Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/25/08.
MEETING CANCELED
Informal Gathering:
Dinner at Bambei Restaurant
James Warhola Art Exhibit
Paterson Museum
Paterson Falls
Barnes & Noble
Forum Diner
MEETING SUMMARY - UNOFFICIAL MEETING
Meeting Date: August 8, 1991.
Meeting Site: Multiple Sites in North Jersey.
Official Attendance: 11.
Meeting Program: Dining. Art Exhibit. Sight Seeing.
Notes:
The Bambei Restaurant closed long ago. So did the Barnes & Noble north superstore, Cool Scoops, and the Forum Diner. Time marches on.
I deleted the directions to the restaurant from the account below.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1991 Philip De Parto:
Despite the large turnout we had for the July meeting, it soon became obvious that there would be only a relative handful available to attend the August meeting. The meeting was therefore cancelled, and an informal get-together substituted in its place.
Past accounts of our expeditions to Mongolian Restaurants had whetted the appetites of the uninitiated to this cuisine. I had been told that there was one somewhere on Route 46, but until Sharon Archer supplied me with more concrete information, I was unable to schedule an outing there.
The Bambei Chinese & Mongo Restaurant is at 165 Route 46 West in Saddle Brook, Bergen County.
...We scheduled a 1:00 PM lunch reservation. This allowed us to dine at a cost of $ 6.99 instead of the $ 12.00 (after 4.00 PM). We lost out on the shrimp, lamb, an extra appetizer, and the salad bar, but we all agreed it was worth it.
Everyone enjoyed the meal. I've already described the experience of a Mongolian Barbecue elsewhere, so I'll let it go at that. By around 2:30, we were done. Dolores Cordier, Betty Kingsley, Joe Schaumburger and Nancy Schaumburger left for previous engagements. The rest of us were ready for part two.
Although the original plan had been to head out for a movie afterwards, past guest speaker James Warhola had dropped me a post card that he had an exhibition of paintings and watercolors at the Paterson Museum running through September 2, 1991. Since this was only a stone's throw by car from the restaurant, the remaining seven of us agreed to swing over to the show.
The Paterson Museum is at 2 Market Street (corner of Market & Spruce) in Paterson, New Jersey (201) 881 - 3874. It's around a dozen blocks from the Route 80 Main Street exit with free parking.
The Warhola exhibition consisted of about eight science fiction paintings and about a dozen or so watercolors he did of local scenes while travelling through southern Asia. The other half of the room was devoted to another, non-sf artist.
The Paterson Museum is a converted silk mill remodeled from the days when Paterson was one of the major industrial centers in the country. There was lots of old, but well-preserved, machinery from this time on display, as well as photographs and explanations about how these machines were used.
Other major features of the Museum included a mineral collection, a display of cartoons by an artist, two of the first submarines ever constructed, a collection of children's toys from the '50s, and some artifacts of the Leni Lanapi Indians. The Museum is small and can easily be covered in an hour or so. It does not have air conditioning, but the weather was temperate, so there was no problem.
Paul Dellechiaie noticed on a map that the Museum was only a couple of blocks away from the Paterson Falls. Robert Yeager was the only one of us who had ever been there, and that had been a long time ago, so we took a short hike.
The Paterson Falls will never challenge Niagara Falls as a tourist trap but the weather was nice, the crowds small, and the viewing positions close by. One of the best viewing areas had been fenced off by the city, but a thoughtful vandal had removed one of the iron bars and we all squeezed through. What can I say? I run with a pretty wild crowd.
After we got tired of watching running water, we trekked over to the Barnes & Noble Superstore on Route 17 north in Paramus. Pity the hapless sf fan who wandered into the sf section while we were there. Both Nancy Denker and I were in recruiting mode.
No Phil De Parto shindig is complete without a dessert trip. Cool Scoops lost out to the Forum Diner on Route 4 by virtue of geographic proximity. After that we split up.
Actually, I followed Robert Yeager to his house to reclaim a couple of my videotapes and borrow a couple of his (LINNEA QUIGLEY'S HORROR WORKOUT and THE TERROR OF TEN TOE TENA). An unexpected bonus was running into Douglas Yeager, Linda Higgins, Nicholas Yeager Higgins, and two month old twins Victoria and Brittany Higgins Yeager. Both were adorable, although I got along better with Brittany than Victoria.