July 3, 2018 The Roots and Origin of the Hansen House Oakland, New Jersey 1938 – 1973 The Portobello Banquet Facility as a Time Capsule Summary and Conclusion The core of the Hansen House is believed to originally be a farmhouse built at or before 1861 and greatly expanded by Mrs. Florence Vernam in the early 1890s. The Case for Its Origins as a Simple Farmhouse 1. The original foundation is crude stone rubble typically deployed by farmers building their own farmhouses. 2. There is evidence of late 19th Century masonry in the basement of Portobello’s Banquet facility indicating a significant expansion of the building during that period. 3. A…
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The History of the Famous Seel’s Bar
The History of the Famous Seel’s Bar and Its Demise The mention of Seel’s Bar and Grill to most current Oakland residents will most likely result in questioning stare. Seel’s? Huh? What? Where? Well, unless you lived in Oakland prior to 1957, it’s entirely understandable that you might not have ever heard of it. But I assure you that you pass its ghost every day. It lives on as a section of a parking lot on the NE corner of Yawpo Ave and RVR directly across from Krausers. Some might currently know it as Seel’s Shopping Center. Read on to learn its history and how and why a storied watering…
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Sonya Hansen Huhn – Growing Up in the Hansen House
Sonya Hansen Huhn Recalls Her Life and Times Growing Up in the Hansen House with Her Parents Mom and the Men Who Came to Dinner Growing up in a boarding house/ vacation resort/ tourist home is different than growing up in a regular house or an apartment. We always had guests. In the summertime guests would fill all of the 27 rooms. Usually they’d stay a week at a time. When the summer ended my folks would welcome boarders. Some stayed a month…the ones I remember best stayed longer. There was this one man called, “Christiansen” he came for a weekend in the summer and stayed for two years. Story…
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Sonya Hansen Remembers Ruth and Didi Nielsen and the Nielsen House
Sonya Remembers Ruth and Didi Nielsen and the Nielsen House Nielsen House located on the site of the Post Office Parking Lot Across from the Ponds Church Ruth and Didi They were sisters, but you never said….Ruth or Didi…it was always the Ruth and Didi. Ruth committee suicide at 57….four years later Didi died of cancer. Neither married… we could only speculate on why Ruth killed herself. She was a nurse, and she died from an overdose. After Ruth died, Didi was alone, she was teaching math in Butler High., I don’t know why she decided to retire so young, perhaps then you could retire with a pension at that…
