By: Merle Citron
Between Farley’s Bookstore in New Hope and Phoenix Books here in the ‘ville, we have a book lover’s heaven.
When you enter Phoenix Books on Union Street, used books crammed onto packed shelves greet the eye as does the smiling face of the manager, Andy Liddie. Andy lives in Upper Black Eddy and commutes to town daily. He is always helpful and doesn’t mind if you spend lots of time roaming around the store looking through the shelves of books, CDs and records.
Phoenix Books, which opened in December of 1987, is owned by Joan and Michael Ekizian and Barry and Janet Novick.
Andy told me, "I like my job, and I enjoy meeting the interesting people who come in here." He then went on to explain how they recently lost half of the store through the process of the domino effect.
"The art bookcase broke, and all of those very large books fell onto the cookbook bookcase, which, in turn, fell onto the history and emergency reparations bookcase, and on and on. Thanks to Finkle’s we got the wood and repaired all the bookcases. Of course, in the middle of it all, Lambertville lost its electric power."
We laughed and agreed that Lambertville is a happening place.
Speaking of happening, that’s exactly what occurred at the Gratz Gallery in New Hope last weekend at the opening of Joe Crilley’s art show.
The art was terrific and so was the food. The trays of shrimp were a nice touch and so were the incredible brownies.
The walls were filled with Joe Crilley’s latest art. The crowd contained local luminaries including Joe’s wife, Suzanne Crilley, George Michael, Florence and Jack Rosen, John and Robin Larsen, Tom Galbraith and Cindy Wuthrich, Bruce and Marie Blackburn, Larry Keller and Dee and Robert Rosenwald.
"You’re not a true Lambertvillian, if you haven’t appeared in Chit-Chat," David Ely yelled to me from across Union Street.
"Where have you been?" I asked him, since I haven’t seen David for quite a while. "Working," he smiled.
David was born and raised in Lambertville and, four years ago, he married Valerie Mitchell. They live on Ferry Street. Dave works in sales for specialty steels, and Valerie works in marketing for Schering-Plough.
"They’re the folks who make Dr. Scholls," Dave explained.
He also explained his wife’s job in greater detail, "She’s in charge of corns, calluses and bunions."
Andy and Lisa Giannelli live on York Street.
Their three sons, Aiden, Christian and Kieran have grown up here and attended Lambertville public schools.
Through the years, you’ve seen Lisa’s smiling face around town in a variety of local jobs.
Until Andy opened his beautiful new store, Coda, at the Lambertville House, he worked in the field of design and wasn’t around town that often because he traveled a lot. Andy is a creative man whose talents not only include the field of design, but he’s also a good artist who has created some terrific Shad Festival posters.
Coda is a home design store to which Andy has brought his personal sense of style, which, of course, is what makes Coda so aesthetically attractive.
Some New Hope guys will do anything for a good cause, particularly Richard Hirschfield, president of the Borough Council and Larry Keller, the mayor.
Seeking to raise money to benefit the New Hope Information Center and the New Hope Chamber of Commerce, these "straight" guys, who have wives that watch their every move, will soon go into training with a smashingly gay counterpart, who will help to transform these men and 11 others for one evening of fun. They’re learning how to walk the walk, talk the talk and do a stage routine all in the name of good fun, good cheer and good causes.
It’s a happening thing April 1 at the Eagle Fire Hall from six o’clock to whenever. By the way, according to a trusted source, the most daunting problem facing the guys at this time is finding heels that fit a size 13 foot. Lotsa luck, fellas.
Wally and Carolyn Volpe Urbanovage were married here in town a couple of years ago and have lived on North Union Street for almost two years.
They chose to live in Lambertville because at the time it was a central commuting point for both of them. Now, Wally, who is involved with computers, works out of their home. Carolyn, who is the manager of the Eileen Fisher store in the Short Hills Mall, makes that commute every day. She doesn’t seem to mind though.
"I’m glad I live here. It’s a great place to live especially because I love to walk, and I can do that here," Carolyn said. "Oh, by the way, I can’t believe that I changed my name from Volpe to Urbanovage. Can you believe that?"
Welcome to town.
Did you know that our own Charles Tiffany of New Hope arranged all the lighting for one of Rep. Rush Holt’s campaign fund-raising events?
I saw a photo taken at that fund-raiser with Charles standing next to former President Clinton. Mr. Tiffany does get around.
Another New Hope resident who gets around is Emilio Campagni, who has lived here for 15 years.
During that time he spent nine of those years as the manager of the New Hope Cheese Shop.
"I’m still in cheese but I’ve branched out. Now I’m a ‘specialty cheese buyer," he explained.
Although Emilio was born and raised in Cuba, the New Hope-Lambertville area is very much home to him. He has been in America for more than 30 years, and Emilio still has vivid memories of what life was like for him as a 12-year-old boy, who was forced to work in barbed wire compounds in the Cuban coffee fields.
"I hated it," he told me. "I wanted very much to leave Cuba."
In spite of his experiences, Emilio feels the government made the right decision when they sent Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba with his father.
"I was against keeping him here," Emilio stated. "He belonged first and foremost with his father."
Carla Mau has lived in town for almost two years.
She arrived in Lambertville when she worked part-time on the weekends waiting tables at the Yellow Brick Toad.
At first, Carla rented an apartment on Buttonwood Street, but, as she explained, "I wanted to really be here, so then I bought a house on North Union Street. It’s great to be in a town where everybody knows everybody, and you even know your neighbors."
Carla is a systems engineer for a computer startup company. She’s also very gutsy. Never having acting in her life, she took Gerry Martin’s improvisational acting class and loved it.
"I was nervous at first but it was such fun." That’s because Carla is such fun.
And there you have it folks, a little chit and a little chat.
