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This is Matt of OG in Firemen’s Park. 6/15/26. He loves our yard sales: He keeps reminding me of the lawnmower that has become his best tool. Molly is his pup. Welcome to  dog-town USA.    Click to enlarge.     Paul Goldfinger photo.  Editor Blogfinger.net

 

YOU CAN SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE UP TO AND INCLUDING JUNE 26, 2026.

 

RAIN IS FORECAST:  . Let us know if you want to change your listing (eg Sunday)–otherwise it is only Saturday. We have done porch sales in the past during rain. If you want to drop out, just email us at Blogfinger@verizon.net

 

TOTAL = 20  ADDRESSES

91  Webb Avenue near Pennsylvania Ave.

118 Mt. Tabor Way:  “short list” porch chairs, 2 Italian counter stools, vintage dinner plate rack, vintage oil lamp, vintage ham boiler, pottery, records: LP’s and 45’s, vintage mirror, vintage decoys, collectibles.

50 Central Avenue.  2 bikes, a push lawn mower, costume jewelry , books, CD’s, and other miscellaneous stuff.

76 Heck Avenue:  Household items, linens, small furniture items,

94 1/2 Heck Avenue:    This will be a group event with 3 families.

128 Heck Avenue:  Assorted dishes, glass, lamps, a stained glass lampshade, a wooden file cabinet, bench and assorted baskets.

26 Embury Avenue: Between Central and Beach Ave.  Various home decor, old books, some yard tools,  and my handmade new jewelry.

113 Mt. Hermon Way at Delaware:  9-12. Gallery show of fine art black and white limited edition photographic prints made by artist Paul Goldfinger  in OG darkroom.     Mostly 8×10.  Mostly just a few of  each print. Matted, mounted or just prints.   Move to porch or inside if rain.    Prints are made by artist.  Only a few of each.  Some only one.  Prices mostly $20.00 but some are more.

103 Clark Ave.   (corner of  New Jersey)

79 Fletcher Lake.  (New York Ave.).   Bike, surf  board, houseware, beanie babies, puzzles, jewelry

58 Cookman Ave.: (betweenPilgrim pathway and Central Ave.):  JUNE 27 AND 28:      DSLR cameras, camera bags, studio lights, telescope, antique full size  bed, outdoor furniture–wrought iron, vintage tables and chairs, antique furniture pieces, mirrors, wall decor, lamps, electronics, Christmas tree, home deco, clothing and shoes, antiques, Raleigh Cruise Bike, sports cards, collectables, home and kitchen items and much more.

130 Cookman  Avenue :  Vintaage Danish  mid century chairs. (2), tower fans (new), kitchen electrics new, household goods, Disney studio collectibles , CD’s, luggage, furniture, lighting.5

64 Asbury Avenue:   Selection of art, furniture, homegoods, and accessories

89 Asbury Avenue. (cross at Pennsylvania). Household items,  collectibles, Sat and Sunday depending on rain;

71 Mt. Pisgah Way. (cross street New York Avenue).  MUTIFAMILY EVENT:  Household goods, costume jewelry, some clothing and shoes, holiday decorations, some games, andlotsmoreX!

20 Main Ave.: (at Beach Ave.).  Many household items and one art, collectibles, poses, skis

134 Main Avenue.    (cross Whitefield Ave):We will be selling many vintage kitchen tools and rolling pins, vintage toys, and beach and household items.

 

FATS WALLER:

 

 

By Paul Goldfinger and Eileen Goldfinger.   Blogfinger.net.

 

 

To sign up as a yard sailor, send an email to Blogfinger@verizon.net and give us your address and a cross street.

 

Send your list of sale items  and you can add sale items until 6/26.  Don’t forget Neptune permit for $5.00 at the mother ship.  The “list” will be arranged by neighborhoods. This is a fine and fun  social happening, so put on a happy face.!  Any issues, contact us; Blogfinger@verizon.net.  Around town in Ocean Grove. Sign on as seller:   Blogfinger.net

Feel free to pick up flyers from our porch at  113 Mt. Hermon at Delware.  Help us with  listings on social network.  Interested parties can be steered to Blogfinger.net.  Remember that you can design you own sale: for example make your sale 9 am to 12 noon.

