My father had a printing business on the
5th floor of 216 Market Street. A rickety elevator brought us up
to his place, brown splintered floors, rooms full of cutting machines,
mimeograph machines, typesetting machines and printing presses.
When I was as young as 9 years, I would get on the 48 Maple Avenue
bus after school, walk from Broad & Market Streets east to 216,
which was right across from the Newark Evening News and right next
to the Novelty Bar & Grill. We would often eat there, usually
deli type sandwiches, but the most fascinating aspect was to watch
the derelicts who would nurse a 5 cent cup of coffee for hours.
As a teenager, I used to wave to the compositors who worked across
the street on the 5th floor of the newspaper. They wore paper box
hats. One time, a guy held up a dollar bill, and pointed to the
Novelty Bar & Grill. I guess he was trying to inveigle me into
meeting him there.
People would stand in front of the News building reading the headlines.
I recall the day FDR died....People lined up 4 deep to read about
it.
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