The Projects of East Orange

Carmack: 8th Dec 2005 - 19:50 GMT

What a depressing place to live. Is it scary there?

Peter: 8th Dec 2005 - 19:53 GMT

scary? no... i was just walking through there briefly, and didnt really pass many people. it was so cold... and so quiet. more depressing than scary, for sure.

thuglife: 8th Dec 2005 - 23:53 GMT

i live right next to EO, shit is hard as hell there. trust me. theres always shootings and shit like that. gangs be whilen there. no joke....dont sleep on jersey

jack: 9th Dec 2005 - 01:06 GMT

i love newark in, in, in, i hate newark in newark.

Peter: 9th Dec 2005 - 04:37 GMT

"dont sleep on jersey". how profound. i may live in brooklyn, but some days i spend more hours in EO than i do in BK.

jamie: 9th Dec 2005 - 10:28 GMT

looks much like a british council estate or housing association property, which i suppose is the same thing really.

Nhova: 17th Mar 2006 - 00:14 GMT

Depending on what side of East Orange you live on will it look like this!!!!!! I live on North Maple Ave towards Bloomfield and it is far from what others have described. I live on a quiet street and there is no trash on the floor!!! So please state what part of East Orange you are talking about.

juni: 25th Mar 2006 - 02:48 GMT

man i just move to eo and i didt know it was going to be this hard with all the gangs

anon (nytgate05.nytimes.com): 27th Mar 2006 - 17:32 GMT

I been back and forth between E O and Newark in the early 80's. No matter if you live on N. Maple or Renshaw...if you're from Nutley or some shit like that...If they hear you're from EO...It all gets classified as the slums anyway. That's like saying "I live on Mt Prospect Ave, in N. Newark" ....now it's nice...old mansions,well kept lawns,all that..but to outside folks..It's still what? The slums.I moved to Scotch Plains after 32 years(I'm 33)I paid my dues, got robbed, shot at,did my thing thing on Bergen and Lehigh,seen my brother get killed in Irvington, so I said peace out to the bullshit. As far as the gangs..these cowards ain't no real gangs...Gangs get money...these niggaz is running around shootin actin stupid bring heat from 5-0 making blocks hot so cats can't eat. Talking Bout Red or Blue...Get the fuck outta here.Niggaz wouldn't last a weekend in Chicago or Watts in California....

I still rep Newark&Illtown to the fullest...Naughty boys is my fam and all that..Peace to Tame-One for for still putting it down for the Bricks....Go get that Spazmatic album.

Saint IDES: 27th Mar 2006 - 17:33 GMT

OH yeah that's me above...
King Saint Ides

N I C crew

Newark Illtown Connect

Saint Ides: 27th Mar 2006 - 17:38 GMT

Same one, fam...Yo Check out ChekDSM's site about Newark.

Succi: 4th Jul 2006 - 21:46 GMT

There aren't any projects in East Orange. There are some ratty looking places but no projects. East Orange isn't the best place to live anymore, but it is not a horrible place to live. There are a lot of little idiots that, for some reason, want their 'hood' to have this horrible reputation...beleive me, EO is not there yet and it has a loooooong way to go before it gets as bad as some will try and make you believe.

Kool Rah: 21st Apr 2007 - 23:57 GMT

I was born in East Orange in 1974. Grew up in Doddtown E.O. and its was a cool spot to be in. I moved down south to the Atl when I was about 18. Now things are different in E.O. Cool place to visit because I still have fam up there. I still love East Orange but I would never want to move back there.

