Bayonne, New Jersey

Bayonne is a city located in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 61,842. The City of Bayonne is governed under the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) system of municipal government.

Facts

• The main street in Bayonne is known as Broadway, after the avenue in New York City. It was originally named Avenue D, since it is bounded on either side by Avenues C and E.
• The Bayonne Bridge, which connects Bayonne to Staten Island, was completed in November, 1931. At the time, it was the longest steel arch bridge ever constructed. Today, it is the third-longest such bridge, with the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, China and the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia being first- and second-longest respectively.
• Standard Oil began its initial operations in Bayonne when John D. Rockefeller bought a kerosene works on the eastern shore. It eventually encompassed all of the Saltersville section of Bayonne; Avenues J and K are all that remain.
• Bayonne was a bedroom community and shore resort for the wealthy and elite as late as 1889. The La Tourette Hotel on the southern shore along Kill Van Kull was its centerpiece.
• The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor (formerly the Military Ocean Terminal), located on the Eastern Side of Bayonne is now home to television and movie studios for shows such as HBO's Oz (1997-2003), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
• Films such as Hysterical Blindness (2002), Mortal Thoughts (1991) and Swimfan (2002), were all shot on location in Bayonne.
• The Bayonne Bridge and some of the downtown streets were filmed for the making of Spielberg's War of the Worlds.