The Burg - A State of Mind
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- Опубліковано 26 гру 2018
- Dr. Peter Peroni interviewed residents and neighbors of Chambersburg in and around the Columbus Day Parade in the fall of 1981. This film appeared originally on the New Jersey Network Channel 52 Trenton, and has since disappeared around the time the New Jersey Network was sold to WNET in NYC and WHYY in Philly.
You may see people you remember, including Monsignor Cardelia of Saint Joachim’s Church, my father, “Jimmie” DeLorenzo of Jimmie’s Camera Shop, and my Uncle Chick of DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies.
I found this tape in my late father’s collection and had it transferred to digital. - Jim DeLorenzo, formerly of Trenton, NJ, now in Philadelphia, PA - jim@jhdenterprises.com
Im from Bulter st - the burg! 1982 to 1993. I really miss the feast of lights :(
Sad to see this. That civilization is gone. Miss her.
@27:47 alien? 26:15 minorities? Civilization? 😂😂😂
I was literally about to post the same exact thing, but I couldn’t have said it any better than you. Smh
Janet Evanovich depicts The Burg so well in her Stephanie Plum novels.
I was blessed to have been born and raised in Trenton. Sadly, I had to leave.
I was 19 when this was filmed, it was my old neighborhood, grew up on Elmer Street, it was a great place to live so different from today's world. And I knew (some personally) many of the people in this video!!
My wife is a loffredo, you must have known them cause they were on Elmer st also
I was born and raised on Mott St. This documentary brought back so many memories.
Neighborhood of wannabe's. 😂
Thats awesome. My grandmother is a Loffredo @robs867
I have been out of the burg since I was married in 1971. It was and will always be the best times of my life. neighborhoods today are just not the same. People are cold and not friendly.
Dr. Peroni still tells stories regularly about "The Burg". He is still very proud to have been part of this community and the people in it. Family is still the top of his list. It's nice to be able to get a glimpse of what he regularly speaks of. 😀❤
Grew up here, so sad it’s no longer the same
Amazing video. Thanks for sharing at a time where we ALL need more unity!
I grew up in "the barrio" about 6 blocks from the 'burg in the 70's and early 80's. I was lucky enough to go to junior high with the kids from Chambersburg. They allowed me to see how normal people act.
Thank you SO much. I was born in the Burg in 1943 and I am still about 20 miles from Trenton. I am half Hungarian and the other half? Well it's all Whittaker. Look at the sign that says Whittaker Ave, that runs through the Burg and goes across Broad st. and ends up on Hamilton Ave, right in front of my Great Grandfather's house . George Whittaker made Chambersburg part of Trenton as it was a Borough at one time. I am more proud of the immigrant side of me that John Roebling brought over here to work in the factory. My G. Grandfather, Stephen Salayi was a Wiredrawer there and my grandfather and his brother worked there also. When my Grandmother, Emma Whittaker married my Grandfather Charles Salayi, she was kicked out of the family for marrying a Hungarian Catholic. The Whittakers owned everything in Trenton and they only cared about money. Oh, and when you asked a Hungarian who was President of the USA, he saluted and said JOHN ROEBLING! Thanks again!
I am very happy to read your comment - you taught me something I had forgotten over the years. What a great story that is. And the note about John Roebling and the way the men and women who worked there respected him - fascinating. The Burg was a big part of my childhood and my memories are still warm for that part of my life. I miss the people and the places but I will never forget them.
Wow, thank you for sharing this piece of history! How times have changed. I used to live there (around the corner from DeLorenzos) and frequented your uncle's place regularly. So sad how that area turned into a gang-infested hood. I left in the early 2000s. Still dream of DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies! No one can match that!
They r in Hamilton on Sloan avenue
ThankU!!! I wanted to see the burg the way I remembered it before I had left for California. I'm back here again in Mercerville,.New Jersey after about thirteen years of being away. I had wanted to visit Chambersburg but I don't have any reason to anymore now that my mother's family no longer lives there. Nice to see my Nonna's old neighborhood again in a film🥰 God bless.
