New Jersey Is Hardcore

Spotted this sign in Red Bank, New Jersey when we were in town to visit Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash.  I think I might stick to the right lane when I come back to town.

Hitting Up The Secret Stash

Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash
Red Bank, NJ

We got a good night's sleep at the Red Roof Inn after averting a disastrous night at the Motel From Hell and woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to pay a visit to Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash.  The place is loaded from stem to stern with comic books, movies, books, stickers, t-shirts and tons of other nerdy merchandise, as well as displays of costumes and other props that were used in the filming of Kevin Smith's movies.  Here are some photos of our visit.

This is the back of the store.  I tried to lighten the image as best I could, but it's still pretty dark.  There are clearer and closer photos of most of the props below, but this will give you an idea of their location in the store.  On the top left, you can see the sign for Brodie's comic book store from the beginning of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  There's a statue of Jay and Silent Bob (as Bluntman and Chronic) holding lightsabers in the Bluntmobile at the bottom center.  Off in the distance to the upper left of the statues are the costumes worn by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Dogma, and to the upper right of the statues in the far corner of the store is the Buddy Christ statue from Dogma.

This photo was taken while I was standing at the back of the store and facing toward the front.  To give you perspective of where it's at, the purple rod and white helmet that you can see in the bottom left corner of this photo are part of the Bluntman and Chronic statues from the picture above.  At the left hand side of the photo is a statue of Mooby the Golden Calf from Dogma.  Above Angie's head near the middle right of the photo are a few championship banners for the New Jersey Devils that are hanging at the front of the store near the front windows and the register.

This is a much closer photo of the clothes that were worn by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that they wore for the filming of Dogma. 

Angie is standing in front of the Buddy Christ statue from Dogma in the photo on the left.  She's holding a DVD that she bought from the Secret Stash.  It's the Clerks 10th Anniversary Edition which was autographed by Kevin Smith. 

Here is a better look at the signed Clerks 10th Anniversary Edition DVD.

In the photo on the left, you can see a massive Quick Stop Groceries sign that's above the register at the front of the store.  The photo on the right is one of the merchandise cases. It's loaded with statues, busts, bobble heads, snow globes and other similar materials that are available for sale at the store.

These are two tall glass cases that were loaded with props from Kevin Smith movies.  These weren't available to purchase, but what you see here is just a fraction of the props that were on display.  I couldn't fit all of the shelves in a single photo, so I tried to arrange the four pictures to show two of the cases (one on the left and one on the right).  There's too much here to list all of it, but my favorite piece is the "Help The Starving Babies" collection tin that Betty Amberlin used when she was collecting money at the airport at the beginning of Dogma.  She is best known for playing Lady Amberlin on Mister Rogers Neighborhood - a role that she played for 33 years, so it was especially funny to see her as a nun who was talked out of her service to the church by a fallen angel.  Click here to enlarge these photos.

The photo on the left is Kevin Smith's overcoat and hat that he wore when he played Silent Bob in Clerks.  He wears the hat backwards in the movie, so I never knew until this weekend that it has Felix The Cat on the front.  On the right is the hat worn by Jason Lee when he played Azrael in Dogma.

Closer photo of the Bluntman and Chronic statues inside the Bluntmobile.  I kept off and did not touch.

I'm thinking that this is either a prop from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back when our two heroes visit a Mooby's restaurant, or  a sign that we'll see in Clerks 2.  The teaser trailer for the Clerks sequel shows Dante and Randall working at Mooby's.  I can't wait to see it!

This is the Mooby's Internet Terminal statue from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  You can see it in the scene where Jay and Bob visit a Mooby's restaurant and use their computer to visit the Movie Poop Shoot message board, where Jay dictates a response for Silent Bob to type.  The hole in Mooby's stomach is where the computer monitor was attached.

"You are the ones who are the ball lickers!"

This photo of the View Askew Productions sign came out pretty blurry, but it's too damn cool not to share.  You can also see the Brodie Bolts newspaper sign on the wall in the background, but there's a better photo of that below.

The photo on the left is the oversized cover of Variety to announce Brodie's departure from The Tonight Show (a job he gets in one of the final scenes in Mallrats) that was used in the filming of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  The photo on the right shows the front register with the framed Soviet hockey jersey hanging on the wall above.  This is either the one that Randall wore when they played hockey on the roof in Clerks, or a screen accurate replica.

This is the bag that Angie got with her DVD.  They also gave us this printout that they keep on hand with directions to Quick Stop and RST Video.  We had already visited the stores the day before, but it's pretty cool that they have these available to help nerdy fans like me on their pilgrimage to New Jersey.

Like Sands Through The Hourglass...

Sands Motor Lodge
Route 35 - Eatontown, NJ

We decided to wing it and not book a hotel room ahead of time for our New Jersey adventure this past weekend.  While we were driving around looking for a place to eat, we passed this motel that looks like it hadn't been remodeled since the 1950's and decided that it might be an interesting place to stay.

