FALL | WINTER 2021
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CONTENTS JCM
COVER 16 OPENING DOORS Amighini Architectural Cover Image by Max Ryazansky
FEATURES 12 BURNING WOMAN The Art of Pyrography
20 THE BIG PICTURE Ferris High School Mural
26 RAINBOW CITY The Hudson Pride Center
28 TABLE TENNIS Wang Chen is a Winner
12
DEPARTMENTS 6 OUR STAFF 8 EDITOR’S LETTER 10 CONTRIBUTORS 24 SPORTS Firefighter Theron Jenkins
30 HOW WE LIVE Journal Squared
32 EATERY Diesel & Duke
30
4 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
NOW BACK IN JERSEY CITY FALL | WINTER 2021 Volume 18 • Number 2 Published twice annually A Publication of Newspaper Media Group
PUBLISHER Perry Corsetti EDITOR IN CHIEF Kate Rounds ART DIRECTOR Terri Saulino Bish ADVERTISING MANAGER Tish Kraszyk SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Ron Kraszyk CIRCULATION Luis Vasquez FINANCIAL Sharon Metro Jersey City Magazine is published by the Newspaper Media Group, 166 Broadway, Bayonne, New Jersey 07002, (201) 798-7800, Fax (201) 798-0018. Email jcmag@ hudsonreporter.com. Subscriptions are
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Jersey City Magazine is a publication of Newspaper Media Group 166 Broadway, Bayonne, New Jersey 07002 phone 201.798.7800
EDITOR’S LETTER JCM
I love the cover of this magazine, with the animated woman in her rainbow-striped dress posing against a backdrop of beautiful antique doors. Max’s photo says everything about the contrast of bright colors and subdued textures; old and new; animate and inanimate. The doors are from Amighini Architectural. The woman is architect Noelia Amighini. Check out the company’s splendid space in the Jersey City Heights. From one extreme to the other is Journal Squared. This mammoth modern residence rises in the sky to 60 stories. It’s an exciting new way to view our wonderful city. Back down to Earth, I want to give thanks to Elizabeth Schedl, a tireless supporter of the county’s LGBTQ+ community. And of the Jersey City community. Read here about the life-saving mission of the Hudson Pride Center. As always, there is much more to enjoy in this issue of Jersey City Magazine. But I want to end with a personal note. This is the last issue of the Hudson Reporter magazines that I will edit. I’ve loved serving as editor for some 15 years. I want to thank our readers, advertisers, and the team of writers and artists whom it’s been my great honor to work with. I live in Jersey City and always will, so the beauty and energy of this amazing city will always be in my heart.—JCM
Photo by Marie Papp
But Not Good-Bye
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VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
MAX RYAZANSKY
TARA RYAZANSKY
VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ
has studied publication design, photography, and graphic arts. “I’ve been fascinated by photography for 20 years,” he says.
MAX RYAZANSKY
is a photographer whose work has been exhibited in galleries and published worldwide. A recent transplant to Bayonne, he spends his spare time trying to figure out the best pizza place in town.
TARA RYAZANSKY
J C M CONTRIBUTORS
is a writer who moved from Brooklyn to Bayonne. She works as a blogger for Nameberry.com and spends her spare time fixing up her new (to her) 100-year-old home.
10 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
TERRI SAULINO BISH
is the art director for The Hudson Reporter’s award-winning magazines and newspapers. Her work includes capturing many of the iconic photos featured in print and online across Hudson County.
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Janhavi Chaudhari-Firke
Can art and Pyromania co-exist? By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Sachin Choudhary and Pranjali Gajre
J
anhavi Chaudhari-Firke is the artist behind @crafteffectnj. Her Instagram page is mesmerizing with hyperlapse videos of her work in progress. In one video she creates an intricate nature inspired pattern. Leaves and flowers swirl together in the design, growing right before the viewer’s eyes. But it isn’t merely a doodle on paper. Janhavi practices pyrography which is the art of controlled wood burning. Janhavi adjusts the heat level and pressure of her tool to create rich textures on the wood. “Different types of wood react differently to heat, and factors such as the 12 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
type of wood, sap level, and wood grain play a major role in the finished artwork,” Janhavi says. Tiny plumes of smoke rise from the board as she etches her design. The result is beautiful artistic renderings on serving boards and coasters made of woods like acacia, mango, and olive.
