Urbane couple finds ethnic mix, art in HackensackSunday, May 2, 2010
BY VIOLET SNOW
The Record
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS
As rents rose, Jenny and Payson Patterson moved from Manhattan's East Village to Jersey City to Hoboken, finally landing in a 1940s Cape Cod in Hackensack, which they bought two years ago. "We'll be here for a long time," Jenny said, sitting on her sycamore-shaded front lawn. "We had to do some work on the house at first, but it's in good shape now. It's nice to have a real yard, too. I even grew basil and tomatoes behind the house last summer."
Jenny, a jazz pianist, appreciates being one town over from Teaneck, where many jazz musicians have been drawn over the years. "And Thelonious Monk recorded in a studio located in Hackensack," she said.
Payson has easy access to Manhattan for his job as a graphic artist, making the commute in 50 minutes from New Bridge Landing, one of three train stops within or just outside Hackensack. "We did buy a car once we moved here," he said, "but I can walk to the train station. And the train makes it easy to get down to Hoboken to visit friends or go to clubs."
Hackensack has an extensive, low-key downtown area. Jobs are available in government offices, banks, professional firms, a hospital, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and, in the southern part of the city, various light industries. There are numerous condo complexes and apartments, while neat, quiet neighborhoods have houses ranging from small and affordable to elegant and pricey.
The ethnic mix is reflected in the businesses on Main Street, including Dominican restaurants, Italian pizzerias, an Iranian store offering dried fruit and nuts and a health-food store run by a family from India. Nearby are several African-American churches. Hackensack boasts the country's longest-running annual Colombian celebration, now in its 41st year, with a week of events scheduled for mid-July.
Stores are plentiful. The upper end of Main Street is dominated by the tower of the Sears department store. There is a Target on busy Hackensack Avenue. Specialty stores, upscale restaurants and high-end department stores line the granite-floored halls of The Shops at Riverside, a mall on the Hackensack River, which forms the eastern border of the city. One of Paramus' five malls, the Bergen Town Center, is nearby.
The Hackensack River has been cleaned up in recent years, largely through the efforts of the Hackensack Riverkeeper, an environmental group with an office on Main Street. The river is now picturesque and busy with ducks, geese, seagulls and the occasional heron or bald eagle.
"There's a little park behind the mall," said Payson, "and we like to go there some weekends and watch the birds. Even though there are all these massive buildings behind you, you can look out over the river and feel like you're almost in the country."
The Pattersons say many cultural and recreational activities are offered in Hackensack. They enjoy Shakespeare plays presented in Coles Brook Park in the summer. ("There are lots of mosquitoes," warned Jenny. "Bring bug repellent!") Payson has attended meetings of the Hackensack Art Club, which mounts shows and offers weekly studio workshops.
Jenny often baby-sits for a neighbor's 4-year-old daughter, taking her to playgrounds and to story hour at the Johnson Public Library.
"Sometimes we stroll around the courthouse area and look at the historic buildings," said Payson. "The Dutch Reformed Church was built before 1700, and it's still standing — I think that's just amazing."
Moving up from the close-in suburbs or farther out? Downsizing? Moving from one part of town to another? E-mail Violet Snow at v_snow@earthlink.net.
