Billy Geib – I Get Homesick If I Leave for Three Days

Billy Geib—everyone knows him as Billy—has deep roots in Hoboken. At just about every corner of the city he can conjure stories about what happened there, from “Murder Hill” near Stevens Institute, where he and his friends risked their lives sledding, to the clothesline poles he climbed to re-attach laundry lines for moms at Eighth and Park, to his stint shoe-shining at the American Hotel alongside members of a big family that lived in his building—seven wild kids, he recalls, who also had a pet monkey.

In I Get Homesick If I Leave for Three Days Billy remembers the places he worked, the people he knew, and, with his lifelong love of animals, the cats, dogs, and birds he rescued in the city.

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Maria Peggy Diaz – And Then I Started Reading Books

Maria Peggy Diaz grew up in Hoboken. She describes how reading books when she was young opened up her mind, and helped her imagine worlds of possibilities for her life. As part of her service in the Navy, she was trained in firefighting, and it became a career goal. In 2002, she overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to become the first Latina firefighter in Hoboken. She was promoted to captain in 2011. We are thrilled to document and share her inspiring story. 

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Milca Guzman – All the Salsa!

Milca Guzman and her family arrived in the United States from the Dominican Republic, and after a few years in Boston, made their home in Hoboken. Milca recalls the lively city of the 1970s, where about 40% of the population was Spanish speaking. Residents danced in the streets to music pouring out of windows and men played dominos on the sidewalks. But it was also a time of fear and danger for tenants like Milca, as threats of arson mounted in the gentrifying city. Milca recalls those hard times and also her abiding joy in her family, the children she keeps safe as a security guard in the public schools, and her love of the city she calls home.

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Dom Castellitto – Salt Yeast Flour & Water

Dom Castellitto became a baker because he fell in love with Florinda Policastro. Her father, Leopoldo Policastro, owned Marie’s Bakery in Hoboken, and after Dom saw her outside her school, he says, “I made myself a home in the bakery there.” He had been working as a plumber, but soon learned the baker’s arts. Dom, and the man who would become his father-in-law, were both born in small towns near Naples, Italy, and every day they offered rustic round loaves and short “French” breads to local families, restaurants, and delis—breads that had been baked in ovens built by their countrymen around the turn of the last century.

 

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Rose Orozco – The Basic Goodness of People

When people get together in Hoboken to help one another—whether in an extreme crisis like Superstorm Sandy, or to fulfill day-to-day needs and forward community projects—you will find Rose Orozco there. A former ER nurse and current volunteer for nonprofits including St. Matthew’s Lunchtime Ministry, Fund for a Better Waterfront, and the Hoboken Historical Museum, and a member of the Rent Leveling Board, Rose enjoys encounters with Hoboken residents old and new.

Rose speaks about her engagement with the people of this city: “When we’re talking about the people of Hoboken, when they know there’s something [that needs to be done], they do something.” She told us, “I do believe in the basic goodness of people. I really, truly do.”

 

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Joe and Steve Truglio – Whatever Goes On My Table…

Truglio’s Meat Market, a beloved neighborhood butcher shop at the northwest corner of 10th and Park, and the family who runs it, keeping Hoboken traditions alive, are featured in our latest Oral History chapbook.

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Ann Palumbo Monaco – Palumbo’s Tavern

A neighborhood watering hole, Palumbo’s Tavern catered to “locals who were friends with each other, who would come after work, or would just come in to talk. One of my uncles was a truck driver, so occasionally his co-workers would come and Grandma would have something for them to eat. It was just like a meeting place, like Do Drop In. And if they came in just to chat, they didn’t have to have anything to drink. [They were] just there to get the latest news, and updates, whatever was going on in the neighborhood.”.
—Ann Palumbo Monaco

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Tom Hanley – They Were the Dregs of Society, But..

I always loved being a longshoreman. I was always proud of being a longshoreman. Because I’m gonna tell you about longshoremen, they were the dregs of society, but there were a lot of good men. Like when I was a young kid and I’d start to go astray, they would try to steer me in the right direction. “Hey. Kid. Come here. I wanna talk to you.” There were a lot of good men.
—Tom Hanley
October 14, 2016

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Peter Volaric – Today We are Blessed…

I like to stay happy. I like to stay positive. Because, you know, today we are blessed, so why not be happy? [How will we manage every day?] It depends. Are you willing to say, “Tomorrow’s not going to be there,” or “Tomorrow will come and it will be better”? If you say, “Tomorrow will be a better day,” then you’ll experience that day. It’s all about saying tomorrow will come and it will be better. You get that energy, and you really can experience that day. Like we did, from the island to here. That’s how we did it.

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Carmine Percontino – Town Inside

When I got good at it, I was about seventeen or eighteen. I was getting more involved, and definitely wanted to make a presepio and see it in the house. [My mother] made such a fuss. I would make a mess, but it would look great after it was done. [I’d wanted the inside of the presepio to look like Monte San Giacomo.] In my town, there is what we call “atafesa.” It’s like a mountain hillside. That’s what you see. That was the inspiration. I imagine my town being the town inside.

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