Art in her DNA “Growing up, I have always been surrounded by artists and writers, and they inspired me to create,’” Janhavi says, adding that her father attended the prestigious J J Arts School in Mumbai. While he went on to a career in engineering, he always practiced art. Her mother excelled at embroidery and sewing, which she shared with Janhavi and her siblings.
“Me and my sister made sand drawings called Rangoli to decorate our yard during festivals,” Janhavi says. “We also did Henna on our hands during our forming years.” Janhavi moved to New Jersey from India in 2014. “When I came to the United States, these big hobby stores fascinated me,” Janhavi says of the large craft supply stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby. At the time she was a stay-at-home mom with a young son whom she included in her art projects. “I spent hours in the aisles of those stores exploring different tools and researching their techniques and googling about the usage of those tools.”
And the Rest is History One day she came across a wood burning kit. “I had never heard of that before. I could not stop myself from buying it after preliminary research on my smart phone,” Janhavi says. When Janhavi first tried the kit, she found that it wasn’t as easy to use as she had initially thought. “I found it very difficult to control the pressure, the burning tone,” she says. “I realized that I needed a lot of practice. So I started out on smaller wooden pieces first and slowly acquired the mastery of the technique. I became bolder day by day and started burning larger wooden pieces.
Now, Janhavi looks forward to being a part of Open Studios @ City Hall; a group art show. “This show is all about work created in the studio during the global pandemic,” Janhavi says, adding that she has five pieces that she created in her Jersey City space in the show. “I am so excited. This is the first time I am showing my work at a group show.”
The JC Art Scene “I found the arts community in Jersey City very welcoming and supporting,” Janhavi says. “I would say, if I had not received this support from the art community and not received appreciation from the local community here, I would not have explored pyrography to this extent.” Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 13
Janhavi mentions Kristin DeAngelis from 107 Bowers Art Gallery, Johnathan Acheson from the former Covetables, and Andrea McKenna from Art House Productions as locals who have supported her as an artist. “These people really encouraged me when I first started pyrography as a visual art,” Janhavi says. “Later on, each and every curator and artist I work with boosts me to make my work better and better. People from the art community in Jersey City have pushed me to grow.” —JCM
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Opening DOORS Amighini Architectural travels the world for beautiful doors By Tara Ryazansky Photos Max Ryazansky
At
Amighini Architectural in Jersey City Heights, architect Noelia Amighini greets me at the door. It’s a large, beautiful, antique doorway that rises high above us. It’s so ornate that I take notice, but here at the Amighini showroom, it’s one of hundreds. “My great grandfather started all of this,” Noelia says as she shows me around. She navigates her way around marble fountains plucked from village town squares and portions of fireplace mantles with marble cherubs, wrought iron gates and old plaster pillars. “He had a demolition company.” She says that when he was taking down old buildings in Italy, he couldn’t bring himself to trash the lovely details. He started salvaging items like doors, stained glass windows, metal fixtures and some pottery pieces that Noelia still owns. “All of these things are from Europe,” Noelia says as we view the many doors. Each one is numbered by size, so customers can easily find something to fit. “They’re mostly from France and Italy. Some are from London. Some are from Germany and Spain too.”
Globe Trotters Prior to the pandemic Noelia and her brothers, all architects, traveled the globe looking for architectural artifacts to bring back to their locations in California, Italy, Argentina and of course, Jersey City. “One of my brothers found this place,” she says of the Beacon Avenue showroom. “My brother said, ‘This place is amazing. It’s so close to New York City. The buildings here are amazing, though some of the doors are terrible.’” Noelia says that a lot of the most beautiful Jersey City brownstones, as well as townhouses in neighboring Manhattan, were renovated years ago to include cheap big box doors. 16 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
Noelia Amighini
Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 17
“Maybe at some point the budget only allowed for something that was not so good,” she says. “We are trying to help the city return to the glory that it was at one time.”
