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Jersey City Times Staff

Hotelier Details Plans for Boutique Hotel Downtown

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We thought it would be interesting to sit down with Frank Cretella, the developer of the Albion Hotel and adjoining Felina restaurant planned for the Capital One Bank building at the corner of Jersey and Newark Avenues. Cretella and his wife came to Jersey City after running a publicly traded hospitality company in New York City.

JCT: What is your connection to Jersey City, and why do you think Jersey City should have another hotel?

Cretella: I got invited to a concert in Liberty State Park by a friend of mine who did all the staging for the [Andrea] Bocelli concert. I went there and I saw Liberty House, and it was kind of a rebirth. [Cretella now operates Liberty House.] We put all our eggs in Jersey City; Jersey City really embraced us. And we grew quickly in Jersey City. And it was like the second time around for us. It just treated us so well, between the neighborhoods we did business in, the politicians. We’ve got a special love for Jersey City.

JCT: What kind of projects did you build when you got to Jersey City?

Cretella: When I was in New York, I was basically an operator. We didn’t own any of the hospitality properties that we were in. I did, however, own a portfolio of real estate, non-hospitality. So, I was familiar with real estate. I’m familiar with construction. These are the things that we did in New York. When we came to Jersey we really wanted to stick to hospitality but own the real estate. So, we did Liberty House, which we don’t own, but that was our first project. We built our corporate offices in Jersey City. We purchased an old warehouse and converted it. We built a senior daycare center in Jersey City. And we did some real estate investment down in the Morris Canal.

JCT: What year did you arrive in Jersey City?

Cretella: I’m going to say 22 years ago.

JCT: Now you decide to build a hotel. Is this your first hotel, or have you operated hotels before?

Cretella: No, we have other hotels that we own. I’m right now in the Mansion Inn in New Hope, Pennsylvania. This property is being expanded to 34 rooms. Next to it is the Logan Inn [which Cretella operates], which has been an inn since 1727. That’s got a big expansion down the block. So, in New Hope we’re operating about 130 rooms. We’re not big hotel operators. Our properties tend to be on the smaller side.

We are building 120 rooms, more of a resort, on an old convent property in Philadelphia. That’s under construction. So, Jersey City is going to be the largest for us, but we’re very confident. There’s nothing harder than being in the restaurant business. There’s also nothing more rewarding. It’s all about hospitality. We’re very confident that we’re going to build a place that people are going to come back to in Jersey City because of that personal bond that we want to create.

JCT: What is your business model? What kind of prices are we going to be looking at for a room at this hotel you’re building? Is it a super-luxury type hotel, or is it something more affordable?

Cretella: We’re really developing the Albion brand. It’s about the colorful side of luxury. We’re building…I would call it a luxury hotel, although maybe the Ritz Carlton wouldn’t consider it a luxury hotel because we’re more about experiences. We do a four o’clock tea program where you can come back to the hotel and we may teach you how to roll sushi. We may have a cocktail class. We may have a concert in the penthouse on the roof. So, we are trying to create experiences. We feel that’s the real luxury in life, creating and having memories. Of course, we’re going to have the fresh linen and great pillows and great mattresses. We’re not going to have luxury case goods [furniture such as bureaus or bookcases that provides interior storage space] where every room has the same case goods in them. We select and refurbish old furniture. We have a shop. We make all our furniture. It’s more artisanal and tactile. It takes us longer to do because it’s not that we call up one vendor and say give me a 200 side chairs. But it’s more enjoyable for us. I think it’s a luxury. It’s a luxury that larger groups can’t handle because they can’t go out and pick out a hundred different chairs for their rooms.

JCT: Do you have any sense yet of what the pricing will be? I know people are always thinking about how much things cost because we’re not Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we’re not Tribeca.

Cretella: Who knows how it’s going to shake out, but Pre-COVID we wanted to run in line with the same kind of RevPAR as the other hotels that are based down on the water, which is about a RevPAR of $200.

JCT: Can you explain what RevPAR means?

Cretella: So, that’s revenue per available room. In other words, you take your sales for the year in rooms, and you divide by the number of rooms, and then you divide that by 365. That’s the average you make on that room per day, okay. It’s more of a hotel metric. Most people want to know what’s your average daily rate.

JCT: I think to answer the question though, you’d say you’re going to be in the same range as the Hyatt, which is down at Exchange Place?

Cretella: Absolutely. Yet, you’re going to get a much more tactile, visual, and personalized experience. It’s a totally different experience for the same money.

