Hoboken
08/21/03
John Stilgoe has pointed out that a lot of small towns in America consist of brick and masonry buildings of about the same vintage, generally because after the last of a series of catastrophic fires, the merchant class of the town was fed up and finally decided to rebuild in something other than wood.
That's how Hoboken feels, except it feels like it all happened in the last five years, after a fire in, say, 1997 that I wasn't previously aware of. All the buildings are 80 or 100 years old, but it looks like they all went up yesterday. There's not a speck of dirt anywhere in the main part of town; never have I seen so comprehensive a renovation. It's scary, actually, sort of like Disney swooped in and decided to build a turn-of-the-last-century theme park. As pretty as the buildings are -- and there are a lot of very pretty buildings -- they just don't feel real.
Oddly, I counted at least five or six enormous old school buildings that are now being put to more profitable uses. Where do today's children of Hoboken go to school?
(on a park bench)
8:30 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
your blog rocks, check mine out matt.blogs.com , went to urs off off photoblogs.org
Posted by: hoss at August 21, 2003 11:08 AM
Hoboken...my brother went to Steven's Institute of Technology, which is in Hoboken. It's such a yuppie town ;-)
Posted by: cakalusa at August 21, 2003 12:16 PM
How funny...I was just in Hoboken last night (and I'm returning tonight) and my roommate and I were talking about how strangely attractive the town is. I've been checking your log for a little over a month right now...your photographs have a fantastic way of making me feel crazy romantic about my adopted city (especially the outer-boroughs). Poorly done signage and strange Subway phenonemon make me flash, briefly--I wonder if he's taken a picture of this...
Posted by: meg at August 21, 2003 06:07 PM
I miss Hoboken. Used to live at 3d and Madison, right above a dry cleaners and across from a big vacant lot where kids would run their Rottweilers. Now the vacant lot is full of buildings just like the ones above, and I bet the apartment over the cleaners no longer goes for $700 a month...
Posted by: JCA at August 26, 2003 01:13 PM
Hi Mike:
I did not found any other way to contact you than this. I'm a journalist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, I'm very interested in flash mobs culture. I would like to answer you some questions for my article and also to see if you have some pics in high resolution of the most important mobs.
Regards
Fernando Garcia
fegarcia@redaccion.clarin.com.ar
Posted by: Fernando Garcia at August 26, 2003 05:02 PM
....good old hoboken..i was born and raised there in 1956,got my first car. my 1941 ford hot rod..then cruised hoboken.,washington street..the girls were like movie stars.. i have a queston.??..what ever happened to ables ice cream palor on 7th and washington street that was my hang out..what a great place lots of fun..and rock and roll..looking for any pictures of the place....any one have any..?? e-mail me at army197... AT...comcast...dot ..net....or ..skeets1958...at...comcast...dot net...thank you ...bobby slezak..
Posted by: bobby slezak at December 10, 2003 10:38 PM
I had a great apartment in Hoboken. My first one when I finally went on my own. I was 21 and paid $125 per month. I lived at 104 5th St. on the second floor. I bet it goes for over $1,000 now. My father owned many apartment buildings and I remeber rents like $45 and $60 per month. I realize that times change and prices become inflated over time; however, I think it is fucking nuts to pay big bucks to live in Hoboken. Even worse to pay big bucks to own property in Hoboken. Those that disagree, fine, knock yourself out.
Posted by: AL Ferriulo at February 20, 2004 12:27 AM
wat happened to the old hoboken that i used to know, the old hoboken all live long hoboken residents used to know, the one before all the rich yuppies moved to and completely changed our city, the fuckin yuppies made our city a homo-ass yuppies pussy city, i want the gritty, old-fashioned hoboken back where there was pride, not this influx of gay rich white yuppies
Posted by: jose at April 5, 2004 01:55 PM
same here jose :(