Other myths of Hoboken:
- more bars per square mile than any other place in the world. Wrong. Ever heard of a city called Dublin?
- baseball was invented there. Wrong answer, take a trip to Cooperstown.
- rent is 30% cheaper in Hoboken than the Upper West Side. Compared to WHAT?

When I get dragged there, I am like Steve McQueen: just planning my great escape, back through the tunnel.

eh... not all that keen on hoboken - the people or the "city" - live in jersey city (yeah yeah... mock me... at least i am in a brownstone and no one's gotten murdered within a 2 block radius of me in 4 years)and i agree, there's nothing like nyc... lived at 43rd & 11th for awhile with barry white as my downstairs neighbor and jay mohr living on the same floor... who lives in hoboken anymore? joey pants from the sopranos? (i know no one lives in JC...except queen latifah had a video store near me at one point that rented bootlegs)

PAUL EDITED OUT THIS COMMENT BECAUSE IT WAS LEFT BY A WOMAN WHO CLAIMED TO KNOW HIM AND WAS PROVEN TO BE A FAKE. SEE BELOW.

That woman doesn't know me. And I don't know her.

The comment was from jennifer_maddux@yahoo.com. I e-mailed her to see how she supposedly knew me. She replied and tried to scare me by mentioning a coworker's full name (who didn't know her) and my phone number -- stuff any idiot could find online -- and threatened to "reveal secrets" about me. When I challenged her to disclose any info that's not public, she couldn't. She's a psycho bitch with a search engine. And, with a hobby like hers, a harrassment case in her future.

So, if you get correspondence from Jennifer Maddux (jennifer_maddux@yahoo.com), it's bullshit.

---

Anyway, the reason I mentioned the Mercedes dealership is to insinuate that one can buy anything in 10 minutes in New York. Need a Land Rover? There's a dealership 10 minutes away. New TV? 10 minutes? 4-star meal? 10 minutes. Bottom line is that we pay for convenience, among other things.

Next time I'll make that clearer.

By the way, the folks at Hobokeni.com e-mailed me to say they thought the piece was funny. So have my Hoboken coworkers. But Jennifer Maddux? What a bitch.

I thoroughly enjoyed the account of Hoboken. It appears as if you were heated when you wrote it, which made it even better. My favorite part is the reference to the Firebird. You know it's one of the ones from the 80's too, with the huge bird painted on the hood (think Billy Madison).

All the stuff you said about Hoboken is exactly why people like you with NY attitudes don’t move here, allowing us Hobokenites to have ample space
(both inside AND outside our apartments), along with a view of the NYC skyline that you don’t -- so please, please keep writing things like that, because it's EXACTLY what we want you to do! Why should we have to share?

And you'll notice that when Hobokenites are in NY, we don't constantly complain about being in NY like New Yorkers do about New Jersey. It's not because things are better in NY. It's because we know what we've got and don't want to share. Looks like you guys have a weird chip on your shoulder and need to constantly reassert your New Yorkness. That's fine - the rest of the world doesn't have to exist in your mind if you don't want it to.

P.S.

In reading some of the comments above, you guys seem to know an awful lot about Hoboken and Jersey City. Wow. No need to be jealous -- you guys really are just a few minutes away from the attractions in midtown - it's just that you have to go underground on the subway to get there, while we take ferries and buses.

Some guy in Hoboken calls out NYCers, labeling us as being blind for paying extraordinary rents for nothing in return and we're the jealous ones with chips on our shoulders?

NYC Tourists = diverse people from around the world

Hoboken Tourists = Devils fans from as far away as Wayne, N.J.

The guy in Hoboken obviously was responding to lame comments he'd heard so often he just couldn't keep his mouth shut anymore. As for NYC tourists, if it's so great, I wonder why they don't stay! Yep, nice place to visit...

Hey, at least Hobokenites and New Yorkers have one thing in common....they live somewhere better then Philly.

heeeeeyyyyy! i lived in philly for 5 years!

(good god, why can't i pick a decent town to live in!?!?)

Ironic - the Hobroken bashing - when "paulkatcher.com" is scrawled in the bathroom at Arthur's.

