Nancy Drew and The Mystery of the Blooming Cactus

Livingston has its own Nancy Drew, a grandmother who recently helped local police nab a suspected who tried to conceal the tags of his getaway car with tissues.

This week, the senior sleuth found herself solving another mystery, this time an especially prickly case we’re calling the Mystery of the Blooming Cactus.

Much to our surprise, the clues led from a secret garden to a hidden museum behind a row of shops on Mount Pleasant Avenue.

Livingston’s Nancy Drew prefers to walk than drive a nifty blue roadster like the one in the famous girl detective novels. But if you follow Nancy’s footsteps you’re almost guaranteed to uncover a mystery. Take the case of the cacti. Nancy spotted a small patch of blooming cactus in an unlikely location, Livingston, New Jersey. Better suited for the desert, Nancy knew she had stumbled upon an oddity.

She invited another super sleuth to share in her discovery. Patch couldn’t resist seeing the cactus patch and set out for the secret location. The “secret” spot wasn’t so secret though. In fact, the cacti are in plain view of anyone buzzing down Mount Pleasant Avenue. But only a bee gorging itself on cactus pollen seemed to notice.

While I wondered how the cacti ended up on this stretch of Route 10, Nancy Drew already had it figured out. All signs pointed to the sign man’s shop behind the row of stores. Nancy Drew is smart. Of course, the cacti did happen to grow under the “Vital Signs” sign.

Perry Crimi, the sign man, knew all about the cacti patch. "It bloomed a week ago with 100 flowers. It's wild," he said.

What’s also wild is “Vital Signs.” The shop is a treasure trove of artifacts from his trade, lettered wood carvings, truck lettering, hand lettering, bronze-cast plaques. Crimi’s a cartoonist as well -- and an antique bargain hunter.  It’s all ended up in the shop he opened in Livingston about 16 years ago after moving every lock, stock and barrel from South Orange.

“People throw things away and they land on my doorstep,” says Crimi. Old things, like rotary phones, dozens of signs, photos of Perry Como (his namesake), and reminders of his proud Sicilian roots.

Crimi graduated from Livingston High School in 1980, the same year as New Jersey’s governor. He played football with Chris Christie and recalled an afternoon when the future governor drove him home to pick up a pair of forgotten cleats.

The cactus came from a friend at the Atlantic Highlands, which Crimi planted three years ago along the highway. “They like distressed areas," he said. It doesn’t get more distressed than an asphalt and gravel garden on Route 10.

With the Mystery of the Blooming Cactus solved, we're already looking forward to the next time Patch can match wits off the beaten path with Livingston’s Nancy Drew.