2005.006

Staff / Produced by

Produced by Staff

Museum Collection.

Hoboken Historical Museum

2011

English

Copy No.: 0

Display Value: Fair Notes: 2005.006.0001.94 Hoboken Historical Museum Newsletter Vol. 17 No. 1, Winter 2010 A Sweet History of Hoboken Buddy Valastro has put Hoboken on the national culinary map with his popular TLC cable network show, "Cake Boss," but did you know that Hoboken has been a confectionary powerhouse since the mid-19th century? It's such a rich (and tasty) legacy, the Museum has traced a history of the city from its earliest days through its many commercial bakers, candy manufacturers and family-owned bakeries, including a smorgasbord of different immigrant groups' food customs. Named for three of Hoboken's signature treats, the Museum's new Main Gallery exhibit, Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls, and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles.. A Sweet History of Hoboken, opens on Sunday, Jan. 30, with a reception from 2 - 5 p.m. Telling the history of a community through its gastronomic traditions may seem a bit unorthodox, but the subject neatly illustrates Hoboken's dual role as a manufacturing center-because of its transportation links and plentiful labor pool-and as a haven for newly arrived entrepreneurs, who catered to the tastes of their fellow immigrants. In addition to factories, Hoboken boasted many small bakeries and candy makers specializing in their national treats. Before Valastro's father moved Carlo's Bakery from Adams St. to Washington St. in 1990, the site opposite City Hall was occupied by German bakeries, first Wordelmann's (from before World War I) and later Schonings (from 1930). And the 2010 House Tour included a Garden St. building that was once a marzipan factory. Catering to the great ocean liners that docked in Hoboken, Germans also opened and operated successful commercial bakeries, like John Schmalz's Sons Inc.'s "Model Bakery" at 8 th and Clinton Sts. Established in 1867, it became famous for its Jersey Cream Malt Bread and boasted a production rate of 5,000 loaves bakeries, many of which supplied restaurants, delis, and home kitchens-and a few still do today! Yum, Yum! The Italians also popularized ice cream and flavored ices, including a flavor called "Yum Yum," sold from carts throughout the sweltering urban cityscape. One Italian ice cream vendor, Italo Marchiony, who arrived in 1895, invented and patented (in 1903) a waffle cup to solve the problem of carrying fragile glass cups. When he ran out of them at his booth at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, he twisted the thin waffles made by a nearby vendor into a cone shape, and entered the history books! The heyday of mom-and-pop ice cream parlors, pastry shops and luncheonettes was the early 1900s to the 1950s. A few remain, including Schnackenberg's, located at 11th and Washington for over 75 years, where the family continues to make chocolate confections by hand, using whimsical molds at Easter, such as a bunny on a motorcycle. Nearby, the Castiello family still makes traditional Italian treats at Giorgio's Pasticcerie, founded in 1975. Both businesses have been docu- mented in the Museum's oral history chapbook series, in conjunction with the Hoboken Public Library. Many national companies moved factory operations to Hoboken as an economical alternative to New York City. The Sweets Company of America made Tootsie Rolls in a "modern" factory building at 16th and Willow starting in 1938. Kids in Hoboken recall catching candies tossed to them by workers there after school. Other major factories included the R.B. Davis Co., which made baking powder, My-T-Fine puddings and Cocomalt chocolate beverages, and was a major sponsor of the iconic "Buck Rogers" radio show. Franklin Baker Company, maker of Baker's Coconut and other commercial brands, such as Log Cabin Products, also operated factories in Hoboken. Interactive panels and cell-phone-accessible audio interviews with Hobokenites who remember working at these food factories or enjoying some of these treats will supplement the display materials. The first "Sweets" event will be a talk and hot-chocolate tasting by renowned local chocolate historian, Maricel Presilla, on Sunday, Feb. 6, at 4 p.m. Admission is a $5 donation, free for members. Presilla is owner of Hoboken pan-Latin American cuisine restaurants Zafra and Cucharamama, and food specialty store, Ultramarinos. A scholar of cuisine and culture, Presilla is the author of five books, including The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes (Ten Speed Press, 2001). In 2009, she was the guest chef at the White House's "Fiesta Latina." The exhibit is made possible through funding from the New Jersey Historical Commission, Applied Companies, Wiley & Sons, and Bijou Properties. On view at the Hoboken Historical Museum Opening reception, January 30, 2-5 p.m. Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls, and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles...A Sweet History of Hoboken And our Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration Past, current and future volunteers are welcome In the Upper Gallery Also Opening reception, January 30, 2-5 p.m. Deconstructing Hoboken: Photomontages by Sterne Slaven On view through March 9 March 13-April 24 First Impressions, Photographs by Don Sichler New Upper Gallery Exhibition Artist/photographer Sterne Slaven has an eye for the industrial soul of Hoboken. When he moved here in 1983, after graduating art school, he found himself drawn again and again to the old factory buildings in his uptown neighborhood: Ferguson Propeller Works, the old Shipyard machine shop, the Maxwell House coffee plant. He captured haunting images of many of these buildings, some in the process of being dismantled. Born in Pittsburgh but raised in suburban Englewood, N.J., Slaven says he's always had an affinity for old, rusting factories and broken glass and metal. He returned to Pittsburgh to study drawing and photography at Carnegie-Mellon University, and moved to Hoboken afterwards not just because the rents were more affordable than in Manhattan, but because he liked the look and feel of the city, and was happy to stay west of the Hudson, where his family still lives. In his career, he's worked as a photographer's assistant, carpenter and prototype model maker in industrial design. For this show, Deconstructing Hoboken: Photomontages by Sterne Slaven, he incorporated the photographs, along with some double exposures and abstracted patterns from old buildings, into intriguing large-scale composite images. Some date from the mid- to late 1980s, and some are more recent. They depict Hoboken's industrial buildings in their twilight years, including the huge ship propellers that used to lie on their sides in the yard of the Ferguson Propeller Works at 12th and Grand St. The effect of the layered photos in the montages and the use of double exposures gives the images a ghostly effect, as though the buildings have left traces- which they have for anyone who lived here at the time. "Though perhaps not consciously," Slaven says, "the pieces, with their overlapping and transparencies and general visual chaos, seem to echo the deconstruction of the buildings themselves, their broken windows and piles of twisted rebar." Slaven's first Hoboken Museum exhibit opens on Sunday, Jan. 30, with a free opening reception from 2 - 5 p.m. His work has also been shown in galleries and juried exhibitions in Hoboken, New York, Pennsylvania and most recently at the Englewood Library in 2006. Slaven will give an illustrated talk about his work on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m., and his work will be on display through Mar. 6. The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. New Education Curator at HHM The Museum is pleased to introduce our new education curator, Robin Westervelt, who is taking the reins on a robust program of classes for local students and other family activities managed for the past three years by Sherrard Bostwick. Sherrard moved to Pittsburgh late last year to marry her fiance. Robin is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Rutgers University and she was recently museum educator for elementary school students and weekend family events at the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts in Madison, N.J. There, she conducted object-based programs for school children in the Museum's galleries and classroom space, and developed a new educational program focusing on science and the invention of the printing press. She has also completed internships with the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City and the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark. She earned a BA in elementary education from New York University and an MA in museum professions from Seton Hall University last year with a master's thesis on museums and urban revitalization. She has also worked in community outreach and canvassing at the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, as a marketing assistant at a computer firm and as a second-grade teacher at a progressive private school in Brooklyn. Uptown Storytime Returns in February Kids between the ages of two and five are invited to bring a parent or caretaker with them to the Hoboken Historical Museum every first and third Thursday morning to hear stories-old favorites and new ones sure to delight-read by Hoboken librarian Penny Metsch, who is also a Museum trustee. No registration is required, but a $2 donation is encouraged. Museum members are admitted free. After the Museum reopens on Jan. 30, Uptown Storytime will take place at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3 and Mar. 3 and 17. Please note, there will be no Storytime on Feb. 17. For more information, contact the Museum at 201-656- 2240, or education@hobokenmuseum.org. Black Maria Film