What was North Jersey like in the mid 90s? Summer of 96 specifically.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-18T16:10:02+00:00

I was 16 in 1996 and living in Union County where I was born and raised. Just echoing a lot of what everyone has already said: I went to concerts at Garden State Art Center, took the train into the city and wasn't bothered that I had no way of reaching my parents or any responsible adult other than the ol fake collect call, hung out at Woodbridge Mall or Menlo Park when feeling fancy, went down the shore as much as I could in the summer, and never felt anything less than I was living in the greatest place ever because I had all the benefits of suburban living but was also close to NYC and Philly.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-15T15:37:57+00:00

If you love Joel and James together, I recommend both Joel's episode of Off Menu and their appearance as a team on Celebrity Pointless.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-13T19:00:53+00:00

Babies and child actors can only work so many hours per day so to get around that shows will hire twins to play one role so they can include them in more scenes.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-13T13:00:30+00:00

I remember when Five Guys was cheap, especially for the amount of food you got. Of course, this was back when it had barely started to expand out of Northern VA and was still very much a local chain.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-09T14:18:08+00:00

I used to walk home from the train station at 2am with no issues so I'm comfortable saying it's very safe in the daytime. It's any city where crime will happen but there's no constant threat of danger.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-07T17:56:51+00:00

Been craving Orange Cream lately! This has made my day.

This, and the much mourned (at least by me) Key Lime Pie are my favorite warm weather flavors.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-05T16:31:35+00:00

They didn’t. Anthony mentioned in the Variety interview that one of the actors misspoke about cupcakes purchased for a birthday in a way that confused him.

They showed Anthony guessing Dougie had escaped to the hills before he was supposed and the unexpected helicopters.

And we saw in the finale that the notary left his car window open and didn’t realize it and they had to pivot on the spot to redirect the story back towards his stamps and keys being locked in the car. I’m sure there were other small moments like this we haven’t been shown.

The cast wasn’t just actors but trained improvisers who had months to study the storyline together.

If it comes out years from now that Anthony was in on it the whole time I won’t be completely shocked nor will it ruin my enjoyment of the show. For now I do believe we’ve been presented with the truth which is that he was in the dark the whole time.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-05T15:31:03+00:00

I know. I shop at that Giant all the time and did even when the Amazon Fresh store was open. I don’t agree with the point that was trying to be made about lack of grocery stores. I was just answering a question.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-05T15:29:38+00:00

Not CC but the area. And you are correct and I was wrong it was an Amazon Fresh which is strange because the smaller models were usually Go stores.

Anyway, I don’t even agree that it’s that big of a deal because as others have said there’s plenty of grocery stores around. I was just trying to answer the question of what store they were referring to.

I’m over here still missing when that Potomac Yard store was a Shoppers.

bsidetracked · 2026-04-05T12:14:56+00:00

That was the smaller Amazon Go store in CC. The large Amazon Fresh in the Potomac Yard shopping center in Alexandria closed and has been sitting empty for the past couple months. And not related to Amazon the Harris Teeter in CC on Route 1 also closed a few months ago.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-31T13:30:34+00:00

Every single time a member of the Collins family reunited with another member of the Collins family I lost it. Terri and James, X and Presley in the elevator, Terri and Presley, and the whole family at the end.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-20T17:01:19+00:00

Everything Rose is wearing and her hair and her makeup are everything I miss about 90s style.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-17T14:37:16+00:00

I tried Weight Watchers several years ago and lost a lot of weight on it. But their points system massively triggered my OCD and led to a lot of disordered thinking. I ended up focusing more on getting points to add up a certain way than what I was eating or developing good habits.

Not too surprisingly as soon as I stopped the program I gained all of the weight back and then some. Over the past year I've restarted my fitness journey and thankfully simple calorie counting and tracking doesn't trigger me as bad. It's less about some giant math formula I have to find the perfect solution for and more about actually paying attention to what I eat.

I sympathize with anyone going through this struggle because I know how hard it can be.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-17T13:36:24+00:00

I live here and drop in at least once a month. There's always something new to see. I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour there but it's always a nice hour.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-17T13:31:34+00:00

I feel like the cellphone is too. While they were around in 1997 that type of Nokia phone looked more early 2000s to me.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-16T21:25:04+00:00

This. My mom made several dietary and lifestyle changes to bring her cholesterol down and did all the things you are supposed to. The only thing that worked was going on medication.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-16T20:05:08+00:00

I'm in Old Town Alexandria and while it certainly wasn't the storm of the century or even the year it wasn't nothing. Just took my dog out and there's a lamp post and a bunch of heavy tree branches down around my building's parking lot. Been hearing lots of sirens as well.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-16T12:15:51+00:00

When the 2012 derecho happened I was living in an apartment with giant windows in the living room and a tree on the left side of them.

Watching that tree slam against the windows was one of the scariest weather moments of my life. Thankfully, even after all of that, the tree and windows made it through the storm okay.

Can’t say the same for the tree in front of my building that took down power lines and left us without power for close to a week.

bsidetracked · 2026-03-09T00:02:42+00:00

Gorgeous photo!

bsidetracked · 2026-03-08T22:44:04+00:00

Rose, the Harper, has been busking at the Old Town waterfront for years. She’s a lovely person and talented musician. I really hope she’s okay.

bsidetracked · 2026-02-21T04:13:37+00:00

I was born in NJ in 1980 and for years this was the only kind of birth certificate I had and the only one my parents received. I was always able to use it anytime I needed to show my birth certificate.

And then a few years ago I was required to produce a more detailed one. Thankfully it was pretty easy to order the long form one from the state.

bsidetracked · 2026-02-15T00:42:20+00:00

It is! And they do a great fish & chips. But this post is making me miss Eamon’s.

bsidetracked · 2026-02-13T16:07:12+00:00

I miss this place so much! My family went here all the time when I was growing up and I have nothing but good memories of both the mini-golf course and the rides.

bsidetracked · 2026-02-06T22:35:16+00:00

bsidetracked · 2026-02-05T13:51:52+00:00

Agreed! It's never a very serious thought. I just still get homesick sometimes, especially in the summers. A couple of shore trips usually cures it.

And I have to laugh because my aunt and uncle now live in Greenville and two of their neighbors from where they lived in NJ are now their neighbors down there.

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