Seventh Avenue, Newark, New Jersey
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Seventh Avenue, formerly known as the First Ward, is a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey's North Ward. It was famously the heart of the city's large Little Italy, which has since disappeared.
It its heyday, Seventh Avenue had a population of thirty thousand, eleven thousand of whom were children, living in an area of less than a square mile. The center of life in the neighborhood was St. Lucy's Church, founded by Italian immigrants in 1891. Throughout the year, St. Lucy's and other churches sponsored processions in honor of saints that became community events, the most famous procession was the Feast of St. Gerard, but there were also great feasts for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Our Lady of Snow, the Assumption, and St. Rocco.
Joe DiMaggio loved the restaurants of Seventh Avenue so much that he would take the New York Yankees to Newark to show them "real Italian food." Frank Sinatra had bread from Giordano's Bakery sent to him every week until his death, no matter where in the world he was. New York Yankees Catcher Rick Cerone also grew up in the First Ward.
One of the nation's largest Italian newspapers, The Italian Tribune, was founded in Seventh Avenue. Seventh Avenue produced stars like Joe Pesci, and Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons. Congressman Peter Rodino, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during its impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon was a native of the First Ward as well.
Seventh Avenue was notoriously devastated by urban renewal efforts during the 1950s. Eighth Avenue was obliterated. Most of its businesses never recovered. The construction of Interstate 280 also served to cut the neighborhood off from the rest of the city.
Some of the First Ward's Italians stayed in the neighborhood, while others migrated to other Newark neighborhoods like Broadway and the Ironbound. However, the majority left Newark altogether, fleeing mostly to the city's northern suburbs. The dispersion of the neighborhood was inevitable, but it was surely accelerated by the policies of the 1950s and Newark's subsequent race riots in 1967.
Today Seventh Avenue has people of all ethnic groups, with Puerto Ricans being prominent. There are many signs of the former Italian presence in the area, although there are no Italian restaurants and bakeries left on Seventh Avenue; next to a vacant lot, Giordano's has now closed at 33 Seventh Ave. Drugs and prostitution are a big problem in the area. St Lucy's Church, which is now in a beautiful 1925 building, still exists and has a large feast for St. Gerard every October. The Feast of St. Gerard is a kind of reunion for old First Warders.
By their proximity to I-280, the Christopher Columbus Homes became a highly visible advertisement of Newark's poverty. As residents dwindled away, the Newark Housing Authority took to painting curtains and plants in apartment windows to create the illusion of habitation. Demolition of the projects began in 1994 and is now complete. Townhouses have been built on the former site of the projects, but the old street grid was not restored.
The Seventh Ave neighborhood lies between the Orange Avenue and Broad Street stations on the Newark Light Rail.
