Jersey City
29th Annual Toy Drive Donations 2025: You can donate new, unwrapped toys to this event.Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. City of Jersey City Hall, 280 Grove St.
Mayor Steven M. Fulop and the Resident Response Center will be accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys to distribute to children in Jersey City.

Movement Monday Yoga with Meg: This yoga class is for all levels.
Location: Made of Leaves at 195 New York Ave.
Time: 7:30 p.m..

The post Events for Monday,December 1, 2025 for Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne and Secaucus first appeared on River View Observer.

Former Secaucus resident, Jon Dâ€Amore, who returned 2 years ago for a Standing Room Only reading at the Secaucus Public Library of THE BOSS ALWAYS SITS IN THE BACK, his book that chronicles, “…some interesting things that took place in town a few decades ago,” had a conversation with Mayor Michael Gonnelli a couple of months ago about the free concerts Jon put on in Buchmuller Park and Kane Stadium in the early 1970s.

Knowing the town has a complete roster of shows lined up for July and August, Jon asked Mayor Gonnelli and the Town Council if he could put on one more concert, “…just like the good old days.” After going through the proper steps, Jonâ€s request was accepted and on Friday, May 23^rd, at 8:00PM, the Town of Secaucus and Jon Dâ€Amore will present a free concert starring the legendary blues guitarist (and New Jersey native), Bobby Messano.

Jon Dâ€Amore, a former musician, and Bobby Messano met in the 1970s as they played for different bands throughout the great New Jersey and New York club scene of that era. During the 1980s, Dâ€Amore went onto a corporate career, and in 1999 moved to Hollywood, CA, to succeed as a writer. Messano rose in the ranks of the music industry, touring with Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith), Lou Gramm (Foreigner) and a lengthy list of others, plus received 19 First Round Grammy nominations, and in 2012 was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Heâ€s currently touring America and Europe promoting his recent album, WELCOME TO DELTAVILLE.

Jonâ€s music career started in Secaucus in 1968 when his high school rock band played The Plaza Arena, along with countless CYO and school dances of that era. From 1971 to 1974, Dâ€Amore produced several concerts for Secaucus under the approval of the Town Council and Mayor Paul Amico. Jon says, “Iâ€m looking forward to putting on just one more concert for those who remember the great days and nights we spent at Buchmuller Park listening to the fantastic music and local bands of that era. And thanks to Mayor Gonnelli and the Council, Iâ€ll get to do something for the town that made my life successful and filled with happiness.”

For any additional information, quotes or photos, contact

Jon Dâ€Amore – 323.447.5663

jon@jondamore.com

The post The Town of Secaucus & Jon D’Amore Presents BOBBY MESSANO first appeared on River View Observer.

by: Maureen Wlodarczyk

 In my last column, I wrote about Simon “King” Kelly, a fixture in Weehawken politics in the second half of the 1800s, and a person known for his charity, some of that evidenced by his visits to the Snake Hill Almshouse dressed as Santa Claus and bearing gifts for the young poorhouse inmates. That discovery was more than enough to rekindle my interest in the Snake Hill “community,” a societal island of lost and mostly forgotten souls comprised of the mentally ill, desperately poor, tuberculosis and smallpox patients and incarcerated criminals, and I got to wondering about the decades of Christmases spent there by thousands of Hudson County citizens.  

In the 1870s, the Snake Hill complex in Secaucus included the Almshouse, Penitentiary and “Lunatic Asylum.” Newspapers from those years reported politicians arranging for Christmas turkey and chicken dinners at Snake Hill accompanied by live music and even some dancing. The children of the Almshouse were treated to candy, fruit and cake and, according to the press, the convict population was permitted recreational time in the prison corridors, prompting some to break into song.

By 1890, a Quarantine Hospital was also in operation at Snake Hill. Christmas activities included visits by Catholic priests and Protestant ministers who led religious services and the singing of carols. Dr. George W. King, the medical superintendent at the Asylum oversaw entertainment for the patients in that institution. One of the wardens, a former member of a Civil War Zouave unit, led a military drilling presentation for the entertainment of the residents. The Freeholders of Hudson County provided toys and candy for the children of the Almshouse and the people of Hudson County were asked to donate toys, nuts, fruit or childrenâ€s books to assist in the effort to bring some Christmas joy to those unfortunate youngsters.

