9. Famous photographers lived in Hoboken
Hoboken’s residents have included Frank Sinatra and Eli Manning, though two of the most famous photographers have also called the city home. Dorothea Lange lived in a brownstone at 1041 Bloomfield Street, born here to a librarian mother and a lawyer father. Lange grew up at the home but contracted polio, leaving her with a permanent limp. Her father’s sudden departure from her life led her to care little about school, eventually taking up photography after landing a job at Arnold Genthe’s Manhattan shop with no experience. Lange then moved to San Francisco, during which time she cultivated her craft and became a leading photographer of the Great Depression era, capturing the iconic “Migrant Mother” photo.
Before Dorothea Lange even got her start, another Hoboken resident achieved success as a photographer. Alfred Stieglitz lived at 500 Hudson Street in the 19th-century Sea Bright Apartment Building. He was the son of German Jewish immigrants, and his father was a lieutenant in the Union Army. Stieglitz once quipped, “I was born in Hoboken, I am an American,” though much of his schooling took place in New York. After moving back to Germany, Stieglitz learned about the chemical processes behind developing photographs, and he gained some fame in Europe before coming back to New York in 1890. Stieglitz later gained fame for photographs including The Steerage and Winter – Fifth Avenue. His New York salon, which he called 291, exhibited photography alongside Picasso and Cezanne.