Manhattan to the Heights When Amighini Architectural came to Jersey City 20 years ago it mostly worked with New York City clients. Noelia says, “It was Manhattan first, then Brooklyn, then Hoboken. Then Downtown Jersey City began to change, and now it’s here. We have a lot of clients right here in the Heights now. Our doors are going to add elegance to the neighborhood.” It’s not just brownstones that rely on Amighini to upgrade their curb appeal. One recent project included a church that needed to modernize but hoped to retain a classic look. Amighini Architectural can custom fit antique doors and create windows with safety glass for their clients whether they have an older home or a new building. Noelia shows me the workshop where items are repaired. “We have a lot of artisans and craftsmen that repair all of the details of each door,” she says as she points out a barely visible seem where a gouged piece of wood was fixed. “See the patch. We make each patch with the same wood. We don’t use new wood. We are green people. This is all reclaimed wood. We’re really conscious about that. We inherit the planet.”
First and Last She shows me her favorite door in the entire place. She says that the really old ones are heavy like petrified wood. “I like the balance of this door. I feel like the arch is elegant, and I love the height,” she says of the antique French castle door. “I feel the energy of these things.” “Once, a couple came in and they were looking for a door and trying to hurry. I said, ‘Take your time, because you are going to open this door so many times.’ It’s not a waste of time to take your time and I have all of the patience I need to make sure that you will be happy,” Noelia says. “We always say that we are a part of opening your home. It’s the first thing you do coming home, and the last thing you do when you leave.”—JCM
Making the Magic Noelia is driven by creativity as much as environmentalism. “When we do the demolition during the renovations, I don’t want to throw anything away. We can take some beams and items and we can assemble them together. It’s creative.” The Amighini siblings were raised to see the value in old things. “At dinner in other houses, I don’t know what they talk about, but we talked about doors,” Noelia says. “They all talked about working and traveling and demolition and all of that. I grew up listening. Even as a child I knew that I would be an architect.” She says that even as a kid, she could easily spot a fake. “Growing up around this, I know. I know if something has history or if it’s trying to look old. My grandfather taught me how to check from the time I was a child,” Noelia says, indicating he welding on a metal grate that separates a historic piece from a reproduction. 18 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
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THE BIG P I C T U R E Ferris High School’s Mural connects continents By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez
“I
t’s kind of a fun little game that I like to play when I drive around Jersey City,” says director of the Jersey City Mural Arts Program Brooke Hansson, “picking up all the different vistas that you could see our various murals from.”
It’s true that in Jersey City it’s hard to go a block or two without seeing some street art. One of the latest outdoor effort, brought to you by JCMAPS, is especially easy to spot. The Ferris High School mural, which was created by the Jersey City Youth Program, is visible to commuters from Interstate 78. “I took a trip just so I could see it from the highway,” Hansson says. “It’s amaz-
20 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
ing. Part of the excitement of getting this particular wall is that it was a partnership with the Board of Education. Another thrilling element was that this is the back of a high school. So students are going to see it and know that their peers created that.” This is the 7th year that JCMAPS has held its Jersey City Youth Program. “We hire fine arts high school students who receive intensive outdoor art instruction that culminates in the creation of their own original large-scale mural,” Hansson says, adding that the arts education that students receive includes the economics and administration of art, like pricing and understanding contracts, along with technique. “We’ve grown exponentially. This was our largest group of students to date.”
tion as we were saying goodbye, the folks from Gamoa West held up the Jersey City flag, and everybody clapped. It was a way to celebrate our diversity, but also a way to realize that the world has become so much more connected. It was just a really powerful moment.”
Getting to Know You The group spoke to representatives in Ghana, Brazil, and the Philippines, which was the research phase of the mural creation. “They do three weeks of research and design, creation and then composition, color selection, and then the final three weeks they’re on the wall executing it,” Hansson says. Hansson says that after creating their initial design on large butcher paper the artists have to get ready to reach new heights. “I tell their parents, I’m going to put spray paint in their hands and stick them on a 20-foot scissor lift,” Hansson says with a laugh, adding that they receive training from a lift operator and a lesson
Partnering with the Planet This year 32 students created the mural, which is 100 feet tall by 30 feet long. The work represents Sister Cities, a theme that was brought to them by sponsor, Goldman Sachs. “Sister Cities is a program that was created by President Eisenhower in the ‘50s, Hansson says. “The goal was to promote economic, cultural, and informational trade between global cities and American cities. Jersey Cities has been forging these relationships with cities for decades. We have 22 sister cities in 20 countries.” Over the years, these partnerships with sister cities have been managed by Jose Arango who works in Jersey City’s Housing, Economic Development and Commerce Department. Hansson says that Arango helped connect the young artists with representatives from sister cities. “It was really an internal effort to locate these sorts of ambassadors, if you will, who helped connect us to the cultural representatives on the other end,” Hansson says. “It was really special. We would Skype in a lot of these individuals. For example, we were Skyping with the equivalent of what would be the mayor of Gamoa West. Obviously, the governments are structured a little bit different, but he would be what our mayor is. At the end of the conversaJersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 21
in spray painting from Distort, a local artist who has painted more JCMAP murals than anyone else.