JCT: Now, talk to me about the food. I see you have a restaurant that’s going into the space. Who are you bringing in to be your chef or to design your menu, and what’s the concept for the restaurant?

Cretella: Anthony Bucco is a chef-partner in Felina restaurant that we have in Ridgewood. It’s is highly rated. He’s a great guy, he’s a friend. He’s been with us for a long time, and he’s been around me for a long time. So, I have great confidence in him. He proved it in Ridgewood.

JCT: What will the cuisine be?

Cretella: I call it “fresh, made-on-site, approachable, Italian.” Very bold flavors with wood-fired components in the menu. We design everything with open kitchens, so there’s that bond between the kitchen staff and the front of the house. Felina in Ridgewood is also in a bank building. The décor in Ridgewood is off the charts, it’s beautiful.

JCT: Can you talk a little bit about what approvals you have at this point for the building and what you need to still get?

Cretella: Our first approach was to go to zoning before we owned the property, and then we spoke to the local councilman and the mayor. We got great responses from them. And then we went to the local community. We’ve made numerous changes to our plan based on these boards that we went to. A lot of them tend to be architects, which is great because we ended up with a better product. The bank building stands out more, the historic part of the building. The design overall is much, much better. So, now we’re going for formal approvals.

JCT: What is the timeline at this point?

Cretella: We’re hoping to have all of our approvals in three months. I have six months of construction documents and value engineering. And then I have 18 months of construction, so it’s multiple years away.

JCT: So, we’re looking at some point in 2022?

Cretella: Probably closer to spring of ’23. The process for us tends to be longer because we are employing craftsmen to make stuff.  We’re sourcing product that is not off the shelf, so the process takes longer. You know Soho house? Their designs feel lived in, warm and inviting. You don’t get that by just going out and buying stock anything, you know?

JCT: Is there anything that I didn’t touch on that you might want to add?

Cretella: The hospitality industry has really been great for us. We started a foundation pre-COVID, and we built a school for hospitality. Obviously, things are a challenge for that now, but we’ve used the foundation to help others in the hospitality industry during COVID.

This hotel is going to operate as a training ground for staff, and it’s also is going to be on the cutting edge of technology. For instance, we’re going to use technology to empower our housekeeping staff. Historically, housekeeping has always been just a necessity, not a full partner in hotel operations. Through technology we’re going to empower housekeeping to be their own boss and to do more.

JCT: This foundation is going to be offering training to local people who are interested in getting into the hospitality business. Is that going be free of charge?

Cretella: So far we’ve only accomplished two classes, and both those classes were free of charge. We had a hundred percent graduation, which is great, but those classes were small. I think 12 people each.

JCT: That was in which geographic area?

Cretella: The school is in Plainfield, New Jersey, but we handle transportation from Hudson County. The idea is to use it not only for job training but also for teaching personal skills like how to balance a checkbook: everything to just to bring people in and give them a good head start getting employment. And because our company is growing, we’re able to not only train you, mentor you at the location, like 201 Newark, but be there for your advancement.

We guarantee a hundred percent employment, but you just can’t get into the school. There’s a vetting process. We’ve been in this business 40 years, so we know who has a hospitality heart, so we’ll train you, but you’ve got to meet that metric.

JCT: So, it’s really a feeder for your business, a training program?

Cretella: You know we’re not doing it for that. I mean, luckily as a company, we rate high when it comes to employment. We treat our people well. So, we don’t have a problem getting employees. We’re doing this more as a give-back to hospitality.

JCT: So, they could stay or they could go on to work for somebody else after attending your school?

Cretella: Absolutely. Also, my wife is involved heavily with the local restaurant association. She’s on the board. Anthony [Bucco] now is on the board. My wife is also on the board of the National Restaurant Association. So, we have a lot of people that respect us as operators. If we say, hey, we just trained these 10 people, does anybody need any staff, the fact that we trained them means a lot to our contemporaries, which is a great position to be in.

 

 

Andrea Crowley-Hughes

Jersey City’s Indian-American Community Celebrates Harris

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The election and inauguration of Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, the first woman, South Asian American and Black vice president, sent ripples of pride through Jersey City’s Indian American community.

Jersey City was home to 31,578 Indian Americans in 2017, representing a 16.5% increase from 2010, according to United States census data.

The daughters of Jersey City resident Shehnaaz Jagasia watch the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris while enjoying dosa, sambar and coconut chutney

Harris, born to parents who emigrated from India and Jamaica, became the second Black woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate in 2016. She ended her own presidential campaign in December 2019 before former vice president Joe Biden chose her as his 2020 running mate. Biden and Harris were elected in November and sworn into office on Jan. 20.