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Glad you enjoyed the video - lots of great memories in here. Welcome back to the East Coast.
Last summer, I went back to the Burg after 26 years. I expected neighborhood to be run down bc I've heard all the stories..but, I ended up being shocked !!! Looked beyond horrible. Saddest part was seeing the current residents not caring about the neighborhood at all.
Yeah, people there just don’t give a shit how filthy they want to live. Guess it’s just a natural evolution of humans until the collapse of the country is final
Just like the rest of Trenton
Hi 2023 here and The Berg is a total war zone now. It's not even a shell of its former self because the shell was destroyed years ago. It's now a (I'm so sorry to say) a total gang infested shithole. Nothing but Central American people who couldn't care less about where they live. Everyone got out in the late 90s, early 2k's and live out in Hamilton or Robinsville.
It's a crying shame TBH. It Was starting to go to shit in the early 90s and it hasn't looked back. I used to love going there in the mid 80s. I'm from Levittown, PA which is a 20min drive to The Burg.
I’ve been trying to find this on VHS for many years. My grandmother in it.
211 Washington st. Thanks for posting 👍
My pleasure Joe - I was lucky that my dad did tape it on VHS - took me a while to convert it for UA-cam but well worth it to me and to so many like you. All the best.
@@JimDeLorenzo I knew your Dad. My Mom grew up with him and had nothing but good things to say about him. I remember my Dad dropping me off at his camera shop to buy or develop film while he drove around the block to pick me back up. LOL! Those were the days way before smartphones! That was back around 1960.
@@mariannecarroll9949 Thank you for sharing that memory, Marianne! I miss those days of old. Always remember them with a smile!
I'm too young to remember times like these in the burg. I grew up down the road in Hamilton, but had the privilege of hearing family and friends talk about the old days. Seeing this was just as I always pictured it in my head. I was a small child at the feast of lights, the very last year they held it. While I do have some found memories as a kid, running into Italian peoples for their cannolis, or to Porfirio's to pick up a dozen meatballs on a Wednesday, when they made them fresh and bagged them up hot! Thank you so much for sharing this. It's a shame what has happened to such a beautiful neighborhood and community.
I remember the Feast of Lights
When this was shot I was living on Spruce St. We used to go to Rossis once a week for Italian food--which was not hard to find in the Burg. It was great. There was a baseball field, and everyone talked about "The Burg." I went back in '06 to see what it was like. Everything was gone and boarded up, with crack dealers and cars up on cinder blocks pretty much the main scenery. It was like seeing the destroyed remnants of a once-great civilization. I am so sorry.
The little kids drinking the red wine at dinner!! Hahaha, that's me!!!
I remember the Burg of the late 1960s, visiting my Great Aunt and Uncle. Butler Street. Italian ice, double or triple parking outside Italian People’s (the cannolis and baba rum!), the neighbors sharing a huge wheel of Parmesan. It didn’t matter when or what time it was, as soon you walked in the door my Aunt would start feeding you. I can still smell the amazing aromas coming from her kitchen. My only brother was treated like a prince. Not that my sister and I weren’t loved, we just weren’t worshipped.
Panarama I miss Franko and his wife I love the water ice
Awesome film Pete, I remember when you took me to the Feast of the Lights, and our many walks. Will always miss you my best friend..love you.
Happy Birthday PS LF hope it's a great one!
That’s a beautiful video! I was born and raised there in the 50’s to 70’s. My grandparents came there from Italy. I know so many people in that video and all those businesses...Madon’!!
Your video is priceless😍
I am so glad you enjoyed seeing the video. I watch it over and over when I'm in a nostalgic mood, or just missing my dad. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours - stay safe.
Love my Italian ancestry. My grandfather came from Naples.
Filmato molto interessante per la storia di questa comunità. Thanks for posting
I'm in a Chambersburg State Of Mind...
I loved Jimmy’s camera shop. And the Clint Mott !
I was from south Clinton and Beatty… feast of lights, late summer nights with great atmosphere. Still live here and trying to leave. No longer in burg tho., I can’t even drive by any more 💔
This was my life for many many years. There was no other way. This was Trenton and your way of life.