In 1899, as the 19^th century gave way to the 20^th, it was reported that poultry dinners would be served to the Penitentiary inmates “for the first time in years.”  Among those inmates were convicted murderers James K. Brown and Edward Clifford, facing execution and perhaps contemplating what could be their last Christmas meal. Before and after eating, prisoners performed a vaudeville show for their own entertainment. At the Almshouse, a charitable committee provided dolls for the little girls and toys for the boys and a priest, Reverend Oâ€Connor, arrived with fruit, candy, bread and a ham that was carved and served on sandwiches. 

It was not until 1908 that the Almshouse at Snake Hill had its first Christmas tree, provided by the newly-appointed Almshouse Warden James McKee at his own expense when the County did not appropriate funds for that purpose. The Warden also purchased miniature lights and ornaments to decorate the very large tree. The tree was brought into the recreation room and was decorated by McKee, his wife and several other staff members, all without the knowledge or notice of the inmates of the Almshouse, creating the desired happy surprise when they came into the room to discover it. The following Christmas, in 1909, Warden McKee outdid himself with a tree measuring 14 feet tall and reportedly decorated with 100 “miniature electric bulbs in the shapes of flowers and fruits.” The Warden also arranged for a concert including Almshouse inmates who displayed their vocal talents and musical instrument skills and a Christmas dinner of roast chicken and pumpkin pie made with pumpkins grown at the farm at Snake Hill. 

For these patients and inmates, a single day of charitable kindness and a special meal couldnâ€t erase the other 364 days of distress, deprivation, physical and mental suffering or the knowledge that it was unlikely they would ever be able to leave Snake Hill and resume their independent lives. Still, it provided some brief respite and a sense that the world had not completely forgotten them. 

Maureen Wlodarczyk is a fourth-generation-born Jersey City girl and the author of three books about life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s:  Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case.  For info: www.past-forward.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

The post HUDSON THEN…AGAIN -An After Christmas Story-CHRISTMAS AT SNAKE HILL first appeared on River View Observer.

If you grew up in New Jersey itâ€s likely you knew somebody who had a friend whose second cousin had a brother-in-law whose uncle was connected to “the Mob.” Born in Jersey City and raised in Union City and then Secaucus, Jon Dâ€Amore had family members who were “connected”. An accomplished musician and songwriter, Dâ€Amore kept mental notes of a Las Vegas casino caper that went down back in the day and tells the fascinating and sometimes nail-biting story in his new book, “The Boss Always Sits in the Back.” Hereâ€s an excerpt:

“This is my story, based on actual events, of living on the fringe of what some people call ‘the Mafia.†You see, several members of my immediate family were connected. Connected simply means that through blood, honor or business…you have a direct connection to the Cosa Nostra, the Mafia, Our Thing, La Famiglia, the Mob. And those members of my family made a very comfortable living for many, many years through this affiliation. I thought about becoming more involved when I was in my early 20s, but at the time it was the mid-1970s. I was a professional musician and having too much fun living the rock ‘n†roll lifestyle. I was living every dream of most of my high school and college buddies (and at the time… that mattered!), so why would I want to cut my hair, wear dark suits and ties…and take the chance of getting whacked? Instead, I decided to watch da guys from the sidelines.”

Funny, irreverent and a natural storyteller, Dâ€Amore has made Los Angeles his home since the mid-1990s, but he has remained connected to his Jersey roots. He returns to Hudson this month for special appearances at the Secaucus, Jersey City and North Bergen libraries where he will read excerpts and sign copies of “The Boss Always Sits in the Back,” On a recent afternoon, Dâ€Amore took time out of his busy schedule to talk with Riverview Observer about his controversial new book.

 `RVO: Can you tell our readers what “The Boss Always Sits in the Back” is about?

JD: The book is about some guys I knew from Hudson County who pulled off one of the greatest scams to hit Las Vegas and after it was exposed it changed gambling laws across the country forever so that a scam like this could never happen again. It tells a story of the human side of these people and at the same time it describes the demise of what can be considered ‘the Mob,†because it certainly isnâ€t what we knew it to be from the 1940s through the late 1970s.

RVO:  Why did you decide to write a book about the Mob?

