I have lived in Santa Fe since 1979, more or less, (I spent a lot of time in LA during the 80s and 90s, but Santa Fe always remained my primary residence), but I was born and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, just across New York Bay from Manhattan.   In fact, I hardly left Bayonne until I went off to college in 1966, and I still return whenever I can to see my sisters and their families, check in with a few old friends, grab a sprinkle donut from Judicke’s, and have a slice or three of the world’s best pizza, the Jersey bar pie.

There’s still a lot of Bayonne in me, and always will be.

So a few days ago, when my sister Darleen sent me a link about a major film studio being built in my old home town, I was very excited.

This is just so cool.

Bayonne Planning Board approves 1888 Studios at former Texaco site

The site they have picked, the old Texaco plant in the shadow of the Bayonne Bridge, is just a few blocks west of the federal housing projects where I lived from age four until I left for college, at First Street across from Brady’s Dock.   You can see the bridge from the park across the street from our apartment.   And if a film studio had been there when I was a kid… instead of Texaco… who knows what effect that might have had on my life and my dreams?   If they can actually get the 1888 Studio built, it will be an incredible thing for all the young dreamers in Bayonne, and the rest of Jersey.

It would be so so so cool if the studio gets built, and one day I return to shoot a film or television show there.   Probably not a Westeros show, as Bayonne has a notable lack of castles… but hey, maybe Wild Cards!   The Great and Powerful Turtle lived in the same apartment I did at 35 East First Street, and had his junkyard hideout on the Hook.

Bayonne, hard as it is to believe, was an early center of the infant film industry.

Congrats to all those who conceived of this project, and spearheaded the effort.   I hope you get it done!

 

Current Mood: hopeful