Disappearing Diners & Mysterious Missiles
Plus election info, hand-crafted hawks, and much more!
Here We Grow
Welcome to the latest Weehawken Gazette. This publication is now two years old and started accepting pledges last July. We have 35 paying subscribers — one more than last issue! We truly appreciate it. And now we have a few ways to express our thanks.
New contributors! New benefits for subs!
We have two excellent journalists who have impressive CVs currently working on pieces for upcoming issues, and they will be paid thanks to people who have opted to support local content.
And… we hired our first illustrator! Check it:
Yes, Matteo Garcia is a young and talented Weehawken artist we ran into at Bagels On Park who was ready to contribute. He produced his piece, seen above, the same day it was commissioned, and so we paid him the same day. He’s the best. We expect great things from him.
And now we have a gift!
Paying subscribers can send us a classified ad of up to 150 characters, and as long as it’s not evil, we’ll print it at no charge.*
Paying subs can now get a beautiful limited edition Weehawken Gazette postcard with a stamp on it. Just ask, and we will deliver or mail. Learn more about this new postcard and see it here on our Instagram.
Wanna be a super-cool supporter of local info and vibes? Below is the button to subscribe or upgrade, and thank you so much to all free and paying subscribers.
⚰️ 🍟 RIP Coach House Hackensack
In our last issue we wrote about disappearing diners in NJ, and gave a rec for a local one you may have overlooked. So we’re bummed to inform you that the Coach House in Hackensack (not to be confused with their other outpost in North Bergen, which is now CH, a Latin steak house) was one of the last 24-hour diners in the state and employees were surprised and some left “tearful” by its abrupt closure.
According to the Bergen Record, the Coach House looks like it’s been bought by a car wash company. Bye bye 2AM hot wings, hello Toyota hot wax.
Sources: Coach House Diner Sold, by Megan Burrow
Coach House Diner Closes, Employees Bid Tearful (And Abrupt) Farewell, by Cecilia Levine
With Coach House gone, how many 24/7 diners are left in New Jersey?, by Amanda Wallace
☕ Gotan Gotan Gone
Located right next to a Dunkin’ and a stone’s throw from the 495, the Weehawken outpost of Gotan, a super-spare coffee and Mediterranean-ish cafe, is no more. They closed the location recently — exactly when is not clear, but maybe they lost faith in it long ago, because the Gotan Weehawken social media stopped posting in December 2024, a few months after their much much larger Hoboken outpost opened. And about two months ago, the Gotan in Jersey City that opened in February 2023, also closed. Gotan Hoboken and the original Tribeca location are still going.
📣 🌮 Urban Taqueria To Open a 2nd Location
In happier restaurant news, we have the best tacos, made by the best people right on Park Ave in Weehawken. Here’s an early heads-up that they will soon be opening a second location in Union City. You could wait until we can share more, or just follow them on Instagram now, instagram.com/urbantaquerianj, and you’ll be the first to know.
Related: Our piece in May 2025 on the Hoboken Taco drama
Bomb Squad Torpedoes Frat’s Favorite Decor
On Thursday March 26, the same day the FBI raided a Hoboken apartment to foil an alleged firebomb plot, the Jersey City bomb squad was deployed to a fraternity at Stevens Institute of Technology to swoop up a WWII-era torpedo.
Rumors flew. But no one was in danger and there was no ill will behind it. The story in The Stute, the Stevens student newspaper, is hilarious, penned by a talented writer who readers will know as an occasional Gazette contributor and unpaid copyeditor.
Read the story: Bomb’s away: police take missile from Stevens fraternity, by Hugo Holland, staff writer
Big Bird Nerd News
Our Tern is a Hoboken-based bird advocacy organization we admire. We wrote about them in January and made it clear that we think Weehawken should have an honorary bird too. At a recent event at the Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken, the first step in making this real happened, as they unveiled a beautiful new collaboration: they’ve taken a Tern shaped-decoy and used a local Weehawken artist to make it our own.
Why was this project done? We asked Jeff Train, educator and the driving force behind the Our Tern project and his response knocked it out of the park.
“Hoboken & Weehawken may be different cities, but we are one ecological habitat. The duck you spot by the Chart House in the morning settles down for a nap near the Frank Sinatra statue in the afternoon. Our Tern wants to support our common environments, and we want to be good neighbors! That is why we are working with Weehawken’s birders, students, and residents to help tell your avian story. After many discussions and reflections, we connected with Elizabeth McParland, an incredible artist and teacher who has created an iconic decoy. Using Hoboken’s honorary bird as a canvas, Elizabeth has connected WeeHAWKen with the red-tailed buteo that soars up and down the cliffs. This incredible symbol, which perched on high rises as well as trees on the palisades is a reminder that Weehwaken is a city connected to nature: it sits on the magnificent palisades, it soars over the Hudson River, and it rides the winds between. And through it all nature thrives.”
