This old movie palace was a wondrous place to catch the films of the day, including A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, The Great Race, or the current James Bond entry. The jewel of the avenue was the magnificent Capitol Theatre, built during the height of 1920s prosperity, but by then in steep decline (and soon converted into a dreary clothing factory). This busy thoroughfare boasted family-owned luncheonettes, dry goods and candy stores, a large newsstand, and a Ben Franklin “five and dime” variety store, which is still in business. During his childhood, Piersanti became fascinated by homegrown South River characters on society’s fringe, including liquid-lunch legend “Steady Eddie,” newsstand proprietor Maurice (known as “Poon,” because of his palsied right side), first-generation hippy “Pickles,” and other local undesirables such as “Freida” and Aqualung.” While its main distinction was having more taverns per capita than any other New Jersey town, South River ’s once-thriving Main Street instilled in Piersanti a lifelong love of disregarded commercial imagery. Additional work followed, with book and CD covers, advertising assignments, radio station promotional art, and television storyboards.īORN IN NEW BRUNSWICK, this Jersey lifer grew up in South River at the tail end of the baby boom. His commercail work can be seen in the New Yorker Magazine as well on some CD packaging and book jackets.įORMERLY KNOWN for his editorial illustrations, Jersey City artist Robert Piersanti had his breakthrough gig with Entertainment Weekly, followed by regular spots for Smart Money, Musician, Guitar World, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, New York Press, and various other publications. ![]() ![]() FOR ALMOST THE LAST DECADE, Robert Piersanti has he has been painting fulll time, having shows everywhere from Manhattan to Jersey City to Miami to Milan, Italy.
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