I'm thinking about this, too. It's so ridiculously weird that what is on some day's my favorite band of all time is playing at the Wellmont Theater. I grew up within walking distance of this place. It was, for all intents and purposes, one of the most disgusting theaters ever but in a grimy, charming way. They used to show second run films there for $5. I think I saw Pulp Fiction there about 15 times in high school. Then they became an indie theater but the Clairidge went that way, too, and cut them out of people who wanted to see Ghost World.
I love Montclair currently but I kind of miss what it was when I was a kid. They had two great record stores on Bloomfield Ave. -- Let It Rock for all of your punk rock needs and Crazy Rhythms, which is where I bought Surfer Rosa. It also had a comic book shop where I got X-Force #1 and a head shop next door that used to always crack me up and some weird Hot Topic type of place where I bought a Lemonheads T-Shirt that I just threw out last year.
It's now all really good restaurants and stuff. That's more up my alley now that I'm a married man in his 30s. But I do miss when going to hang out on Bloomfield Ave. would worry my parents.
At least Tierney's is still there and will never change. A very strong candidate for best bar in the world.