Murals and Movies “We make a documentary every year of the whole process, and then we screen that in the fall for the students and their friends and their family and the community and our sponsors and we coordinate that with an art exhibit,” Hansson says. The documentary will screen on October 27 at White Eagle Hall at 6 p.m. After that, it will be on view at JCMAP.org. The premier is exciting every year for Hansson, but this year is special. “We didn’t operate in 2020,” Hansson says. “Considering that we all globally had been through something so similar, we became a much more remote world. It was a ripe time for us to tackle this type of assignment. We had so much in common. We were able to use that to become so much more connected to each other despite distance.”—JCM
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Theron Jenkins
HE’S on FIRE A Jersey City firefighter makes it big in the bodybuilding world By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Theron Jenkins
H
eadlines called Jersey City firefighter Theron Jenkins an “overnight sensation in the world of bodybuilding” when he won his first competition last May after only six months of serious training, but there’s more to the story. There’s a saying that goes something like, “It takes years of hard work to become an overnight success.” And Jenkins embodies that sentiment. “My journey started when I got into the fire department,” Jenkins says. He was 24 at the
time and born and raised in Greenville. He passed the test on his first try. “I always tell people when I talk about getting into the fire department, it was my mom’s prayers and my hard work. Those two things are what I feel like I owe it all to.” That was seven years ago.
Body of Work Once Jenkins launched his career, he got into physical fitness. “I had money for a gym and a car, so I felt like I had no excuse,” he says. “I always wanted to be a leaner version of myself.” His family had a history of obesity. “I always had a goal to be lean and to put myself in a body that I
24 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
could be proud of.” “When I started going to the gym, I knew that that’s where I had to be, but I didn’t really know what to do,” Jenkins says. “I was pretty much like everybody else when I walked into that gym. Even though I played football in high school, the environment of coming into a commercial gym is just not the same. I kind of really had to start from the ground up.” Jenkins struggled to lose weight. “I was learning how to lift, learning how to train
and do things properly, but I wasn’t losing body fat. Technically, I spent six or seven years bulking up. I didn’t know how to eat, so I didn’t know how to get the body fat off.” “Over the course of time with reading, paying attention, talking with people and
SPORTS JCM for that guy to change spots. When they called my number and told me to change spots, I looked down the line and realized that they wanted me to go to the middle. At that moment I knew nobody was going to beat me now. It was almost like that was when I woke up.”
Reality Check
working with people, hiring coaches and stuff like that, I started to put it together,” Jenkins says. He works with Mikey James of RareXBreeds. “It wasn’t until this year that I was finally able to put it together enough so that I could see it through.”
Food Fitness He says it was adding dietary changes that led to a shift in his look. “When I finally learned how to get the body fat off, people were starting to see what was underneath the whole time,” Jenkins says. “People were like, ‘Bro you’re so big. You’re so big. I want to be like you.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you’ve got to spend those seven years fat and training hard, putting on size.’ For me it just happened like that, like I was taking a coat off. It’s fortunate that I come from a line of big guys. My genetics are a gift. We’re all big dudes in my family.” Jenkins realized he had the potential to compete in bodybuilding. “I wanted to look like that,” he says. “That aesthetic is what I wanted. They all look really good, and I wanted to look really good.”