Vincenzo: 2nd May 2007 - 21:50 GMT

I grew up in EO and remember when it was still a decent place to live. Of course that was during the declining years and when it was really starting to fall apart. I went back to see it in 2001 and it looked the same:run down, trash and depression everywhere. Actually the phenomenon of urban decay was pretty widespread and started in the 1950's. It's a shame to watch this cities that were once so beautiful so into such a state due to human greed and stupidity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_decay

AAK: 6th Jun 2007 - 23:30 GMT

Lived there for 7 years since i was 7. i lived among the e.o /newark city boundaries and its hard out there. now im in East stroudsburg PA cuz recently i moved and turned 15 and a sophmore in high school.i rep brick city and im proud cuz most dudes dont come outta there doing good.

winter: 16th Jun 2007 - 09:18 GMT

I grew up in Essex County, and E.O. was one of my stomping grounds back and forth for 24 years. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's E.O was the spot you had Springdale Ave & Grove,Ampere, 4th Ave,UTB,Park Ave,Doddtown,and Willaim st. It was all good.We had our blocks,then the gangs started appearing and more young people started dying.Peoople got greedy, and the police got speedy.Its pretty calm now and the new generation, there doing there thang, but you still got the slackers.But to visit you gotta have family there.

Djrobluv: 7th Aug 2007 - 15:15 GMT

I lived in EO for 15 years 1980-1995 South Harrison St & Webster Pl. Boarder of Orange and E. Orange. When we first moved to EO our block was quiet not too much going on even though just down the block was the Parrow St Projects and Mechanic St Projects in Orange. The next street over from Webster Pl was Berwyn St. Now that street was grimmy. If anything crazy happened it was there or in the projects down the street. I moved out in 1995 and my block was going down the drain fast. Drug dealers, crackheads and prostitutes was moving in. I now live in South Jersey where things are much quieter and not too many knuckleheads. I went back to visit my old block and did not recognize any of the old houses because they are in such poor conditions. Drug dealers hanging out on the corners. Pit bulls running lose. I tell you the truth and this is my opinion. When they started tearing down the projects in Newark Like West Kiney st. An building up all those low income Houses, where do you think most of the families went. They migrated to EO and took over. Orange is starting to have the same problem EO is having. West Orange and South Orange just raises the rents and house prices out of their range so they don't move in. I feel as though every 5 years there is a migration and the trouble makers will migrate along with them.

anon (cpe-72-229-159-89.nyc.res.rr.com): 13th Aug 2007 - 08:50 GMT

how about the Future. should I invest in a condo in east Orange? Maybe 20 years from now it will as nice as other Oranges?

jeff.s: 7th Nov 2007 - 23:03 GMT

Ive travelled to the oranges, I was wondering if the projects you referred to Parrow or Mechanic street, are they hi-rise? How many buildings?
Thanks

young jersey: 9th Nov 2007 - 21:30 GMT

Whats up my jersey people. I lived in east orange all my life, and its fucked up but to most of us its home.I,m proud to be from jersey, but the gang shit needs to stop. jersey stand up

DJ.ENEMY OF (N.T.S.): 2nd Dec 2007 - 05:00 GMT

E.O. IZ DA SPOT BUT SHOOTING EVERY NITE BE HAPPING HERE LIKE CRAZY BUT WE HAVE DA SEECOND HIGHEST CRIME RATE IN DA U.S. 2 DAY BUT IT'S HOME 2 ME

neo: 21st Dec 2007 - 00:39 GMT

i know EO, newark, irvington, etc. i have no happy memories of those run down dumps. i lived off freylinghuysen on fenwick before moving back to sussex county. I have done my time at green st, caldwell (the well) high bail on floor 10-11 at 60 nelson pl. newark ain't no joke and neither is essex county. to the one's who still live there i got nothin but respect. and thats because it takes balls to be able to go out on those streets every day and wonder if some old dumb shit is gonna happen. peace!

mchll_vallance@yahoo.com: 12th Jan 2008 - 11:23 GMT

which project was it that yaki kadafi got murdered by the gun in. i know it was 325 mechanic street 3rd floor, east orange, it was a housing project but does anyone have a photo? thanks. yaki kadafi was tupac shakurs cousin and died 1996, 2 months after tupacs murder.

