6abc's My Hometown | Alyzana Gomez takes us to her childhood home Collingswood, NJ

We're going on a road trip! Woohoo! Island, velvet! I'm done. Where's my seat belt? We're off! Road trip! Who brought the snacks? Free snacks? Nobody brought snacks. I didn't want to get crumbs in the car. So I was born in Philly and when I was four we moved to Collingswood and we lived in the apartment building. And then in sixth grade my mom bought a house over here. So you lived in Collingswood? My whole life, yeah. Just in different spots? Yeah, my mom was a single mom. I started babysitting at like 13. At 14 I was a lifeguard. I used to go and get my nails done. My mom was like, I'm not paying for your nails. So you work to support your nails. I work to support my nails. Right here, it used to be called the Tortilla Press, but when I was 15, I got my first job as a hostess. I used to eat there. I wonder if you were a hostess, and I didn't even know it was you, right? I went to preschool right here. And then here's Collingswood High School. I remember when there was that big blizzard. My mom's red Thunderbird broke down. We were trudging through the snow to the little quick stop. Coming up, oh, Di Bartola's Bakery. Now it's Doggy Style Pet. Okay, that was our bakery. That is the Wawa where I spent most of my days and nights. I used to sneak out of the house to go get a BLT in the middle of the night. This is my old house here, right there. I lived right down this block here. My family still lives there, so we'll keep their privacy. This is a street I grew up on. We didn't have any school buses, so we always walked to school. My old elementary school, Tatum Elementary, is down there. I had such great memories, just like riding my bike around here. I remember my mom was always like, make sure you wear your helmet, and once we got down here, we're like, helmet off, it's messing up our hair. My best friend, Lisa, lived right down on this block. My friends, Kevin and Aaron, lived this way, so we'd all just kind of meet up at the end of the block here. We'd walk around in groups of like 15. We'd always go up to the Wawa, which I'm so sick of. My dad is gone, I was so surprised. That was our main hangout. And then the police would come up like, stop loitering, it's almost 10 o'clock, you gotta go home. And they'd make sure we all got home. I remember Mr. Whitehead lived down there. He would always tell my mom whenever he saw me doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing, thank you for looking out for me, Mr. Whitehead. And I used to work at the Cherry Hill Mall. Which store? I used to work at Fossil. Oh yeah. Yeah, and Buca di Beppo. And then the Mayfair. It was nice living here because we could just walk straight up. They would shut down Haddon Avenue. If you've ever had an avenue and you haven't tried one of the restaurants in Collingswood, you are missing out. You can see how happy you are just talking about your old hometown. I love Collingswood. I actually looked at coming back to Collingswood when I moved back to the area. The commute from Collingswood to 6 ABC was a little rough. My mom is a big news watcher, so we always grew up watching Action News in our house. And I remember watching Rick and seeing Jim. I never thought that I would be on TV though. I didn't see a lot of people who looked like me as a kid. As I got older and I got into college, I was like, I think I I can do this. I got to get back to Philly and I got to get to 6 ABC. Like that was the goal and here we are. And we're so glad you are. Thank you. This was where we play baseball. We play dodgeball in the street. How about a little street hockey? Let's do it! All right teams, one to twos. Ready? One, two, three. We're gonna have to cheat. All right, game on. Let's go! Go. I mean, get it. Go. Wait. We only have one goal, how do we, we just. Yes, yes, oh. Car, clear, let's go. I think that counts! It does not count. I think that counts! It does not count. I think that counts! We were not set up. My big chance! Come on, Karen. Let's see if you can get past me. Oh! My money maker! Oh, that's why I'm aiming for it. She shoots, she scores, she wins! All right, I got one more place. Let's do it! Come on, come on! Okay, we're carrying things. Here we go. Over here is Knights Park. I play field hockey over here and lacrosse. And you played softball too, right? Yeah. So this is like the big main park in Collingswood. It was owned by a family. I used to live in that house and we always used to like make up little like stories about the family. This would be a great place for like a haunted house. They used to do a haunted hayride. Oh, perfect. Yeah. We've arrived. Here we are in Knights Park. This was the center of East and West Collingswood. I played field hockey and lacrosse right over there. There's a pavilion down that way where we used to have like our family barbecues and gatherings. I remember the Easter Bunny used to come around there all the time. We'd all take our prom photos in this park. I took my maternity pictures in this park right over there by that creek. I know when it was really icy, people would try to ice skate. Lots of memories here. Eliana, what was your favorite thing to do in the playground? The slides, the swings. Oh, I remember jumping on this thing. Thanks. Woo! You ready, Calvin? I'm ready. Let's do it. We've got the swings over here. I think this is actually the same swing set from when I was a kid. Oh, so it should be really safe. And look, we've got four swings for the four of us. It's meant to be. Wait, I need a push. Now my competitive side is coming out. You've got to close your eyes and lean back. Don't fall, though. Oh, that made me dizzy. Who can go all the way around? Nobody's going around, Matt. You ever feel like a little queasy on the swing now as an adult? With these knuckleheads on it, sure, I feel it shaking. Matt, you're really high. I'm a little worried about you. If you make the swing set fall over... We're over the weight limit. Damn it! He's gonna have some treats. Spin, spin, spin. Matt's cringing at all of us touching him at the same time. Okay, that's enough. I'm falling. You ready? Let it go, let it go. Let's go. Don't get sick, Matt. I got to get down. It's not safe. It's not safe. This seems like a terrible idea. Oh my god. We saved you. So we had a great day in New Jersey. It was a lot of fun seeing your hometown. Bye. Don't swing too high. Don't do what he does.