It's hard to argue that Manhattan isn't tops;
also it's hard to argue with Paul; also it's hard to listen to Paul argue.

Other myths:
1. Hobroken has the best Manhattan view - try Weehawken or further north - plus Brooklyn deserves consideration
2. Hobroken's cheap eats - having been a resident of both, i've found a lot of stuff is more expensive than Manhattan
3. Philly?

Is my site really scrawled into the john at Arthur's? It should be. I think that place is responsible for me gaining 90 pounds in 2001. As a frequent visitor, of course. I would never actually live in H-Town, as clearly stated.

Best view of Manhattan, from the outside, that I've seen is at the Jersey City PATH station. I saw it pre-9/11 once. View from the Brooklyn Bridge is also great.

hey...

i lived in hoboken from july, 2000 until june, 2001...

the apartment i was living in was a 2 bedroom for $2,200...the one bedrooms in my building were going for at least $1,700...i don't know if prices have changed that much, i've heard they've gone down since sept. 11th, but come on...average rent in manhattan is much more expensive than the starting prices you have...

and it is true, at least when i was living there, about being able to get to manhattan in fifteen minutes OR LESS...

if you live in uptown hoboken, all you have to do is hop on a port authority bus, and you will get to times square in ten minutes...it is that easy...

maxwell's is one of the best reasons for living there...very cheap shows only a few blocks away...hoboken is a very, very fun town...maybe not as good as nyc, but so nice by itself...

There are better views in those other NJ towns, but not as much social life, so Hob probably is the best choice among those. I lived in Philly, too. The place can be a bit stagnant, I'm afraid. It's fine if you're a college student.

Next time you're in NJ, by the way, people, don't whine that you were "dragged" there. You're an adult now.

A better view of the city is from the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights. Waaaaaay better than from NJ!!!

I spent a weekend in Philly last October, the place rocked. The bars were lots of fun. This is a good site about the place: http://www.phillytown.com/

Hoboken has a different 'feel' from Manhattan, but I like it. I guess it's not for everybody.

Re: the Cooperstown thing, the first game of baseball (rather than invention of...) was played at Hoboken's Elysian Fields, hence the baseball controversy.

A better view of the city is from the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights. Waaaaaay better than from NJ!!!

Yeah, but you're paying Manhattan prices if you want to live there, which is sort of silly...I would've suggested living in Carroll Gardens or Cobble Hill a few years ago, but I've heard they've gone through the roof as well...if you want to pay those prices, why not Manhattan? Unless you are bulging with Brooklyn pride, which is an entirely different story...

Does anyone else find Brooklyn and Hoboken pride eerily similar?

"Seriously, everyone in Hoboken will tell you it takes 15 minutes to get to Manhattan. That's if you live inside the PATH station, catch the train just before it leaves and your destination is 34 Street. Otherwise its 40 minutes to midtown and half a day to anywhere on the East Side. If you're traveling at night, bring a pillow and a blanket."

This is the funniest quote i've ever read about Hoboken. Even though I currently live there, I have to say that it's totally true...

I must reassert that New Yorkers should stop complaining about friends wanting them to go somewhere for a change other than New York City (like Hoboken). There's a great big world out there full of beautiful things and people. Some of them are in NY. Some are in Hoboken. You can't say you're in NYC for the culture and then act so damn provincial and ignorant when it comes to New Jersey and other places. Grow up, chill out, step out of NYC once in a while and enjoy yourself.

Ahhhh. Some people may know me from my callname, but some may not.

Who cares.

All i have to say is that this is a seriously pissy post. But, then again, so is Joe's.

People get such skewed ideas about what is on the "other side".

I am a Hoboken-ite (sorry, I am not Italian) and I kind of like it, all in all. There are a LOT of things I hate, but, Ironically, these are the same things I hate about the city (cost, noise, pollution, litter, crowds, parking, etc).

My commute is 20 min. That's right, 20. I work in the West Village (No, not along Rainbow Row either ya numbnuts) and it is actually one of the best walks I have had to work in my life.