Although supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol just 14 days earlier, the inauguration took place safely with thousands of National Guard troops providing protection.

On inauguration day, Shehnaaz Jagasia, founder of Shenaaz Dance Academy, watched intently with her young daughter in their Jersey City living room. In another room, her eight-year-old daughter was watching the inauguration virtually with her third grade class.

The occasion was so special they replayed it on YouTube so they could all watch together.  They shared the experience on Instagram.

“We’ve been reading about Madame Vice President and found out she loves dosas and South Indian food, so we watched together while eating dosas. It felt so good,” she said.

Jagasia and her husband are from Mumbai, India. She has been teaching dance in Jersey City since 2009 and started her own dance school in 2017.

“We are elated she is elected to office,” Jagasia said of Harris. “It’s a moment of pride to have that representation.” Harris sets “a stellar example” for her young girls, she said.

Downtown Jersey City resident Mamta Singh, who has run the nonprofit JCFamilies since 2010, was so excited by Harris’ inauguration that she called her relatives in northern India to share her enthusiasm. Their joy, too, was palpable.

“My family from home feels as if one of their family members got elected,” she said.

Singh said she has aspirations to be involved in politics, but “there was always a hesitation because we come from a very different background.” She now feels more optimistic about the future of women in politics.

“A lot of women who were just hiding or not very confident will come out and get active,” Singh said.

Harveer Singh wears an American flag turban.

Harveer Singh, a downtown Jersey City resident and realtor, emceed the India Independence Day Parade in 2019. He described an electric atmosphere the day the presidential race was called for Biden and Harris, complete with music outside City Hall and a woman dancing on top of her car. The diverse crowd reflected what he loves about Jersey City.

Harris’ victory feels personal to Singh as a member of the Sikh religion, which values “equality for men, women and everyone.”

“As a Sikh person who wears a beanie, sometimes you get the brunt of ignorance,” he said. “I’ve gotten that all my life. I think [Harris’ win] gives people courage, women courage, minority women courage.”

Members of Jersey City’s Indian American community told the Jersey City Times they have a deep love for the city.

“Jersey City was my first love because of the diversity,” said Mamta Singh. “It felt like home, and I decided if I ever lived in America, I would live in Jersey City.”

They also shared hopes for the new presidential administration.

I hope the government will do something exceptional for our teachers to applaud their efforts and provide them additional pay and/or benefits,” said Jagasia. “So many of them have had to adapt to the virtual world.”

“The biggest concern is uniting the country,” Harveer Singh said. “I pray and hope that Biden can do something to bring us together.”

Jersey City Times Staff

New Figures Show How Deadly COVID-19 is for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians in NJ

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The virus is the top cause of death for communities of color, state data says. For whites, it’s third

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Colleen O’Dea

New state health data provides more proof of the devastating and disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on New Jersey’s minority communities: The disease was the No. 1 cause of death for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians last year.

Preliminary New Jersey State Health Assessment Data for deaths in 2020 made available on Monday shows COVID-19 surpassed heart disease for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. It was the third-largest cause of death among non-Hispanic whites, with heart disease remaining the dominant one, followed by cancer, for that racial group. State officials continue to update death data, which is derived from the causes listed on death certificates of New Jersey residents regardless of where they died, for a year or longer so some of the numbers could change.

It is particularly striking that the disease caused by the novel coronavirus jumped into the top spot given that the first COVID-19 death was not confirmed until almost a quarter of the way through 2020 — on March 10, 2020.

But doctors and health officials said the data is not surprising.

Most vulnerable suffer most

“What we know about pandemics and epidemics is that often the most vulnerable in our society experience the worst health outcomes in relation to the disease,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers University School of Public Health.

“COVID-19 has laid bare the vulnerabilities we knew Black, brown and Asian communities already have in our health care system,” agreed Dr. Kennedy Ganti, president-elect of the Medical Society of New Jersey who practices in Willingboro. “There are access to care challenges, social determinants of health challenges.”

Health officials have noted the disparate impact the virus was having on Black and brown communities, in particular, since early in the pandemic. The state’s COVID-19 information portal breaks out cases, hospitalizations and deaths by race. The state health commissioner typically relates some of this information during her briefings on the pandemic. But the fact that the disease was responsible for more deaths than other typical causes for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians puts that into sharper perspective.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the (Murphy) Administration has been focused on bringing resources to underserved communities because we recognize that the same long-standing inequities that have contributed to health disparities affecting racial and ethnic groups have also put them at increased risk for COVID-19,” said Dawn Thomas, a state Department of Health spokeswoman.

