family community there, wasn’t getting anywhere with the Glen Ridge Board of Adjustment. He needs a slew of variances to build two new houses and create a community of them along with two existing houses and a barn.
So last week, he informally presented a conceptual plan to the Glen Ridge Planning Board. Instead of going through with zoning the houses as single-family, his new idea is to link them together with passageways so the development could be considered a townhouse development. Townhouses are permitted in the R-5 zone, but Plofker still would need a Planning Board variance because he only has half an acre of land and townhouse development requires an acre.

Continue Reading

Forging a Connection With Kids in Nairobi

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 4:02pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

Go over to Barista Kids for a story about how a local school reached out to less fortunate kids on the other side of the world.

Now That’s Some Gingerbread

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 3:52pm  |  COMMENTS (1)

gingerbread with divencenzo.jpg
There were no winners from Montclair, but the Dowd family of Verona (pictured are Samantha, Patricia and Molli) got to mug with Joey D. last Saturday after receiving first place the Group/Family category of the Essex County Environmental Center’s Fifth Annual Gingerbread Homes and Habitats Contest. Impressive piece of gingerbread sculpture. Is that a clay tile roof?
(Photo by Glen Frieson)

Egan & Sons, West Orange: A Peek

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 1:37pm  |  COMMENTS (14)


West Orange is hardly lacking in Irish pubs. Those of us who take Harrison Ave. to Eagle Rock Ave. as a regular shortcut, pass The Hat all the time. And Gaffer’s Pub is right around the corner on Main Street. Well, now this corner of West Orange is officially Little Dublin. Egan & Son’s, the hugely popular Irish pub on Walnut Street in Montclair, is opening a second pub right next to The Life church on Harrison Ave. in West Orange.
Although all Irish pubs sport signs for Guinness, Egan’s is planting its stake at the corner of Harrison and Eagle Rock as a place to eat as much as to drink. “We are very much food oriented,” says co-owner Sharon Egan. “We like to consider ourselves a gastropub.”

Continue Reading

Shop Local Montclair: The Illustration

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 12:13pm  |  COMMENTS (11)

Shop Local Montclair drawing.jpg
Maila Arzadon-Suelto, the 37-year-old freelance fashion designer who created this year’s illustration for Shop Local Montclair’s website, emails and shopping bags, admits that the stick-thin fashionistas in her drawing of downtown Montclair are “a little bit aspirational.”
“They’re a little bit more hip that you’d find,” she says. “But there’s probably a handful of people who would look like that.”
No matter. Arzadon-Suelton, who moved to Bloomfield from the Philippines when she was 15 and moved to Montclair about seven years ago, loves the town and especially the shopping and eating.

Continue Reading

Remembrances of Baristaville Past

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 10:36am  |  COMMENTS (5)

montclair&environs by read.jpegNewspapers traditionally recap the previous year’s big stories in late December (we plan ours next week), and when the new year ends in a zero, they often roll out the stories of the previous decade. Well, nobody has to do that in Baristaville this year because Star Ledger reporter Phil Read already has: in a self-published collection of local stories that originally ran in the newspaper from 2000 to 2009.
“Montclair & Environs” ($21.90), which you can buy, signed, at The Fine Grind in Little Falls, includes a collection of Read’s stories over the past decade about Montclair, Glen Ridge and surrounding towns. Like many retrospectives, it reads like a graveyard of familiar landmarks. There’s the end of “Over the Rainbow,” the hippie organic food store and restaurant on Church Street, the end of the Olympic Shop, the end of the Soda Pop Shop and the end of Bradner, the old-fashioned apothecary in Watchung Plaza.

Continue Reading

Yes, Virginia, There Is…

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 8:25am  |  COMMENTS (11)

File-MerryOldSanta.jpegA Santa Claus, and he lives in New Jersey. That’s the premise of a cute column by Joey Novick that ran in PolitickerNJ this weekend.

We’re talking about an overweight bearded man wearing a matching track suit. He wouldn’t fit in anywhere else. He exists as certainly as corruption and property taxes and high auto insurance rates exist.
Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus and if he didn’t live in New Jersey. It would be as dreary as if there were no Atlantic City casinos or the Jersey Shore to make tolerable this existence. We then would have no enjoyment, except when Rita’s Ices is open in the summer, and the eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished the moment you can’t get a Blendini.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in double-dipping pensioners!

And speaking of double-dipping…

Continue Reading

Weekend Train Service Missed Connection

Monday, Dec 21, 2009 5:00pm  |  COMMENTS (16)

A tipster sent us a commuting horror story from this weekend after trying out the new weekend train service to Montclair, Glen Ridge and Bloomfield.
The tipster left the Bloomfield train station Saturday at 1:10 p.m., expecting to connect at the Newark Broad Street station to travel to Manhattan. Just as the train pulled into Broad Street, the Manhattan-bound train pulled out ahead of schedule.
The Tipster writes:

The conductors, while sympathetic, could do nothing except suggest that passengers either wait an hour for another connecting train to Manhattan, or take the train to Hoboken and then PAY to take the PATH train into NYC. Unacceptable! My wife and many others called NJ Transit to complain, but their plight fell on deaf ears. To add insult to injury, PATH would not cross-honor the train passes, thus forcing all passengers to pay twice for service into Manhattan.

NJ Transit spokesperson Dan Stessel confirmed that there was a missed connection on Saturday afternoon. “We certainly apologize for that missed connection. It is not supposed to happen and we will take steps to make sure it does not happen again,” he says.
In order to prevent future missed connections, Stessel says NJ Transit will be following up on this situation with the crew members on the New York-bound train and will re-instruct them on procedures. “It is our expectation that this won’t happen again,” Stessel says.

The Shortest Day of the Year

Monday, Dec 21, 2009 3:00pm  |  COMMENTS (16)

File-North_season.jpegGet your sledding in today while the sun is still out!
Dec. 21 is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Daylight has slowly been dwindling into night, and Christmas is only a couple of days away.
On the longest night of the year, First Congregational Church will hold a special service for those who are grieving or experience a loss during the holiday season. The “Longest Night Service” will begin at 7:30 p.m in Sanctuary on South Fullerton Avenue.
Have you been trying to squeeze out as much playtime in the snow as possible today? Or are you waiting for the longest night of the year to rent some movies or sit by the fireplace with a book and some tea?

Kids, Too, Will Love Tim Burton at MoMA

Monday, Dec 21, 2009 1:00pm

tim burton/momaWorried about the kids running wild during their upcoming school break? Take them to the Tim Burton exhibition at MoMA, which is fun for all ages. Read about it on Barista Kids.

Featured Comment

Oh I get it now ....A meat and greet.
Posted by
johnqp

Tip, Follow, Friend, Subscribe

Links & Information

Baristanet on Flickr

Browse all photos...