By BRIAN DONOHUE
Remember the older gentleman who used to sit on the bench in front of Foodtown in Red Bank all the time? The guy who got hit crossing the street at that spot, two years after he was hit by a car farther down Broad Street?
Well, his name was Alphonso Tomaino. He died in 2020 at age 101. And his life story is a wonderful, colorful, tale of love (or, rather, a sadness-tinged near miss with love) music and mirth all intertwined with the threads of Red Bank and U.S. history.
And now you can watch and hear him tell it all himself. An award winning short documentary about his life, produced by his grand-nephew Ron Tomaino, was made available for streaming on Youtube last week – and it’s more than worth watching.
The documentary “Apartment 38” is named after the unit in the Les Gertrude apartment building at 335 Broad Street (across the street from Foodtown) where Alphonso Tomaino lived for decades before he moved into assisted living – 15,000 strolls to Foodtown in all, according to the film. The bulk of the film is shot inside the apartment before he moved out.
Viewers get to hear him describe his Italian immigrant father starting the family grocery (which post-prohibition became a liquor store) attached to the family home at at 161 Shrewsbury Avenue next to Union Hose Company #1 firehouse.
There are tales of his days in the US military and touring the country with his “mountain music” quartet “The Red Bank Hillbillies.” In later years, he toils unsuccessfully to get a song he wrote extolling the virtues of New Jersey declared the New Jersey state song.
“A lot of people knew him as the old guy who sat on the bench in front of Foodtown,’’ Ron Tomaino said of the man he referred to as “Uncle Funzi.” With people getting a chance to hear his story through the film, he added, “I know he’s smiling down.”
Ron Tomaino, 38, grew up in Middletown and now works as a newscast director for a CBS affiliate in New Mexico. He was still living in New Jersey when he realized he needed to document his great uncle’s amazing stories, as well as the assortment of mementos he had amassed inside the Broad Street apartment.
“It was one of those special things,” he said. “He had all these old photos scattered around and I thought..I need to find a way to document this.”
“Apartment 38” won Best Documentary Short at the 2022 Smodcastle Film Festival, hosted by Kevin Smith, filmmaker and owner of Red Bank comic book shop Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (the shop is also the inspiration for a TV show Smith is reportedly developing for Universal).
Tomaino said the film had only been seen by the limited audiences at the film festivals where it was showcased.
His girlfriend convinced him to upload the full 20-minute short to Youtube so more people could see it. He uploaded it on his grand uncle’s birthday last week.
Have a news tip or story idea? redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
