Painting of Frank Sinatra by Ian Sullivan
By Kate Rounds Photos Courtesy of 295J and Dominique Ramirez
Johnston Avenue
F
ull disclosure. I’ve lived the Bergen/Lafayette neighborhood for, jeez, it must be 17 years now. So, yes, I’ve seen a lot of changes. When I lived on a boat in Liberty Harbor Marina, I used to run in this neighborhood and would think, when my boat sinks, which it eventually did, this is a community I’d like to live in. It wasn’t overpriced. It had pleasant, single-family homes with driveways, and many of those families had lived here for generations. Its history embraced the Lenne Lenape, General Lafayette, and the Underground Railroad. Some of you will remember the artist colony, known as 111 First Street, which was torn down in 2007. 30 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ SPRING | SUMMER 2021
Many of those artists, displaced from their live/work spaces, found a hospitable community and affordable homes in the Bergen/Lafayette section. Artists and old-timers shared the bodegas and laundromats, and dollar stores. Not surprisingly, Realtors, developers, and savvy home hunters started to uncover our best-kept secret. Bars and restaurants and cafes appeared on Communipaw Avenue. Baker Building Apartments went up on Suydam Street, and on the north end of Monitor, condo buildings rose from vacant lots one after the other. Enter 295J, a very cool rental building that opened in March, 2020. Dominique Ramirez is happy she discovered it. “I moved from the Upper East Side, New York City, where I was born and raised,” she says. “This is my first time ever living outside of Manhattan!” She and her boyfriend, Matt Francolino, moved to 295 Johnston Avenue in August, 2020. “We fell in love with 295J for all that the building offers, from the apartment and beautiful décor, to the amenities. My boyfriend fell in love with the gym, and I loved having the pool in the summer.