Festival The Hoboken Historical Museum is proud once again to serve as one of the first host venues for New Jersey's own Annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival, an international competition and award tour featuring cutting-edge works from independent film and video makers. Now in its 30th year, the festival will bring a handful of works to the Museum on Monday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. Admission is $5, and seating is limited, so please call 201-656-2240 to reserve Edison's Black Maria studio today your place. Following a rigorous jurying process, the festival selects works from the 50 award-winning films and sends them out on a national tour each January. The event runs about 90 minutes, and A Letter from HHM Board President Dear Members and Friends, Thank you-again. We ended the year on a high note, with a holiday season busy with the usual Museum fare: lectures, concerts, caroling, and more. While our exhibition on the Hoboken firm Keuffel and Esser was ending, you came out in full support, responding to our final financial appeal for the year. The year ahead is a big one for us: It's our 25th anniversary as an organization, and our 10th in our 2,000-square-foot space in the Shipyard. When I think back to what it took to raise a seemingly impossible amount of money to outfit and move into our permanent home, I am reminded that a group of volunteers can accomplish almost anything if they share a belief in their mission. And if you serve a community well, the community will embrace and sustain you. Our mission has not changed: the Hoboken Historical Museum advances the understanding and exploration of Hoboken history, culture, and architecture, and how its history impacts Hoboken today. While our goals are constant, we try to fulfill it in fresh and unconventional ways. We have explored music, animals, the waterfront, industrial history, the arts, and now.. .sweets! We hope that even long-time residents and history buffs learn something new from each of our exhibits, talks, and tours. And we hope to inspire visitors and newcomers to learn more about this city's rich heritage. It amazes me how much we accomplish each year with our handful of talented curators and freelance professionals who plan our exhibitions and lectures, maintain our growing collections and oral histories, design engaging programs for local schoolchildren, secure grants and publicity, and conduct research. They are supported by an all-volunteer board of trustees, who dedicate many hours to planning and overseeing a full calendar of activities, help raise funds, and steer us on a path of steady growth. And of course, it is only through your support-by showing up, volunteering your time and expertise, and contributing financially-that we are able to safeguard Hoboken's history for generations to come. If you're interested in stepping up your involvement, give us a call or drop by-we welcome your time and energy, and we are now offering many new opportunities including the Henry Hudson Club membership level, starting at $500 a year, and exhibit or event sponsorships, for as little as $1,000. Help us keep thriving for another 25 years! See you on the Avenue! Regards, Carol Losos President, Board of Trustees Hoboken Historical Museum Black Maria Film Festival (continued from page 3) is tailored to the host institution by a festival curator. The festival is named for Thomas Edison's Black Maria, the world's first motion-picture studio, in West Orange, over 100 years ago, which had a hinged roof and rotated on a circular wooden track to follow the sun and illuminate the stage. For more information, visit www.blackmariafilmfestival.org. "Open River" Series Continues in 2011 In late 2008, the Museum launched our Open River series, an educational program that uses the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway as an interpretive tool to understand and explore Hoboken's physical and cultur- al heritage. The multiyear pro- gram, funded in part by a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, has already offered a number of engaging public events and lectures, which will continue this year. The Museum has plans to install specially designed interpretive historical signage along the waterfront that will be consistent with the established riverfront walkway design. Each sign will have a code number for an audio tour accessible by cell phone to augment the information. Stay tuned for more information this year! "The Lure of the City," Mar. 20 Ask any 12 Hobokenites why Hoboken is endearing to them, and you're likely to hear a dozen different answers. But what draws in the newcomer? Historian Randall Gabrielan suggests that history is a major part of Hoboken's appeal. It's arguably the most historic square mile in New Jersey. But before someone gets to know the details of the city's rich history, Gabrielan says, it's apparent in the city's built environment-its streetscapes