Frankie Valli Honored With His Own Newark Street

Frankie Valli grew up in Newark’s North Ward, a lower-middle class Italian neighborhood, in a public housing project. He came back April 27 to get a street named after him, Frankie Valli Way. The Four Seasons star seemed “visibly moved,” according to reporter Mark J. Bonamo. Among the friends, family and fans in attendance was singer/actor Dom Scaglione, himself a Jersey Boy from Belleville, who portrayed Valli on Broadway.

Valli said to news media, “I remember growing up as a kid, and how tough things were. A lot of the enthusiasm that came to me came out of the fact that I had people here who loved and supported me.”

When his name was unveiled for the first time at the corner of Stephen Crane Plaza and Franklin Avenue, he told the online Tap Into Newark news site, “my mother lived here and died here. This neighborhood gave me what I needed to know that I wanted more in life, then I worked hard. I never knew for sure how far it would go, or if I would be successful. But I was never going to stop trying.”