Ramallah restaurant, Awni Abu-Hadba Jewelry, Jerusalem Restaurant. In the past several years they have transformed South Paterson into a place where Arabs can be at home. South Paterson is no longer a neighborhood with Arabic shops. It is an Arabic neighborhood. It has become like a Middle Eastern shopping center.
Some people come here and they stay for hours.
There's hardly anything an Arab can't do in South Paterson, and do in Arabic. There are doctors, lawyers, accountants, barbers, chiropractors, insurance agents, travel agents, mosques, and churches. It's Saturday afternoon and Main Street is packed. The grown-ups have quick conversations and shout greetings to one another, all in Arabic. A car speeds by blaring Middle Eastern music.