The state data shows that COVID-19 claimed 2,466 Black lives last year, with that number rising to 2,720 when related conditions, including unspecified coronavirus, flu and pneumonia, are added in. Heart diseases were responsible for 2,439 deaths. COVID-19 and related causes made up 20% of all deaths. COVID-19 and related causes killed more than 1,000 Asians and were responsible for more than a quarter of all deaths. For Hispanics, COVID-19 and related causes accounted for the largest percentage of all groups, with slightly more than a third of all those who passed dying from those illnesses. COVID-19 took 3,427, while COVID and related diseases were responsible for 3,654 deaths. More than twice the number who died from heart diseases, 1,454, succumbed to COVID-19.

By contrast, about 15% of deaths among whites last year were due to COVID-19 and related illnesses. Heart diseases were responsible for 22% of deaths, while 17% of deaths were from cancer.

“Look at the impressions we have of the number of individuals who were Hispanic and African American, who are more likely to be infected and then they’re more likely to have more severe disease and on top of everything else they are more likely to have bad outcomes from a whole variety of illnesses,” said Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and interim dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. One of the things that is important about the social determinants of health is all of these factors that are likely to adversely affect minority populations lead to increased death rates.”

Why more people of color die

Halkitis said there are a host of reasons why the illness is killing more people of color. Blacks and Latinx people tend to be of lower socioeconomic status due to structural inequities in society and they more often hold lower-paying frontline essential-worker jobs that put them at greater risk of getting COVID-19. They often live in more crowded conditions, which also puts them at greater risk. Blacks and Hispanics tend to have less access than whites to high-quality health care and they hold a greater mistrust of medical professionals based on culture and history, which means they may be less likely to follow public health messaging.

“All of those things taken together place them at risk for both acquiring and dying from COVID-19,” he said.

Additionally, the crackdown on undocumented immigrants during the Trump administration may also have made some Hispanics less likely to seek medical care once they became sick, Halkitis added.

“It’s a sad choice you have to make: Take care of your health or be arrested by ICE,” he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “That’s what people were confronted with in the last few years. They chose to take the risk with their health because they didn’t want to be deported away from their families.”

Dr. Shereef Elnahal, president and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, said the stark contrasts this data shows should be a wakeup call for policymakers to take greater actions to minimize the disparities.

“This data once again shows that COVID-19 has not only disproportionately impacted people of color, it has also exposed Black and Brown peoples’ asymmetric burden of chronic disease, higher representation in the essential workforce and lived experiences that predispose to greater spread of infectious diseases,” he said. “This should be a call to action for the equitable distribution of resources to communities of color related to the pandemic, but also for the more sustainable, long-delayed work in achieving health and economic equity in majority-minority communities thereafter.”

Solving systemic problems

Solving these problems, many of which are systemic, is a challenge. But in the short term, it means officials need to take greater steps to ensure that people of color are able willing and able to get the COVID-19 vaccines. The state dashboard currently shows great disparities in the racial and ethnic makeup of those being vaccinated: Of those for whom race or ethnicity was known, as of Monday morning, almost 60% were white, 7% Asian, 6% Hispanic and 4% Black.

Halkitis said part of the reason for the disparity is that health care workers were the first-priority category and they are mostly white. But other reasons why the percentage of minorities being vaccinated is so low is that many are leery of vaccines and those who want to be vaccinated are having difficulty figuring out how to do so. The system the state set up is predominantly internet-based and most of the sites giving vaccines are not linked to the state system.

“We need to make sure that vaccines are available in inner city communities and we need to make sure that people from these communities who are trusted by these communities endorse vaccination,” Johnson said. “We also need to make sure that people in these communities have health care.”

 

Header:  Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Group Files Suit to Stop Bergen-Lafayette Development

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A community group filed suit on Friday to stop the construction of a 17-story 420-unit luxury high-rise in Bergen-Lafayette. The project, known as Morris Canal Park Manor, would replace a dilapidated factory on Communipaw Avenue known as “Steel Tech.”

The project, spearheaded by Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson, has been controversial from the start, with local residents arguing that the land in question was slated to become part of Berry Lane Park under the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan. In a contentious meeting in December, the city council amended the redevelopment plan to allow the project to move forward.

