b'The Jewel ofMaplewood VillageBeacon Jewelers keeps shining 57 years laterBY ROSE BENNETT GILBERTTony Giasullo and his daughter Joanne Santan-gelo at their store, Beacon Jewelers, in Maple-wood Village.A nthonyGiasullo,ownerange, on Main Street, right by the old Beacon Hilling in Vailsburg.) He soon came back with plans andmastercreativeatTheater, which lent its name to the new enterprise. hed drawn up himself for his Beacon Jewelers.Beacon Jewelers in Maple- Years later, Tony would also borrow the nameMydadhadBeacon,EastOrange.Ihad wood,wasbornintothefor his own Beacon Jewelers, a fixture in down- Beacon, Maple-jewelryindustryandhastownMaplewoodsinceOctober1968.Neverwood,hesaid. the photos to prove it.mind that he had flirted with the idea of a dif- It, too, is a fam-Ask and hell bring themferent career. He even spent three years at NYU,ilyoperation. out: large, framed photos of the entire staff of Shi- studying advertising.Tonypresides man Mfg. Co., one of some three dozen manufac- But I knew all along what I was going to be: aoverthework-turers that once combined to make Newark thejeweler. Growing up, he worked side-by-side withroominthe jewelry capital of the world. his father, who built a kid-sized jewelers bench forback. My sister There, in the upper left of the photo sits babylittle Tony. Its a passion. The only surprise in hisand I grew up in Tony between his mother and father, both of themdecision was its location: Maplewood. this workroom, involved in the precious metals business that flour- I didnt even know Maplewood existed, hesaysdaughter ished in the mid-19 thand early 20 thcenturies. Inchuckles.WewerechristeningbabydaughterJoanneSantan- Tony Giasullo, 3 years old, sits the photo, its 1941, and Tony is 3 years old. HisJoanne, and I came here looking for wine for thegelo.Nowshebetween his parents at a picnic father, trained in watchmaking, was already layingparty. Tony was attracted, he said, because Maple- minds the storefor the staff of Shiman Mfg. Co, a plans to create his own jewelry store in East Or- wood was quiet and close. (They were then liv- outfront.Forjewelry manufacturer in Newark where his father worked.feature story /35'