Perfect Pitch

Portugal vs. Brazil 6/25/10
Ironbound District
Ferry Street
Newark, NJ 11103

Portugal vs. Brazil was the best one yet. Throughout the course of this blog I have been spitting all sorts of advice on familiarizing yourself with international culture in NYC. Well, here is one more, and I will emphasize this one. GO VISIT THE IRONBOUND DISTRICT! If you need a reason, go during an important Portugal or Brazil match, you won’t be disappointed. And as I found out, you don’t need a game to soak in one of the most authentic representations of international culture in America. The Ironbound District is also unique because it presents an interesting dichotomy of Portuguese immigrants, coexisting with Brazilian immigrants. Because of this, as you can imagine, this was certainly my destination when Portugal met Brazil head to head on the pitch.

Before traveling out to Newark I thought it was reasonably far, and thus should not be included as a representation of international NYC culture. And, although it is in New Jersey, you can see the Empire State Building from some parts of Newark, and it only took one hour to get there, via the subway and NJ Transit, from Brooklyn. In comparison this is closer for me than mid-to-northern Bronx and the depths of Queens. Getting off the NJ Transit, I knew this would be an interesting and amazing experience when I noticed that the Walgreens on the border of the Ironbound District had Brazil and Portugal flags up. That’s right, even the Walgreens represented the dichotomy that is the Ironbound District!

The Ironbound District consists of one main street, Ferry Street, that has all of the independent Portuguese and Brazilian business up and down it. I decided to watch the game at one of the first places on Ferry, Iberia’s Restaurant. The reason why this place stood out to me was because the game was being shown outside. People sat down at tables under umbrellas, or just hovered around the bar, while a local radio station was doing promotions in the parking lot that overlapped the bar area. The outside area has the feel of an Iberian square as it is surrounded by a stage, the bar and seating area, and then an Iberian style castle at the other end.

I noted, as soon as I got there, that the Portuguese outnumbered the Brazilians, and this would be the case all day. I grabbed a spot standing on the side of a water fountain as I figured it would be a good vantage point to get a shot of the goal celebrations. Being outside for the game was a very pleasant experience, especially considering the weather was beautiful. I noticed that some people were taking in a hearty Iberian breakfast. But most were kicking their day off with some liquid intake, the most popular item being Sangrias, which were handed out in quart-sized plastic cups. Besides that, the other specials were $12 buckets of six Miller Lites.

The game itself was a strong defensive showing from both sides. Because of the strong defense and the lack of goals from either side, there was no excessive fanfare during the game excluding a few Portugal chants. I had a feeling when I made the trip out to Newark that the game wouldn’t be the attraction. I was counting on the aftermath on Ferry Street to make the trip worthwhile. I was definitely right, but I had no idea to what extent.

The 0-0 tie seemed to invigorate a love-fest between the two cultures. The celebration erupted onto the streets like a Portugese volcano. At the Iberia Restaurant, people began singing and shouting and eventually worked their way to the streets. At first, people just stuck to the sidewalk as a parade of cars and trucks with people hanging off them waving flags and honking horns, slowly rolled down the streets. Then as more and more people got involved, the streets officially shut down, as crowds of people gathered to jump up and down, hug, yell, take in the moment and celebrate their two cultures coming out evenly in this match. It's really difficult to describe everything that I saw, but I'll give you some bullet points along with a video that really captures the scene.



-- Despite the conflicting cultures, the only representations of the rivalry that I saw was a friendly Portugal vs. Brazil mosh pit and some occasional friendly trash talking.

-- Two great representations of the wildness of the scene was when a bus tried to drive down Ferry Street, and all of the fans stopped the bus and starting posing in front of it. Another was when a

motorcycle cop trying to go down the street, and all the fans circled him pointed at him yelling and laughing and waving flags in his face as the cop could helplessly move.

-- People were jumping on anything they could find, including flat beds, the back of pickup trucks, dumpsters, newspaper stands, roof tops, etc. etc.

-- There was a gigantic flag that would be passed down the street in which people would go under and party beneath.

When the parade began to die down, I started chatting with Ted Axelrod, a photographer who has been doing an ongoing project about the Ironbound District.

He shared with me a lot of interesting tidbits about the community. He kept stressing that this community is truly authentic as they have found a way to hold on to their culture and keep it away from outside influences. This is done predominately by only having independent businesses within the community. One interesting example of this is the multitude of banks. These Portuguese banks effectively keep the money in the community and at times the same banks will be right next to each other as one will be for their Ironbound account and another will be strictly for money to and from Portugal.

Another thing that Ted stressed was the importance of education within the community. Blue Ribbon schools are highly decorated schools in New Jersey, and the Ironbound district has three of these. Also, the youths are taught to be enthusiastic about learning as many attend additional classes after school. It seems that the people of the Ironbound are attempting to have their culture thrive in America while holding onto what makes them who they are and they have effectively done this by keeping the money within the community and integrating every aspect of their overseas culture in America.

I asked Ted if he recommended any good food joints in the area. He said that far and away the best is the Marisqueira because it has the best and freshest seafood. He then proceeded to march me in there and introduce me to the manager who took care of me and brought me a recommended meal of mixed seafood. Now this just wasn’t a grilled seafood platter. What set this apart from the American idea of seafood was the presentation. The mixed seafood -- shrimp, monk fish and squid -- were grilled on a kabob. The interesting part was that the kabob was hung vertically like a hanging garden of seafood over the plate of fries, veggies (green beans, carrots, cabbage) and rice below. Thus the juices and salts from the seafood dripped on the food below adding different flavor.

Ted was right about the freshness of the seafood. I especially noted this in the squid which was extra tender and salty. The thing that I noticed about Portuguese seafood was the preservation of the natural flavors as there was practically no seasoning added to it except for some additional salt. This truly lets you savor the freshness of the food.

After the meal, I had a delicious espresso and departed to go back to NYC to watch my Hondurans. I wish that I had more time so that I could complete the trip by sampling some Portuguese style pastries. I recommend you do so if you are ever in the Ironbound.

Overall, as I said before, GO TO THE IRONBOUND DISTRICT! It can’t be stressed enough how authentic of a representation of an international culture this area truly is. At the same time, the people are very friendly, generous and giving. If you want to see how the World Cup should be celebrated, or even how it is probably celebrated overseas you should be a part of this authentic, wild and amazing experience.

-- FRANCISCO SIERRA