Have You Revisited the City of Your Birth?
Over Columbus Day weekend I went to a cousin’s wedding in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the city of my birth. Although I grew up in nearby South River and never lived in New Brunswick, the city was nevertheless important in my early life for the following reasons: my mother grew up there, my grandparents lived there and owned a little department store on French Street, my frequently visited aunt and cousins lived there, my dad graduated from the New Brunswick-based Rutgers University, my family went to a New Brunswick synagogue for the High Holidays, an uncle on other other side of the family owned a fruit and vegetable store there, and my mom worked as a dietitian in the hospitals there (Middlesex and St. Peter’s).
I have to admit, revisiting there after many years away I found the city to be rather dreary. The store my grandparents owned was now a liquor store in a rather rundown area. And the commercial districts were sleepy, even on a Saturday afternoon.
Tell me. Have YOU revisited the town or city where you were born? What were your impressions?
October 15th, 2009 at 10:28 am
The town/city I was born in was not the town my family lived in. So, I have a bit of a disconnect there. The nearest hospital at the time was in Copaigue while my family lived in Farmingdale (both on Long Island). I have never been back to Copaigue that I know of. However, I have been back to Farmingdale a couple of times since I left it at age 9. The last was to attend the memorial service and funeral of my maternal grandmother in 1983. Many things had changed, too many. My old elementary school was now a shopping center (strip mall style) anchored by a supermarket. I don’t know if “you can’t go home again” (Thomas Wolfe) but I no longer want to.
October 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I grew up in Jamaica Plain which we know is a great part of Boston, right Rhea?
October 15th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Christine, of course. JP rules!
Douglas, I know what you mean.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
DH and I went back to see our hometown last weekend for the first time since Hurricane Ike. While the city seems to be coming somewhat back to life, my old home was an abandoned, gutted ruin. After Hurricane Carla in the 1960s, my parents raised the house 5 feet and I had hoped that would have given it some protection. It did not and seeing it like that was dreadful.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Florence, what state is that?
October 16th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I was born in Washington DC. It is constitutionally inconvenient because official forms are always asking the question you asked above – what state were you born in.
I visit DC every 4 or 5 years, always with pleasure and latterly with more pride. I think some of its worst problems have been sorted out. I’m told the crime rate is way down. I am not sure about how the homeless have fared.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:38 am
My sister lives in DC. Amazing how some parts of the city are so blighted. At least that was a few years ago when I last visited.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Yes, but since it’s only about 20 minutes from here, that’s no great feat. My impressions of Ayer, MA: still mostly quiet and bucolic. I haven’t really been to the heart of town, though.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I’ve heard of Ayer, but can’t say I’ve ever been there. Bucolic sounds nice, though.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:21 am
I was born in Denver. We left Colorado for California when my son was 1. My family/friends left Colorado, so we didn’t go back. When my son was 14, I went back to Denver for my 25 high school reunion. We played tourist and took my son all over Denver and the surrounding area. We had a ball. It is a beautiful, well maintained and bustling city. It was so much fun to show him his roots-the place his grandparents moved to establish an new life after WWII.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Nice that your homecoming was a good one. I adore Colorado, with all those great mountains.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I haven’t been back home in a very long time. I did a lot of “sight-visiting” before I relo’d. Drove right by the first apartment we lived in without recognizing it as they had cut down the trees and replanted fledglings. Some of the neighborhood homes have been remodeled as it was an old neighborhood and the homes I sense may have been sold more than once since I left.
My last home was demolished due to age. It’s needs and a “what you would like to do with a loft bedroom, galley kitchen and living room – in the end, even we knew that it would be a labor of love for someone with pockets of cash. If not, for even the basics, one could look at a turn-key and say that it would make more sense to spend dollars there.
Much has changed on LI – even moving from one county to another for a long-term will bring about changes. In the end, a sense of rootedness remains because it is where I was born and raised – yet, on the other hand there is no longer a sense of it truly being my home – then again, I feel the same about where I am now. Restless, yes I am.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Duchess, the proper way to handle those forms is:
City – Washington, State – District of Columbia (or D.C.)
October 19th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
[...] The Boomer Chronicles asks, “Have you ever revisited the town or city where you were born?” [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Sure. I visited Dorchester a few years back. Won’t bore with the details here, but if anyone wants a longish read about it…
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com/2005/08/return-to-caddy-road.html
October 20th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Sul, you don’t have far to go!
October 20th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Just wait a few years. The liquor store will be an upscale restaurant. The synagogue will be a yoga palace and the department store will have been leveled to make way for an electric car lot handing out free anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes on foccacia.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Well, I revisit it every day as I have never moved away. I know – boring, right? My husband and I have been lived here all of our lives. Now, as we are in the boomer group, we would love to move to warmer pastures. Who knows if it’ll happen?
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
[...] Have You Revisited the City of Your Birth? [...]