and architecture-which even at first glance suggest that Hoboken is well preserved and yet has effectively undergone change and possesses an urban vibrancy. Randall Gabrielan visits the Museum on Sunday, Mar. 20 at 4 p.m. to discuss "The Lure of the City," and to sign copies of his latest book, Hoboken-History and Architecture at a Glance, which focuses on Hoboken's rich collection of historic structures. A Hudson County native, Gabrielan turned his passion for historical research into a second career. He published his first book, Middletown Township, in 1994 and has written more than two dozen on other towns and urban areas in New Jersey and New York. Last year he was appointed official historian for Monmouth County. "Remembering the Twin Towers," Mar. 27 On Sunday, Mar. 27, at 4 p.m., the Open River program will bring in Rutgers University American Studies professor Angus Gillespie to discuss the World Trade Center towers and their role as a national symbol. In the 1990s, he was intrigued by the twin towers and their symbolic meaning. When he discovered there were no books about them, he delved into the subject on his own, applying his expertise as a folklore researcher, who has studied myths, legends, tales, and ballads across the United States. In 1999, Rutgers University Press published his book, Twin Towers: The Life of New York City's World Trade Center, which became a bestseller in the weeks after the attacks. When he learned that most of the buildings' original records vanished with the buildings, he donated his research notes and primary materials to the Rutgers Library so that others can use them, too. Dr. Gillespie teaches folklore courses on historic figures such as Buffalo Bill, Casey Jones, Calamity Jane, and Molly Pitcher, as well as contemporary issues such as urban legends and conspiracy theories, including creatures such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Jersey Devil. He's also co-author of Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike. "First Impressions" of Hoboken Inspire Art After taking a break from photography for 20 years, Don Sichler, who had been a dedicated "street" photographer when he was younger, got the bug again when he bought new digital camera in 2005. Twenty-five years earlier, he had considered himself a documentary photographer searching for the "decisive moment" using black and white images that he could develop himself. But with the new camera, he found himself on a completely new tack, inspired by color and light and taking more abstract images, which he crops and manipulates for hue, contrast, brightness and saturation using his home computer. That frees the viewer up to appreciate the photos almost as paintings, with the interplay of color, light, patterns and surprising details in this series Sichler calls First Impressions: Photographs by Don Sichler. The exhibit opens in the Museum's Upper Gallery on Sunday, Mar. 13, with a free reception from 2 - 5 p.m. Last year, the Queens native and his wife and son moved to Hoboken from Manhattan's Upper West Side. He's retired from a career as a special education teacher and before that as a medical technologist. He'd never visited Hoboken until he came here with a hiking group-armed with his digital camera-about a year earlier, and noticed immediately how distinct the city was from its neighbors, in that it hadn't been completely remade by redevelopment. He also liked Hoboken's walkability. His photos reflect miles of exploring the nooks and crannies of the Mile Square City, from waterfront reflections to abandoned buildings and empty lots to details of adapted former factories. "I look for the beauty in ordinary things," he explains. He's mostly self-taught as a photographer, he says, but he's also taken a number of workshops and joined several photographers' groups. Since 2006, his work has been shown in more than 20 juried and group exhibitions. He's already joined the local artists' cooperative, hob'art, and looks forward to more urban photo safaris here. The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. 2010 In Review In 2010, the Hoboken Historical Museum maintained its busy schedule of fascinating talks, book launches and signings, fun family events and concerts, educational programs, and new publications. The Museum's trustees, with the support of hundreds of volunteers, organized our signature annual community events such as the Great Hoboken Auction, the Secret Garden Tour, the Hoboken House Tour, Baby Parade and Heirloom Tomato-Tasting Festival, to name just a few. If you missed any of these events and want to be sure to catch them this year, sign up for our email news service on our website, www.hobokenmuseum.com. We invite you to take the next step and join as a Museum member, become a volunteer, or make a donation to support our work. Our website makes it easy to do this, or please stop by, we're open six days a week, until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays. Main