Cheeseburgers
4
In my late teens, my friends and I often hung out at a concert hall in Passaic, NJ, called the Capitol Theatre (it's long since been torn down). It had started out as a vaudeville hall, had become a porno theatre, and had then been transformed into a rock concert venue. I saw a few good, and a lot of crappy, shows there over the years--- AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Judas Priest, Heart, Cheap Trick, UFO, Ramones, etc.--- but concerts there mainly served as occasions for "partying". We drank in the parking lot before the concert, smoked pot in the bathroom during the concert (once, a cop came in as we stood in a circle passing a joint around-- he plucked it from my fingers, squashed it under his shoe, and said wearily, "Get back the f*ck to the concert"), and wound down after the concert with still more booze.
By then, of course, it was quite late. As we wound our way home (this was before MADD; I certainly don't advocate inebriated driving, but in those days, cops didn't seem to take it quite so seriously; if you seemed reasonably coherent, they'd tell you just to get the hell home), we'd sometimes stop at White Castle, located in Clifton at the time (not sure if that particular location is still standing). I was never a big fan, but it was cheap, and I guess served to soak up some of the excess booze. I don't remember the taste of the tiny, greasy cheeseburgers they served, but I remember the bright fluorescent light reflecting off the tiles. Always made me feel, as I stood on line with the other assorted dregs and drug addicts, like I was waiting for a delivery at the morgue.
If we were still wired, we drove further to Paterson (ironically enough, the home of the "Texas Weiner"), which had Libby's Lunch, right near the Paterson Waterfalls. Opened in 1938 by Greeks, it was a throwback to another era, looking pretty much like it must have in the 30's/40's (it's since been extensively remodeled, and, while the food is the same, it's lost its charm). Every time I ate there, I could imagine Lou Costello (a local boy who made good), or maybe even mob boss Willie Moretti, stopping in for a quick bite, kibitzing a bit with the crusty waitresses as he waited for his order. It was pretty much open all night, and served booze along with its cheeseburgers and fries, dished up with spicy "All the Way" sauce slathered all over them. Hubert Selby could have written about some of the late night denizens who patronized the place, and it was in an exceedingly dangerous area, but we were young, drunk and temporarily deaf, and in the manner of stupid young people everywhere, we felt we were immortal and consequently were fearless.
Once, I mentioned to a childhood friend's father, who was originally from Paterson and had done "muscle" work as a young man for Moretti, that I ate at Libby's and he actually got mad at me. "Jesus," he said, "Do you realize how old and dirty that place is? They got cockroaches crawlin' into that 'All the Way' sauce you're so enthused about!" "What do I care?" I replied, "It's good stuff!" Ah, to be young and so fearless again...!!!
