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About the The Garden State Region

ALPCA

The Automobile License Plate Collector’s Association (ALPCA) was established 1954 in New Hampshire by Dr. Cecil George, a psychiatrist, and Asa Colby, a postmaster. The small club they started grew into an international organization with over 3000 members in the United States and throughout the world.

Members receive a bi-monthly color magazine about license plates past and present, access to ALPCA’s extensive online archives, plus instant respect and fellowship with other like-minded people.

Every year ALPCA hosts a four day convention in June or July which attracts members from across the United States as well as around the world. Members, swap plates and stories by day and attend events in the host city at night.

Members attend smaller meets across the country and around the world. Some of these meets are independent of the club, however most of the meets are affiliated with ALPCA and are called Regions. There are eighteen separate regions throughout the United States.

ALPCA Region #1

The history of ALPCA Region #1 goes back to September 1966. A few collectors from New Jersey and neighboring states got together twice a year to swap tin while enjoying each other as friends. Besides the Garden State, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania formed the rest of ALPCA Region #1. Frank German from Hamilton Square in southern New Jersey became the contact person for the state and answered questions from New Jersey ALPCA members.

Throughout the years Region #1 held two meets, a spring meet held in Pennsylvania the Saturday following Easter and a fall meet held in New Jersey down the shore the Saturday following Labor Day. These meets continued into the early nineties and stopped when one of the meet coordinators moved to Florida. Region #1 started again with a meet hosted in June in Pennslyvania

ALPCA Garden State RegionThe Garden State Region

In the winter of 2008 Justin Mattes and Marco Tramelli wanted to bring a license plate meet back to New Jersey. After many obstacles and talks with the ALPCA Board of Directors, the Garden State Region was founded. Our first meet was held on November 13, 2008 at the Tice Community Center located in Woodcliff Lake. Over forty collectors traveled from as far away as Michigan and Canada to attend the meet, a number unheard of for first time meets. The meet’s success was a result of the hard work of a few core New Jersey ALPCA members and their supporters

The Garden State Region continues to grow as the years pass. With the help and support of a very dedicated group of collectors, the Garden State has become one of the fastest growing regions in ALPCA. Here’s to many more years of success!