IV Vitamin Therapy in Guttenberg, NJ

Photos and info by Ron Jeffers

A fire involving a remodeled three-story wood-frame, mixed-occupancy building resulted in a labor-intensive battle by firefighters from the North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue that protects five Hudson County (NJ) municipalities.

Shortly after 9 p.m., on November 19, 2021, an AFA assignment of three engines, one truck and a battalion chief were dispatched to 201-70^th Street in the town of Guttenberg, New Jersey. Police Officer Jabber arrived and reported smoke in the rear of the first-floor restaurant. Upon arrival of the first fire companies, the assignment was filled out, dispatching another engine, truck, rescue, safety officer, rapid intervention team, and Deputy 1.

Firefighters made an interior attack as smoke continued to thicken. All occupants of the restaurant and apartments were removed and a second alarm was transmitted. Interior units reported fire traveling “voids on the ‘C’ side,” and a third alarm was struck by Deputy Chief Mike Falco.

Inside the building, firefighters were compelled to pull tin ceilings to find hidden fire, a labor-intensive operation. Heavy smoke rolled out of the building and covered the neighborhood. Fire eventually broke through the roof of the structure located at the corner of Broadway. Flames attracted a New York TV station news helicopter that flew overhead to cover the story.

Numerous handlines were used along with a lot of “truck work.” The first two ladder companies on the assignment were aerial ladders. The second alarm truck, Tower Ladder 3, was a block away due to the narrow and congested streets that are common in this area. Truckies used an aerial ladder and saws to open up the top-floor sidings on Broadway, where firefighters had difficulty gaining access to flames from the interior. After the heavy fire was knocked down, apparatus was moved from the Broadway side of the building and Tower Ladder 3was placed into position. Firefighters opened up the space along the “B” side of the building to expose the hidden flames and knocked them out with a tower monitor.

One firefighter suffered nonlife-threatening injuries and was taken to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, where he was treated and released.

The main body of fire was was knocked down around 10:40 p.m. Weary firefighters took breaks outside of the building and walked a block away from the scene to the Gong Club canteen truck for bottled water, hot chocolate, or coffee.

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As Hudson County grapples with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic two North Hudson towns are pushing to expand the use of tax abatements in an attempt to stimulate development.

At a July 15 meeting, the North Bergen board of commissioners voted to allow 5-year tax exemptions within the town’s Urban Enterprise Zone and areas needing “redevelopment” or “rehabilitation.”

And Guttenberg’s town council will vote Monday on an ordinance to make it easier for buildings to qualify for tax abatements. If the ordinance passes, developers wanting to build residential buildings in the town’s Rehabilitation Area will only need 10 units, down from the previous requirement of 12, to qualify for a five-year tax abatement.

Jersey Digs first reported the ordinances.

J.P. Escobar, a spokesman for North Bergen, said that the ordinance was a reintroduction of an identical one that expired several months ago, and that the timing was unrelated to the coronavirus. Currently, no projects qualify for the abatement.

“The township’s always looking for a way to do things in fiscally responsible way,” he said.

But Guttenberg’s ordinance states that “improvements to, and the revitalization of, the Rehabilitation Area are of great importance to the town as a whole, especially as the nation, state and town address the effects of COVID-19 on the economy and development projects.”

Guttenberg Mayor Wayne Zitt said the coronavirus is “affecting everybody from the renter to the landlord.” The new ordinance would “stimulate” the housing market in the North Hudson town, he said, by making it easier both for prospective buyers and struggling landlords.

“It helps on both sides because we don’t want these properties to go empty,” Zitt said.

Guttenberg’s Rehabilitation Area covers most of the town, excluding the wealthier waterfront, while North Bergen’s Urban Enterprise Zone includes sections of Kennedy Boulevard, Tonnelle Avenue and Bergenline Avenue, among other parts.

Guttenberg is not the only Hudson County town where COVID-19 has played a role in decisions about development. On July 16, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted to advance a proposal to rezone part of the Secaucus Meadowlands for development, citing “the current economic downturn precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Young man moves to big city.

Adventures ensure.

It's a tale as old as time.

But when the young man in question is Steve Guttenberg and the city with the bright lights is Los Angeles, you know it's going to be far from an ordinary story.

"It's an everyday man coming out into an atmosphere with all these really exotic characters who are so far removed from his upbringing," Guttenberg says of "Tales From the Guttenberg Bible," now playing at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick. "How he navigates the waters and tries to make a career for himself while keeping his values − and not getting into trouble."

While Guttenberg hopes audiences will walk away touched by the story of a young man striving toward his goals, he also says they should prepare to laugh − a lot − "because situations are pretty extraordinary."

Guttenberg, 64, has a film and TV career spanning nearly a half-century and is known for his work in "Three Men and a Baby," "Police Academy," "Cocoon" and so many more cultural touchstones.