Gallery Exhibit and Related Events The Main Gallery exhibit this year afforded a comprehensive look at an important local manufacturer, Keuffel & Esser, which was world-renown for its slide rules, surveying equipment and 2010 In Review (continued from page 5J precision engineering tools. The company was founded in Manhattan in the late 1800s, but soon moved to Hoboken, where it employed thousands locally over nearly a century. The Museum hosted a slide rule expert from MIT to talk about how important these tools were before Texas Instruments popularized the digital calculator. Two local engineers offered a hands-on demonstration of surveying instruments. Celebrating the Arts: Upper Gallery Exhibits, Film Series, Special Events The Upper Gallery hosts six exhibits a year by artists and photographers who work in and around Hoboken. The year opened with a photography exhibit by Peter Ziebel emphasizing light and geometry in the Hoboken cityscape; followed by oil paintings of Hoboken interiors and street scenes by a young local artist, Laura Renee Meyerson; panoramic black-and-white photography by Chris Amaral; multimedia works by Sherrard Bostwick; oil paintings of Hoboken street scenes by Maine-based artist Ted Tihansky; and finally a return appearance by popular plein-air painter-and nautical knot demonstrator-Frank Hanavan, whose oil paintings of Hoboken can be found in many businesses and homes. The Museum hosted other cultural events, including the Black Maria Film Festival in February; a screening of a documentary about "Mr. Ocean Liner," Bill Miller, in November; and on Frank Sinatra's birthday, Dec. 12, author James Kaplan visited the Museum to read from his riveting new biography, The Voice. In the Open River Series, the Museum hosted talks by film historian Dr. Richard Koszarski on the thriving Hudson River film industry of the early 1900s; by Wildlife Conservation Society ecologist Dr. Eric Sanderson about the acclaimed Mannahatta project; and a sociological look at the scandal surrounding the death of Mary Rogers in the mid-19th century by Montclair State University history professor Dr. Amy Gilman Srebnick. Chapbooks and Other Publications The Museum last year produced two new oral history chapbooks, in our series of beautifully designed presentations of the recollections of diverse Hobokenites: The Pigeon Guys, Recollections of Vinnie Torre and Lynne Earing, of the Hudson County Pigeon Club, and We Were Not as They Thought, a recollection by Angel and Gloria Padilla of the tight-knit Puerto Rican community they grew up in during the 1950s. Kids & Family Programs Last year, education director Sherrard Bostwick kicked up the Museum's outreach to local kids and families by several notches. She led dozens of school group visits through the main and upper gallery exhibits; organized Family Fun Days in spring and fall; set up a re-creation of a 19th-century baseball game to commemorate the anniversary of Hoboken's first game on June 19; and our annual winter holiday concert; and expanded the Museum's popular summer camp. She and Trustee Penny Metsch kept the Museum packed with toddlers twice a month for Uptown Storytime. Festivals, Tours, Parades In early May, we moved our annual Great Hoboken Auction to the library at Stevens Institute of Technology, drawing a strong crowd of bidders on over a hundred packages and items. Eugene Flinn reprised his role as chief auctioneer and kept the bidding lively. We thank our gracious hosts at Stevens, especially library director Ourida Oubraham and vice president of facilities Hank Dobbelaar. In mid-May, the Annual Baby Parade drew more than a hundred families to the south waterfront promenade to compete for trophies for the most creative costumes and stroller decorations. In August and October, we hosted our Tomato-Tasting Festival and Heirloom Garlic-Tasting Festival, featuring exotic varietals trucked in by farmers Rich and Sue Sisti from Wantage, N.J. Two of our most popular events are the Secret Garden Tour in June and the Hoboken House Tour in late October. We thank the generous homeowners who opened their doors to give us a chance to peek behind the city's facades-including a former marzipan factory-to see a variety of interior decor styles and green spaces. Membership News The Museum welcomes the following new members and thanks renewing members for their continued support: Individual: Allen County Public Library; Domenick Amato; Lee Beck; Patty Bifulco; Patricia Bodner; Dr. Laura Brayton; Natalia V. Brock; Jack Brunet; Jeanne Caples; Ruth Charnes; Chris Carbine; Anna Mae Cashin; Adelaide Castellini; Armando Castellini; Francine Colon; Caroline Cormier; Chase Danford; Valerie D'Antonio; Peg Dardenne; Donna D'Auria; William Deile; Richard Del Boccio; Shirley DeCarlo-Helems; Ermelinda De Cesare; Chris DeFilippis; Bob Dunn; Thomas Egan; Caren Fitzgerald; Harriet Fitzpatrick; Nicki Frankenthal; Bertha Garabini; Elaine & Lloyd