 

 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS AND SALE ITEMS  (Please send us cross streets and lists of items). You can show almost anything.  Show your art work as an exhibit or also for sale.

This list will grow over the next 12 days.    Please help us publicize this  event. One year we had 75 sites

Yard Sailors may add sale items up to and including June 26.   Email us at Blogfinger@verizon.net

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Sailors:    Be sure to send us cross streets and items list.

Ads in Coaster and APP.

 

APP ad to the right:

 

 

VISITORS:.

Visitors can enjoy the sales and then go to the beach, the boards and our downtown and can visit our  unique shops including the newly re-opened Nagle’s.  And don’t forget the Great Auditorium and Tent Village.    We wll post a map here.

Park anywhere for free.  bring a bike to visit various Salle sites.

—Paul and Eileen.

 

OG Yard sale. Paul Goldfinger photo.

 

 

OG Town-Wide sale. Blogfinger photo. Note the sitar.

 

OG boards. 6/19/26. Paul Goldfinger photo. Going a bike to explore our town.

 

TONY BENNETT.  FROM HIS COLUMBIA RECORDS ALBUM:

 

My friend “Buddy”  and his prom date Georgene. 1959. He was the football quarterback and was in  every musical activity along with me. He went to West Point.

 

Bill Hutzel was the band director who changed the lives of so many of us at Rutherford High where most students were in music activities.  He taught me syncopation–a gift.

 

We were four close friends. Ross is in the trumpet section of the Rutherfordians dance band. I am in the front on alto sax (white mouthpiece) Ross became a judge.

 

Paul Goldfinger, MD     Editor Blogfinger.net

When we were kids my Dad used to take movies with a primitive 8 mm movie camera. We kept those negatives for many years in our basement, and we had long lost the projector to view them.   Recently we sent some of them to Legacybox, a company that converts media from one format to another.

We had ours made into DVD’s. We had no idea what to expect. Much of those movies were repetitive, but there were moments sufficient to elicit powerful emotions, recognitions, laughter and tears.

I had a set made for my brother and one for us.    The DVD’s could be popped into a DVD player and  set to play on our TV or into my computer using an Apple USB Super Drive.

It turns out that my Dad was a poor photographer, chopping off heads, moving too fast from one subject to another or up to the sky or down to our shoes.

Of course, there was no sound, and that really robbed the moments of an important component.  And he moved so fast, you couldn’t study much of the material.   But the worst part was the poor quality of the images. I guess there was some deterioration over the years.

The typical 8 mm movie of that time was where the subjects walk towards the camera, smile and wave; or, as with my brother,  he was always mugging, making faces and blowing his trombone.  He was and still is a character. And my mother, another character,  would dance around and mug.

I tried an experiment to produce still photographs from the movies on my computer screen by photographing rare compelling moments, just as a still photographer (like me) does routinely.  It is  needed because watching those movie clips showed everything going by too fast.

The challenge is to capture decisive moments, a la Cartier-Bresson.  It requires patience as you must get the exposure and focus right, and the light keeps changing in those videos, and then you must go back and then forward multiple times.  Then you have to do some fiddling around with the photo software.

And yet, it was strikingly profound to see these scenes from over 50 years ago; many of the cast of characters are now gone.  My Dad took scenes of my brother and me marching in parades, playing in concerts, and cavorting with family and friends.

My Dad had no interest in sports, so there are no movies of me playing soccer, tennis, football and basketball. Not once. But one thing he did was to take some clips at our senior prom and of the Rutherford High School marching and dance bands.

Some of the material was profoundly emotional, and I need to view them over to understand how such distant moving moments, some of which were fairly mundane, can have such impact now.

I was absolutely floored when I saw  my friends  with our beautiful dates.    We all looked profoundly happy that night at the Rutherford High School Senior Prom.  My friends and I all went with Junior girls.

The memories came flooding back:  rented tuxedos, flowers in our lapels, gowns, crinolines, cars,  and corsages, but mostly the laughter, the wonder of it all— and the music.

