THE HALL

One of the oldest Black communities in New Jersey — its own name, its own post office, its own story for over a hundred years. Told by the people who lived it.

Release date: August 27, 2027

Vauxhall, NJ 07088 · Union Twp.

The film will stream right here on this site.

From Quinten

Thank you for trusting me with your memories.

Since word of this film began to spread, my phone has not stopped. Calls. Texts. Names of people I should talk to. Stories offered before I could even ask. Photos people have kept safe for decades, suddenly being pulled out of drawers and albums because somebody finally wants to hear what they hold.

Every single call and text has humbled me more than I can say. You didn't have to trust me with your memories — and you did. I don't take that lightly, and I never will.

If you're reading this and thinking, "I have a story, but it's probably not important" — I'm asking you to reach out anyway. It is important. The street you grew up on. The church your grandmother never missed. The pool club, the farms, the market on the corner. The big moments matter, but so do the small ones — sometimes the small ones carry the most truth.

This project started as history, but it hasn't stayed that way. These aren't just facts and dates — this is people's lives. Their mothers and fathers. Their childhoods. Their losses and their pride. That's the spirit this film is being made in, and that's the promise I'm making you: your story will be handled like it matters, because to me, it does.

— Quinten Ford, Filmmaker · Let's Talk

Vauxhall at a glance

• Where: A section of Union Township, Union County — ZIP 07088

• Known for: One of the oldest Black communities in New Jersey, with its own name and its own post office

• The sign: The Vauxhall welcome sign stands at 2045 Springfield Ave

• The landmarks: Jefferson School and Davis Park first — plus Great Eastern, Union Market, and Valley Fair

• The heart: Springfield Ave, the churches, the parks — and 58 streets of families

• The film: THE HALL arrives August 27, 2027, and will stream right here

The Film

A community tells its own story.

THE HALL is a feature documentary about Vauxhall, New Jersey — the families, the streets, the schools, the churches, and the changes watched over a lifetime. Not a history lesson from the outside. Vauxhall, in Vauxhall's words.

The people: Longtime residents, families, church members, and elders whose stories need to be recorded now.

The places: Jefferson School and Davis Park. Brookside Swim Club. Great Eastern, Union Market, Valley Fair. Springfield Ave to Stiles Street — the places that held everybody.

The photographs: Family albums, keepsakes, and pictures of places gone and places still standing — handled with care, returned to you.

The promise: So a child growing up in Vauxhall fifty years from now can press play and hear this community tell its own story.

Official poster · A Let's Talk Documentary

This site is where you'll watch it. When the film is finished, THE HALL will stream here — members / paid access will open closer to release. Until then, this is the landing spot: follow the making of the film, explore Vauxhall's history, and add your story to it.

The Story of Vauxhall

Places that hold us.

Two landmarks stand above the rest — Jefferson School and Davis Park. Start there. Then the shopping landmarks everybody names in the same breath: Great Eastern, Union Market, and Valley Fair.

Jefferson School · Sept 2007

Central Five–Jefferson School — The school at the center of it all. 155 Hilton Ave. Generations of Vauxhall kids walked to this school — it's one of the two big landmarks of this community, and one of the first places people name when they talk about growing up here. This is Jefferson as it stood in September 2007, before the 2012–13 rebuild; the school reopened in September 2013. If you went here, your classroom, your teacher, and your walk to school are part of this film.

Davis Park · Sept 2012

Huebert Davis Park — Sgt. Herbert F. Davis Memorial Park. The other big landmark. The courts, the field, the games, the cookouts, the whole neighborhood outside in the summer — Davis Park is where Vauxhall gathered. You can read the park's name right on the sign in this September 2012 view of the courts.

The Davis Park field, October 2007.

Brookside · 1958

Brookside Swim Club — Where Whole Foods stands now. In 1958, LIFE magazine photographed hundreds of kids hula hooping on the Brookside lawn — the club's endurance record was 3,000 spins by a ten-year-old boy. The swim club stood at 2245 Springfield Ave, where Whole Foods is today. For a lot of Vauxhall, "the pool club" was summertime.