Gold; Helene Graff; Angelo Guastaferro; Linda Gustoso; Nancy Green; Barbara Hanavan; Beverly Ann Hansen; Tracy Hatton; Patrick Horbac; Edward Huelbig; Matthew Klemchalk; Paul Korzinski; Ruth Krezwick; Jessica Kuhlmey; Cynthia Kuperus; Susan Lapczynski; Jennifer Lucas; Gladys Maged; Paul Mattheiss; Katie Mauriello; Louis "Buddy" Mayer; Joseph McCusker; Marie McLaughlin; Mercier Michel; Mary Ann Mitolo; Susan Moccia; TJ Nelligan; Dale Monaco; Michele Nunes; Tim Occhipinti; Elizabeth Oravetz; Amada Ortega; Kevin Padilla; Joseph K. Pascale; Davin Pickell; Jennifer Place; Jennifer Powers; Julia Preston; Lisa Quint; Jane O'Rourke Reed; Marian Roland; Karen Ruef; Sandra Ruffin; James J. Sanford; Michael Shalhoup; McKevin Shaughnessy; Laura Sigman; Joseph Simone; William Sponn; Susan Sterrman- Jones; William Tobias; Marie Totaro; Joseph N. Travelli; James Traynor; Edythe Verdonck; Linda Vollkommer; Pierre Weidemann; Christopher Wood; Edward Zane; Andy Zipp; Nancy Zucker Dual/Family: Randall & Jane Bostwick; Madeline Boyd; Lauren Bristow; Lauren & Michael Blumenfeld; George & Stela Campion; Todd Clear & Dina Rose; Carol Cusack & Mark Singleton; Sasha DeGennaro & Anthony Vandermark; The Demopoulos Family; Pauline & C. Patrick Doran; Bruce & Judy Drossman; Paul Elovitz & Geraldine O'Connell Elovitz; Ed & Patricia De Fazio; Victoria & Sal De Santis; Tracie Fracasso & Rick Wynne; Joseph Frick & Amy Brook; John & Ines Garcia Keim; Thomas & Mary Gillen; Eric Gladbach & Christine Harman; Barbara Gombach & Richard Weinstein; Brenda & George Gregory; Monique & Gordon Haas; Alan & Jerry Heath; Shiri Itzhak; Lisa Kalish & Brian and Adam Assadourian; Karen Kelly & Kenneth E. Howitt; David Kalmus & Abbie Jacobs; Bill & Kathy Kerch; Michelle Kimball & Dan Drag; Beth & Hugh Kilmer; Carl & Marjorie Kirshen; Fred & Carole Lang; Annette & Anthony Lenge; Anne Lockwood & Sean Kelly; Jeanne Lubin; Vincent & Frances Mastandrea; Michelle McGreivey; Juan & Stephanie Melli; Kevin & Susan Mullarkey; Catherine & Niall Murray; Deborah Nicoll-Griffith & Charles-Andre Roy; The Olah-Reikens; Angel & Gloria Padilla; Robert & Karen Parry; Rami & Miriam Pinchevsky; Monica & Bruce Pollock; Kai Rebane; Mr.& Mrs. Eric Rubenstein; Ana Sanchez; Beverly Savage & James Aibel; Eric, Avery, and Sydney Schmalzbauer & Emily Rudin; Dr. Stephen Schoeman; Laura Scully & Aissa Abed; Joel & MaryLou Sleed; Liz & Kevin Sparke; Dora & Arnold Stern; Zabrina & Glen Stoffel; Cherie Tompkins & William Goodbody, Jr.; Ralph & Louise Vecchio; Steve Walkowiak & Merle Schneider; Barbara & Peter Westergaard; Alison Ziegler & John Fischer. Questions about membership? New address? E-mail us at membership@ hobokenmuseum.org. 1301 HUDSON STREET P.O. BOX 3296 HOBOKEN, NJ 07030 TELEPHONE: 201-656-2240 www.hobokenmuseum.org MUSEUM HOURS TUESDAY-THURSDAY: 2-7 P.M. FRIDAY: 1-5 P.M., SATURDAY & SUNDAY: 12-5 P.M. Volunteer Appreciation Celebration and Opening Reception for New Exhibits Sun., Jan. 30,2 - 5 p.m. MUSEUM DATES TO REMEMBER-JANUARY-MARCH The Museum will be closed until Jan. 29 to dismantle current exhibitions and install new ones, and will reopen on Sun., Jan. 30. Sun., Jan. 30, 2 - 5 p.m., Opening reception for exhibitions: Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles.A Sweet History of Hoboken, and Deconstructing Hoboken: Photo Montages by Sterne Slaven, at the Museum. Free. And Volunteer Appreciation Celebration at the Museum. Free. All volunteers past, present, and future are welcome. Thurs., Feb. 3,10 a.m., Uptown Storytime at the Museum, for children ages 2 to 5 years and their caregivers. $2 donation; HHM members free. Sun., Feb. 6, 4 p.m., "History of Chocolate" talk and tasting by renowned local chocolate historian, Maricel Presilla. $5 donation; HHM members free. Mon., Feb. 7, 7 p.m., Screening of 30th Annual Black Maria Film Festival, at the Museum. Admission is $5. Sun., Feb. 27,4 p.m., Illustrated talk, "Deconstructing Hoboken," by photographer Sterne Slaven. Free. Thurs., Mar. 3, 10 a.m., Uptown Storytime at the Museum, for children ages 2 to 5 years and their caregivers. $2 donation; HHM members free. Sun., Mar. 13, 2 - 5 pm, Opening reception for Upper Gallery photography exhibit: First Impressions: Photographs by Don Sichler. Free. Thurs., Mar. 17, 10 a.m., Uptown Storytime at the Museum, for children ages 2 to 5 years and their caregivers. $2 donation; HHM members free. Sun., Mar. 20, 4 p.m., Open River talk: Monmouth County historian Randall Gabrielan will discuss "The Lure of the City: Hoboken History and Architecture at a Glance," at the Museum. Suggested donation: $5; HHM members free. Sun., Mar. 27, 4 p.m., Open River talk: Historian Angus Gillespie will discuss "Remembering the Twin Towers," at the Museum. Suggested donation: $5; HHM members free. Parking! Littleman Parking-Independence Garage, located at 12th Street and Shipyard Lane, offers three hours of free parking seven days a week for Museum visitors in th... [truncated due to length]