More:In Andrew Lloyd Webber's new Broadway musical, Cinderella has some badass attitude

"Tales from the Guttenberg Bible"also stars Arnie Burton, Dan Domingues and Carine Montreband, playing scores of characters of who shaped Guttenberg's early career.

Despite the sliver of Guttenberg's career that the play focuses on, it was a period packed with potential material. In fact, his first draft was 300 pages. It's since been whittled down to 68 or so, with the help of George Street Artistic Director David Saint, who also directs the show.

"What I really love is how open Steve is," Saint said. "I told him first, write me everything, write me anything you want to write. What I love doing is editing and cutting and shaping a script and giving you the shape and the dramatic form."

Saint says he learned his love of editing from playwright Arthur Laurents, who he calls his mentor. "He used to say everything needs cuts, even Shakespeare," Saint said. Fittingly, "Tales from the Guttenberg Bible" will be performed in the Arthur Laurents Theater at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.

More:Curtain up! Here are the plays, musicals opening soon on Broadway

Saint says it's Guttenberg's likability and innocence that will make audiences root for him from the outset.

"Then you see all the remarkable people that he has met in his lifetime. I mean, can you imagine being 17 years old and getting on a private plane with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, to go make the movie 'The Boys From Brazil' and having your mother and father bring some salami and hard candy to the jet to give to them, because as his mother says, 'the food on airplanes is terrible?' I mean, the amount of innocence is so astonishing, and yet, he landed on his feet every time and people just liked him."

It's intimidating though, Guttenberg says, to let people peek into such a personal tale.

"Your life is intimate, and private. So when you bring other people into it and allow people to see your life, I had to let things go and open the doors and trust that people would understand my life. And I also understand that there are going to be judgments. Some people are going to like it and some people aren't," he said.

For that reason, and more, it was important to separate the actor Steve Guttenberg from the character Steve Guttenberg, both Saint and Guttenberg said.

More:How did a giant teddy bear costume help this Broadway legend after COVID?

This is the first time Guttenberg has worked with George Street Playhouse.

"It's a beautiful theater," he said. "And David Saint and the board have made a great contribution, not only to New Brunswick, New Jersey, but to the arts."

Go: "Tales From the Guttenberg Bible," tickets $25 to $70, through May 21; George Street Playhouse, at the Arthur Laurents Theater at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, 11 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; [email protected]

George Street Playhouse (GSP) announces the final production of its 2022-23 season, the World Premiere of the sparkling new comedy Tales From the Guttenberg Bible, written by and starring beloved actor Steve Guttenberg. Featuring 90 characters, four actors, and one Steve Guttenberg, this fully staged production is truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

Directed by George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint, performances of this exciting new production begin April 21st at the Arthur Laurents Theater at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.

Tales from the Guttenberg Bible, is a farcical, laugh-out-loud story written by and starring veteran screen actor Steve Guttenberg (Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, Cocoon). This hilarious journey from the Guttenberg's family home on Long Island to the glamour of Hollywood as Guttenberg himself tells-all - i.e. how he broke into the Paramount Lot - to his run-ins with everyone from Paul Reiser to Tom Selleck, Kevin Bacon to Merv Griffin. It would be an unbelievable tale, if it wasn't true (mostly).

Says Steve Guttenberg, "This story has been swirling around my brain for years and I've gotten it out in pieces but now I feel the tale must be told." "My aim is to entertain and for people to learn what an actor really does to break in, break out and grab opportunity when the door opens," he adds. "It's a Valentine to my family, friends and Hollywood. I have much to be grateful for and can't wait to share it all with a live audience!"

"Directing Steve's brilliantly funny play is truly a dream come true," said David Saint, Artistic Director, George Street Playhouse. "It is a surefire hit that will entertain from the South Shore to the Silver Screen. You've never seen a show like this -we couldn't be more excited to finish our extraordinary season with this burst of zany energy and laughter!"

Full cast to be announced. Tales from the Guttenberg Bible is produced in association with Julian Schlossberg.

Tickets begin at $25 and are now on sale. For subscriptions and group discount information visit Click Here or call 732-246-7717.

Peter LaVilla is many things – a Jersey City native, the former mayor of Guttenberg, and a former Jersey Journal reporter. LaVilla is also a playwright and filmmaker whose offerings including “Mollie and Friends,” starring an Oscar nominee, are available on YouTube. And as LaVilla, 80, is holed up in his place in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida due to the pandemic, he’d like people to know his work is among their free viewing options as something different.

Included among his work is the aforementioned “Mollie and Friends,” which stars Rosemary Gore, Jeannie Evans, and Academy Award-nominee for Best Actress Sally Kirkland.

