Passaic climbs a little as it pulls away from the water, and on those upper streets the evening arrives slow and warm with half the block out on the steps. Santos & Sons Landscaping cuts and trims through those long weeks — mowing, edging along curbs and walks, hedges kept back off the path, beds mulched and weeded, clippings carried away. Late summer is the season that tells you honestly whether a lawn has been looked after all year. The leaves get taken out in November, and the beds get opened again as soon as the ground gives in spring. Steady hands, week after week, on the yards of an unshowy city.