Good God what we had and lost!! Like it was never gone to end and did it end!!
your everywhere SHEWBERT !
Len D I am!!
its was so beautiful in the early 80s. I miss the feast of lights and italian ice
Oh I miss the Burg. I was the outsider Irish guy who was welcomed into his friends houses and treated like family. I always ate good and was never afraid of walking through the Burg at any time of day or night. Things have changed so much it makes me want to cry. I recently left in October of last year and it definitely is not the same neighborhood I grew up in. What the outside investors did to my beautiful neighborhood is outright disgusting. The parasites that live there now don’t care about anything and have no pride in their neighborhood or community. Did we all get along all of the time? No of course not that’s fantasyland but we never had the violence and crime that they have now in my beloved Burg. Thank you so much for this , as sad as it makes me it makes me proud of where I came from.
Rob - I appreciate your comments. It is sad that the neighborhood changed as it did - but keep remembering the good times and fun moments, it will never pass from our memories.
Now people are trying to take away Columbus Day from us. Columbus Day is a day of Italian pride and they want to take it away
@Spermwhale1000 Native Americans killed Native Americans, too. What's your point?
I grew on Mott st 56 1/2... the feast of lights was my favorite time
..
the feast of lights was the best 83 to 88 i think, God i miss the old days - Italian ice, fresh rolls... old friends... I even miss school lol! remember Happy's store by the school?
21:54 That's my grandfather on the right! Michael Tomasulo Sr. ! Love and miss you Grandpa!
I knew him. He was a mailman as I recall, and my mom and dad knew him. He was a great guy.
Great video i believe i was in Mcorristin at the time of filming
My mom worked in Italian people's
All Italian then, all black and Puerto Rican now. I lived on Tyler street in the 60s. My father in law owned an Italian deli near Carol Robin school. He was robbed so many times then finally killed when the neighbourhood went black.
We lived in my nonna’s house on Chambers St. her sister lived on Kent. I went back to visit her grave and stop by People’s before taking my daughter to the museum. It was bittersweet seeing the destruction of my childhood. We left in 1998 after a shooting on Leroy Alley.
Disgusting ain't it?
So very sorry to hear that. My dad and I closed down the camera shop at the end of 2005. It was tough to keep the business going at that time, little or no real connection to the new residents in the community, and most of the older residents had either moved on or passed away. The family tomato pie business moved out not long after that - had to provide their own security guards for a couple years, which was difficult. It was a great place to grow up - remember it with a smile!
THE 70'S YES!!!
I miss those times I caught the very end I'm 40 now.. im half Italian and Irish mercantini is my family name
I've been to the burg many times. My mom knew the neighborhood well and I'm from Trenton.
There were five Italian-American communities in Trenton. The first was around 5-Points/Battle Monument; another was in 'north' Trenton - by the old McKinley/Helene Fuld Hospital; the Burg; another out towards St. Anne's I think - Trenton Historical Society has a great book about the immigrant communities on their website.
I was from North Trenton, but I loved the Feast of Lights in the Burg.
OMG. 21:37...Joe Toots !!!! Wow...I have tears in my eyes. This is amazing.
Howd he get the toots nick name
@@robs867 Joe Tucillo was his name. Actually is pronounced 'tutts' like tootsie. I spelled it wrong when I first posted it. All the old time Italians had nick names. Some based on their last name, some based on their stature, some based on a story. My father told me they nick named a kid Who He Is because the kid was new to the neighborhood and when everyone would ask who the kid was, they would all say I don't know who he is, do you ? Classic stuff.
@@beachhunting69 ha that’s great. My wife’s family was loffredo on Elmer st and Carriello
@@robs867 That's great to know. My father grew up in The Burg and lived on Elmer street so I bet he knows your wife's family. He is 92 and remembers everything about The Burg.
