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Retro Sandy-Ravaged Donovan’s ‘DO’

People walk the sea wall by Donovan's Reef in Sea Bright after Sandy, checking out what's left of the iconic spot. Photo/Elaine Van Develde
People walk the sea wall by Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright after Sandy, checking out what’s left of the iconic spot.
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

It was 10 years ago that the havoc wreaked by Superstorm Sandy left monumental wreckage in its wake in Sea Bright.

Once the ghost-town kind of calm settled in after the storm, people flocked from all over to witness the devastating damage done first hand.

One iconic spot that Sandy decimated, hoisting up its buildings and fiercely slamming them down onto twisted tar, was Sea Bright’s Donovan’s Reef.

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Retro RFH Hippies’ Hunt Hill Chill

It’s that time the year again when thoughts of old-time Hunt times come flooding back for many Rumson-Fair Haven area folks. There still may be a Hunt, but not this one. So, we are offering a glimpse back to the days of the Haskell Hunt from a non-tailgating vantage point with a reprise of the following Retro Pic(s) of the Day piece originally posted on Oct. 20, 2017 … 

We went on the hunt for more Hunt photos and stumbled onto a couple of glimpses at the happening scene up on hip, hip Hippie Hill.

It was probably the late 1970s. These peacefully assembled cool long hairs and renegades likely snuck into the Haskell Hunt through the fence and onto that infamous hill on ol Amory Haskell’s elegant estate.

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Retro Fair Haven Tigers Cheer!

Fair Haven Tigers cheerleaders circa 1973 or '74 Photo/courtesy of Karen Memmot Hooten
Fair Haven Tigers cheerleaders circa 1973 or ’74
Photo/courtesy of Karen Memmot Hooten

A reprise of a cheery Retro Pic of the Day, originally posted in September of 2016, in honor of the spirit of football for the pint-and-a-half sized of the Rumson-Fair Haven area … 

Can we have a retro cheer for the football season of a pandemic kind ahead?

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Old News: A Royal Red Bank Procession

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Red Bank, arriving at the train station, in 1939
Photo/courtesy of Karen Allas

It was a parade fit for royalty — the king and queen of England kind of royalty, to be exact.

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II and all the honor and ceremony that has come with it, retro minds go back to a royal day in Red Bank when the queen, who just recently died at 96, having ruled for 70 years, was only 13. Her father, George VI, was king. Her mother, the first Elizabeth, was queen. And while visiting the United States and Canada, the royal couple made a stop in Red Bank.

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Retro 80s RFH Class Stand

Sometimes half a high school class just has to take a stand … or a seat … in its football stadium.

In this case, the class, or half of it, was the RFH Class of ’82. And somehow the class ended up all together at the high school’s Borden Stadium as posers rather than sports spectators.

That’s OK. It didn’t matter why they were there or how they ended up in such a collective group pose. What mattered more was that the photo ended up being a classic testament to RFH times decades ago.

First of all, let’s check out the fashion. This was a preppy picture perfect snapshot of those back-in-the-day popular wide-striped rugby shirts, plaid blazers, button down Oxford shirts and crew neck sweaters. The smiles and clowny antics? Oh, that was all RFH spirit and pure joy over taking that stand or seat in their cozy RFH class niche.

Soon there will be games to watch from that stadium for yet another football season. The spectators? They’re forever cheering from the same place for the same place — home turf.

Now, exactly what is this half of a class up to? Can you find the best group photo bomber? There are a couple of doozies in there. We know our favorite. Yours? Your favorite preppy outfit of. the era? Do the stripes get it? How about those sweaters and button downs? Hmmmmm …

There are an awful lot of stripes on these RFH stars! Ponder the take-a-Borden-stand moment of 40 years ago.

Retro 60s Back to School: Fair Haven Kindergarten Posers

Fair Haven kindergarten a.m. class of 1965

School’s back in session and it’s just about time for students and teachers to rise, shine and show off a little at Back to School Night.

And kindergarten is the first and best of what was formerly called Open House for kids and parents. First of all, the parents don’t need to tear up and down stairs and speed through hallways to make it to the next class when that bell rings. A little 5K training should be a prerequisite for middle- and high school Open House nights.

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Retro Back-to-School Neighborhood Line-Up

First day of kindergarten in Fair Haven 1965
Photo/Sally Van Develde

A back-to-school reprise dedicated to everyone’s first friend on that first day of school as a kindergartener. My first friend and neighbor in Fair Haven was Pam Young (second from right), who passed away in July of 2020 … Everyone can relate. Go back with us. Remember your first day of school and that first friend …

Knock-kneed, nervous and all dressed up with somewhere to go, this gaggle Fair Haven neighborhood girls of 1965 lined up so their moms could get that classic first-day-of-kindergarten shot. And there wasn’t a smile among them.

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