⁴ᴷ⁶⁰ Walking Newark, NJ: The Ironbound neighborhood tour via Ferry Street

December 2, 2023 - 1:00 PM
61°F / 16°C

Walking tour in Newark, New Jersey of the The Ironbound neighborhood, an ethnic enclave of Portuguese, Brazilian, and Ecuadorian residents. This route follows Ferry Street, walking east from Penn Station to Mott Street. Filmed with GoPro Hero 12.

Highlights:
00:00 - Newark Penn Station
00:07 - Peter Francisco Park
00:37 - Immigrants Memorial Monument
01:07 - Second Reformed Dutch Church (Igreja Assembleia de deus)
01:40 - Fornos of Spain Spanish restaurant
04:14 - Ferry Street Barbecue Portuguese restaurant
12:10 - St. Stephan's Church (featured in the 2005 movie "The War of the Worlds"
17:50 - Lucky Plaza

From Wikipedia:
"The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering about 4 square miles (10 km2). Historically, the area was called "Dutch Neck," "Down Neck," or simply "the Neck," for its location by a bend of the Passaic River. Part of Newark's East Ward, the Ironbound is directly east of Newark Penn Station and Downtown Newark, and south and west of the river. The neighborhood is connected by the Jackson Street Bridge over the river to Harrison and Kearny.

Ferry Street is the main commercial strip in the are. In 2017, the New York Times described the neighborhood as:

Four square miles populated in large part by Portuguese, Spanish and Latin American immigrants and their descendants, the Ironbound has the intimacy and hustle of a European market town. “We walk to the bakery, the fishmonger, the wine store,” said [the director of the Newark Museum of Art]. (He also walks to work.) “It really is an extraordinarily agreeable lifestyle.”

Today, the Ironbound is known for being a Portuguese neighborhood. TAP Air Portugal has its corporate office in the neighborhood. Ironbound Volunteer Ambulance Squad has been serving the community since 1952. Ironbound also has its own newspaper. Many Portuguese still live in the Ironbound, but many are moving out to other neighborhoods in New Jersey, Including South River, Livingston, Clark, Westfield, Watchung, Old Bridge, etc.

A small sitting park east of Penn Station is named in honor of Peter Francisco, a Portuguese-born patriot of the American War of Independence. An obelisk in Francisco's memory was raised in the park by the Portuguese community in 1976. Peter Francisco Park also features a memorial to Portuguese-American war veterans dedicated in 2018 as well as the Ironbound Immigrants Memorial, dedicated in 2019."