Kirkland specifically was nominated for her role in “Anna” (1987). Even if you don’t know her by name, her face has the kind of familiarity that comes from having been in everything – from “The Way We Were” to “Bruce Almighty” and recurring roles on TV on shows like “Roseanne.”

“Mollie and Friends” (also known as “Oak Hill” when it was originally released in 2008) is about the eponymous Mollie (Gore), a comedian in the Fozzie Bear tradition working at a shelter where she’s caught between trying to help two substance abusers, Madison and former actress Elizabeth St. James, played respectively by Evans and by Kirkland.

Kirkland’s role in LaVilla’s film is one of the rare times LaVilla doesn’t use local talent in his work. His former Journal colleague Ron Leir does appear in the film, as Leir does in more work available on LaVilla’s YouTube page.

“The only movie where I did not (use local talent) was ‘Mollie and Friends’ because that was a SAG movie, and most of the people that I hire locally are non-union, so that was a no-no with SAG.”

“Mollie and Friends” is unique among LaVilla’s film work for being a drama.

“(My films) are all to make people happy and make them laugh and feel good about themselves – not that ‘Mollie and Friends’ doesn’t make people feel good. It makes you look at times inward, rather than outward.”

The way LaVilla became a journalist in the first place seems to to speak to the way he’s approached much of his creative work.

“Back in the day I sent a letter to the guy who was the editor (of the Hudson Dispatch, later folded into The Jersey Journal) at the time … ‘You know, you do all this stuff about people from out of town and from New York, but what about the locals down here? You never do any work (on them), you never do any reviews.’ And then the guy called me and said, ‘Would you like a job doing it?’”

LaVilla reflected on his starting salary and being fortunate that rent at the Jersey City public housing he lived in at the time was according to how much you your salary was. He also reflected on later doing three one-act plays called “The 99 Cents Special” – “two of which were mine and one was one of the editors at The Jersey Journal,” he said.

The play was performed in the backroom of a Hoboken bar.

“We got a review in The New York Times. (The reviewer) called (one of the plays) ‘beyond gross.’ I took out an ad in The Journal, quoted the guy. I ran the show for eight more weeks. It was only 99 cents to get in.”

LaVilla can recall talking to people in the long line to see the play, finding out that many of them came from NYC because of that review.

“We know what gross is, but we don’t know what ‘beyond gross’ is,” one guy said, according to LaVilla.

The camaraderie of making something with friends, and of trying to make people laugh in a way that’s not unlike the vaudeville-like character he plays in “Mr. Las Vegas,” is something LaVilla built off of creatively.

“Mollie and Friends” star Gore co-starred with LaVilla in “Oil and Water,” where he played a veteran news man paired with Gore’s young gossip columnist character.

Gore had moved out to LA and became friendly with Kirkland, LaVilla said. She’s the one who suggested he reach out to Kirkland for the part in “Mollie and Friends.”

“I said (to her), you want me to call an A-list star?’ She said, ‘Call her.’ I gave her a call, I said, ‘Sally my name is blah blah blah. Rosemary told me to give you a shout. I got this script, would you be interested in reading it?’ I mailed it to her, about a week later she says, ‘Peter, I love the character, I want to make the movie.’”

In addition to having written the script, LaVilla has a role in the film as the director of the Oak Hill shelter.

Filmed at Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation (PERC) Soup Kitchen, in Union City, “Mollie and Friends” is a mixed bag bolstered by particularly endearing performances from Gore and Kirkland. It’s a film where you laugh and feel for the characters, but by virtue of the melodrama, you sometimes laugh a little at it.

Thematically it relies on stereotypes a little too much, and sometimes you wish for something more in tune with the energy of one of the most affecting scenes – where two quiet, emotive characters often in the background are having a meal together in the shelter and talking wistfully about where they came from originally, before their lives brought them there.

Like LaVilla – who still performs locally in Sunny Isles Beach and has made some his creative writing available on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, it’s a little all over the place but not without its charms.

LaVilla’s work as a filmmaker also has a particular distinction as part of Netflix’s transition from DVD-mailers to streaming. “Mr. Las Vegas,” a feature film which he wrote and stars in,” was among Netflix’s original DVD offerings.

“What happened was, a friend of mine said call this distributor up in Los Angeles. ‘They’re just getting started and they need talent.’ So I sent them a copy and the guy loved it. I signed a 7-year contract.”

LaVilla later got an email about Netflix trying out something called “streaming,” he said.

Its gist: “Netflix said they’re taking 100 films to test this thing called streaming, and ‘Mr. Las Vegas’ is among the hundred films.”

“Mr. Las Vegas” was joined by “Oil and Water” for a long streaming stint on the platform, but the shuffling of new content has pared them down to being available for Netflix’s still available mail-in option. And now, for something different, you can see them on YouTube. Just search “Peter LaVilla” on YouTube.