Sunday, July 27, 2008

Small City Feel

In the post below I list 'small city feel' as a reason I chose to live in Hoboken. I like that the downtown area is only 14 blocks long and centered mostly on Washington Street. I like the fact the fact that the city is a square mile (basically 16 blocks north to south and 15 blocks east to west) which allows one to walk easily just about anywhere. And with the densely packed population living in brownstones, row houses, and now new apartment buildings this city has the energy that 40,000 people can generate. Kind of best of both worlds.

When I was thinking of this point I thought of another small city I once lived in, Charleston, SC. The greater Charleston area had more than 500,000 people when I lived there in the early 90s but the downtown historic area south of Calhoun Street is probably only a little smaller than Hoboken with about the same amount of people. I mention this because Charleston is not next to a city the size of NYC. I found this made Charleston a more complete city. What I mean by this is that Hoboken is more homogeneous than Charleston at least with regard to age. What I found walking around Hoboken is a lot of young singles or couples with small kids. In Charleston there seemed to be more of a mix of young people, young families and senior citizens. To me that leaves something to be desired here in Hoboken.

Friday, July 25, 2008

So Why Hoboken?

Before I go into all of the pluses of Hoboken let me explain why it took me 18 years to come back. The main reason was commuting distances to the jobs I've had. After school I left the area to serve in the Navy for 6 1/2 years. I then returned to NJ but my job was in Allendale and I thought the commute would be too long so I rented a place in Montclair. Five years ago I moved to Port Jefferson Long Island to work for a medical device start up company out there. A year ago I moved to Manhattan and commuted to my job on Long Island. But this past May I was laid off and my lease was up and since I wanted to move back to NJ I thought Hoboken would be a good place to live.

So why is Hoboken such a good place to live? Here are a few reasons I like Hoboken:

  1. Small city feel. You can walk everywhere in Hoboken, its only a square mile! Plus most of the streets are lined with row houses or brownstones that are not much taller than 4 stories. I actually have a maple tree outside my front window. The neighbors are friendly and the two I've met have lived in their homes for 15 and 30 years.
  2. Less expensive. My place in Hoboken is larger than my Manhattan apartment but the rent is over $1000 cheaper. Granted my Manhattan apartment was near Lincoln Center with a great view of the NY State theater so we aren't completely comparing apples to apples. In addition restaurants are cheaper here in Hoboken and if you frequent the many byob restaurants you can save a lot on drinks. Lastly, if you work outside of NYC you don't have to pay the city tax.
  3. Great waterfront parks. While the waterfront parks are not as large or stretch as far along the coast as the Hudson River park in Manhattan the views are much more impressive from Hoboken, especially at night with a full moon.
  4. New York is close by. I have a few friends who live in Manhattan and Brooklyn and its nice to know that I can get to the city quickly via the Path, ferries or buses.
  5. Closer to family. My family lives in New Jersey, only a 25 minute drive away with no tunnel tolls!
Those are the main reasons I chose to move to Hoboken and after being here a month I think I made a good choice.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Back In Hoboken!

After 18 years I am back in Hoboken. I was a student at Stevens Tech living on campus in the late 80s and left after I graduated in 1990. A month ago, I moved back to Hoboken from Manhattan and now am living on Bloomfield St. in midtown, only a few blocks from the Stevens campus.

However, I should state that while it has been 18 years since I last lived here, it hasn't been that long since I was last in Hoboken. In fact in 2002 I was dating a woman who lived here and I spent quite a bit of time in Hoboken that year.

So I thought I would start this blog to record my observations on what it is like to live in Hoboken for someone who is 40. Hoboken is still a young town with many 20 somethings yet there appears to be quite a few people in their 30s and 40s who call Hoboken home. In fact one blogger who is in her 60s moved here last fall and has been blogging about her stay in Hoboken. Check it out here.

So stay tuned for more posts and please leave comments if you have any.