Since meeting, Elizabeth and Jeff have gone birding with students, and they will both be participating in Hoboken’s Earth Day celebrations on Sunday, April 26.
How did they meet? I was dreaming of getting a hawk as our local bird and Jeff was looking for someone to paint one for us. I said, “I know lots of local artists, but in fact I know the perfect artist for this.” Elizabeth is not only a teacher at Weehawken High School, she’s also head of the Climate Club there. And she’s a fabulous artist whose openings I first started attending in 2019.
Related: Alessio’s in Hoboken’s Resiliency Park recently added bird-safety measures. Great video they made about it here.
🚨 🗳️ School & Municipal Elections
From chatting with locals, we have found that few have a grasp of what is happening in terms of local elections, and we are here to say this is not their fault.
Election news is super confusing and hard to find, and because we do not have a newspaper covering Hudson County, how would you even know? Much, but not all, of the information is online but buried in PDFs. Chat GPT, for example, said that Weehawken council incumbent Rosemary Lavagnino was running against a challenger. This is not true: Rosemary is leaving the council voluntarily after many years of service. We only consulted AI because we saw some people are getting their info there, and this is problematic to say the least. So here’s what you need to know:
Elections and dates
April 21: Annual school elections are happening in North Bergen, West New York & Weehawken.
May 12: May municipal elections in Bayonne, Union City & Weehawken
What Ward are you in? Union City has 10 wards, while Weehawken and West New York have 3 each. Don’t know what ward you are in? See: Hudson County election maps.
June 2: Primary election day
June 9: Municipal non-partisan run-off elections (if needed)
Who is running?
Bayonne: Lots of people on the ballot, and it’s available to see here on Bayonne’s website.
Union City: Unlike Bayonne, there are only five people are running for five spots and the ballot is available here on Union City’s website.
Fun fact: Brian Stack is Union City mayor and a New Jersey state senator. Holding two offices is no longer allowed, but as he held two offices as of February 2008, he is grandfathered in.
Weehawken: Only Ward 2 has more than one person on the ballot and there is no incumbent as long-time council member Rosemary Lavagnino is not seeking reelection. The ballot is here. In the previous two elections, in 2018 and 2022, there were no challenger candidates.
Note: Essex County is also holding school elections in Newark and Irvington on April 21, but most of their municipalities moved their school elections to November’s general elections. Belleville, Irvington, Newark and Orange are holding their municipal elections May 12. Learn more about Essex elections here.
Walk ‘Up And Down Hudson’ April 26 at 10A
A new-to-us group called Up And Down Hudson says they have a mission to embrace community while highlighting local businesses.
What it is: You meet at a cafe, which for this one is Parker, in West New York. Then you walk 2-3 miles. Then you get 20% off your check back at Parker. Sign up here and learn more on their Instagram.
🎩 🍽️ Weehawken Supper Club May 2
We did a deep dive into our local gourmet meal delivery service Lorraine’s Table last year, and you can read it here. But they also do “Supper Club,” and it always sells out. Go here on Instagram to see the menu for the upcoming edition, and see the info below:
The dinner is held at The Weehawken Elks Lodge on Blvd. East with a gorgeous skyline view of the New York City. It includes wine and a specialty cocktail. A full cash bar is also available. You will be greeted with passed hors d’oeuvres that will begin to tell the story of the meal to come. Guests are welcome to mingle and enjoy the view. Once everyone has arrived, you will be seated and commence your four-course tasting menu.
Price: $135 which includes gratuity
To make a reservation call 201-598-8878
Bark Your Calendar: Yappy Hour Returns May 15th
The first-ever Yappy Hour in Weehawken took place in July 2024 (that’s our photo of it above). Well, it’s coming back, scheduled for three Fridays: May 15th, May 22nd & June 12. Runs 5:30p to dusk, weather permitting. So bring your well-behaved, vaccinated, leashed pooches to this outdoor gathering that features stunning views and treats for dogs and hoo-mans. PS: Humans should bring cash if they wish to imbibe, but as ever, dogs drink, and get treats, free.
In Brief
Weehawken Farmer’s Market returns April 22 at 3-7p in Lincoln Harbor.
West New York is getting a new middle school, set to open in two years.
No cover Karaoke is May 1st. Cash-only bar, flyer below!
The $150 train tickets from NYC to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup matches in NJ are really a thing. So is the fact that they can’t call it MetLife and will be known as New York New Jersey Stadium.
Bye Bye Love
As Hugo is traveling, we used an unpaid copyeditor this week who would like to remain anonymous.
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Tah for now, nice nabes!
Susie
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*What is an “evil” classified? Well if you wanna harass someone, or sell something dangerous or… we don’t know, but you know.
