Weekends during warm-weather months in the mile-square city are best spent relaxing in a park with friends, enjoying a snack, throwing a baseball, or playing guitar.
The park of choice for most Hobokenites is Pier A on the waterfront between Sinatra and Lackawanna parks in the downtown area overlooking Manhattan. An urban open-space success story, according to Hoboken’s Director of Environmental Services Cassandra Wilday, Pier A park opened to the public in 1999 as part of an initiative by the Waterfront Corporation and the Coalition for a Better Waterfront to designate more open space in Hoboken.
Wilday and several other landscape architects designed the park to be accessible to the public and to have clear visibility from all angles. Sinatra Drive, a small road, was built to create a clear distinction between the public park and the private office buildings.
"When a public park is hidden behind big office buildings, it stops being fully accessible," Wilday said.
On a hot summer day, hundreds of local and area residents use the park for recreational activities. Wedding and prom parties come to Pier A to take pictures at the gazebo, and fishing enthusiasts find a corner to set their poles. Also, the city’s office of Cultural Affairs uses the park for its summer movie series, and the large fountain near Sinatra Drive is turned on during the afternoons and early evenings so children can play and keep cool.
"It’s Hoboken’s biggest open space. It’s very simple and beautiful," Wilday said.
The Current will be visiting a different Hudson County park each week throughout the summer. Do you have a favorite park in Hudson County? Let us know by writing to current@hudsonreporter.com. q