There are things to both like and hate about both places. The whole analogy about laughing at the $40 cab ride is fine, but the higher rent, cost of food, and everything else more than makes up that little difference.

Also, the fact that you are calling out BYOB's and sausage heroes reflects a racist attitude that is rather, well, biased.

If you want to see "Guido-ville" go down to Sandy-Hook. Just don't let the Mustang's hit you when you slip on the puddle of hair gel.

I do agree, however, with the touting of things such as baseball and Sinatra. Sinatra LEFT hoboken, but these people don't seem to get it. I don't think he left happy, either. Also, the baseball. They actually spent money on a huge intersection overlay with paving stones of a baseball. The corners have 1, 2, 3 and H on them to give us a real aspect on how $$s are wasted on stupid ugly projects. They could have spent the cash on actually PAVING the roads, but no, decoration is more important.

But don't let that make you think NYC is any better. How long have they been working to repave Canal street? I have never seen a road grooved for that long on purpose. There are other references, but i don't think it is really worth getting into.

I guess this article is just reactionary, but it just sickens me to see so many people who hate others based on their own biases and preconcieved notions.

I guess it does not matter, really. All things taken into consideration, this area, in general, is probably one of the best in the world to live in.

God- what is it with New Yorkers (well those of you who live there but aren't really New Yorkers). You are always so fast at "defending" New York and you are all so bitter. No wonder you want to live in the loneliest city in the world....b/c you are all loners. Fine by me- keep yourselfs (and your negative attitudes) out of Hoboken- it's way too pleasant there for your types.

i must tell you that, yes, new york has its own great atmosphere but one can always tell when you're in the big apple. peeople are sleeping and begging all over the place. two steps out of the fanciest restauarnt and you'll encounter bagless legless crazy beggars. keep the ambiance and when i want the experience i'll go to manhattan and come right back home to our haven called hoboken. the little city that could and did!!!

Does Dublin beat out Hoboken for most bars, just because it's in Ireland doesn't mean they have the most bars just the most alcoholics.

hey putz -

you neglected to mention hoboken is the birthplace of frank sinatra and has one of the best little league organizations in the country. oh yeah - you don't ever have to come back.

I feel so left out! i was born and raised in hoboken and all you talked about was the yuppies and the italians! what about the rest of us P-ricans living in rent control apartments and ordering stuff from the dollar menu at Mcdonald's? They pay HOW MUCH for one bedroom! HaHa! serves them right for moving into MY town! Ha hAha!

Does anyone remember the sex in the city episode w/"The New York guy"? The guy that never, ever left manhattan, not realizing a world exists outside of the city. That tool was representative of the tool that wrote this stupid article.

Funny stuff PK.

I would not live in NYC if you paid ME to live there. The people there are no better than the cockroaches they live with and the so called "culture" is a joke. I have lived there and would never go back. I live in Hoboken now and it is only marginally better than NYC though, to be honest.

Baseball actually WAS invented in Hoboken. Do some research. Cooperstown really doesn't deserve the credit it gets. On 19 June 1846, the first officially recorded, organized baseball match was played under Alexander Joy Cartwright's rules on Hoboken's Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23-1. Cartwright umpired. According to the Hall of Fame itself "From time to time over the years, various critics have challenged the speculation on Doubleday, although most of the original documentation was lost in a fire in 1916. Abner Graves' credibility as a reliable witness has been questioned and Doubleday's diaries, surprisingly, made no mention of baseball. Some argue that Doubleday was not away from West Point at all in 1839; and to further complicate the situation, still others claim that there were two Abner Doubledays. Many of these contradictory theories have been well-documented by their proponents. Whatever may or may not be proved in the future concerning Baseball's true origin is in many respects irrelevant at this time. If baseball was not actually first played here in Cooperstown by Doubleday in 1839, it undoubtedly originated about that time in a similar rural atmosphere. The Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown to stay; and at the very least, the village is certainly an acceptable symbolic site for the game's origin."

Jason

Can't say some people would rather spend their money living in NYC than hoboken. Fine with me. Living on 66th and 1st for a few years, paying about $1,000 toward my two bedroom I shared was the same size as my current walk in closet. Try going from 650 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment to a 1400 sq. ft. one bedroom with fireplace, high ceilings, jacuzzi and still taking ten minutes less to get to work than when living in NYC for LESS....

