Signs on First Tell Story of Hoboken's Previous Retail Hub

For most of the 20th century, First Street, not Washington, was the commercial center of Hoboken. “In the '50s, there were stores almost as far down as you could walk,” said Nick Leone, who owns Gino’s Barber Shop at 363 First St. “Every housefront was a storefront.” And Hobokenites could find everything from work clothes and uniforms to fine apparel and shoes, as well as food and liquor. “We had stores that sold macaroni, just macaroni,” said Leone.

The street had thrived during World War I, when soldiers used it to get to their embarkation point on the coast of the Hudson River from the train station on Paterson Plank Road. The soldiers might have marched their way toward Washington, but there was also a trolley that ran from Jersey City all the way up the cobblestone street. “It was the main drag,” said Jude Fitzgibbons, a retired Hoboken building inspector. Though the street is still lined with businesses, it’s been decades since its heyday. Many stores, bars and theaters have gone, but some evidence of them remains in the old advertisements and signs seen along First Street.

Goodman’s

Near the corner of First and Washington is the painted sign for Goodman’s. Benjamin Goodman, whom everyone called Bob, was part of a small but thriving Jewish community that was well-represented among the shopkeepers on First Street. Goodman opened his store in 1923 in his early 20s. Locals who remember him say he was short and balding but tough and serious. “He was a businessman,” said Fitzgibbons. “Back then, that’s the way they were.”

Goodman owned other properties in town, but his store was his career. He called it a haberdashery, a term with European heritage, meaning a men’s outfitter. It had two entrances, one on Washington and another on First. Goodman sold nice pants and suits, belts and hats like walking caps and fedoras, but mostly work clothes. “They sold to the longshoremen, to the truck drivers, to the laborers,” said Hoboken’s City Historian Lenny Luizzi. And with all the industry in Hoboken – the factories, the piers and the railroad – Goodman had plenty of clients. “Everybody who was born and raised in Hoboken between 1923 and 1983, at one time or another, bought some kind of clothes at Goodman’s,” said Luizzi.

But as the years passed, the styles and local clientele changed. Leone said he never had a reason to go into Goodman’s since the merchandise was more the fashion of his father’s generation, not his. “We didn’t wear hats like that,” he said. But Goodman managed to hold on to the store until 1990, when he was 90. His son, Sal, a much taller and milder man than his father who’d worked in the store for decades, also retired at that time and moved to Florida after the last stock was sold.

When the first real estate office moved into the building, the Goodman’s sign remained on the side facing First Street. Luizzi said the new retailer’s management had plans to paint over it, but the Hoboken Historic Preservation Commission asked them not to, and they complied.

Hoboken Furniture

Hanging over a soccer store at 157 First St., the Hoboken Furniture sign is obviously outdated. Originally, however, it read “City” on the top and “Queen” down the side. City Queen was a diner that opened right after World War II. It had an art deco style with booths on one side and a counter with stools on the other. It was famous for its chili hot dogs, and diners could get a full breakfast – eggs, bacon, home fries and coffee – for $1.50.

But in 1972, City Queen became a furniture store, and as the sign now reads, it was called Hoboken Furniture. But it was not the original Hoboken Furniture, said Luizzi.

Ranieri’s Hoboken Furniture was referred to by locals without the surname of its founder, Anthony Archangelo Ranieri, an immigrant from Bari, Italy, who had worked his way up in the embroidery and upholstery businesses. Ranieri’s store was on the northwest corner of First and Bloomfield but moved to 129 Washington in 1938. But Hoboken had many furniture stores. “There was not much difference from one furniture store to another,” said Leone. “It just depended on the quality you wanted.” And the quality of the merchandise at the Hoboken Furniture on First Street was not as good as the items sold on Washington. “His furniture would not have been representative of what Hoboken is today,” said Luizzi.

Jefferson Trust Company

The old Jefferson Trust Company is on the corner of First and Clinton. It was a bank that crashed in the 1920s, and many locals lost their savings. “My mother lost money there,” said Leone. “My grandparents lost money there.” He added that in the decades that followed, several different manufacturers set up factories there, but the building had been vacant for many years before being recently renovated and converted into living space.

S. Zorn 

There was once a general store at 413 First St. The short tin awning that appears to have been painted over reads “Teas & Coffees,” but S. Zorn, the store owner whose name is on top of the sign, sold much more than just those items. “Mr. Zorn sold everything from mousetraps to fresh ground coffee,” said Leone. “It was really an odd place to go into.” To the right of the entrance was a large glass counter with glass jars filled with goodies. There was also an old-fashioned coffee grinder for the beans.

Leone said he remembers Zorn as a tall old man with a completely white head of hair and mustache. “He was a nice guy,” said Leone. “When you walked in the store, he didn’t look at you like you were a little kid and going to get in trouble or something.” Zorn was also a member of a family with an entrepreneurial spirit. His brother, Arthur M. Zorn, owned a housewares store on the southwest corner of Seventh and Washington that was, at one point, the oldest continuous store in Hoboken.

Zorn closed his shop in the 1960s, and the building was renovated to include apartments, not retail space, on the first floor.

First Street – and the rest of Hoboken – went through a tough time in the 1970s. There were riots and an exodus of residents. “Business was not as good,” said Leone. A lot of store owners got old, he said, and sold out. In addition, many of the original buildings on First Street were torn down and replaced with more residential space than retail. Now the population is also spreading to other streets, said Fitzgibbons, and so is the demand for goods and services. In a way, a little bit of First Street is now on every block.