Hoboken

Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, is a city that owns my heart! The home of crooner Frank Sinatra, of the Cake Boss, Maxwell Coffee, Lipton Tea, Wonder Bread, the invention of the zipper, the movie On the Waterfront, and so much more!

After four years at New York University I moved to the Mile Square City on my graduation day simply because there was a room available for me at a decent price. This is often how New Yorkers decide where to live: What’s the monthly rate??

Okay, I said this is how New Yorkers decide to live but I live in New Jersey. NYC is made up of 5 boroughs and Hoboken is often referred to as the “6th Borough.” This tiny city boasts one of the best views of of the city skyline which Brooklyn will always argue this with us. Sorry Brooklyn, Hoboken’s view is better.

Just 25 minutes from Manhattan via a NYC-NJ subway called the PATH, the bus from Port Authority, or the ferry (my top recommendation for a tourist because of the view!), the city of Hoboken is much closer than most folks think. Many of my friends in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, say I live “so far away” because I’m in New Jersey. One of my favorite games is to tell them to text me when they leave their apartment and I’ll leave at the same time. Usually by the time they arrive at the bar in Midtown Manhattan. I’m on my second martini.

Hoboken is known as the Mile Square City because it’s basically a mile square in size. Technically it’s 1.2 square miles of land, 1 square mile of water rights in the river. These water rights are very important to the city’s development. Long before trains, and later cars, could travel under the water, Hoboken was considered to be the last stop on the rail line from all points on the continental USA. Goods and people would travel to and from Manhattan via ferry and load onto trains in this tiny city. So many train lines came in to Hoboken that during WWI it became the embarkation point and the return point for most troops shipping off to Europe.

During those years of the nineteen teens a common slogan was, “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken by Christmas,” said by troops hoping for a swift end to the war and a return home.

Other things Hoboken is known for? It’s here that the very fist successful steamboat was almost invented. A year after Robert Fulton sailed his boat named the Calermont up the Hudson river, American Revolutionary Colonel John Stevens, founder of Hoboken, sailed the first successful steamship on the Atlantic Ocean. Hoboken as we know it was founded by Colonel Stevens after the land was confiscated from a Tory (British) supporter during the war.

Previously it was a land the Lenape Native Americans frequented and named the area “Hoboken Hackingh,” which translates as “land of the tobacco pipe. Sadly very little of that history is still visible in Hoboken. Same with some of the original emigrants to the city, once upon a time is was known as “Little Bremen,” a name that was lost after round ups during WWI.

During the 20th century Hoboken became known as a blue collar city, the Depression years saw it as one of the poorest cities in the United States, today it is very different, known as a commuter city but still holds onto that old school charm. Every year the city has a Mutz competition (fresh made mozzarella) among it’s Italian delis, street festivals, and a Frank Sinatra sound alike that brings singers from across the globe.

I’ve called this tiny city home for twenty years now and I’d love to show you all it’s nooks and crannies, it’s Main Street, the view, it’s history, and bits and pieces in between!

Alison Rose Munn