Bill

Suburban Diner on Route 17.  Quite different today compared to this photograph.

The Garden State Plaza, 62 years ago, was an open air mall with many flowering plant beds in the open spaces.  The store on the right was Arcadian Gardens, a nursey that sold many home gardening items.  The tall structure on the left was the J. C. Penney store and at the far end was [...]

Barney Martin was the first Chief of Police in Paramus.  He was appointed on April 11, 1925 and stayed as Chief until April 24, 1936.  He was "on duty" 24 hours a day.  His office was on the front porch of his house.  He then served as Acting Chief until July 17, 1936 when Carl [...]

The telephone bench was found in most homes in the days before wall mounted, and then later cordless telephones, became the norm.  The bench was a handy place to sit while you were talking on lengthy phone calls.  It also provided a place to store the telephone directory.

The Paramus Skating Rink was built in 1937.  At that time the road was a two lane dirt road that later became Route 17.  The rink was open every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evening.  It was also open for matinee and evening sessions on Saturday and Sunday.  The rink closed in the late 1970's.

The Arcola Amusement Park opened in 1920 and was destroyed by fire in 1929.  Shown in the photograph are the roller coaster and parachute ride.  The park also had a large swimming pool that existed until the 1950's when the pool buildings were also destroyed by fire.

This photo from 63 years ago had Lorry's. Arcadian Gardens , Gimbels and J.C. Penney along with Bamberger's.

This type of puzzle was found to be from England where it was known as Solitare. It dates back over 300 years to 1679   The one shown above was manufactured by Lubbers & Bell Mfg. Co. from Clinton, Iowa.  It comes with a instruction booklet copyrighted in 1924.

No longer a furniture piece found in todays homes, this telephone bench was placed by the telephone as a place to sit while talking on the phone and to set the phone that was attached to the wall with a short wire.  Next to the seat was an area where the phone directory could be [...]