Body Types “Body building is an ambiguous term,” Jenkins says. “Not everyone in a bodybuilding show is like jacked out of their mind with muscles. In the bodybuilding world there are different classes.” Jenkins says there are various classifications like Mens Physique “They’re smaller guys,” he says. “Kind of like beach body looking dudes. They’re probably like 160, but real shredded. Then they’ve got the Classic Physique guys who are probably a little bit bigger. They might be like an Abercrombie and Finch model type. They’re probably 170-195, so they’re bigger dudes. Then you’ve got the Body Building Class which is probably 200 to the highest you can go. Maybe 200-225 is a light weight, and anything up from there is a heavy weight. Anybody who is a bodybuilder who is a heavy weight, those are some giant, giant, giant mofos.”
In It to Win It Jenkins was at 240 when he competed in the 2021 Organization of Competition Bodies (OCB) Jersey Natural Open in Atlantic City last May.
“There’s two federations,” Jenkins says. “One is drugtested, and one is not. In the league where they don’t drugtest you, they look unreal.” The OCB requires drug testing. Jenkins competed in two rounds: the novice and the open class. “I guess you could look at the novice class like the open mic,” Jenkins says. “A dude signs up, and he might be good. Another guy is kind of terrible. The open is like the poetry slam. These guys are going up there to compete, and all of them are going to be really good.” Jenkins took first place in the novice round. “When I went back out there for the open round, which is a step up with guys who are looking more serious, I wasn’t as nervous to walk out there,” he says. “When you go to a bodybuilding show, they switch people around to see who looks the best,” Jenkins says. “The guy who’s in the middle is number one, the guy to his left and the guy to his right don’t look as good as he does, and they kind of taper off to the least. When we came out for the lineup, I already was on the end. They were calling this number for this guy to change spots, and that number
Despite being hyped up by his coach and even his fellow competitors, Jenkins still saw himself as he was at the beginning of his journey. “When you come from looking at yourself a certain way for so long, no matter how good you wind up looking, you almost don’t believe it,” he says. “Guys backstage were like, ‘This is your first time competing? It’s not normal to win your first time, and to have that kind of composure to hit your poses like that, be that big and be natural.’ You would be hard pressed to find someone who is this big and natural. Then I was thinking about how big my coach was telling me I am, I started to kind of look around and see it. He was telling me when I go out there on stage, people were going to look and say, ‘Where did this guy come from?’ Now I kind of see what my coach was saying.”
Card-Carrying Champ Jenkins finished third in the open round. “If I would’ve won in the open, I would’ve gotten my pro card,” Jenkins says. “So now, when I go compete in the next show, I’m going back to get my pro card. He hopes to compete again in December. “Now that I understand who I am and what I could be, I want to go to the show and take off my shirt backstage and have them say, ‘We might as well go home.’” —JCM
Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 25
Rainbow City The Hudson Pride Center By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of the Hudson Pride Center
“O
ne of the things that we pride ourselves in is being there for our young people,” says Hudson Pride Center Executive Elizabeth Schedl. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, especially kids. Schedl says that in some cases it’s been extra difficult for youths in the LGBTQ+ community who are a major population that the center serves. Schedl says that across the country LGBTQ+ youths are experiencing higher rates of mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, due to coping with the pandemic. Schedl says that over 50 percent of the center’s clients identify as youths or young adults. “Over the past year they were really isolated, sometimes inside homes that were not affirming and accepting of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Schedl says. “They weren’t able to go to school or come to Hudson Pride Center in our physical space or to our events.”
Brick-and-Mortar Blues The center’s physical space got shaken up by the pandemic as well. It had been using a space within Care Point Christ Hospital for several years. The partnership formed when the Hudson Pride Center sold its Journal Square location. Around the same time, the organization partnered on some health initiatives with the hospital and were given a space inside the hospital as a long-term temporary home.
“When the pandemic hit, we immediately knew that the hospital might have to use our space for their COVID related needs,” Schedl says. “Especially here in Hudson County. We were one of the hardest hit in New Jersey.” Luckily, just before the pandemic, the Hudson Pride Center found a new space in Journal Square. “It’s a two-storefront space that we’re building out into a mixture of offices and private client session rooms and a communal community space for people who are just interested in coming to hang out and feel like they’re connected to one another in a safe environment,” Schedl says. While the space is being built, the center found a small temporary home downtown. It will use that space until the Journal Square location is completed.
