Factories And Family Favorites In Hoboken

This piece is dedicated to the late Hoboken Red Wing Teacher and Coach Michael Jacobson, who recently passed away.

HOBOKEN, NJ — The big box stores were not in sight in the late ‘50s with Two Guys from Harrison and Sears, a tiny drive away. The more adventurous Hoboken shoppers took the 21 Bus exploring the splendid spread of shopping choices of Bergeline Avenue stores traversing through many Hudson County towns. On-line shopping like Amazon were on the Starship Enterprise with no potential available landing area.

Bergen Malls and Secaucus Outlets were not yet on the horizon, so the browsing expedition for bargain hunting was relegated mainly to Washington Street, Hoboken’s version of New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Many of the uptown moms and dads worked in our big box factories, most located east of Willow Avenue, Lipton Tea, Tootsie Roll, Hostess, Bethlehem Steel and of course, Maxwell House Coffee.

The average hourly wages ranged from $2.25 to $2.75 an hour so our families did their prudent uptown for the essentials at Catherine’s Deli, ran a monthly tab, Saratoga Meat Market, Tom the friendly butcher, Schoening’s Bakery, (crumb cakes and jelly donuts were divine) O’Grady’s Deli, (the fabulous fish cakes especially on Friday for the devoted Catholics during lent) Tony’s Fruit and Vegetables, the delicious water melon slices from Jerry Blum. Liquor stores were as frequent as the uptown bars with Eddies, Shulers, Fair Wine and Liquor, Matthews, Alvin’s, and all with the local delivery boys.

The larger supermarket A & P, located on Tenth and Washington Street with Gold’s Luncheonette a few doors down offering a banana split. Candy stores in abundance going uptown, Matthews, Ray’s, Sids’s, (hope he was in a good mood) Kleeters, remember the cool business coats of the brothers, hair cuts at Pat’s and Vinny’s, John’s, D and V, Joe the barber and Sam and Nick’s. People worked in town, went to church in town, spent their money locally with the occasional venture a few miles north of the Mile Square, on the Number 5 bus to Journal Square.

There was something special about working, living, spending and praying in the same city, although some prayers might be guided to hitting the next day’s numbers! A gallon of gas was 25 cents, a postage stamp four cents, the average income around $4,750 and a new Ford $2,200, rents barely breaking $75 a month.

If the uptowners went beyond Ninth Street the Jitney bus near the 14th Street billboards was always available to shop at Geismer’s Clothing , Queens Department Store where seasonal Christmas trees were sold as well. The Town Lunch for a burger and fries. Lofts Special Chocolate Shop, (which was on par with today’s Godiva) heading back north to the Flying Pizza for a slice by Angel on Tenth Street.

No one ever thought the individual stores of employment would leave yet the first tremor to
derail came from Hostess, Tootsie Roll and Lipton Tea in the ‘60s, followed by a larger seismic shift with Maxwell House Coffee, delivering the final smokestack blow.

The blue-collar industries vanished, newcomers were attracted by the unique transportation hub of the Path (tubes) busses, ferries, and trains to other areas of work. Ofcourse the safety of the town was big asset as well. Many have settled and made Hoboken their home, side by side with the old timers who stayed. The places that made Twinkies, Tootsie Roll Pops, slices of Wonder Bread, and tea and coffee gone.

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time, what we want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

Over a glass of Lipton ice tea and a cup of “Good to the last drop,” remember the smell of coffee on cloudy days and if you lived uptown, knowing full well your mom and dad would tell you, it’s going to rain tomorrow, and it did!

This piece was written by Dennis Sevano. The views expressed here are the author's own.