Little City Books
100 Bloomfield St.
(201) 626-7323
littlecitybooks.com
The handwritten notes posted all over Little City Books say as much as anything about the ethos of this corner bookshop. The mini critiques help the browser make choices but also set a friendly tone. From “first-rate adventure” to “insightful read,” you know you’re among fellow bibliophiles.
The notion of a bricks-and-mortar bookstore raises questions and triggers memories. In the age of Amazon and e-readers, do people still go to bookshops? On this sunny Friday afternoon, it was busy, and for many it’s a nostalgic stroll through a non-virtual world.
Bookshops often become the literature they sell. Famous examples are “84 Charing Cross Road” and Penelope Fitzgerald’s tragicomic, “The BookShop,” which chronicles one woman’s dream of opening a bookshop. Spoiler alert: It ends badly, which cannot be said for Little City Books.
Kate Jacobs and Donna Garban were realizing a dream when they opened the shop in May 2015. They had kids the same age and spent many an afternoon in the park, fantasizing about, well, opening a bookstore.
Why not a saloon or a nail salon?
“I’m drawn to bookstores,” Kate says. “It’s the only place where you can read, browse, hang out, and learn new things, and we thought Hoboken could use an indie bookstore. Barnes & Noble and Blackwater closed, leaving a big void.”
Blackwater was an independent bookstore that closed in the ’90s, and Amazon pushed out the chains, including Barnes & Noble, which pulled up stakes in 2010. Symposia’s used books are an entirely different niche.
“It was the perfect time,” Kate says. “Independent bookstores are on the uptick. There is a shop-local movement in town, so it all came together in a perfect storm.”
Kate is a musician, songwriter, and artist, and Donna is an investment banker. “She had a head for numbers and a reckless and philosophical attitude toward money,” Kate says. It would be hard to find a better match. But wait, soon another owner signed on. Enter Emanuelle Morgen, a literary agent with New York City’s Stonesong agency. Though Emanuelle has since left the bookstore, she was one-third of an ideal book-business combo. As Kate says, “She’s in The Business.”
“We had a common vision,” Kate says. “We agreed on what we cared about and what we could let go.”
Not surprisingly, the trio did tons of research, going to conventions and classes for bookstore owners, and leaning on the American Booksellers Association, which offers workshops and other resources for the passionate and adventurous souls who dream about owning their own bookstores.
Kate says she’s responsible for presentations and the newsletter. “Anything to do with content,” adding, “but in a bookstore there’s nothing but content.” They launched with 5,000 titles in the 1,200-square-foot space, and are now up to 9,000, including history, poetry, literature, classics, translations, art, and music, as well as bestsellers, cookbooks, and kids’ books. Accessories like journals and cards are also what make real bookstores fun to browse in.
“We learned so much in 10 months about what sells in Hoboken,” Kate says. “People are much more literary than you might think.”
The shop is a real gathering place, with book clubs, live performances, story time for kids, and author’s readings in a 50-person venue with a state-of-the-art sound system.
As Kate says, it’s much more than a business.
Orlando Physical Therapy
1321 Washington St.
(201) 876-0001
orlandopt.com
Sometimes your first impression of a person turns out to be who he really is, which was the case when I first met Anthony Orlando. His physical therapy practice happened to be across the street from The Hudson Reporter’s Hoboken office.
A bunch of us at various times had limped or hobbled over there suffering from this or that pain and walked out upright and upbeat. For me it was a back problem. He took one look and said, no, it’s a hip problem.
Not only was he right about the medicine, but he also really felt my pain, in the true sense of the word. If you’re not happy, he’s not happy.
The habit of caring started early. “I was close to my grandparents,” he relates, “and I enjoyed helping them out. I knew then that I liked to help people.”
Anthony’s parents taught him to be compassionate. “When you go to the deli, knock on your neighbor’s door and ask if they need milk or bread,” he says. It’s a lesson he’s taught his own three kids.
He grew up in Staten Island. When he graduated from high school, he got a job as a truck driver, carrying, sorting, and unloading freight.
“But I knew I wanted to do more in life,” he says. “I had an older friend who was a physical therapist. He asked me one day if I wanted to volunteer at his clinic. I went down there for a few months and loved it.”
He was hooked, and it wasn’t just the work.
“The physical therapists were nice and pleasant, and it wasn’t because they’d just met me,” he says. “Weeks went by, and their personalities didn’t change. They loved what they were doing.”
While still holding down the truck-driving job, he enrolled in college—no one in his family had ever been to college. He continued to work at night, listening to courses in chemistry, biology, and physics on his Sony Walkman while he drove.
He graduated from Syracuse University and got his doctorate at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, now Rutgers.
“I learned from working with these blue-collar guys that whatever job you’re doing, do it proudly,” he says. “Even if it’s sweeping the streets, take pride in what you do.”
After getting married, he and his wife moved to Hoboken because it was convenient and they liked the town. Anthony got a job working for a Hoboken physical therapy practice and also treated kids with disabilities for the Hoboken Board of Ed.
“But I’ve always been entrepreneurial and wanted to do my own thing,” he says. “When I was 18, I owned my own ice cream and fruit truck route.”
Enter Chiropractor, Dr. Dominic Frio. The Orlandos lived next door to him in uptown Hoboken. “He was a godsend,” Anthony says. “He rented me a space at a reasonable cost.”
Anthony opened his practice on Nov. 7, 2001, just about two months after the 9/11 disaster.
“It was challenging,” Anthony says. “People were coming in emotionally drained,” which required him to put his medical and psychological skills to work.
A full-service therapist who treats many disorders, he says he loves soft-tissue work, dry needling, the Graston Technique, and active-release techniques, among many other therapies.
He also treats kids. “Those kids have taught me what life is really about,” he says. “They never complain. They’re energetic and can’t wait to go to therapy. They put life in perspective.”
Adults need to be willing to go the distance. “The mental part is the hardest,” he says. “When they make a decision to really commit to taking care of themselves, you see a change in their lives.”
Says Anthony, “I want to empower people holistically. It takes work. It’s not for everybody. A lot of people want a quick fix, surgery or an injection. You’re on a journey to learn about your body, your constitution, who you are, and what makes you tick.”—07030