This video captures the true feeling of growing up in this neighborhood, except when I went to St Joachims school, the nuns were pretty old, not like the young nun in this film. It was a great place to grow up in and I will always cherish those memories.
me too! 1984-86
This is a really good video, thank you for sharing. Very insightful as to a lifestyle that captured the essence of what Chambersburg was and it even predicts some of the changes we are seeing today. However being a Latino currently living in the city I can see many similarities between Italians and Latinos but unfortunately our timelines are different. Our stories break paths when we talk about poverty and other conditions that has led to a change that is not what anyone had hoped for. But many residents who currently live in Chambersburg are trying to take that back and reclaim a peaceful place for everyone. This is evident with the vibrant diversity of cultures that gives us a taste of their roots by way of food, music and festivals. A hard working class that is the backbone of the economy, locally and nationally. I think we can learn lessons from every generation that lived in that neighborhood and support the great things that are happening now.
Samuel, this is a great comment -- thank you for the feedback -- I hope that your sentiments are shared by many -- it will be wonderful to see Chambersburg revitalized by a new community in a new millenium.
Really? Maybe they should start cleaning the trash up instead of living like filth
shame its all gone now.. I used to love taking my wife to dinner in the burg. we dated there. I used to hang out with friends there. our favorite ( my wife and I) was Marsilio’s .
I empathize! Never got to take my wife to any of the original restaurants, just lucky enough to get her to my Uncle Chick's "DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies" and my dad's "Jimmie's Camera Shop" before both closed and in the case of the pie place moved to Robbinsville. My dad used to love to take us to Creco's, and I also loved going to Pete Lorenzo's with him.
@@JimDeLorenzo I used to love going to your dad's camera shop with my dad back in the late 60's early 70's. We would eat next door and then go over. Great place your dad had. I think my dad bought his Minox camera from your dad. I was amazed as a kid of all the stuff in the showroom. Steaks at Lorenzo's was amazing.....the pork chops too. I miss those days.
@@beachhunting69 Thank you for those kind words about my dad's camera shop. We learned a lot from him and from our neighbors in the Burg. Good memories, and true. Those steaks at Lorenzo's WERE amazing!!!
I went to st Joachim
Fr. Cardella. What memories.
He was a kind man.
Iblived on Monmouth Street- Right around the Block from that statue. I played for Lofflers Meats in the Chambersburg Little League-85-87. Greatest times long gone
I'm so old I remember when the Columbus statue was opened.
Too funny!
@Spermwhale1000 STFU
@Spermwhale1000 Better than that. I understand you and you should keep your mouth shut.
@@pizzatime9553 what you gonna do about it... feel me
I love this film. I’m not Italian, but I was lucky enough to move to butler street in the early 90’s. Right across the street from st joachims. I still go to butler st all the time for an Italian hoagie at the Italian people’s bakery. It’s definitely a shame I won’t get to witness another Festival of Lights in the burg. But I still believe in the community. They still have a parade in September. And with the Roebling complex being fixed up for shopping centers and lofts, I see a lot of potential. This new wave of immigrants living there now give chambersburg new flavors with ethnic restaurants and societies. Won’t be long until the new chambersburg is on the rise.
What a great way to understand the change in the neighborhood, as a continuation of the American story with a new wave of immigrants. I like the way you said it. I agree, there are things I miss, most of them related to my family and our history in that neighborhood. But think of the people living there now, and the memories they are building together. Thank you for a great comment. Glad you enjoyed the film, I was happy to share it with so many people who have great memories of "The Burg".
I thought the old man at 3:43 was Angelo Bruno for a second.
Angelo Bruno , used to be around in the Burg. He owned a business and his cousin lived there
They took the Columbus statue my mom told me from the park.
Yeah it’s gone
Low life criminals
THE FEAST OF LIGHTS!!
Oh wow such a beautiful neighborhood. This is what I was expecting when I first moved to the US 3 years ago, a safe neighborhood like the movies but I was surprised to see that this place is even more dangerous than the town o grew up in Guatemala. I’m saving money to get out of here, it’s just not the place to live with your family.
I am very sorry to hear of your experience. At one time, it was a great place to raise a family. I hope that you find a great neighborhood to grow a home and a family.