The lawsuit was brought by The Morris Canal Redevelopment Area Community Development Corporation, Inc. (“MCRACDC”) and its executive director, June Jones, against the City of Jersey City, and the city’s planning board and planning division. It alleges that the city failed to properly notify MCRACDC of critical hearings and that it engaged in illegal “spot zoning” by changing the zoning of a parcel of land to benefit a developer at the expense of the community. The city itself has estimated that the development will generate $3 million in profit for the developer, Lou Mont of Skyline Development Group LLC.

The MCRACDC was given special stakeholder status in the redevelopment plan and serves as the official vehicle to maintain community involvement throughout the redevelopment process within the redevelopment area.

According to plaintiffs, the city sought and obtained millions of dollars in state and county grant money to rehabilitate the 3.5 acre site after promising that it would become green space.

Councilman Robinson has argued that the developer agreed to “community givebacks” including a recreation center and office space for minority business enterprises.

The plaintiffs say the land should become part of Berry Lane Park. They have also dismissed the givebacks as insufficient. “The City went back on its word,” said Mangelin Rivera, President of MCRACDC. “Worse still, the so-called community benefits that this project proposes are weak: The only person this really benefits is its developer.”

The MCRACDC and Jones are represented by the law firm Matsikoudis & Fanciullo and by Renée Steinhagen of the New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center.

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Speck

Tom Gallo — Indie Rock Tastemaker

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In Our Midst is a monthly conversation profiling talented Jersey City residents who are doing something unique and interesting. This week, local entrepreneur and music business executive Eric Speck interviewed indie rock tastemaker Tom Gallo.

JCT: Tom, you’re a podcaster, a Radio DJ, a music journalist, a bootleg archivist, and an indie rock tastemaker. It’s hard to keep up with you! Can you give us a rundown of all of the music projects on which you’re working?

Gallo: My main project is Look At My Records!, a weekly podcast where I interview independent artists and ask them to curate playlists based on records from my personal record collection. Last year, I launched the Look At My Records! website, which features reviews, premieres of new music, curated playlists, and other music-related content. I also host a radio show called “Local Fidelity” every Saturday at 2 p.m. on Radio Free Brooklyn. I curate The McKenzie Tapes, an online cassette archive that features hundreds of digitized live performances from the 1980s and 90s.

JCT: Why did you choose to live in Jersey City instead of New York City especially since New York has a fervent and nationally recognized music scene?

Gallo: I spent my teenage years in Verona, NJ, and eventually moved to Hoboken in 2013. Originally, my work led me to Jersey City in 2015, and I have loved being part of the community ever since. I’ve met so many unique and interesting people over the years, and I’ve connected with so many talented artists and musicians. It was appealing to me to set my roots in a growing community like Jersey City instead of moving to somewhere like Brooklyn where the music scene is already well established.

JCT: Let’s talk about Look At My Records!. This is a podcast, a website, and essentially a taste-making machine. How would you say that LAMR is different from other taste-making sites, say, like Brooklyn Veganor Gorilla Vs. Bear?

Gallo: The goal of Look At My Records! is to give a voice to independent artists that you wouldn’t necessarily read about anywhere else. I really want to provide a platform to artists that I believe are creating great art and are being overlooked by mainstream music outlets that are more focused on artists that already have an established fan base. There’s definitely a focus on my community, but the site does feature artists from all over the globe.

JCT: The McKenzie Tapes is your project that chronicles great live bootlegs that were recorded up to forty years ago. Can you tell us how this started and a little bit about the bootleg community that you’ve tapped into for this project?

Gallo: It all started in the fall of 2018 when I received a Facebook message from a guy named David McKenzie. We were both active participants in the “Maxwell’s of Hoboken, New Jersey” Facebook group, and he reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in digitizing his cassette collection of live recordings. His collection consisted of mostly recording from Maxwell’s, but it also featured other NYC venues in the ‘80s.

He sent several boxes of tapes about a month later, and I simultaneously started diving into the online community for cassette digitizing. I quickly learned that I had to get some high-quality decks and equipment, and that it’s more challenging than it seems. There’s so much to learn about it and always more to archive. It’s been great making friends in the bootleg community, many of whom have shared their own tapes with me to digitize. It’s also been extremely rewarding to preserve this part of music history. It’s something that I take immense pride in doing.

JCT: What are some of your most rare and prized shows that you’ve archived with McKenzie Tapes?

