(erielack) Hoboken Eateries, in the Terminal

["vze3fhdr" <vze3fhdr_@_verizon.net>]

Hi List:

    This is part two, Hoboken Eateries in the Terminal. There is a lot of history, both railroad and personal, so I might divide this into two posts.

    First of all, the Terminal as it is today is nothing like it was in the fifties. There was far more in the way of railroad ongoings, plus the mail facility and the Marine operations. 

    Back then:

    There was only one entrance to the H&M, now the PATH, then just called the "tubes" or the "Hudson Tubes". As you walked up the steps, there was a news stand. The Union News Company operated three newsstands in the Terminal. That was one. A fruit and vegetable stand occupies the space. 

    Walk onto the concourse up to track 4 or 5, and face the Food Court. That was once, up until 1960, the Lackawanna Restaurant, or lunch room. It was operated by the DL&W. On the right side was the lunch counter, and on the left side there was a bar. My Father tells a few stories about a few RR employees that were dragged out or thrown out. 

    To the left of the lunch room, up against the wall were there is another entrance to the Food Court, was the Baggage Room. The Baggage Room wrapped around the rear of the Lunch Room, and had another entrance on Hudson Place. Immediately to the left of the Baggage Room was a double door that opened to a stairway that led up to the DL&W YMCA. That had sleeping rooms plus a cafeteria. This was obviously for railroaders only. There was also a hall with a small stage. 

    If you face away from track 4/5, you would see the steps going up to the offices, and the upper ferry concourse. What is now the signup room and receiver's office was a small coffee shop. The coffee stand in front of you was my family's coffee stand. It was bigger, as it was built in 1937. Walking South, the next thing is a Hudson News kiosk. That was yet another Union Newsstand. Where the Hudson News kiosk is accessible from outside and inside, there were two Union Newsstands at that location. The outside stand could be closed, but the inside stand, operated by Bill Weis, was always open. In the late 60's, Bill had gates installed so the stand could be closed nights and weekends.

    As you walk South, there was a Flower Shop. Then there were more steps going up to the big offices.

    Then there was Cushman's Bakery. I remember that Cushmans was like the Entenmanns of today. They had a lot of institutional style cakes and cookies. I haven't looked lately, but a few years ago, the entrance to the bakery had "Cushmans" set into the floor with brass letters. Cushmans was a fairly large store. Today, at least half of the old store is now the Station Master's office and Customer Service. The liquor store and control center were added in the sixties, IIRC.

    Now some history:

    Back in the old days, there were two families that operated eateries in the terminal. Both had the same last name, but were unrelated. George Polites operated the restaurant and bar that were located at the rear of the waiting room, were the trainman's room is now. George also operated the coffee shop at the top of the stairs by track 5. He also had space on the upper ferry concourse, and additionally, he had space on the ferries. His servers would bring coffee and rolls, etc. onto the ferry boats in the morning. He also had a coffee shop in the PABT. IIRC, there was a small banquet room, its still there, behind the main building on the South end. I believe that was associated with G. Polites' restaurant. The big banquet hall in Tabor's book, is, I believe the Superintendent's office, decorated for some big RR function. That same office is the Super's office under NJT.

    My Grandfather had a fruit stand in Penn Station, Newark. One day, in 1936, the Super told him the DL&W wanted a fruit and candy stand in Hoboken. He told my Grandfather to go see Mr. ?. He did, and the rest is history. Fast forward to 1957. The Erie was coming to Hoboken. Long distance travel was beginning to decline. The DL&W wanted out of the restaurant business. Someone from the DL&W offered the restaurant to my Grandfather. He took it. He spent a considerable amount of money to modernize it. He called it the L & E Terminal Shoppe, IIRC. The menu was a silverish marbleized glossy affair, with a high level platform with a couple walking next to the train. I regrettably did not save anything from the restaurant. It was closed in 1963.

    One thing I do vividly remember was, being this was a RR owned and operated restaurant, until 1957, around the walls, up by the ceiling, were 3 X 5 foot photographs of scenes along the DL&W. One of these was the Phoebe Snow in the Delaware Water Gap being pulled by Diesels. During the remodeling, these were tossed.

    More to come....

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