Nighthawk Books Celebrates Anniversary
03/24/2011
Bookstore makes a cultural impact with live music, good food, local artwork and more
HIGHLAND PARK — Nighthawk Books is preparing to celebrate its first anniversary with a dinner, a talk by an internationally renowned music critic and a renewed commitment to books as sources of entertainment and enlightenment.
Owner Steven Hart, a former Home News Tribune reporter, said he is determined to make a cultural impact with live music, good food, local artwork and an offbeat collection of DVDs sorted by genre, director and author of source work.
"I don't think you can survive just as a book store," Hart said. "You have to be something more than that."
Dubbed "the meeting for place for reading people," Nighthawk will celebrate its first anniversary on April 2 with an Irish-themed dinner catered by Elijah's Promise in New Brunswick and a concert by the traditional-sounding borough-based Irish band Brosna. The work of Jerry Hirniak, head of the art department at Princeton Day School, will be featured. Complimentary wine will be flowing, Hart said.
The cafes at Barnes and Noble locations have inspired a connection between bookstores and food, said Lisanne Finston, executive director of Elijah's Promise. Because Nighthawk Books is locally owned, there's a twist, she said.
"It's a book cafe with a purpose, which makes it a much more interesting and valuable venue," said Finston, whose organization will be paid for its catering.
Hart said he was excited to present Brosna again. He said the Celtic trio impressed him by showing up during the winter's most intense ice storm in January.
"Only two people came because the weather was so bad, but they sat down and played their hearts out," Hart said. "You would have thought they were playing Madison Square Garden on a sold-out night because of the passion and commitment they showed. You have to be impressed with that. That's the kind of spirit they will bring to their performance on April 2."
Hart's cultural efforts are much appreciated, said Bennet D. Zurofsky, director of the Solidarity Singers of the Edison-based New Jersey Industrial Union Council. The Solidarity Singers recently performed at Nighthawk.
The store is a treasure chest of hard-to-find books, music and DVDs, Zurofsky said.
"Places like Nighthawk, where unamplified, purely acoustic music is performed, and where one can browse through an interesting selection of books that isn't dominated by the best-seller trade, have become altogether too rare," he said. "Nighthawk deserves the support and patronage of all of us who believe there is more to life and culture than that which appears on a flatscreen."
Hart is an author in his own right.
"The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder, and the Construction of America's First Superhighway" was published in 2007 by The New Press. The narrative history is about the Route 1 Extension, which was built from Elizabeth to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel during the late '20s.
"It climaxed with a protracted labor war, a murder and a sensational trial arising from the final portion of the project, the elevated viaduct now called the Pulaski Skyway," Hart said. "Key figures in the story are legendary political boss Frank Hague and the colorful "labor czar' Teddy Brandle."
The Rutgers alumnus said he has other book projects in the works and gives frequent lectures on New Jersey history and "the misunderstood phenomenon of the political boss."
His wife, Mary Walworth, was instrumental in the opening of the book store and is active in Highland Park, where the couple have lived 14 years with their two daughters.
The store is a treasure chest of hard-to-find books, music and DVDs, Zurofsky said.
"Places like Nighthawk, where unamplified, purely acoustic music is performed, and where one can browse through an interesting selection of books that isn't dominated by the best-seller trade, have become altogether too rare," he said. "Nighthawk deserves the support and patronage of all of us who believe there is more to life and culture than that which appears on a flatscreen."
Hart is an author in his own right.
"The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder, and the Construction of America's First Superhighway" was published in 2007 by The New Press. The narrative history is about the Route 1 Extension, which was built from Elizabeth to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel during the late '20s.
"It climaxed with a protracted labor war, a murder and a sensational trial arising from the final portion of the project, the elevated viaduct now called the Pulaski Skyway," Hart said. "Key figures in the story are legendary political boss Frank Hague and the colorful "labor czar' Teddy Brandle."
The Rutgers alumnus said he has other book projects in the works and gives frequent lectures on New Jersey history and "the misunderstood phenomenon of the political boss."
His wife, Mary Walworth, was instrumental in the opening of the book store and is active in Highland Park, where the couple have lived 14 years with their two daughters. (Bob Makin, Home News Tribune/MyCentralJersey.com 3/24/2011)