mattho: 6th Feb 2008 - 05:45 GMT

yeah i live in west orange east orange is pretty ruff the side by bloomfield is not that bad but i would not go there at night or in the parks at night park ave is pretty mad same thing with main street/ malcom x kadafi shoot him self by mistake

anon (itsc083.itsnpt.com): 3rd Jun 2008 - 17:37 GMT

East Orange is only an address. It's the people who are the products of young parents who have little education and poor parenting skills that have made the places in East Orange unsafe. I have lived here for the past 25 years and I know my God and go to my job and mind my own business and I feel safe. If a young punk wants to hit me up or shoot me to get in good with a gang or get money to buy illegal sunstances, then it is his fault and his upbringing. Pride, and self esteem is missing in too many of the youth in East Orange. They need to be able to reason with a person instead of always ready to take a life that is better than theirs. There are hardly any community centers or organised athletic or sporting activities for young children in East Orange. The good thing happening is that Main Street is being developed so amybe the rifraf from Newark and the projects will get priced out of Easet Orange and it will be safe again.

River: 25th Jun 2008 - 21:30 GMT

My mother and grandmother grew up in the projects of Newark. My grandmother was telling me that we she and my mom first moved in when they were first built it was a nice place to live. But like in every city including Richmond VA where im from if you group alot of poor people together eventually shits bound to hit the fan. Look up Gilpin Court, Mosby Court ect.

jerseyboy: 9th Jul 2008 - 18:17 GMT

i live in newark jersey were i was born and i have ben to east orange and newark is ten times bader

nshd: 1st Oct 2008 - 20:38 GMT

the projects in orange are high rise, life a few min from them. there pretty bad. not all of orange is a "war zone" but its pretty ruff. doesnt mean the people from there arnt good people.

deeds: 12th Oct 2008 - 09:04 GMT

Kool Rah...I came up in Doddtown too. lived on girard ave. lived in that apt from 1970-1983...moved to WO then for high school. i loved living in doddtown...best memories from then. spent every day of my life in Watsessing park. Central ave area always seemed way more intense than doddtown...

hobson: 19th Oct 2008 - 22:40 GMT

yeah in parts of essex county life is like that.. newark is getting calmer, and the smaller cities like e.o., and orange, and especially irvington are getting worse and worse. just clowns with no common sense and no reason to give a shit, and gangs. and i see the comment about gangs getting money and there aren't any real gangs in e.o. and newark.. thats false too.. there are some serious gangs in nj. there are just alot of young kids that think it's cool to claim a color and don't know shit. anyways.. peace

homeowner in eo: 31st Oct 2008 - 14:24 GMT

East Orange is not soo bad and is getting so much better i give it a few more years and I will hold my head all the way up to the city!!!

THINK: 15th Mar 2009 - 05:15 GMT

I see. My family moved to East Orange (North Oraton Parkway right off Springdale Avenue) in 1969. It was a lovely place to live and I have fond memories. I did not know, as a 9 year-old black child, that the reason my mother was buying a home that once belonged to a Jewish doctor was because they were fleeing the black presence. By the time I graduate from Clifford J. Scott High School in 1975, the majority of the students were black--which is to say folks of color.

When I came back to the City in 1994 to attend a funeral, I was just amazed at the empty buildings and the devastation. I think the area near the Bloomfield border is still nice; however, I cried when I read about the Mayfair Apartment building in The New York Times and the disrepair that it was in. I remember this apartment building when I was a child.It was a luxury apartment building. I think that black folks really need to sit back and take a hard look at what has happened to us as a people. What people do you know who move into a nice neighborhood (a suburb) and reduce it to rubble--that is back to the very slums they were escaping in the first place in one generation--or 30 years?

homeowner: 7th May 2009 - 15:12 GMT

When the police harass folks driving paying their way with a legitimate job trying to make a better life for their family. the police need to harrass thugs walking the streets in large numbers more than two walking; loitering in front of vacant buildings until the wee hours in the morning; apparently the police and my fellow neighbors - and Homeowners don't consider it a nuisance or disturbing the peace when these thugs loiter, play loud music with the speakers hanging in the window* who in their right mind puts a speaker in the window and blasts it to the highest decible playing disgusting rap * its really obivious these folks had no home training.
We need to take our
neighborhoods back.

also what's up with the window up and the screen up to let all the bugs in. how ignorant! do these thugs really think its going to get any cooler-idiots!
You can't park on the streets after 2am apparently the mayor is in na na land to think it produces more crime. NOT it gives investors an opportunity to get decent tenants with cars and real jobs not relying solely on public transit.