Gallo: I think the coolest tape in the collection is a series of two Sonic Youth shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken from June 9 and 10 of 1988. The band played these gigs right before recording their magnum opus, Daydream Nation, in July of 1988. Their sets on both nights previewed songs that would appear on Daydream Nation, including “Candle, “‘Cross the Breeze,” “Teenage Riot!,” “Total Trash,” and “Totally Trashed.” Many of the songs sound a bit different from the recorded versions on the album, so it seems like they were still working them out before heading into the studio. It’s a very cool piece of indie rock history.

JCT: “Local Fidelity” is your extremely popular show on Radio Free Brooklyn. What inspired you to do a show that focuses on local music only?

Gallo: Local Fidelity originally started as just a live version of the Look At My Records! podcast. Eventually, I realized that instead of having another forum for artist interviews, it’d be more fun for the audience (and myself!) if I just focused on playing a full hour of all-local music. I’m very active in the music community in Brooklyn and Jersey City, and this is the music that I enjoy listening to in my free time anyway.

JCT: Music scenes can be cliquish and competitive, and a lot of times artists from one city won’t support artists from other cities or scenes. Since on your “Local Fidelity” show you feature artists from all over the tri-state area, do you see this show as a vehicle to help the cross-pollination between scenes?

Gallo: Yes, it totally helps to bring together music communities from the area. On “Local Fidelity” and through Look At My Records!, I feature artists from both New York and New Jersey, since I feel like I operate between these two scenes. For me, it hasn’t been difficult to do, and I enjoy introducing Brooklynites to New Jersey bands and New Jerseyites to Brooklyn bands. For instance, it’s been cool to see Brooklyn bands like Forever Honey, Big Bliss, Looms, and New Myths play here in Jersey City over the last few years, and it’s always cool to see Jersey bands like Dentist, PYNKIE, Joy Cleaner, and Shred Flintstone play at places like Our Wicked Lady and Alphaville in Brooklyn. I kind of view the greater New York City area as one big music scene, so a lot of times I don’t even really think about the distinctions between the two.

JCT: Are there other Jersey City outlets which you think promote this kind of camaraderie between Jersey and Brooklyn?

Gallo: I think venues like Pet Shop do a great job bringing in bands from across the river. “Dancing Tony” and Corey Zack also put so much work into organizing so many incredible events that feature bands from here and New York.

JCT: Since the scene in Jersey City is so small, the cultural vacuum of Brooklyn pulls out a lot of creativity from our town across the river to NYC. Do you see this as a challenge for Jersey /city to have its own scene since all the talent gets sucked out to NYC?

Gallo: It’s definitely a challenge especially with the recent closure of FM Bar, but it’s a positive, too, in that it opens up opportunities for other spaces to fill that live music vacuum. For instance, right before the pandemic hit, Dancing Tony and Corey Zack organized a gig in the space above Barcade, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. I foresee more gigs like that happening around town once the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. There’s no shortage of talent in Jersey City as great bands and artists like PYNKIE, Tom Barrett, CR and the Nones, Emergencies, Shred Flintstone, Adrian Danon, Sean Kiely, Diana Zinni, Best Hit TV, Debra Devi, and so many more live and make music here. Also, I think as long as White Eagle Hall is here to serve as an anchor, small spaces will sprout up around it and/or current bars and spaces will start hosting live music events to supplement their calendar.

JCT: In the mid-late aughts, one of the exciting things going on in JC was all of the pop up shows and “secret” house party shows. It gave the scene such a good, edgy feel. These shows were filling the void of a proper music venue (like Maxwell’s) being situated here. Now that JC has established venues like Monte Hall and White Eagle Hall, what do you think is the status of live music in Jersey City both pre- and post- COVID?

Gallo: I think those pop-up shows are going to make a bit of a comeback, and I do think the fact that a solid mid-sized venue like White Eagle Hall is here will lead to more spaces hosting live music. Similarly, the Double Parked Festival that Pet Shop and The Archer organized was a blast! Those are both prime examples of the type of stand-alone live music events that I think are going to become more common.

JCT: What have been some of the exciting aspects of our local music scene over the past three years, and will that change post pandemic?

Gallo: I’m hoping that live music will return as strong as ever after the pandemic. People are craving it, so I think it’ll be in high demand. During the pandemic, there were more outdoor shows at the Harsimus Cemetery, and I think those should continue over the summer. People love enjoying music outdoors, and it’s cool to experience more intimate outdoor shows like the ones that were happening there. I have faith that 2021 will bring about a resurgence of this and that the community will continue to find creative ways to build spaces for people to connect through music.

Photo by Tony Russo