Worked on 47th and Park and still made it to work faster living out of the city, since buses took 20 minutes per block, and cabs are a joke during the commuting hours. From my door in Hoboken to my door at work, it was 28 to 33 minutes, versus my 40 from the Upper East.

NYC is great to visit, but I sleep much better in my quaint and pretty town, where leaves swirl in the wind and not dirty newspapers and homeless people's used underwear...

Originally I thought of NJ the same, being a NYC snob, but oddly, when you grow up and realize its time to have a family, and you don't want them hanging out with crack addicts in the Village, you learn that scenery, trees, parks, community, and even neighborhoods are much better when you get more for your dollar, and can still have the best of both worlds...

Everyone move to NYC...I need a second place to store all my shoes, one preferably with a view of NYC... :)

You seem to know more about Hoboken than the people who live there. I have to say you are really one of the biggest losers I have ever heard spout crap on the internet. The best reason I could ever have to leave that sesspool Manhattan is to get away from a-holes like you.

A-hole? What is this a Risky Business script?

As someone born on the island of Manhattan, whose parents and grandparents and great-grandparents also grew up in Manhattan, and who has never lived anywhere other than NYC (both in Queens and all over Manhattan) I've now moved to - you guessed it - HOBOKEN - and I just have to ask. How many people commenting here are actually FROM New York? And how many of you who currently live in New York are married and have children?

Moving to Manhattan after college is fine but it really doesn't entitle one to comment as if living in NYC was their birthright. And until you have to maneuver New York's treacherous minefield also known as getting-your-kid-into-elementary-school or the price of family-sized apartments ($5K a month and counting) you haven't fully experienced New York.

Personally, I love (and sometimes hate) both New York City AND Hoboken - while they are both different, they are both urban - and as somebody who finds the suburbs a little artificial and a little creepy (watch Desperate Housewives, it's hilarious) Hoboken became a good choice for us (us being myself, my wife and my 10-year-old daughter) when my daughter, after living on the Upper West Side for all of her 10 years, requested the outrageous -

1) Walking or scootering to school instead of taking the subway at rush hour with commuters, beggars and homeless people.

2) A backyard.

3) friends from school who actually live closer than Brooklyn.

Now that we're in Hoboken we have a whole brownstone to ourselves that we never could have afforded in Manhattan or Brooklyn, our daughter goes to a good private school that costs less than half of what a Manhattan private school costs and she's had more playdates since we've been here than she had in 10 years on the UWS.

Now, I still love the UWS but I've been pleasantly surprised by both the town of Hoboken and by the parents of my daughters' friends that I've met. They're smart, cultured people. Some are doctors or tax-attorneys, and a lot are involved in the arts or own their own restaurants or shops.

Those of you who lived in Hoboken after college and are now in NYC may even find yourselves back here after you've tried raising your kids in the city and have to walk them through the West Village to get to school (let's just say there's lots there that young eyes don't need to see.) If you like the suburbs then more power to you. If you don't, then either pony up $22,000 a year for private school, move to get into the 2 good school districts in all of NYC, or join us in the OTHER Hoboken, the one for grown-ups.

Oh, and where is all this cheap food in Hoboken? So far I've been shocked by how expensive restaurants are compared to the UWS.

Thanks for bashing Joe Conch!

LOL, I loved Jocelyn's comment up above! Unfortunately, rent control doesn't work when the landlord does "renovations" on the building.. Anyway, I was also born and raised in Hoboken, and by all the comments on here, I also feel left out, even though I moved 5 years ago.. I now live in South Jersey, and actually have money LEFT OVER after paying rent and bills, and I DON'T have to share my apartment just to pay the rent! Yeah, Hoboken looks nice compared to 20 years ago, but that STILL does not justify what rents are in Hoboken these days.. And yes, I do MISS going to NYC often as I used to.. Heh, Philly doesn't even COMPARE to NYC.. I hate it, actually.. Anyway, that's my two (or three) cents.. Have a great day! :)