“Lugares de Mi Pueblito, Hoboken: Ayer Y Hoy/Places in My Little Town, Hoboken: Then and Now” Paintings by Julio C. Santiago

Julio Cesar Santiago was born on August 17th, 1950 in the coffee town of Yauco, Puerto Rico. Raised on a farm, Julio had ambitions of a big city life and developed a love for all things New York City. He vowed to move to the Big Apple one day.

While attending the University of Puerto Rico in the late 60’s on a track & field and volleyball scholarship, Julio passed the time by drawing and painting city landscapes, devising a plan to eventually live in Manhattan. Eventually, after many trips back and forth to the New York City art scene, he made his big move to the Lower East Side in the early 70’s. There he became enamored with the hustle and bustle of the city and took an interest in murals and graffiti.

In 1978, he met and married a woman from Hoboken who introduced him to the mile square town. With his love of urban landscapes, he quickly got a job working for the City of Hoboken as a painter. He spent nearly 40 years as the city’s painter, not only for public spaces but as a painter for private homeowners as well. For those four decades, when he wasn’t painting for the city, he would paint newly sold or rented apartments for Uptown Realty (now known as Liberty Realty) during Hoboken’s housing boom.

Julio raised his three children in town, where they all still reside. He has a profound love for Hoboken, its rich history and unique architecture. Now a retired city worker, Julio spends his days painting his favorite buildings and neighborhoods in town, with his dog Olive by his side. When he’s not painting, he is jogging along the waterfront or recounting historical facts about our great city. He can often be found tinkering with his ’72 Chevy pickup, an uptown staple. To his friends, he is known as the unofficial mayor of Hoboken. But to his family, he is a unique and humble artist with a heart of gold, who is eternally loyal to his home.