Lost Hoboken
The past of Hoboken, drowning under cheap condos.
Today, Hoboken is a commuter bedroom community, mostly servicing recent college graduates with their first jobs in NYC who don't want (or can't afford) to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn; or slightly older commuters that don't want to raise kids in the city. Endless new condos and stores have swept over the city to service them, washing away all that came before.
Before it was a Bridge & Tunnel paradise, it was an artist colony, picking over the cheap rents and available industrial spaces as an alternative to the same places the "yuppies" also consider today. But before that, Hoboken was a working-class, industrial dock city almost since its inception. Very little of that working-class past (or even the artist phase that follows) remains, usually in yet-undeveloped corners of the city or sometimes tucked away or exposed by new constructions.
This is a collection of old commercial signage and buildings from the past of the city that I've encountered while walking around. Every year, more and more disappears under condos, athletic clubs, and boutique stores. Old residential or mixed-use buildings are regularly torn down to avoid rent control obligations. This is my small effort to capture some of it before it is completely gone.
Sometimes a sign is only viewable when looking at a certain angle at a certain time of day. If you know of any that I've missed, please feel free to email me. Everything is geotagged if you're interested in taking a look yourself.
Today, Hoboken is a commuter bedroom community, mostly servicing recent college graduates with their first jobs in NYC who don't want (or can't afford) to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn; or slightly older commuters that don't want to raise kids in the city. Endless new condos and stores have swept over the city to service them, washing away all that came before.
Before it was a Bridge & Tunnel paradise, it was an artist colony, picking over the cheap rents and available industrial spaces as an alternative to the same places the "yuppies" also consider today. But before that, Hoboken was a working-class, industrial dock city almost since its inception. Very little of that working-class past (or even the artist phase that follows) remains, usually in yet-undeveloped corners of the city or sometimes tucked away or exposed by new constructions.
This is a collection of old commercial signage and buildings from the past of the city that I've encountered while walking around. Every year, more and more disappears under condos, athletic clubs, and boutique stores. Old residential or mixed-use buildings are regularly torn down to avoid rent control obligations. This is my small effort to capture some of it before it is completely gone.
Sometimes a sign is only viewable when looking at a certain angle at a certain time of day. If you know of any that I've missed, please feel free to email me. Everything is geotagged if you're interested in taking a look yourself.
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