I grew up in the Burg proud of my heritage my 💜 Maria Di Salvo Eckel
Best damn food in all of New Jersey.
IMAGINE BEING TAUGHT THIS IN TODAYS WORLD!!!!
A ITALIAN STATE OF MIND!!------- ITALIAN WOMEN ROCK!!!!
James - wonderful memories in this video. We all miss those days!
My family was from the burg.Everybody now complaining about how it's changed , not for the better. Things change. That's life. You're the ones who moved out. If it was so wonderful why didn't you stay and keep it up?
everybody moved to Hamilton township.
What a shame what such beauty has turned into
its so sad :( I miss the mid 80s
My how times have changed in what was the 'burg ...
Carmen barbado from the same Naples civic center
That's my Uncle Steve Budassi in there miss him. I grew up on Swan St. across from the ice house Jim Lockett, anybody left out there from the neighborhood?
My wife is loffredo grew up on Elmer st
My first apartment was in the rear of 605 Beatty Street.
I missed this whole era . Everybody live out the burg now
Thank you for sharing this video Mr. DeLonzo. Did you know any Battiste’s or Oliva’s?
Thank you for your note. Unfortunately I don't remember any Battiste's or Oliva's - but I'm betting my dad did!
@@JimDeLorenzo I bet he did too.
Wow
:02 the guy in the 3-piece suit is/was Gerry Naples.
i saw my house
Just skimmed comments, someone mentioned Kenny Bogner the boxer. He died for anyone who didn't already know but might be interested.
And then they moved in
Chambers St!
They recently removed the Christopher Columbus statue at 28:27.
I had heard that through some friends before this year's Columbus Day events, and saw a Philly newscast the other night in the since-renamed park. Very sad, but not unexpected in our world of today. Thank you for your note.
The Burg was the Continentals, Licciardello Produce, Diamonds, Crecco's, LaGondola, Penny's Back and Ribs, with my former employee Nicky Russo
and the Di Mattia's, Francesco's, Barbero's, Carmen's Italian People's Bakery, Saxony Ice, Kenny Bogner, Lettera's Keg, Mazzili's Supply Products,
Gardner Good Food, Carmen Armenti, the Delorenzo's Pizza, Lisa Papa's Father Pizzaria, Trionfetti's, Hudson Garden's, Sal DeForte's and my favorite three
who I promised to be honest Landolfi's, Caesar Meats, and Bucky Ferrara's Cutlery Supply, and my girlfriend Anna Northey!
Thanks for the memories Peter. I left Chambersburg September 19 1978. It was one of the saddest days of my life. I lived at 200 Ashmore Ave and Creccos restaurant bought our house. That is a whole other story about what happened after that. I went to Campis regularly and this was the first time and place I ever had popcorn. Remember the popcorn machine when you went in the front door.
@@frankreading793 NO, never there
I worked for Tommy and Anthony at Diamonds over on Kent in the 90's. The Berg now is a total shit hole. It's not the Berg anymore.
@@rustynail6819 total shit hole
Why does johnny fontane always look like he's crying?
WOW,,,,,,,COUSIN NANU,,,,,,,,,,,CELESTE,,,STACEY,,,,,BEVERLY,,,,,AJ---OMG- WONDERFUL MEMORIES
Rose - glad you got to see it! Brings back wonderful memories, doesn't it? A lost world...
They really didn’t want black moving in lol
Why would they? I always hear blacks and brown people not wanting what they call "gentrification" in their neighborhoods. White people moving in.
@@mollendinousa black people are not who they’ve historically portrayed us to be . We are not the threat .
This is more of an anecdotal and glamorized re-telling of the Burg story than a documentary.
That the one fellow was a "professor" of Italian Studies was similar to the African or Women's studies programs of today.
More based on myth and lore than scholarship or academic research.
Bb
The ignorance around 'women's liberation' as voiced by the participants still shocks me after these several decades - I suppose she felt she should not be allowed to have a credit card in her name or be able to buy a car; she couldn't be a doctor or a lawyer either and if she worked at the same job as her husband, she should get paid half as much. These were the issues - not bonking any guy that came along.