Pole-Dancing Portals
Plus, the diner drought—solved, the Hudson music mystery, and mucho more!
Hello and welcome to the—
🎂🎈SURPRISE! Happy 2nd birthday Weehawken Gazette! 🎉🥳
Wow. A surprise party? For us? Awww.
📈 Our Stats & Big News
Yeah, we started in April 2024. Now we are 2!
In July 2025, we moved to our own domain and starting accepting pledges.
We said the pledges were so we could start hiring writers, among other things.
Well thanks to the 33 incredibly good-looking, smart people who have pledged some $ to help support this free newsletter, we have hired our first freelancer to produce original articles. He is a seasoned local reporter working on two local pieces that take research and journo chops. The stories are coming soon, and are being funded by the 33 kind people who have pledged a small amount.
But those 33 people? They represent less than 1% of all monthly readers.
Show me the stats!
Our average subscriber open rate is 69.5% and an average of 25% of email openers click a link. This is considered excellent, yay!
Moving to our own domain has power… in our first year, less than 3% of traffic was organic. Today, more than 13% of our traffic is coming from organic search. People are searching for NJ businesses and buzz-worthy topics that are under-represented or exist nowhere else. (Yes, most of that is Google, but apparently some people still use Yahoo and DuckDuckGo. Who knew?)
And today, more than 30% of overall traffic is coming from social media, even though we try to keep our social media boring.
Conclusion: our core subscribers like to read, and now our reach goes way beyond subscribers.
Wanna help keep a local resource going? One with no AI slop or pay-for-play? Below is the button to subscribe for free or upgrade, and thank you so much to all free and paying subscribers.
🔊 Mystery Manhattan Music Causes NJ Mayhem
In February we noticed many people in Edgewater, Fort Lee and Cliffside Park posting on Facebook about late night/early morning music that was keeping them up at night. From the waterfront to the cliffs, they said it was waking their families and disturbing their pets, and that it seemed like it was right outside their window. But no, it was coming from across the Hudson. In March, people suffering the seismic sound waves shared videos and floated theories.
During this time one restaurant in Harlem, Skinny’s Cantina, was pegged as the culprit. The NY Post said even the local police pointed a finger of blame across the river at Skinny’s. An angry online mob pounced and the restaurant was hit with a wave of nasty reviews from those who were sleepless in NJ. But the thing is, it turned out Skinny’s was not even open. Seems those reviews have since been deleted.
With police in NJ and NYC being contacted hundreds of times, and Skinny’s being cleared, the theories have shifted to it being a souped-up car, a chuchero, that can have 20 or 30 speakers.
So yes, the NY Post wrote about it on March 20, but they didn’t solve the case. It’s still happening, as evidenced by this Facebook post on April 2 at 10:04PM:
“Hello everyone...Does everyone hear the music starting again from across the river? I am posting early so we can start the complaints and possibly not be up til 5:00 am again.”
Water refraction… temperature… science?
Not mentioned in the NY Post is how this music manages to be so clear from so far away that NJ people think it’s right outside their door. We say it’s something to do with how sound carries on water and shoots over to us even more when the temperatures are right, kind of like how you can hear people’s conversations across a lake at night. And if you care to geek out on this, see: Refraction of Sound Waves and if you have any solid info about who or what is causing this, be in touch!
Source cited: NY Post Mystery NYC Noise Torments NJ
Where Your Fondest Dishes Come True
Recently, at the Weehawken Library book club, I learned the term “portal fantasy.” On Wikipedia it’s described a plot device “in which characters enter a self-contained fantasy world through a portal, typically within a quest-based narrative that focuses on exploring and navigating that world.”
Thing is, I love to explore, and much like Alice falling through the rabbit hole to Wonderland, I found a wondrous hidden realm in Union City, and with the right instructions, you can go too, because it’s real and it’s called Jono Pandolfi Designs, a high-end ceramics business located in the old Yardley soap building that supplies to top restaurants around the world, as you can clearly see in their 2026 restaurant guide. And Jono’s plates got some extra hot sauce when they were featured on the hit show The Bear.
‘Wait, Isn’t the Yardley Building Condemned?’
When I told friends about the hive of full-time artisans hand-crafting more than 1,000 pieces a day in a 20,000 sq. ft. space, people looked at me like I was crazy. It’s OK, I get that a lot.
But it’s true that although Jono has been in business for 20 years, and in this NJ location for 15 years, you wouldn’t know it was there unless… you know. The only sign you might see at a glance on the Yardley building is one for Lovely Lioness Pole Dance & Aerial Fitness. Which, actually, is also new to us.
