104 / 108
PAGE 104
THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION
DEC 2017/JAN 2018
MONTGOMERY ACADEMY “WHERE YOU CAN BE YOURSELF” Basking Ridge, NJ www.montgomeryacademyonline.org 908-766-0362 $ ! ! # " " ! ! Follow Us On Instagram to See Who’s Making Community “Connections”! @Connectionmag After graduating from college in December of 1973, I was eager to start my first profes- sional job. I wasn’t enthralled with the fact that I had to move to Detroit, but it was a good opportunity and I had no other offers at that time, worthy of serious consideration. Growing up in Cincinnati, I had visited Toledo many times to visit relatives. We also had rela- tives in Detroit that I had never met. When I travelled to Detroit to find an apartment a month before my start date, my mother introduced me to her first cousin in Detroit, Arlene. She and her husband, John, welcomed me with open arms. Their daughter was also my age, so they just made me one of the family and were very helpful in helping me find a place to live. A few weeks after I moved in, one of my newfound cousins had a birthday and I was fortunate enough to be invited to a cele- bratory dinner. The restaurant, which no longer exists, was Jim’s Garage, located downtown. Though the name was a bit unusual, it was a terrific restau- rant with fantastic food. We were stuffed but couldn’t resist ordering dessert. As my “cousin- in-law” John savored his cheese- cake, he said, “The only other time I have tasted cheesecake this good was when I was sta- tioned in Guam in World War II. One of my fellow soldiers, Tommy Schwartz, a friend of mine also from Detroit, was sta- tioned with me. He received a cheesecake from his mother. It came a long way, but it tasted so good, perhaps because of our regular diet. I wasn’t sure how it stayed fresh.” After the bill was paid, we retrieved our coats and a couple of the people in our group decided to use the restrooms. So I took the opportunity to look at some of the articles and reviews that were posted on the wall near the exit. One of the n e w s p a p e r clippings from what appeared to be the front page of a leisure section in The Detroit Free Press, had an inter- esting headline, “Jim’s Garage To Feature Mrs. Schwartz’s Famous Cheesecake.” A LITTLE CHEESY AFTER 7,356 MILES By: Dan Rosenberg www.theconnectionsnj.com