Elmwood Park Grand Union

What a memory this site was.  I just read in our local paper The Daily Journal in Vineland NJ that the local Pathmark store will be closing and Grand Union was mentioned. Being nibby...I had to check back on the Elmwood Park store as I grew up only a few blocks from there on Donor Avenue in the garden apartments. I really never  understood why the garden thing as people with houses had gardens..we had weeds with flowers.  A couple of things with the Grand Union stand out which may bring back some memories. One was the big fire. It smelled like a burnt out place for months....then the tents.  The store put up huge tents in the western parking lot across the street. They had to keep a policeman there for safe crossing. A couple of my friends used to roll a few cans from time to time out under the tent. C'mon..we were only 13 years old. Then there was this unique concept that I had never seen done before and never saw anywhere else. The store had automated vending machines at the storefront. You could  buy milk...bread...soda...canned goods...vegetables..almost  almost anything that could be bought in the store 24 hours a day....kinda like a Horn and Hardhardt (kids have no idea what that is)..obviously it didn't last forever but I thought it was convenient as my mother would send me up 10 o'clock at night on my bike to pick up one item. Of course back in the 50's it was safe to send your 14 year old to a machine in a well lit area. I also remember the problem in the Grand Union parking lot. There seemed to be a rash of stolen transmissions from parked cars...not much became of that. How about the grand reopening of the Grand Union after the fire when a helicopter was dropping $50 bills from the sky? Today there would be a riot. That place should have remained up as a national landmark and I miss it although I only  get up north about once a year. Vineland is the real south Jersey and New Jersey's largest city....almost 76 square miles...and boasting 60,000 people.....south Jersey is not Trenton or Asbury Park or Seaside Heights. Check out Cumberland County...we are just west of Cape May County and east of Salem County. One great thing Wildwood is only 50 minutes away from me..used to take all day to get there. Wildwood has the best rides...best boardwalk..the tram (watch the tramcar please)...and the world's longest beach (the distance from the boardwalk to the water is about 1/4 mile).With all that..no Grand Union tower to remind me of my youth but fortunately some pics on the net made my lunch break seem a little more fun.