By: Yiling Sun

It’s a fantastic view from these abandoned houses. You can see glimpses of the sea and the skyline. But these houses themselves are not beautiful.

Starting from the early 1900s, the houses in Manhattan belonged mostly to artists such as painters. It was a great place to paint sunsets and city life. Sculptors lived there. They sculpted things they saw in the city.

Bonnie Berger, who owned a three-family brick house, was a photographer. In Hoboken, Berger ran a collectibles shop and was a photographer’s landlord. She lived with her daughter.

“It was an amazing place to grow up,” Berger’s daughter said. “We had a great backyard. My mom had vegetable gardens. We had hammocks, and a turtle was living there. It was a little oasis. We could see the fireworks every year. It was pretty unique.”

David Spatz is the city planner for Union City. He says he hasn’t heard from Sky Pointe in “probably six to seven years.”

“I think the city would like housing developed on that property,” Spatz said. “But in a way that is sensitive to the existing neighborhood and the cliffs itself, developing something that wouldn’t block views to the people live to the west of the property, but also be sensitive to the Palisades.”

Many people wanted to tear down the house. They have been burnt, broken into, and graffiti. Some people don’t want the homes to be destroyed, but others want them to be gone.