This photograph represents a bit of Jersey City as it is now. Well, not exactly now, the moment you’re viewing it. But, loosly speaking, the present time. The photo was taken on August 12, 2014.
The building complex up there on the hill started life in the late 19th Century as a charity hospital. When Frank “Boss” Hague became Mayor of Jersey City he completely renovated it starting with a new 23-story surgical complex. As Hague was very powerful in Democratic politics he was able to command the Works Progress Administration funds needed to expand his Jersey City Medical Center. The JCMC provided free medical care to Jersey City residents. The complex is now being converted into an upscale apartment complex called The Beacon.
Down the hill from The Beacon, and not visible in this photos, we have the Montgomery Gardens public housing project–a distinctly different population from the upscale Beacon. It’s slated for demolition and the neighborhood’s slated for revitalization. We’ll see.
The trees in the middle of the photo are on the North side of Fairmount Ave. while the wall is on the South Side. The murals are curated by Green Villain, LLC, which plans to transform that segment of Fairmount into an art gallery.
That’s the future.
Here’s the other side of the wall:
And this is just down the street from the wall, work in progress:
