Empty Doorway At Corner Of Hoboken Parking Lot Is Sad Reminder

HOBOKEN, NJ — Many people walk by a large, empty door frame on Hoboken's busy Washington Street every day with merely a quick glance — whether they're crossing the street to pass the famed Maxwell's rock club, or heading to their corner bus stop to Manhattan. But most don't know the reason for the empty parking lot behind the door. For others, the door frame and parking lot are a sad reminder of a dark time in the city's history.

The empty door frame, at the corner of what is now a parking lot at Eleventh and Washington streets, has been coming up in recent conversations during discussions of the mile-square city's painful gentrification 40 years ago.

In Hoboken in the early 1980s, entire families died in a string of fires that were ruled arson. Landlords were able to sell these properties to condo developers for top dollar. Since Hoboken is located directly across the Hudson River from Greenwich Village, apartments there have been in high demand by Manhattan commuters.

From 1978 to 1981, a spree of suspicious fires killed 30 children. Often, the names of the victims didn't appear in news stories, and no one was brought to justice. A New York Times story from 1979 bears the headline, "18 Die, 3 Missing in Hoboken Fire; 'Inferno' Believed Set"; another headline two years later read: "11 Die In Hoboken Fire Believed Set By Arsonist."

The fires have received renewed attention recently, partly because of a scholarly article published in September about gentrification in American cities that chronicled the "Hoboken arson wave" from 1978 to 1983. The author, Dylan Gottlieb of Princeton, also talked about the fires at an event last month at the Hoboken Historic Museum.

The fires also received renewed attention because last year, Rose Orozco — a retired nurse from Hoboken University Medical Center — founded the Hoboken Fire Victims Memorial Project.

At a City Council meeting in December, the council voted to place a plaque at a small park on 13th Street in Hoboken to remember the victims.

At that meeting, Orozco, now in her 70s, said she had made up her mind when she retired as a nurse to memorialize the victims someday.

"I can cry just remembering," Orozco said at the meeting, before the council vote. "There was an episode, three that I can remember, one was at The Pinter Hotel. It was essentially mothers and little babies and children who lived upstairs, a narrow building. Someone threw either lighter fluid or gasoline along the exits. There was no other way for folks to get out. The firemen came; they did what they could. Some of the mothers had a cloth. They put the babies in it. The mothers threw the babies out so that they could be saved, but the mothers and the other children died."

Five adults and seven children died in that fire, including two infants, according to online records.

Orozco added, "There was so much horrific stuff that happened. No one was ever held accountable. And all these years later, nobody wants to talk about these fires. What we have here in Hoboken now was because all of those people, and many of them were Hispanic. They were pushed out."

Today, Hoboken, with its gleaming waterfront condo buildings and 53,000 residents, has been recognized as one of the best places in America to live. But many of the newer residents don't know the city's dark history.

This month, local historians and residents will continue holding events to remember the victims. On Saturday, All Saints Episcopal Parish on Washington Street will lead a prayer walk starting at 10 a.m. to some of the fire locations "and those places of hope and renewal that grew out of these tragedies" (see photo above for sign). And at 4 p.m. March 15, the church will hold an interfaith service or remembrance.

The mysterious doorway

Among the locations that symbolize the fires, some residents have said that a large, empty doorway at 1101 Washington St. reminds them of what happened, when they walk by. While the doorway was not part of the original building that was destroyed there in an arson fire in 1980, it has made some residents think of a fire there, as well as many others in the gentrifying neighborhood.

Several residents said last week that they thought the doorway was part of the original building that burned down in July, 1980 in an arson fire. While the doorway and parking lot were built later, it reminds these residents of the wave of fires that scared the city.

At the December City Council meeting, Hoboken resident and activist Mary Ondrejka talked about the door and her memories of the fires.

"You had to be here [in Hoboken] at the time to understand just how horrible it was," she said. "And if people don't know, that parking lot at 11th and Washington that has the black framed doorway, was to commemorate people who lost their lives. Every time I walk by that …."

After her voice trailed off, she added, "You'd wake up in the middle of the night and smell smoke and try to find it. It's important that [a memorial] is done, because the stories were horrible. All these years later, I never forgot."

“A lot of times, folks [who died] were not named," Orozco said in December. "The intent of this [memorial project] is not to name every person. We will miss people. There were people sent to other hospitals. We don’t know who served and who didn’t. It’s to honor everyone.”

Margaret O'Brien, a longtime Hoboken resident, said recently that she remembered the fire at 1101 Washington St. and the images of mothers throwing children from the window. In that fire, several residents said, everyone survived.

Families were not always so fortunate.

An article posted on social media by members of the Fire Victims Memorial Project last year summed up the importance of their ongoing efforts.

"The vast majority of the victims were Hispanic women and children," they wrote. "In one arson incident alone, on January 2, 1979, 21 people died at 131 Clinton St. There has been no official recognition or remembrance in the mile-square city …. In their place, new residents moved into refurbished condos having no idea what occurred at an old tenement building before their arrival."

Ondrejka said Monday, "I think it is extremely important to understand the arson that took place in Hoboken, because human beings lost their lives and no one was prosecuted for any of them. There have always been ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ in the world, but gearing everything toward luxury and people that have money is not a democratic, fair and morally-based society."

She added, "All people, of all backgrounds, financial situations, make up a community and contribute to it."

The memorial group frequently updates its Facebook page with events and links here.

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