On April 8, 2000, I had the privilege of visiting the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, and the rare honour of doing it in the company of other members of The Voice (The Frank Sinatra Mailing List).

Present on that day were many, but I recall in particular original Bobbysoxers Janet Cohen and Franny Casella, the one and only Rick Apt accompanied by the ever lovely Beverly Elander, fellow Bostonians Eileen Craffey and Anthony Deflorio III, as well as the wonderful Anita Brown, and my friend Jay Hopkins, as well as many others- too many to recall.

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We met in the back room of Piccolo's, a restaurant devoted to Frank. The back room is opened up only for special occasions. I guess we warranted one!  On the walls are over 300 photos and pictures of Frank!

 
photo by Michael R. Johnston

That's me on the left, the Chinese guy in the grey suit and burgundy tie. I marvelled at how a guy like me could end up in the company of so many esteemed people! 

After an excellent lunch (my only regret was not trying the pasta faguile, which made me drool... that's amore), we boarded the tour bus...

...although there was some waiting to do first. But no one minded as it was a nice bright sunny day.

Pretty soon we were on our way, with excellent inflight entertainment (provided by Rick, I believe).

Our first stop: the beguilingly and appropriately named St. Francis Church.

Frank was baptised at this Church on April 2, 1916. The priest mistakenly used his godfather's name, Francis, for his first name instead of 'Martin', his intended name. On such small mistakes does the fate of the world turn.

Outside the church- talk about a thorn among the roses!

From there, we navigated to 837 and 841 Garden Street, which are buildings that Frank bought for his parents and that Frank lived in from thirteen to nineteen respectively. Unfortunately I didn't get a good enough view to take pictures. 

From there was wound our way around to Lepore's Chocolates. Co-owner Ed Shirak is a big fan and has filled his store with memorabilia.

Most prominent is a star on the outside of the building that you can see above. 

Not wasting a photo opportunity, I posed next to it. That tiny badge I have in my buttonhole is a replica of the big plaque I'm posing next to.

Amusingly enough, it took our bus so long to navigate through the narrow streets of Hoboken that by the time we reached our next stop, the proprietor of Lepore's had already reached there first- by walking!

415 Monroe Street, Frank's Birthplace. The house burned down in 1967 but the arch was erected to commemorate the site in the 1970s.

above photo by Michael R. Johnston

The Frank Sinatra museum. The Hoboken Historical Museum has also installed a star in the ground.

Museum owner Ed Shirak gave us a brief lecture, first outside...

... then inside.

The museum was small but had many interesting exhibits.

From the museum, our next destination was Frank Sinatra Memorial Park, with its impressive view of the Manhattan skyline.

Although it was extremely windy, it was nice and we stayed for quite a while enjoying the sunshine, the view, and most of all the company. Immerse yourself in the experience! View a short movie clip! Hear the wind roar and almost feel the sunshine on your face!

A trip on the Frank Sinatra ferry to New York was in order, but we didn't get a chance to ride it. Some of us decided to go ahead and ride the ferry anyway, duplicating a journey Frank must have made many times in his youth.

A view of New York City from the ferry.

That was the last picture I took. We finished up with dinner at Leo's, another restaurant that was filled with pictures of Frank, before parting ways. It was a terrific day, absolutely wonderful. I had a great time and I made lots of friends and I have lots of memories of the day which I'll cherish for the rest of my life.