Every couple of months, I get an email from someone looking to raise a family in Hoboken. They always ask where families live. My sense is that most families live in northeast Hoboken, near Elysian Park.

However, there are families all over Hoboken, and child activities are scattered all across town, from Romparoo (midtown) to Kidville (uptown) and Monroe Center (west side). The majority of children's stores are on Washington Street.

When my family outgrew our Hoboken two-bedroom, our choice was between South West Hoboken and the suburbs. The amount of space, pricing and amenities are very comparable, so it came down to a lifestyle choice. We were already living in South West Hoboken, and we love the area. We initially moved here because of Grimaldi's Pizza (an institution at our former Brooklyn Heights home). When we discovered First Street and the Light Rail, we were sold.

First Street abounds with small businesses ranging from the everyday (dry cleaners, nail salons, convenience stores, restaurants and pubs) to the high-end (spas and a bath/beauty boutique) and eclectic (comic book/antique jewelry shop and vintage guitar stores). Every First Street business owner I have encountered is uniformly friendly and helpful, remembers my kids' names and goes out of his way to find whatever we ask for. It reminds me of that line in the Cheers theme song, "Where everybody knows your name."

Every time I walk along First Street, I always see unusual businesses that I want to check out. And most of the time they're kid friendly.  My daughter recently started taking lessons at Hoboken Golf, and I stopped into Guitar Bar to learn children from the age of 5 can take piano and drum lessons. 

While not specifically geared toward toddlers, many of the businesses on and around First Street are conducive to family-friendly living. My husband and daughter often take long weekend walks to a local playground sprinkler park, then stop off at a 24-hour convenience store for snacks. The highlight of those walks is going to Hoboken Fish & Pets (unfortunately going out of business), where my daughter visits the fish and buys treats for our dog.

My husband and I loved living in Brooklyn Heights, but First Street reminds us very much of the quaint charm of Montague Street twenty years ago.

To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://hobokenmomcondo.com/momblog and follow her at http://twitter.com/zhobokenmom