I grew up in Newark on Thomas Street. I rode my bike up and down my street from Mulberry to Goble all day, everyday.
It was a very busy street with tractor trailers and plenty of cars. When we played touch football on the cobblestone street, it was the unspoken
duty of the other kids to have your back and alert you of incoming cars. Summers were tough, always very hot. We were very lucky that some brave
person would open the fire hydrant on Mulberry St. Wide open with no cap from the fire house. It would stay on keeping us cool until the water
pressure dropped. Then for some time the water in the house would be brown.
I also lived across the street from "Conmars". This place was lit on
fire many times by local trouble makers. I remember watching one kid jump out a second floor window and then half hour later there was a huge fire.
My friends and I would race to the fire alarm to pull the alarm and alert the fire department. Whoever got to the corner first and pulled the alarm
was the "hero". I never had the guts to explore the inside of Conmars until I was a teen. It was as creepy as it gets. They let homeless people
strip the place down to the foundation before they finally tore it down. I remember the day the building was knocked down to make way for houses.
Today it's Sumo Village Court. Another industrial building that existed became a distant memory.
Thank goodness we have websites like Old Newark that let us remember and reminisce.
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