We Were Downtown, Recollections of Marie Totaro Chapbook Release Event

November 15, 2009

Marie Totaro, legendary Hoboken baker and past (and perhaps future) chairwoman of the Feast of St. Ann, spoke with Hoboken Oral History Project volunteer interviewer Pat Samperi at length last year. As could be expected, Marie offered detailed histories of her former dessert café, Le Jardin, and the development of the Feast. But the interviews also yielded lovingly evoked memories of downtown Hoboken that begged to be put into print. With humor and an eye toward detail, Marie offered a rich portrait of a way of life that has almost entirely disappeared from her old neighborhood.

Hoboken Oral History Project editor Holly Metz and designer Ann Marie Manca have shaped Marie’s stories to produce a new chapbook, We Were Downtown, Recollections of Marie Totaro. On Sunday, November 15, at 4 p.m., the Museum and the Friends of the Hoboken Public Library will celebrate the release of this booklet at the Hoboken Historical Museum.