Get rid of Section 8&TRA and Rent Control. end of problem -
look at jersey city, hoboken 30 years ago these cities were dumps!

SkyeBlue919: 17th Jul 2009 - 15:00 GMT

i grew up in orange on mechanic st. 325 apt 609...i loved orange..we had so much fun playing in the stairwells and on the roof..i know it sounds crazy because there were no guard rails or fences around to keep you from fallin off the roof..and the elevators were so raggedy..i can remember when i was little some kid fell in the elevator shaft..that how much they really cared about black people in that area..i grew up there in the late 60's early 70's born in 1967 and i was raised in orange all through the 70's..also lived on wallace st..orange was so much better than..hate to see it go down like that..

anon (c-68-83-128-198.hsd1.nj.comcast.net): 8th Aug 2009 - 16:02 GMT

All of yall shut ya scary asses up damn.why yall always so damn scared of "the hood"?

Lavette1: 9th Aug 2009 - 17:13 GMT

I rather live in E.O, Than Nwk. I lived in newark all my life. Until I was carjacked at gunpoint. The boy wasn't even 18 yrs old. I felt so violated. I could not believe this was happen in my hood. The hood I was proud of, The hood everyone know me in: Then I realize this is also the hood that is going to take my life. I must say god was on my side. He had mercy on me! Me stareing at that young boy face didn't mean nothing. He didn't think. What am I doing this could be my mother, sister, I just seen the death in his eyes. At that moment it wasn't about who I was, Or who I know. Or how well know I was on the street. This was a life or death situation. He was tryna take my life to belong to sumthin. To make him feel whole. I seen my life didn't mean nothn to him. He just wanted to belong to the bloods, and he will do anything in his power to be just that. The sad part is: He wanted my car because it was the color of his gang(red). I told him five times he can take the car. He didn't want the car. He wanted my life. When the gun jammed twice. He got frustrated and jumped in my car and pulled off. I was scared to death, so I started running to my friend house who lived right around the corner. I know the true meaning of being scared shit less. I called the police. Then my landlord called me. She wanted to know: what was going on upstaires. I told her I wasn't there. She explain somebody is in ur apartment. I told her I just been carjacked, and they have my house keys. The young boy realize I seen his face. He wanted to finish the job. I stayed away from home until they court them. They robbed 17 woman in one day. What happen to woman being valued? When they finally court them. Nwk finest brought the boy right in front of me, and ask me is that him. I answered Yes. It was no id room, or him behide the glass so he wouldn't see me. I felt violated again! So to say that! Newark is the worse. Everyday it get worse. These gangs have no respect for human life. Our kids is lost! Parent aren't parents anymore. There so busy tryna find a man, and the father are locked up, Dead, Or just missing out of the house whole. Our kids need help. The children thats about something is getting sucked up in the raff. There put in a situation to have to survive in this mess. The gangs are making them be a gang memeber. These young boys, and girls have no respect for know one. U can tell just by there appearance. It start at home. It seem like we gave up on our youth!!! We are suppose to teach by example. The question is: Where is the example? I see old men with there pants hanging off there butts, cheering these young boy, girls on in what ever act there in. What happen to grabbing them up by there collar, telling them to sit there butts down, and letting them know whats right, and wrong. We as elders just turn our cheek, and get the mind that it aint mine. God is leaveing the written on the wall. If u don't take care of it. He will. Sometimes his will is death. Then we crying because someone has taken our baby to the streets. It come back to u. What are u doing? We not teaching them what our ancestor taught us. U can talk about EO. One thing I could say the police here isn't tolerating the BS here. When u talk. Don't talk about one area, Talk about the area in a whole. Every area in NWK is bad. It's not one good part. Lost but never forgotten!!!!! God Bless!!!

Whyte_dymondz: 17th Nov 2009 - 00:10 GMT

Thats not true, East orange is not as horrific as people say it is;; I live in east orange and if you think thats bad then dont go to irvngton nor newark