Gen Connected But for young clients, the center found that an online presence was the most important location of all. “It became so necessary for us to connect with them in this virtual world and to really provide a lifeline to them of support and services,” Schedl says. “We had been seeing the need for our services and our programming and our support group.” The youth program is called YouthConnect. It serves LGBTQ+ youths and allies ages 13-24. The group holds Friday Night Weekly Workshops that include empowerment programs, social support, and fun. The Hudson Pride Center serves other groups as well. This includes a SAGE program for senior citizens. “We call them our seasoned community,” Schedl says. “Right now our SAGE program meets twice a week virtually. It used to be once a week in person, but due to COVID we
26 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
kicked it up to twice a week because this was also a part of our community that felt the most isolated during the pandemic. We felt the need and the importance of making sure that our seasoned community members felt that we were here for them and connected with them.”
JC Pride “We have programs and services for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community,” Schedl says. This includes parents of LGBTQ+ youths seeking support. “They just need to reach out to us. They can send an email or a message on social media, or give us a call, and we would be happy to go over what we do and everything we offer.” August is Hudson County Pride Month. “There’s pretty much an event each day of the month,” Schedl says. “Some days there are more than one. Jersey City really spearheads Hudson County Pride Month with the most events.” This year marks the 20th anniversary of Jersey City Pride. Schedl says that the Hudson Pride Center was founded in 1993, and has been connected with the Jersey City Pride Festival since its inception. “What grew from one event is now a monthlong celebration,” she says. “I believe that Jersey City has one of largest LGBTQ+ communities in the country. The diversity in this city, and the acceptance and love and support that we receive gives us the ability to be the leader in New Jersey for the magnitude of events that we hold.” Go to hudsonpride.org to learn more about events and volunteer opportunities.—JCM
Table Tennis The Wang Chen Table Tennis Club is a winner American Dream She came to the United States in the early 2000s to help her sister with a family business. She went to a Manhattan table tennis club to practice and met the owner, Jerry Wartski. Wartski is a real estate developer and an avid fan of the sport. He persuaded Chen to play seriously for the U.S. He became her sponsor, giving her a room in one of his apartment buildings so she could live near the club. Wartski is also a Holocaust survivor. “He told me just two days ago that he is the last
Wang Chen By Tara Ryazansky Photos Courtesy of Wang Chen
B
alls hit the table in a fast rhythm at Wang Chen Table Tennis Club. They bounce back and forth between players so quickly that it’s hard to keep an eye on the ball. For me, that is, not for head coach and club owner Wang Chen. And not for her students, who are the ones paddling with swift ease under Chen’s guidance.
“We play the fast way, and very close to the table,” Chen says. “A lot of European players play far from the table and more like a game of tennis. A lot of Asian players play the fast way. We use speed to win the game.” Chen has earned a lot of wins throughout her long table tennis career. “When I turned 11, I became professional,” she says. “I was on the China National Team from 1987 to 1997. I won the 1997 World Championships.”
28 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
survivor from his hometown in Poland,” Chen says. “He is 91.” Chen trained and worked as a coach in Wartski’s club. In 2008, she was one of only two American table tennis players to automatically qualify for the Olympics in Beijing. There she placed fifth in women’s singles, which Chen says is the highest placement in American table tennis history.
Table Tennis Boosters After that, Chen shifted her focus to promoting table tennis in the U.S. She and Wartski continued to collaborate. They
Photo by Michael Macor | The Chronicles
Club Culture
co-own the Manhattan club. “In China, table tennis is the national sport,” Chen says. “In America, people play in a bar. They think it’s a game, not a sport.” But she says that the perception is shifting. “Now, in California people are playing more seriously.” The East Coast might not be far behind. After opening clubs in Manhattan, Chen decided to promote the sport here in Jersey City. She found a place in
the Newport Waterfront area nestled among large condo buildings. “This location has a lot of Chinese residents and a lot of Indian people,” she says. “Those countries from Asia understand table tennis as a sport. A lot of times the parent is a table tennis fan, so they want their children to learn their favorite sport so that they can play together as a family.”
