HUDSON CAMERA LIVES

A picture of Pete’s smile is worth a thousand words. As a writer I always thought that ratio a tad overstated, although I’m sure a camera store owner might disagree.

His familiar face and an opened Hudson Camera sure did my heart good, and that feeling I am certain is shared. I blogged about the store being closed, which thankfully turned out to be a temporary situation. I got a lot of responses from that recent blog, everyone said this man is a gentlemen and I could not agree more. Although I have been coming to the store since I’ve lived in J.C., I didn’t know his name until the responses. I was in the minority. Several people asked me if I knew anything about Pete. The Hudson Camera blog, local news, got attention. He and his store are well known and held in high regard.

Last week, in need of a picture frame, I went to where I always go, Hudson Camera. Read that post here.

Anyway, there was a notice by the state, the place looked closed, and I feared the worst. The blog talks about the fear but also included a reminiscence of Pete giving me a batter on 9-11, when I had insufficient cash to pay for it and the ATMs and Credit Card readers were out of whack.

“Oh, we did that for a lot of people that day,” he told me.

Anyway, there was a disagreement with the State of New Jersey, which Pete described as a long, sad saga. Not the city, the state. It is resolved and according to this storeowner, resolved in his favor. You may not be able to fight city hall, but at least you can fight Trenton.

So, let’s not say closed, it was a brief hiatus.

“It’s over, we won, we’re still in business.”

A reason to rejoice.

The gate was opened, the lights were on, that official notice gone

Hudson Camera, started by his father in 1948, has been on Newark Avenue since that time and in this location for 30 years, lives!

The reason I went there in the first place was due to a picture frame need, which oddly has also a Jersey City angle. I had this certificate 6 x 8 (inches). It is actually the certificate of my first holy communion. When mom was moved to Assisted Living, my sibs and I had to clean out the house, a long, arduous and emotional process. Anyway, somehow this certificate surfaced, it was in a bag of stuff, mostly photographs, which sometimes get scanned.

So, this darn certificate was floating around my apartment. I know that my archival skills. The Jersey City angle, at the August Feast, I ran into my friend Maryanne, who told me about a photograph she found of her crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother, which took place the year she made her first Holy Communion.

I told her about the certificate, and she mentioned something about framing, which stuck in my mind and it took about two months before I found the time and decided to go to Hudson County and saw the Notice.

The misunderstanding with the state meant the store was only closed a few days.

I blogged too early!

Anyway, I mention this certificate because of its 6 x 8 shape. Turns out, an odd shape for frames. I found out how odd because I went to several stores, including the chain outlets in town that sell these house-wares furnishings. No luck. Even another high class custom framing shop within our vicinity said I was out of luck. The shape was too odd. The only alternative was make it a plaque, costs about $58 or go custom frame, about $80. It’s just a very old piece of paper that I want to preserve, it’s not the Shroud of Turin.

I thought it was impossible to find a frame, I even considered not bringing it with me when I went to Hudson Camera for this follow up blog. He took the certificate, measured it and said this is an uncommon shape then paused, “we had some 6 x 8’s…where were they...”

He clicked his tongue, remembering what was in his inventory. Retail software has yet to replicate the memory and innate skills of a second generation retailer.

Dozens of racks of frames are in the store, it’s really a good place to buy a frame, great selection. And, as you probably guessed, after a little search Pete found 6 x 8frames, available in two colors. The price tag said $15.50, "make it 10," said Pete.

He had not seen the blog. I wasn't getting special treatement. Go in and buy a frame, bet he will do the same for you. It’s called neighborhood and it’s places like this and people like him that can improve just about any day for the people who call here home.

He used a photo cutter to trim the certificate by a fraction of a centimeter, perfecting the fit into the frame. It looks swell.

I also needed a new disk for the disk camera, so I bought one there, the place where I used to get 400 speed slide film back in the day. It was a couple and I mean a couple of bucks more than the sale at Target, but the feeling of supporting a local business, maybe that’s not priceless, but it’s worth a couple of extra bucks. The pictures here are saved on a Hudson County memory disk or stick or whatever the damn thing is called.

"How’s Business?" I asked He did not smile as much.

“Mediocre. The business has changed, the economy is not very good.”

Then his smile returned: “But we’re still here!”

I shook his hand. That Hudson County Blog, which got picked by the Jersey City Independent and received comments, got a lot of attention, a little more than usual. If I misled anyone, or read into a situation more than I should of, I sincerely offer my heartfelt apologies. But on the other hand, Pete’s Back, Hudson County lives! Check out the website here: http://www.hudsoncamera.com/

Me and my hard to find 6 x 8 frame, only available in Hudson Camera. If you saw Kevin Smith’s Dogma (a great film), you might get the joke I’m making.