A Septic Spiel of Spooky Scares, Super Heroes, and Strange Stories from Miles Beneath the Crud of New Jersey!
Tommy over at The Bat-Blog is known for consistently providing cool Batman stuff to his readers on a daily basis. Over the weekend the Bat-Blog reported that the “Junior Bat-Squad” created sand art on the beach in Belmar, NJ in the shape of the 1989 Batmobile! These kids did a fantastic job and if you want to see more pics check out the link and the story here:
Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. (a sales manager at his father’s auto parts company according to Wikipedia) opened the first Drive-In move theater under the name Park In-Theaters, Inc on June 6th, 1933 on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, NJ. Usually each car paid under a dollar for admission, vastly less than the astronomical prices for movies today. You can read the history of Hollingshead and his theater via this link at the History Channel’s website.
The mid-’80s saw the decline of the Drive-In movie theater. Hope is not lost though. Within the last few years the dine-in trend is coming back, so maybe we’ll see the resurgence of the Drive-In theater?
At the height of the Drive-In craze, Newark, NJ had one of the largest Drive-Ins in the country, but things started to get out of hand. In 1948 Ed Brown’s Fly-In and Drive-In opened in Asbury Park, NJ. Planes landed at a nearby airfield and were allowed to taxi to the back row which was designated for planes.Sounds like Disney’s Cars world, doesn’t it? This outdoor theater had space for 500 cars and 25 airplanes. The formula must have proven successful since another generic Fly-In/Drive-In opened in Belmar in the ’50s.
Considering that I’m not a huge fan of the revamped Dine-In theater gimmick, chances are, the Drive-In Theater wouldn’t appeal to me much either. Apparently, many people in my family managed and worked at a drive-in theater in New Jersey for several years and during high school and college I worked at the local theater as well, so I have a unique perspective. Ultimately, I’d rather be on my couch relaxing while watching a blu-ray and sipping some iced tea and chowing down on food that a waitress doesn’t have to interrupt the movie to bring over to me.
If you’re feeling nostalgic and you want to take the fam out for a night at the movies, why not bypass the usual 24-plex and pay a visit to The Delsea Drive-In in Vineland, New Jersey!
http://www.delseadrive-in.com/
*You can find some of the information in this post at http://www.driveintheater.com/drivhis1.htm#oddities
It’s a crime that it’s taken 88 Jersey related t-shirt posts for me to write about True Jersey. It’s true that I’ve seen their t-shirt and sticker designs in the past, but I wasn’t fully acquainted with their company until recently. Much like The Sexy Armpit, True Jersey started well before MTV’s Jersey Shore and as you can see in the pic above that I compiled from pics off their site, they offer some of the coolest Jersey stuff available.
The company started out as a small operation in “spare rooms and garages,” and eventually moved their printing operation into a space in Belmar NJ. Presently, in addition to the Belmar location, they have a new shop in Toms River, NJ.
Their products are made by Jersey people and reflect the Garden State culture so you know it’s 100% bonafide Jersey. This is a company who is proud of their roots and create products that express that. It’s not like you are getting some t-shirt made in Taiwan that has the word “Situation” slapped on it. In the True Jersey shop you will find all original designs on high quality tees, hats, stickers, skate decks, and art prints.
You must be thinking to yourself, how much free crap did these True Jersey folks give to me to write this? Actually none…but they should! HA! Seriously, I bought a pretty damn sharp pinstriped New Jersey hat from them recently and I’m eagerly looking forward to a trip to their new store soon. One thing is for sure, True Jersey shares the same sentiments that The Sexy Armpit has been living by for nearly 8 years and it’s at the top of their F.A.Q page: “…occasionally poking fun at our own flaws. It’s what Jersey is about.”