Wang Chen Table Tennis Club offers one-on-one lessons for children and adults, afterschool programs, camps, and birthday parties. “Our Jersey City Junior Team has grown very fast,” Chen says, adding that this team is for children ages 6-10. “They have dominated Jersey City and then the North Jersey area. We just started last year, but I think in two years these kids will have a very good rating. “You can be a good player and get a scholarship for college or sports awards,” Chen says. “For a lot of parents, that’s the target of this sport.” She wants to share her sport with the world outside of her club. ”I will donate 100 table tennis tables, probably 50 tables in New Jersey and 50 tables in New York,” Chen says. They will go to public schools for gym classes.
Landlord Onboard Here in the Jersey City club, a chalkboard wall is painted with a huge tournament brack-
et so that Chen can rank her team. The room is lit with a series of circular neon lights. Murals decorate the walls and the floors. “I think this is the most beautiful club I’ve ever seen,” Chen says. She says that she’s grateful to her landlords, Lefrak Property Management. “They renovated the club to be very modern. When I opened the club, it looked fantastic. It’s like my dream club, so I’m very appreciative of them doing a great job for me.” Chen stands in front of a mural of a player serving the ball. “Table Tennis is not a hundred percent physical,” she says. “It’s half physical and half strategy. Some people are not that physical, but they have a smart mind and can play very well. It’s a very gentle sport, physically.” But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard work. “It takes persistence,” Chen says. “You have to do the same thing each day. You can have talent, but you also have to give hours to doing the same thing.”—JCM
Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 29
By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky
On Top of the World The highlife at Journal Squared The penthouse apartment at Journal Squared is impeccably decorated. Every corner of the space is perfectly curated with pieces like a jet-black bust and framed living moss. Yet all the art is upstaged by the view. The place has floor-to-ceiling windows in every room. “The sunsets are phenomenal,” says Hector Matos, who lives there with his wife Yineidy Matos and their dog Olivia. Soon, they will welcome another member to the family. “Olivia is going to have a sister,” Yineidy says. The second bedroom is being made into a nursery. “There’s still a lot to do in here, but we’re getting there,” Yineidy says. The couple found that they were expecting after they moved in to their new place. “That room was going to be Hector’s office,” Yineidy says. “He got kicked out. He never even got to move in.” 30 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
Hector says, “I’ve taken many losses for lesser reasons so I was fine with this one.” One of the building’s many amenities is a coworking space, but Hector, an engineer at Cisco, hasn’t used it yet. “I haven’t had to because there’s more than enough space up here,” he says. The couple is enjoying some of the building’s other benefits. This includes a sky lounge with Manhattan views and a luxury gym with a rock-climbing wall. “There’s both a lap pool, that’s really useful for a workout, and the lounging pool,” Hector says. “We got some use of that this summer. We moved in at the beginning of July. We decided to do something for July 4th. We had a small get-together with friends. We thought we would have a great view of the fireworks.” “It didn’t work out,” Yineidy laughs. “Come to find out that fireworks only go up maybe 21 floors,” Hector says. Their apartment is more than 60 stories up. “Literally, we were just looking at tiny little explosions.” “We were looking down,” Yineidy says. The fireworks might have been a bust, but as the golden hour begins just before sunset the light show is incredible.
Hector, Yineidy and Olivia (dog)
“You’ve got a view of New Jersey as far as the eye can see, and I like that we have some city views,” Hector says. “I’ve been a big fan of bridges for a very long time. We lived in Fort Lee before, and we lived by the George Washington. We had a good view of that. Here you see the Verrazano, the Statue of Liberty. You can also see the Atlantic Ocean which is pretty cool all the way from a landlocked part of Jersey City.” They also have a view of Newark Airport. “The planes look really close when they go by,” Hector says. “But luckily, we don’t hear them,” Yineidy says. The kitchen has a beautiful marble tile backsplash and stainlesssteel appliances. “I used to be the one in the kitchen, but now that I’m pregnant he took over,” Yineidy says. “I would say from here to here is my specialty,” Hector says, indicating the espresso machine and the fully stocked bar. All the things that Yineidy can’t have. “And I can’t eat sushi at Monroe’s either,” she says. Yineidy is partner and general manager at Monroe’s Cocktail Bar & Restaurant and Sinatra Room in Hoboken, which are known for great sushi and cocktails. She loves the 10-minute commute to work. It’s simple to get into the city too. “You can go from the building right to the PATH,” Yineidy says. “From here, it’s so easy.” The natural light shifts from golden orange to dusky blue after the sun goes down. The world below twinkles with streetlights, headlights, and lights from windows in other buildings. They love penthouse life. “This is what we like,” Yineidy says Before living here the highest floor they lived on was the 25th. “We went all the way to the top with this one.”—JCM
Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 31
The Perfect
Burger?
