Jack and Peter Mecca grew up in Hoboken in between its industrial boom in the first half of the 20th century and its economic decline and rebirth near the end of the century.

 

In the late 1970s, they would load their cameras with Kodachrome film, pick up sandwiches at Fiore’s deli (still there today, open for takeout, at 414 Adams) and go hang out where most of Hoboken hung out: in parks, on the waterfront, at street fairs. Their lens captured Hoboken’s essential spirit, pre-gentrification.

 

When the Museum reopens, about 15 of their images in richly colored prints will hang in our Upper Gallery.

 

In the meantime, Peter Mecca edited a selection of their slides into a brief slide show, set to Leonard Bernstein’s dramatic score from the “On the Waterfront.”