COMFORTS OF HOME The GarBar is ready
for customers (who know the owner, John
Garbarino)
KICKING BACK AT
SLOPPY JOE’S
Joe Melvin, a news editor for
Union Bank of Switzerland, lives
across the street from Garbarino. A
year and a half ago, he constructed
his own bar, which he dubbed Sloppy
Joe’s. At the time, neither knew of
the other’s garage bar.
With some internet research and
Instagram inspiration, Melvin cre-
ated a homey, dive-themed bar that
includes neon lights, a fake brick
wall and a wall of Polaroids showing
guests who’ve been to Sloppy Joe’s
three times. There’s also lots of nos-
talgic memorabilia, including old Star
Wars toys, soccer shirts, tickets and
beer coasters from around the world
given to him by friends. “People give
me things and say, ‘This will look
great in your bar,’ and you know
that means ‘It won’t look great in the
house,’” laughs Melvin.
Melvin hails from Hoboken, a
two-square-mile city packed to the
brim with bars. After living there for
six years, he and his wife took their
two kids under 5 years old and, like
Garbarino and DiGiulio, headed to
the ‘burbs, “but after I put my kids
to bed at 7:30 p.m., I don’t want my
night to be over,” he says. “A lot of
people living in suburban areas don’t
have the capacity to hang out in a bar
— they have their kids inside, and
they’re not trying to have an all-night
rager. It’s very low key – you can
go out there in your shorts and flip
flops.”
FROM GARAGE TO
WATERING HOLE
No, sorry, you can’t stop by and
see these garage bars, so these photos
will have to do — they’re private
entertaining spaces for friends and
family, no different in theory from
a bar in the basement or a liquor
cabinet in the pool cabana. But, they
MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE BACK TO SCHOOL 2019
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