By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky
W
hat makes for a perfect burger? A 100-percent beef patty cooked when you order, served with fresh French fries that are hand cut daily? Diesel & Duke offers delicious classics, but it also keeps things interesting. You could try a cereal infused milkshake with flavor options like Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It offers new seasonal flavors each month along with vanilla and chocolate. Or order The Smokeshow, a burger topped with hand battered onion rings, Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, aged cheddar cheese and bacon. It’s as good as it sounds. “Everyone loves burgers,” owner David Cusumano says when I ask him what made him want to open a hamburger restaurant. “I grew up in the food industry so this is something I’ve always wanted to do.” 32 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
o
David Cusuman
Family Foodies His mom owned a few establishments, including a Diva Lounge in Montclair where Cusumano grew up. “After school and after practice I would go there. I always found myself in the kitchen probably because I like eating food,” he says with a laugh. He shares his favorite menu items at Diesel & Duke. “I would have to say our poutine is my favorite thing,” Cusumano says. “It’s a Canadian fry dish that we’re really popular for. It’s something that when people see it on the menu, they either know about, it and they’re excited about it, or they ask about it, and they try it, and they love it.” For those not in the know, poutine is French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. “It’s pretty much like disco fries, but way better. “After that, the Breakfast Burger is my go-to. Breakfast sandwiches are probably more of a staple in my diet than they should be. It’s a New Jersey thing. It’s an homage to that for sure.” Cusumano doesn’t weigh in on the Taylor ham versus pork roll debate. “I love an egg on a burger.”
Digging In I tried The Standard which comes with American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, aioli and ketchup. It was an expertly constructed burger with just the right ratio of each topping balanced with a fresh patty and soft, potato bun. I think I found the perfect burger. The poutine was delicious and authentic. Cusumano told me that the cheese curds are imported. One standout item was the Fried Oreos with Nutella. It was super indulgent but worth it. “Everyone loves them,” Cusumano says. “They’re kind of a dangerous little treat. They’re really good.”
New Jersey Chain The Jersey City location on Monmouth Street is one of five across the state. “We want to continue to grow the company and become a staple in New Jersey,” Cusumano says. The first Diesel & Duke was a few blocks from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Cusumano took some inspiration from the famous grease trucks in the area that serve up late night comfort food, but he wanted to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021 • 33
“I wanted it to be something timeless. I wanted it to be something that was a step above fast food,” he says. “I wanted it to be quality, but have a price point that everybody could find value in. That is the biggest basis of what we do; let’s offer as good of a product that we can, as fresh of a product as we can, for as good of a price point as we can. We feel like that mentality established us as what we are. People know that they can come to us for a great, fresh burger.” Other locations are in Montclair, Caldwell, and Princeton.
JC Connection Cusumano has more of a connection to Jersey City than just his restaurant. “I grew up in Montclair,” he says. “But my dad lived in Hoboken, and my uncles were in Jersey City. I spent a lot of time here. When we started looking for our next location, we really wanted to make it our flagship. I just knew we should go to Jersey City. Downtown is so popular, but in a great way in terms of the vibe of the area, and the people. It seemed like it would really relate well to our brand. It just made a lot of sense to do it here.” Cusumano says that Jersey City has embraced Diesel & Duke. During my visit the place was busy with people picking up takeout or dining in. “The crowd is super diverse,” Cusumano says. “Families love us. We get the old couple who wants a classic cheeseburger with grilled onions on it. We see families, young couples, college students, locals. We appeal to everybody. There’s no, that burgers too fancy. There’s enough diversity despite the menu’s simplicity to appeal to everyone.”—JCM
Diesel & Duke | 389 Monmouth 201 222-1322 | eatdiesel.com
34 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2021
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