That place is right around the block and down the street from where I grew up!
I have not been back to Hoboken since 1980 or so. From the photo everything has changed. Hoboken was a dump in the 70's, then land prices went through the roof - thus fancy Spanish tapas bars are now possible.
That tapas bar used to be a Cuban store that sold odds and ends - you know, newspapers, milk, cigars, lottery tickets ... a little of everything. My father used to send me there when he needed something. I really liked the owner but for the life of me I cannot remember his name now.
14th street was a strong Spanish neighborhood when I lived there: folks from Cuba and Puerto Rico mostly. I lived on 13th street - end of the Italian neighborhood. Rather than walk four or five blocks to the Italian stores, I normally went to the Spanish places around the corner.
The photo now shows an upscale block with a few places - I remember many smaller stores in a row: food stores with veggies out front, a meat market where chickens were still alive until you purchased them, a fish place, several deli establishments, a post office, several *real* bars (no one knew what tapas were then!), etc. Small shops owned by small shop owners. People everywhere, including folks looking out the windows of the tenements above the stores.
Yes I have been, but it was so, so different then.
