Passenger rail - a rail line conected northern New Jersey with Cape May - would have been more cost effective and more energy efficient, but in 1952 all America wnated to do was build more highways! That thinking turned New Jersey from a mainly rural state with small but vibrant cities into a nightmarish landscape of suburban sparwl and giant ghettos.
InEast Orange, the Garde nState Parkway replaced the old Oraton Parkway, a residential thoroughfare with a median wider than some streets. The Garden State Parkway construcution destroyed the most beautiful street in Essex County. Bloomfield may not have ended up like East Orange, but the Parkway helped turn its open spaces into tract housing. Those wide GSP medians in Union County? Gone, because the Parkway was widened to accomodate more traffic.
The Garden State Parkway has had an adverse affect on the state, in my opinion. It drained the population centers in the northern part of the staet and encouraged exubran development in the Shore counties, which has damaged the sensitive land and water tables. Route 37 newar Toms River was a two-lane country road. Now it;'s a six-lane highway surrounded by big box stores and tract houses. People who live in Ocean County still have to trave luyp north to get to their jobs.
Love how they showed, via pic-to-gram, how they ran the parkway right through thousands of people's neighborhood by basically seizing their houses with Eminent Domain an displacing them. The beginning of the end for East Orange.
Ttrust me, the Parkway had little to do with the demise of East Orange. The Parkway runs through dozens of towns that didn't end up like East Orange. I think the change of demographics had more to do with it than anything else.
@dohc73 I KNOW. That's why we ended up in Colonia, NJ,which is nice but my parents never thought they would leave East Orange. They (the parkway folks) came in and took our neighborhood which the toll booth is now where our livingroom used to be. Hawthorne Ave was never the same.
haha u can have picnics off to the side.. try doin that off the north of the driscoll bridge.. i love the GSP i grew up right off of 120 in monmouth county.
Tthe area between Woodbridge and Cranford is now backed up every morning during rush hours. Thank you Mr Driscol for your limited vision of the future. Would it have been too much to ask to add 20 lanes each way?
Coming from a NJ native, The Parkway is a beautiful highway, esp. in Monmouth County. It is good enough to show off to visitors, which I do sometimes--but not on Labor Day.
Thank you so much for posting this. It also brought back wonderful memories and I can't wait to let my family know it's here. You can be proud of your folks and happy they let you be in it, too.
The parkway is good. But on labor day weekend, it's blocked up. Think about staying in Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood, or Cape May for a long time. Until the weekend rush is over.
Wow, a flashback. I noticed the people stuck in traffic had their windows down. Not many cars had A/C in those days. I was on the GSP yesterday and it remains one of my favorite roads. NJTA has their act together.
'Spend Time at the beach, not in bumper-to-bumper traffic'. Hahaha. Try the GSP on a summer weekend. 10 lanes of local and Express lanes lock right up.
Great video, a great document of its time. I'm just wondering--do you know where and when this film would have been shown originally, and who was supposed to see it? I mean other than "in 1952 for voters to see it." I'm curious how it was distributed and shown, if you happen to know.
I'm told by parents, who made the film, that they distributed it by hand: They and relatives drove it around the state to key places, where it was shown to get out the
November 4th vote. I'm the kid in the film (there for 2 or 3 seconds) who is in the front seat when the car (buick?) stops short.
I actually went through the windshield, which had been deliberately removed, but this doesn't show at all. I think it was cut out. You only see me lurching forward. Thanks for asking.
I worked for the parkway, but not back then ! what a memory as a kid though...I was proud to be a part of the team that made that one of the safest and most well maintained roadways in the US. Thanks for this :)
7:50 is that Pauly D?
08Lasventuras 1 month ago
Vey interesting. Is the narrator Hugh Beaumont of Leave It To Beaver fame?
Sure sounds like his voice.
MichaelKazmar 10 months ago
Thanks for the comments about my comments, sorry for all my typos.
fishdeschois 1 year ago
Passenger rail - a rail line conected northern New Jersey with Cape May - would have been more cost effective and more energy efficient, but in 1952 all America wnated to do was build more highways! That thinking turned New Jersey from a mainly rural state with small but vibrant cities into a nightmarish landscape of suburban sparwl and giant ghettos.
fishdeschois 1 year ago
InEast Orange, the Garde nState Parkway replaced the old Oraton Parkway, a residential thoroughfare with a median wider than some streets. The Garden State Parkway construcution destroyed the most beautiful street in Essex County. Bloomfield may not have ended up like East Orange, but the Parkway helped turn its open spaces into tract housing. Those wide GSP medians in Union County? Gone, because the Parkway was widened to accomodate more traffic.