JD: The things that happened in this book started in 1975 when I was a musician. When I had heard about what these guys were doing in Vegas, I thought it would make a fantastic story. One thing I always believe to be true is that these guys are part of our history. Like it or not, there isnâ€t a culture that hasnâ€t come to this country that didnâ€t have to do what they needed to do to survive as a family and as a culture. Itâ€s part of our society. These things I heard about I knew it needed to be written about and that these people needed to be immortalized, because of what they were doing. These guys, and I say ‘these guys†with love and respect, did amazing things when you think that none of them had a college degree, or even prior to 1970, a large number of them didnâ€t have a high school diploma and some of the things they did were worth writing about. I knew I always wanted to write this story but the timing wasnâ€t right. I needed to wait. There were loose ends that needed to resolved – people needed to be incarcerated or released.

RVO: Werenâ€t you a bit nervous about naming names?

JD: I changed the names of everyone except my family. Everybody who is still alive and who I am still in contact with, I told them that I wrote this story and they all ask the same question: ‘Whoâ€s going to play me in the movie?â€

RVO:  Have there been any movie offers?

JD: Thereâ€s been a lot of interest. I wrote the screenplay and I have people contacting me wanting to talk business. Weâ€re just waiting for the right person to get a $25 million movie made. Thatâ€s the budget of this project.

 RVO:  How did you go from being a musician to a writer?

JD:  Because I had been taking guitar lessons since I was seven, by the time I was 14, I could read any kind of music chart put in front of me and that gave me impetus to write songs. Iâ€m not saying any were blockbusters or hits, but I learned how to write lyrics that were good. In the Jersey club bands I played in, the songs I wrote were good for the time we were doing them. I always wrote to a degree, just not books or anything that was publishable until 1976. At the Herald News an editor found out I was a traveling musician and gave me the opportunity to write a weekly column called “Jon Dâ€Amore on the Road.” When I was touring, I got to tell about being a musician on the road. I got to review albums, concerts. I got out of the music business in 1985 and I made it into the corporate world and by the 90s, I was traveling all over the country as a corporate executive doing presentations for large groups. I was in the insurance business but I never sold a life insurance policy in my life. After a decade in the corporate world, I was unhappy with what I was doing. I loved the people who were benefiting from what I did, but Iâ€m not really a corporate guy.

RVO:  What made you decide to become a Californian? Did you have ties there?

JD:  My father had two cousins who had established themselves in the restaurant business in Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 1970s, so when I was a kid, we came out here to visit. I donâ€t remember this, but I was told that when I was just an infant the actor James Dean, who was a frequent customer of my cousinâ€s restaurant, picked me up and held me in his arms. Six weeks later he would be killed. I always had a connection out here and I always knew I would live here.

RVO:  You have several book signings scheduled including May 16th at the Secaucus Library. How does it feel to come back to your hometown a published author?

JD:  In all honesty, itâ€s a wonderful feeling to be able to go back. From first grade to eighth grade, I attended school in Union City and from ninth grade to high school graduation I went to Weehawken High School. (Back when I was living in Secaucus, there wasnâ€t a local high school and we went to Weehawken.) At the book signings, there will be people I havenâ€t seen since then. I was the guy who played all the high school dances. And you know whose footsteps Iâ€m following? You know who else was famous from Secaucus who came before me? The Tidy Bowl Man, the guy who did all those Tidy Bowl commercials. Thatâ€s the guy Iâ€m following.

If you go:

Jon Dâ€Amore will read excerpts and sign copies of his new book

“The Boss Always Sits in the Back” on the following dates in Hudson:

 

Wed, May16, 7 pm

Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center 1379 Paterson Plank Road

Secaucus

(201) 330-2083

www.secaucus.bccls.org

 

Thursday, May 17, 6 pm

North Bergen Free Public Library

8411 Bergenline Avenue

North Bergen (201) 869-4715

www.njpl.org

 

Mon, May 21, 6 pm

Jersey City Free Public Library

Five Corners Branch

678 Newark Ave. Jersey City, NJ 07306 (201) 547-4543

www.jclibrary.org/branches/five-corners

 

For more information, or to purchase the hardcover or paperback of “The Boss Always Sits in the Back,” visit www.thebossalwayssitsintheback.com. (hardcover $22; paperback $13)

Kindle and Nook readers can download the book for $7.99 at www.Amazon.com and www.B&N.com

Boxing Promoter Al Certo (2nd from left) along with Boxers: (l) Joey Giardello, next to Al Certo the great Jack Dempsey and Willie Pep

Photo Below: A young Jon D’Amore future author holding a fake machine gun at a friends wedding

The post MOBSTER TALES-Jon D’Amore Who Grew Up in Secaucus, Pens Page Turner on Jersey Wiseguys and The Casino Caper first appeared on River View Observer.