Man, they have color television and phones?  I don't know if I can stand this level of luxury!  And, lucky us, the motel is open 24 hours, as opposed to all of those places that close at 9 pm and lock everyone inside for the night.  Alright, Sands Motor Lodge, you sold me.  I'd like a room, please.

The first warning sign that this motel might not be all that I hoped it would be was taped to the window to the office where you check in.  I'm not talking about the fact that it looks like a ransom note; I'm talking about the second item on this list.  You know, the one that says that they won't grant anyone a refund after five minutes of the check-in time.

Hmmm... that's peculiar.  What kind of motel would have received so many refund requests that they had to put a five minute time limit on it?  I suppose they could be a few men who, um, finished their business quickly and decided they could hit the road without having to pay for the room, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not clean, right?  Right?!

Let's see what we have here.  There's a dresser and a pull-out cot in case you need an extra bed.  Ok, not fancy, but it's a cheap motel, so it's fine.  There's a stack of plastic cups - no problems there.  And hey, there's the promised phone and color television!  It's a small Zenith set from the late 70's or early 80's.  Not exactly something I'd choose to promote with a neon sign, but it works.

So far, so good.  Might as well get undressed and put my clothes in the dresser.

Um... maybe not.

I'm not quite sure what could be responsible for these disturbing stains and textures, but I don't think I want to know.  But hey, it's just a dirty drawer, right?  I can just fold up my shirt and pants and set them on the chair.

 

On second thought, that might not be the best idea either.

I may not know what caused the disgusting discoloration in the drawer, but it doesn't take a detective to make a good guess on what caused the one on the drawer.  Alright, clearly this room has some concerns, and I only have five minutes to decide if we're going to stay before I can no longer get my money back.  I better turn on the lights and get a better look.

Seriously?  Come on!  What could have possibly caused this kind of stain on a lampshade?  Was there a murder here where the body was propped up on the lamp?

 

Perhaps it's water damage from the air conditioner.  I can't say that I've ever heard of Fedders before.  Maybe they make a great air conditioner, but this woodgrain model looks to be older than I am, and the black stains aren't really filling me with confidence.  What they might be filling the air with is anybody's guess.

Strangely enough, the toilet was in reasonably good shape.  In fact, the bathroom was by far the cleanest part of the hotel.  Don't get me wrong - they're not winning any housekeeping prizes in here either, but compared to the rest of the room, the bathroom is a palace.

Thankfully, we were within our five minute window, so we were able to leave with a full refund and stay at a nearby Red Roof Inn that didn't look quite so much like a murder had taken place in the room.

Man, I Hate It When I Can't Rent Videos!

RST Video
Leonardo Ave - Leonardo, NJ
Sadly, RST Video was closed when we got here.  It doesn't look like it's out of business though.  A peek through the windows shows shelves of movies and cash registers at the front counter.  There was also quite a large selection of previously viewed VHS tapes for sale.  Had they been open, I definitely would have added a few of them to my home video library.

These photos were taken from the front window.  You can see a copy of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back on DVD sitting on the windowsill.  There's also a sign by the register warning of a $3.50 charge if you are late returning a new release.

This is the view from the window on the front door showing the wall of previously viewed tapes that were for sale.  I would have searched through for Navy Seals for as long as it took to find it.  Those copies of Dick Tracy, Die Hard and the "Birth Of Bullwinkle" volume of Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons would have come home with me too.

I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today

Quick Stop Groceries
Leonardo Ave - Leonardo, NJ
Took a road trip through New Jersey this weekend.  The first stop was Quick Stop and RST Video where Kevin Smith filmed Clerks.  If you didn't see the film, Quick Stop wouldn't seem different from any other small convenience store that you've been to.  Thankfully, they were not out of Gatorade.

The clerk took my ridiculous overreaction to his workplace in good stride, no doubt used to nerds like me showing up to take photos.  There was no merchandise or signs that referenced the movie, but if you have seen it, you will recognize each of these locations.

The Quick Stop sign just under the roof where Dante and Randal play hockey.

There's a mysterious door between Quick Stop and RST Video that is labeled 58A.

The shutters were up.  They must have gotten out the gum that was jammed in the locks.

The coffee station is on the right hand size when you walk in. There is a sign warning you to not scratch lottery tickets here.

They sell Archie comics!  Now I can see if the Mr. Weatherbee rumors are true.

The birthplace of Salsa Shark.

The search for the perfect dozen continues.

If you look above the register, you'll see a Jay and Silent Bob bumper sticker.  It's the only Askewniverse ephemera here.

The fine must have gone up.  Dante only got a $500 fine for selling cigarettes to a four year old.

Knoebels Arcade Machines

Playland Arcade

Knoebels Amusement Resort - Elysburg, PA

The arcade at Knoebels has a lot of novelty games that I rarely see anywhere else.  Here are a few of the more interesting ones that are currently in operation.

The New Addams Family Electric Shock Machine (Nova Productions, 1999)

Arm Wrestling (Ikemoto Shatai Kogyo Company, year unknown)

Electronic Personalized Palm Reading (Zytronics Inc, year unknown)