fishdeschois 1 year ago
The Garden State Parkway has had an adverse affect on the state, in my opinion. It drained the population centers in the northern part of the staet and encouraged exubran development in the Shore counties, which has damaged the sensitive land and water tables. Route 37 newar Toms River was a two-lane country road. Now it;'s a six-lane highway surrounded by big box stores and tract houses. People who live in Ocean County still have to trave luyp north to get to their jobs.
fishdeschois 1 year ago
wow........memories from when I was a kid!!!! LOL
newyorkeastside 1 year ago
No diffrent than today going to exit 98 Point Pleasant or Toms River exit 82 East
ShananagansOnYou 1 year ago
i also remember the value of a quarter.
censor48 1 year ago
@censor48 thank you for this video.....loved it !
newyorkeastside 1 year ago
Very good. Bravo. Now All NJ politicians are corrupt.
meeloothekid 2 years ago
Love how they showed, via pic-to-gram, how they ran the parkway right through thousands of people's neighborhood by basically seizing their houses with Eminent Domain an displacing them. The beginning of the end for East Orange.
dohc73 3 years ago
Ttrust me, the Parkway had little to do with the demise of East Orange. The Parkway runs through dozens of towns that didn't end up like East Orange. I think the change of demographics had more to do with it than anything else.
greekgd 1 year ago
@dohc73 I KNOW. That's why we ended up in Colonia, NJ,which is nice but my parents never thought they would leave East Orange. They (the parkway folks) came in and took our neighborhood which the toll booth is now where our livingroom used to be. Hawthorne Ave was never the same.
merty55 1 year ago
haha u can have picnics off to the side.. try doin that off the north of the driscoll bridge.. i love the GSP i grew up right off of 120 in monmouth county.
capricekid 3 years ago
Tthe area between Woodbridge and Cranford is now backed up every morning during rush hours. Thank you Mr Driscol for your limited vision of the future. Would it have been too much to ask to add 20 lanes each way?
Bellyflops2 3 years ago
Thank you 1952 NJ voters for passing the GSP. Life would suck harder without it.
THEONLYmes323 3 years ago
Coming from a NJ native, The Parkway is a beautiful highway, esp. in Monmouth County. It is good enough to show off to visitors, which I do sometimes--but not on Labor Day.
chem100 3 years ago
how ironic that the pakway is usually a parking lot on the weekends in the summer
curlballn 3 years ago
Thank you so much for posting this. It also brought back wonderful memories and I can't wait to let my family know it's here. You can be proud of your folks and happy they let you be in it, too.
badurl 3 years ago
Be kind. I'm the kid in this film. It's
1952, and I'm supposed to go through the
front winshield of the car (about 3 minutes
in...during the traffic jam).
rbelbur 4 years ago
The parkway is good. But on labor day weekend, it's blocked up. Think about staying in Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood, or Cape May for a long time. Until the weekend rush is over.
YonkersDrummer 4 years ago
How can you tell the difference between the cars!?
And did they have blinkers back then?
JTMonkey27 4 years ago
Wow, a flashback. I noticed the people stuck in traffic had their windows down. Not many cars had A/C in those days. I was on the GSP yesterday and it remains one of my favorite roads. NJTA has their act together.
vbdenny 4 years ago
'Spend Time at the beach, not in bumper-to-bumper traffic'. Hahaha. Try the GSP on a summer weekend. 10 lanes of local and Express lanes lock right up.
OttoYamamoto 4 years ago
I love the gsp!!! Great vid 5 stars
dooplissking95 4 years ago
Great video, a great document of its time. I'm just wondering--do you know where and when this film would have been shown originally, and who was supposed to see it? I mean other than "in 1952 for voters to see it." I'm curious how it was distributed and shown, if you happen to know.
WasteofTimeProds 4 years ago
I'm told by parents, who made the film, that they distributed it by hand: They and relatives drove it around the state to key places, where it was shown to get out the
November 4th vote. I'm the kid in the film (there for 2 or 3 seconds) who is in the front seat when the car (buick?) stops short.
I actually went through the windshield, which had been deliberately removed, but this doesn't show at all. I think it was cut out. You only see me lurching forward. Thanks for asking.
rbelbur 4 years ago
I worked for the parkway, but not back then ! what a memory as a kid though...I was proud to be a part of the team that made that one of the safest and most well maintained roadways in the US. Thanks for this :)
scaper37 4 years ago
Excellent video. Do you have any of the Parkway actually being built?
NickTwisp80 4 years ago
You have brought me back memories of traveling on the parkway when I was a kid! Thanks for posting this up!
whizkidforte 4 years ago