One Exchange Place — One Building, Many Stories
We arrived in Jersey City after our drive from Boston and checked into the Hyatt House at One Exchange Place.
After the long drive, I thought I had only one job:
Find the room. Put down the bags. Relax. 😄
Then I looked out of the window.
There was a yellow taxi.
A light-rail train.
A food truck.
People walking in every direction.
The PATH station right outside.
And beyond it all, the Hudson River.
I had apparently checked into a hotel… and accidentally found myself with a front-row seat to Jersey City. 😄
Then I discovered something else.
The building wasn’t always a hotel.
It was originally the First National Bank of Jersey City, built nearly a century ago and later transformed into the Hyatt House.
And the building still seemed to remember its old life.
Inside, I found this beautiful old plaque.
And then an old U.S. Mail letter box.
A bank plaque.
A letter box.
A hotel.
I was beginning to wonder whether I had booked a room or checked into a history lesson. 😄
But outside, everything was very much in the present.
Trains were arriving.
Taxis were moving.
Food trucks were serving.
People were rushing somewhere.
And the city was carrying on around us.
The building had changed.
Its purpose had changed.
The city around it had changed.
But little pieces of its earlier life had stayed behind.
And that made me think about people too.
We change.
We take on new roles.
We move into different chapters.
But perhaps we never completely leave the earlier ones behind.
They remain somewhere inside us.
One building.
Many stories.
And we were there for just one small chapter. 😊
WORDSOUPS 