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will be returned to use as the
Hudson City Market, a food and
home furnishings marketplace
filled with dining and entertain-
ment options.
Phase II located along
Northwestern Highway and
J.L. Hudson Drive will include
townhomes. The landmark
power plant will become a com-
munity playhouse. Northland’s
iconic water tower will remain
in place.”
Initial work, including dem-
olition of JCPenney and other
structures, is already underway.
Groundbreaking may occur this
fall.
You’ve written other books?
My first book was about Oak
Park, launched on 12/12/12. I
then wrote the Northland first
edition in 2016. My third book
was an homage to a book I read
as a kid … The Hill That Grew,
a children’s learn-to-read book

published in 1959 that described
the making of the Oak Park
sledding hill.
The copyright had expired,
so I filed my own and published
the book on the 60th anniver-
sary in 2019. I added articles
and photographs about the hill
and the David Shepherd Park. I
published an expanded version
in 2020. I’m currently writing
the story of Farrell’s Ice Cream
Parlours.
How can people purchase
your books?
The first editions of Oak
Park and Northland Mall are on
Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
All books, including second
editions and The Hill are only
available from me. People can
contact me via Facebook or my
website, JerryNaftaly.com, or
email GNaftaly@att.net directly
to purchase signed and personal-
ized copies of all the books.

Northland was
the home of
Ross Music

NAFTALY

A rendering of the proposed
Hudson City Market

CONTOUR DEVELOPMENT GROUP

BLACK WIDOW IS BACK;
ANOTHER LANSKY FLICK
Black Widow opens in
theaters on July 9 and
starts streaming on Disney
Premiere+ on the same
day. It’s another tale about
Natasha Romanoff aka the
Black Widow (BW). Marvel
Universe fans know that BW
died in Avengers: End Game
(2019). However, this film is
an End Game prequel, set
between the events depicted
in Civil War (2016) and Infinity
War (2018). The new flick
finds BW battling a serious
conspiracy.
Once again, Scarlett
Johansson, 36, plays BW.
Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz,
51, co-stars. She plays Melina
Vostokoff, a veteran member

of the Black Widow organi-
zation, a seasoned spy and
a mother-figure to Romanoff.



Lansky, a bio-pic about
famous Jewish gangster
Meyer Lansky, (1902-83)
opened in a few theaters
on June 25 and is avail-
able on-demand. Reviews
range from so/so to com-
plete pans. However, every
reviewer says that Harvey
Keitel, 82, is superb in the
title role. The premise is that a
terminally ill Lansky agrees to
a frank run-down of his career
with a reporter. But nothing
about their conversation will
be published until after his
death.
Variety says of Keitel: “[He]
commands attention not by
resorting to showboating…
but rather by conveying the
sometimes ingratiating, some-
times intimidating self-assur-
ance of someone who has
seen it all.”
The director and scriptwrit-

er, Eytan Rockaway, 35ish,
says he was inspired by
interviews with Lansky that
his father, Robert Rockaway,
81, an Israel-based historian,
did in 1973. Robert, a Detroit
native, earned his undergrad-
uate and grad degrees in
Michigan and is the author of
The Jews of Detroit: From the
Beginning (1986).
Almost all critics say that
flashbacks featuring the
young Lansky and subplots
involving the reporter and the
FBI just don’t work (the young
Lansky is played by John

Magaro, 38. He was raised
in his mother’s Jewish faith).
I want to believe Lansky’s
“Jewish avenger” stories
(repeated in the film). But
I take them with a grain
of salt because the main
source is Lansky and other
criminals. How many times
did Lansky (really) help
break up prewar American
Nazi rallies and how many
guns did he (really) run to
Israel during the Israeli War of
Independence?
Wanting clarity led me to
speak to Lansky’s grandson
a few years ago. He didn’t
know anything interesting
that he learned by virtue
of being a Lansky. What he
knew came from secondary
sources, and he had no clue
where Lansky’s reputed mil-
lions went after his death. He
was, however, smart enough
to trade on his family name
via TV and other paid appear-
ances.

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

IMDB

Black
Widow