I am in the process of sending some samples to my friends from that time.  The results are pretty good, but all things considered, it is miraculous to have them—the content and not the quality are what counts. I am posting some samples now and more  later.

 

My friend Jeff with Janie. He drove me into “the City” on the back of his motor scooter. She had parties in her basement; lights out time. Janie became a lawyer. Jeff a banker.

 

Charlie played sax in the dance band and sat next to me. He played football. Here he fills in on tuba. He became a very successful engineer selling giant pumps to the Chinese.

 

RHS Marching Band. Memorial Day Parade, 1959. Ah! Those beautiful girls. Sweet music.

I hope to post more of these photos as I take my time unearthing them from the shadows of time.  I will show up when I can find a decent shot.

And so will Carla my prom date, Eileen, Bro’ Mel and others who were part of my life, including more fun at the prom and in the band.

 

EMMY ROSSUM:

 

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Tent Village in Ocean Grove, NJ. Paul Goldfinger photograph. © Blogfinger.net. Tour our town.

 

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Hey Shmedley!  Forget Asbury. Come with us to the Ocean Grove Town-Wide Yard Sale. Cartoon by Sue Gioulis, OG artist.

 

 

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Click to make larger (don’t you wish other things worked that way?)  A few avenues are missing.

 

 

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Maurice: Let’s hang around for the Town-Wide Yard Sale this Saturday. Then we can fly to A. Park on Sunday for sushi at Taka.          Sue Gioulis BF cartoon. ©

 

 

 

Yard Sale photos: 

OG Town-Wide Yard Sale. Blogfinger photo ©

 

 

yard sale

Lovely to look at, delightful to know. Grovers look for bargains at the Town-Wide Yard Sale. Paul Goldfinger photo.©

 

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This Yard Sailor was selling a sitar. Do you think it could play “My Old Kentucky Home?” Blogfinger photo. 2018 Town Wide Sale

 

YARD SALE MUSIC:

Tony Bennett:

 

Fats Waller:

 

The Harptones:

 

Tony Bennett:

James Taylor and Yoyo Ma:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Goldfinger photo. OG boards. 2026. Blogfinger.net

 

JOHN COLTRANE:     “Central Park West”.  From the Village Gate album

 

 

 

All photos from today’s Ocean Grove Yard Sales. This is at Asbury Avenue—Vicki’s house; always a winner for yard sales, and a beautiful location besides. All photos by Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net © Click to enlarge all photos.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

For the third year in a row, the weather posed a threat to the Town-Wide Yard Sale. Last week we postponed the May 13th setting because of horrible rain.  Today, May 20, we expected sunshine, but when we woke up we heard wind gusts, and then, looking out the window, we saw clouds.   It was chilly at 60 degrees, and there were a few little showers late in the morning, causing sellers to open up, cover up, and then start again, often  moving to the porch briefly.  One out-of-towner was cold, so he bought a hoodie from us.

A little rain moved the action onto porches, but only for a few minutes. Blogfinger photo Mt. Hermon Way. ©

We estimate that the Grove had about 60 yard sale sites.  We signed up 49, and there were a number of others that joined in without signing up–I met 3 of those without having to look very hard.   Asbury Park also had a town sale today but they were expecting only 25, and that is over an area larger than the Grove.   Our yard sale manager Vincent  Cannavo said that the density of yard sales in our small town makes for a perfect location for an annual town-wide sale.   Last year we outnumbered Bradley Beach.  There is no data as to how many of our sellers failed to open up because of the weather, but I don’t think there were more than a few.

It’s impossible to know the number of attendees at our yard sales,  Yard sailors told me that they had a fairly successful day  with a steady stream of shoppers despite the lack of sunshine.

As usual, the best thing about the TWYS  is the social component.  We met Grovers whom we never met before and we saw others whom we see only occasionally,  as well as visitors some of whom are regulars in town and who love the yard sales.  They come, often stay over,  eat out, and patronize our merchants.

Eileen and I met a multi-lingual visitor (4 languages) who bought bowls from us and did a fine impression of a Parisian waiter.  A women from Staten Island gave me a lecture as to why rubbing lemongrass oil over your liver was better than Lipitor for cholesterol.   Exchanging stories and observations about our town is always fun, especially with strangers who give us some “out-of-the bubble” points of view.

