Probably the only thing residents of Baristaville know about Newark’s Broad Street is that it is often the last stop on New Jersey Transit before you get to New York.
But Broad Street has an interesting history. While today it is a mix of “discount clothing stores, an off-brand fried chicken place and lots of beauty supply shops,” according to a report on WNYC yesterday that profiled the area, the Broad Street of the 1920s was a different story. Adam Zipkin, deputy mayor for economic development in Newark told WNYC that back then the street was filled with huge department stores like Bamberger’s and Haynes.
Zipkin, whose parents were born and raised in Newark, added that the intersection of Broad and Market Streets was known as “the busiest intersection at rush hour in the country, busier even than Times Square.”
Newark lost half its population during the middle part of the 20th century, and retail space on Broad St. now rents for about $15 per square foot. Under its economic development plan, the City of Newark hopes to turn that around by establishing a mixed-use business and residential area downtown.
Maybe one day, Broad Street will thrive again.
Photo courtesy of WNYC/New Jersey Historical Society
There’s a lot that’s not immediately obvious in Newark.
For example, the former L. Bamberger & Company building hosts three floors of internet servers and hosting sites on its foot thick floors. Hundreds of jobs for technicians in the building, servicing corporate fiber optic backbone. Just about every broad band company has a pipeline down either Market or Broad streets.
The credit card company MBNA had 4,000 customer service jobs on a 24/7 schedule in the building on the SW corner of Washington and Market. Although their parent Bank of America has downsized that location, I understand there are still about 1,500 jobs there.
There are a number of jewelry dealers, diamond cutters, precious metal foundries, etc in Newark, too. Highly specialized and very secretive, as one would expect. Tiffany once had its main workshops in Newark.
Secaucus is the last stop before NYC. Newark Broad is the last stop before Hoboken
Before the riots and the subsequent great white flight, my mother would take me to Bamberger’s when I was a very very small child. The city has great infrastructure and sadly, for half a century, builders were encouraged to sprawl outward rather than being incentivized to remain close to mass transit systems. Newark even had it’s own subway system. The oil lobby wins every time. Maybe with a change in the national attitude toward urban centers, smart urban planning and economic incentives, and a future in which a lot of resources will become more scarce, gems like Newark will shine again. If it can happen in Williamsburg and Dumbo, why not here.