More Pictures, Less Blather
Anyway, I went to their studio for the first time in March with my daughter — and I lucked out. A former co-worker of mine was working there and she kindly gave us a tour. Check it out, and dig that articulated wall showing off their custom glazes:
Jono’s Seconds Sale Is 🔥 & You Should Go
So should you wanna get your hungry hands on the goods, on the first Friday of every month Jono holds an open studio sale with steep discounts on stuff that is either slightly imperfect, or overstock from retail or restaurants, stamped with a custom name or logo. It’s a deal! It’s quirky! And wow is it a scene.
They also had pop-up food vendors at the sale, the most recent one had a table of delights from Choc O Pain, and one from Hank Schwartz’s Delicatessen. Getting to grab a deal on hand-crated ceramics and an egg cream? To me, that’s heaven.
The next studio sale is May 1st and their annual warehouse sale (where they have more inventory and discounts for larger purchases) will be June 5th & 6th. Hours for both will be 10a-5p.
In short, I’m sorry for all the years I didn’t know this existed, but I encourage you to fall down this rabbit hole and hit clay dirt.
Follow on Instagram here: instagram.com/jonopandolfi
Shiny UC Spot Solves Diner Drought
Classic New Jersey diners are disappearing at an alarming clip, with approximately 150 closing in the past decade. In August 2025, the Collingswood diner closed after 50 years, only to become a weed dispensary. And locally, ever since the Malibu closed, Hoboken has mourned the loss of its last diner.
To help stem this depressing trend, there’s a bi-partisan bill in the New Jersey senate called the “Saving Our Diners and Protecting Our Past Act,” (a/k/a SODA POP) that aims to give tax relief to historic diners and restaurants throughout the state. Best we can tell, it’s moving along, but not a done deal yet.
But we’re here to point out a diner just a hop and a skip away that people don’t seem to know about. Previously known as the Four Star Diner, it reopened on Black Friday 2025 as Silver Stars Restaurant & Diner. First established in 1951, it retains it’s diner-y charms.
A few readers wrote telling us to try it, and we stopped in. Key highlights include spacious booths, lots of windows, typically massive diner menu, and free parking.
Linger over your coffee and talk for ages in front of your club sandwich. They have room, and the waitress doesn’t care if you sit there forever. Sure, it’s not 24-hours, and honestly we didn’t try enough of the food to pass judgement, but it’s legit. It’s going to sling you a stack of pancakes or a pizza burger — and all the diner vibes. What more could you want?
Silver Stars Restaurant & Diner
43 32nd St, Union City, NJ 07087
Hours: Sun — Wed 7a-8p; Thurs — Sat 7a-11p
Related: Patch, Classic New Jersey Diner To Be Replaced By Medical Practice
New Restaurant Alert
Seen up top and above, Moreno’s opened on Park Avenue in Union City on March 20. Situated right across from the Weehawken Water Tower, it’s their second location, the other being on Summit avenue. We ran into some nice neighbors about to go in and begged them for a quote because, well, why the heck not? They were kind enough to report back after and said:
“Great service, great ambiance, and huge portions! Delicious food with many options to choose from. We had the ceviche and it was some of the best we have had!”
Sounds fab, no? Anyway thanks to our nice neighbors, and you can follow Moreno on social here: instagram.com/morenorestaurant/
In Brief
Weehawken PBA is having a benefit April 24th at 7P and it’s in Union City at Carro Cafe. Here’s the info:
Join us for a night of celebration, community, and appreciation at the Weehawken PBA Awards Dinner!
This event is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! All residents, friends and supporters are welcome. This is not just for law enforcement families, this is for our entire community.
Come out and enjoy a great night as we honor the dedication and service of our officers, and recognize the strong partnership we share with Mayor Richard Turner and the rest of the Township council. It is a relationship that continues to make Weehawken a great place to live and work.
Tickets are $100 each and that gets you buffet and open bar. Purchase tickets here.
🗳️ Union City, Weehawken & Bayonne are having Municipal elections on May 12. The last day to register to vote for these is April 21st. April 21 is also school elections for West New York, Weehawken & North Bergen.
More info available on elections and deadlines is on this PDF from the Hudson County Clerk.
And We’ll All Float On, Okay
We had a new unpaid copyeditor this week who would like to remain anonymous. No doubt Hugo will be back when we can guilt him/give him more than 10 minutes notice.
Feel free to leave a comment here or email us tips: susie@bignoyes.com
Follow on Instagram here: instagram.com/weehawkengazette/
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Tah for now, nice nabes!
Susie
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