A couple of out-of towners won the fashion award on Mt. Hermon Way.  He bought a record “Stand  By Me” but she already was.    Blogfinger photo. 5/20/17.

Many Grovers and visitors stopped by our place to talk about Blogfinger, and, without exception, they were supportive. Some commenters came out of the closet to help me match the face with the pseudonym. Aggravated Curmudgeon’s wife told me  that Curmudgeon is actually a nice guy and isn’t always aggravated. He was home selling stuff.

Conversations are always part of the action and are very entertaining and informative. 5/20/17.   Paul Goldfinger photo on Delaware Avenue.

We met visitors  from the outer reaches of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati,  and New York—Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan.  Some of the Grovers we spoke to are new residents  in town including Lucy and Reena (both of whom had sales today.)

This crew on Delaware Avenue put their sale on hold for a pizza break in their side yard.  They are candidates for our OG lifestyles award. Blogfinger photo. © 5/20/17.

Several early visitors at our sale were looking for vinyl, but what interested me was that one was a young man.  It turns out young music lovers are taking a keen interest in collecting and playing vinyl.  An antique dealer from a neighboring town told me that sales of “old’ antiques were down because young couples aren’t interested, but there is enhanced interest in vintage stuff such as from the forties and the fifties.

So thanks to all of you Grovers who participated.   It actually can be fairly stressful and difficult to prepare for a yard sale, and when it’s over, you’re still not done working.  But despite that, it is fun.

MISS PEGGY LEE:

By Paul Cadmus, Jared French and Margaret French. ©

By Paul Cadmus, Jared French and Margaret French. ©  Fire Island, 1950.  Scanned from Photograph Magazine.   Re-post from 2015 at Blogfinger.net Click once to enlarge.

By Paul Goldfinger, Photography editor  @Blogfinger

These three photographers collaborated together from the 1930’s to the 1950’s producing intimate sized black and white prints characterized by “magical realism.”  These were set pieces that evoked psychology, eroticism, and symbolism.   Their work on Nantucket, Fire Island, Provincetown, New York, and New Jersey was controversial at first, but is now considered to be important examples of American photographic art.

The Gitterman Gallery is mounting a show of their work from September 9 to November 7, 2015, at 41 East 57th Street;  Suite 1103. The show is called PaJaMa after their first names. You can see more images by them at http://www.gittermangallery.com.

I enjoy their photographs because of the very special black and white moody effects.  It’s hard to understand how 3 people can work together to produce a photograph, but I imagine there are design, story, photographic and production challenges, so there must be an element of division of labor.

RACHEL CANTU:

Nagle’s Friday night: 6/19/26, Click once to enlarge. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net A beautiful Friday  night in Ocean Grove. NJ, USA.

 

 

Nagle’s. Paul Goldfinger image. 6/19/2026, Click once.

 

 

 

Street photos at Nagle’s. Friday night. Paul Goldfinger photo.  Leica. M10 M  6/19/26. The ladies who lurch.

 

 

Nagle’s. Paul Goldfinger 6/19/26. Bikers do wheelies at Nagle’s

 

 

Trying to emulate the live music of Nagle’s of old.     But the music is pathetic and boring.  Bring back the ’50’s and Broadway. It was enough to put Mr. Sandman asleep. More photos to come.

 

 

The Marvelous Wonderettes:

 

Ocean Grove boards. Click once to enlarge. 6/19/26. Friday twilight.  Paul Goldfinger photo.  Click once to enlarge.

 

“Rent me” on Ocean Avenue. Paul Goldfinger. 6/19/26

 

Paul Goldfinger 6/19/26

 

OG. 6/19/26. Paul Goldfinger.

 

 

As she rode by she said something about “breaking” my camera.”

 

More to come later from this shoot.

 

“William Tell Overture”.  from A Clockwork Orange.

 

 

10/31/25   ” Trick or treat” on Mt. Hermon Way in Ocean Grove, NJ, USA.     Photo by Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net. 10/31/25. Click once to enlarge the special moment.  Send us your interpretation of this image.