Springfield Ave · Sept 2007

Springfield Avenue — The corridor everybody remembers. The older Springfield Ave — the storefront row at 2045, Jersey Fried Chicken, the hair shop, G.H. Variety Store & Grocery — before the big-box redevelopment changed the corridor. The welcome sign still stands here. So do the memories of every shop that's gone.

The Sign · Springfield Ave

The Vauxhall Sign — 2045 Springfield Ave. The welcome sign is the face of the film — it's on the poster, the title card, and the top of this page. It marks the ground this whole story stands on. If your Vauxhall starts at that sign, tell us what was waiting for you down the road from it.

Great Eastern

One of the shopping landmarks Vauxhall names first. Trips there, jobs there, running into everybody you knew in the aisles — if Great Eastern is in your story, it belongs in this film.

Union Market

The market everybody remembers — Union Market Place. The corner, the counters, the people behind them. We're still collecting photos of it, so if your family kept one, we need to see it.

Valley Fair

Valley Fair rounds out the landmark run — the other big shopping trip that meant you were going somewhere. Who took you, what did you get, and who did you see there?

The Barn — For the Boomers

The Barn — on Vauxhall Road at Valley Street. This one is for the Boomers. Was you there? Who remembers? If The Barn is part of your Vauxhall, we need your story — and any photos you kept.

Who remembers…?

The places Quinten hears about again and again. If one of these is yours, we want your photos and your version of it — especially the ones no public archive has.

• Jefferson School

• Davis Park

• Great Eastern

• Union Market

• Valley Fair

• The Barn — Vauxhall Rd at Valley St

• Bam Woods

• The pool club

• The farms

• The horse stable

• Ott's Market

• The old post office — Springfield Ave at Tower St

• Robert P. Kearse Memorial Park

• Vauxhall Historical Society — 333 Russell St

Roll Call

58 streets. Every one has a story.

Find your street. Check in. The cookouts, the block parties, the house everybody ended up at, walking these streets to school — that's the film.

1. What street did you grow up on — or live on now?

2. Who was on your block? The elder everybody respected, the family everybody knew.

3. What's one thing about your street that only Vauxhall people would know?

The streets as printed on the Vauxhall shirt — the roll call that started this section.

• Amboy St

• Arcadia Pl

• Astoria Pl

• Atlanta Ave

• Augustine Pl

• Baltimore Pl

• Bertha Ave

• E Branch Pl

• Brunswick Ave

• Burkley Pl

• Byron Terr

• Carnegie Pl

• Catherine St

• Chicago St

• Crestview Ave

• Cross St

• Elm St

• Emily Ave

• Farrington St

• Franklin St

• Girard Ave

• Hilton Ave

• Indiana St

• Hunt Ave

• Laurel Ave

• W Line Ave

• Maple Ave

• Martha Ave

• Mary Ave

• Marion St

• May Terr

• Mildred Terr

• Miller St

• Millburn Ave

• Montclair Ave

• Muir Pl

• Ohio St

• Oregon St

• Orleans Pl

• Oswald Pl

• Perry Ave

• Raymond Terr

• Revere Ave

• Roselyn Pl

• Russell St

• E Side Ave

• W Side Ave

• Smith St

• Sophia Ave

• Springfield Ave

• Stiles St

• Tebe Pl

• Tower St

• Tuxedo Pl

• Valley St

• Vauxhall Rd

• Waldorf Pl

• Windsor Ave

Trailer coming soon.

Footage is being gathered now — interviews, streets, and the places above. When the trailer is ready, it premieres here first.

Now: Collecting stories & filming. Interviews, family photos, and street-by-street memories across Vauxhall.

Next: Trailer premiere — here. The first look at THE HALL lands on this page before anywhere else.

Aug 27, 2027: The film opens here. Streaming access opens on this site for release day.

Share your story.

No story is too small, and it is not too late to be part of this. A conversation can be as short as a few minutes, wherever you're comfortable — and nothing you share will be used in the film without your permission.

Your stories: Growing up in Vauxhall — the families, the streets, the schools, the churches, the changes you've watched over a lifetime.

Your photographs: Old pictures of the neighborhood, the people, the places gone and still standing. If you let us scan them, they come right back to you, handled with care.

Your names: Tell us who else to talk to — the elder whose story needs recording now, the family everybody knows. Don't assume someone else already told us.