"I was in a bookshop in Manhattan, looking at New York City calendars," explained Leon Yost, one of the four collaborators on the Jersey City 2003 calendar. "There were three calendars there and I decided what Jersey City needs is a calendar of its own."
That was seven years ago, and since then Yost, a Jersey City planning board member and a member of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, has helped produce the yearly calendar highlighting the major historical treasures in the city.
"I do this because I like the art of photography," said Yost, a professional photographer who has lived in Jersey City since the early 1970s. "There are a lot of grand old buildings in Jersey City."
Yost noted the city's pride in its historical landmarks as part of the appeal of the calendar. "In another town, those old buildings would have been torn down to make space for development," Yost noted. "Fortunately, Jersey City has enough space."
Yost said the calendar started with an issue of 100 copies, which he printed by hand and signed.
Since then, Yost has picked up corporate sponsors for the calendar, along with help from different autonomous organizations in the city.
"Two years ago the Economic Development Agency picked the costs of the calendar," said Yost. "The Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy is helping out this year."
The 2003 edition, titled "Magical Jersey City," includes a number of the city's prominent houses of worship, government buildings, and nature sites. As with previous calendars, all the photography was done by Yost.
This year, the text for each month's subject was provided by Tom Murphy, who serves as chairman of the History Department at Saint Peter's Preparatory School, and Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy President John Gomez.
Murphy said his favorite subject in the 2003 calendar was Sip Manor. "The oldest house in Jersey City isn't even located in Jersey City," said Murphy. Built by Dutch settlers between 1664 and 1665, Sip Manor was located in what is now Journal Square.
The Sip family, according to Murphy, lived in the stone manor until 1924, until the house was sold and slated for destruction.
"There was an outcry among local civic and patriotic groups to save the manor," said Murphy. "Some of the groups wanted to relocate Sip Manor to West Side Park."
According to Murphy, Sip Manor was saved by another developer, Arthur Rule, who dismantled the entire building and reassembled it at 5 Cherry Lane in Westfield.
The June section of the calendar features a shot of the famed "Wall Street West" riverside financial area, labeling all the important buildings from the Liberty State Science Center to the Avalon Cove apartments.
"The riverside has changed so much in the last decades," said Yost. "When I first came here in the 1970s, the Colgate plant was all there from Exchange Place to the Morris Canal. There were twin smokestacks on the roof of the plant. When the winds came from the east, all you smelled was the perfume they manufactured."
Starting in the early 1980s, Yost added the skyscraper at 10 Exchange Place was built. This opened the floodgate of development, which would make the riverside of Jersey City rival Lower Manhattan as a home for financial institutions.
Yost included two aerial photos in the calendar. One is of the tennis courts in Lincoln Park near Communipaw Avenue, the other is of the Jersey Turnpike at Exit 14B.
"I first went up in a helicopter provided by the EDC two years ago," said Yost. "The pilots have a schedule, so we go to certain places in Jersey City."
Unlike photos taken on the ground, Yost was not faced with shutter and lens focusing concerns.
"There's no need to focus and set a shutter speed," Yost said, adding he has a broader area to take pictures of with aerial shots. "When you're up there, you try to think fast."
If you miss a shot, Yost noted, you can always circle back.
"The helicopter can slow down and circle, but you can't stop the machine in the air," Yost said. "Seeing a subject from such a vantage is something a photographer would kill for."
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