 

GENE WILDER.* From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. From the original soundtrack.

 

“Pure Imagination.”

 

Nurse practitioners (NPs) delivering emergency care without physician supervision or collaboration in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) increase lengths of stay by 11% and raise 30-day preventable hospitalizations by 20% compared with emergency physicians. Those are findings included in a study published online ahead of print in the American Economic Review, which is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious—and influential—peer-reviewed journals in the profession of economics.

BLOGFINGER RE-RUNS.   This feature is from August, 2011:

 

Mike Pallotta, the knife sharpener

By Paul Goldfinger (photos and text). Editor @Blogfinger

We heard the odd ringing of a bell. It was much different from the ice cream man’s. It could have been a tug boat bell, but there are no boats around here except for the swan boats, and they run silent.

Then we spotted an old green truck parked at Main and Delaware. It was Mike the knife sharpener. It was his bell. People told me about him in the past and said that we should do an article about him, however he wasn’t in the phone book, and I never spotted him in the Grove. But I never forgot about him and today I got lucky.

Mike Pallotta of Elmont, Long Island is in the family business. His dad started sharpening knives, scissors and other tools in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. Mike still drives his dad’s 1941 Chevy truck with the wooden interior. Although Mike’s main job is director of security at a high school in Long Island, he comes to the shore every summer with the truck and stays with a friend in Avon. His wife comes down on weekends, and today Mike is accompanied by his grandson Frank Pallotta, who is a high school sophomore.

Frank likes to pose for photos and he, like Mike, is a big smiler. Frank helps out in a variety of ways, but one of his jobs is to keep an eye on Princess, an old dog who doesn’t seem to know any tricks. Her job is just to hang around and look content.

Mike and Frank spend their summer days going to shore towns to sharpen knives, garden tools, and scissors. The truck is equipped with original 100-year-old stone grinder wheels. Mike says that the ability to do the job properly is mostly about know-how.

People come to the truck window and hand their knives to Frank. Mike, a friendly bear-like guy, begins to grind away. He is focused because this is dangerous work. Sparks fly off the grinder. Frank gets the job of honing the finish.

While the customers wait, they chat and marvel at the sight of the truck and Mike and his vintage equipment. Somebody recalls the iceman. Somebody else remembers the peripatetic knife sharpeners ringing their bells on the streets of New York. We met William Schlenger, an artist, who was admiring the hand-painted lettering on the side of the truck. He had no knives to sharpen; he just wanted to wax nostalgic about painting trucks the old fashioned way.

Mike tells us that he spends a great deal of time in Manhattan in the winter because those fabric cutters in the Garment District depend on properly sharpened scissors.

Eileen had a bunch of her kitchen knives sharpened. Mike insisted that she carry them away on a tray because they are ultra-sharp. He demonstrates by making neat slices out of a small stack of paper.

You can’t make an appointment with this old-style craftsman. He comes into the Grove every few weeks in the summer. You just have to get lucky.

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Here’s Bobby Darin with Mack the Knife:

communication2

 

Location: Home Depot in Neptune

Customer:  I would like to buy a yard stick

Sales person:  We only have the 3 foot size.

Back Bay Boston

By Paul Goldfinger, undated. Published in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine. ©

By Paul Goldfinger, undated. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

 

Eileen Goldfinger at  Michael’s BU graduation. Paul Goldfinger photo.

 

 

“MADELEINE”     from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris  (or maybe he’s in Boston)

 

 

Stucile Farm Water Tower. Paul Goldfinger photograph.  Deal Road in Joseph Palaia Park.  Ocean Township.  2/18/23. This tower is over 100 years old. Recently it was structurally strengthened and lit for nighttime viewing by passing cars.  Click once to enlarge.

 

8/2024:  Now that structural improvements are completed, the Ocean Historic Society will be restoring utilities to the building.  When it was a water tower in the past it was supplying irrigation to greenhouses on the property. There also is a  historic building nearby.

 

Click once to enlarge.

 

FIONA APPLE:  “Across the Universe.”  By John Lennon.