Just a few miles outside New York City, Sinatra spent three years, from 1941-1944, living in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, with his wife and oldest daughter. The time Sinatra spent in New Jersey is some of the richest in the singer’s family life.
Hasbrouck Heights is a Bergen County borough formed in 1894 from neighboring Lodi in a reform movement known as ‘Boroughitis.’ It's known to locals as simply ‘Heights,’ and has a small-town charm with a boulevard that leads to a vein-like network of residential streets. Hasbrouck Heights is just one of what New Jersey residents call its many 'bedroom communities' - small North and Central Jersey suburbs primarily used as home bases for workers commuting to New York City or Philadelphia. These bedroom communities don't offer much in the way of exciting nightlife or entertainment options like malls or movie theaters - they mostly house family-run restaurants and small businesses like doctors' offices for people in the area. Heights' other famous residents include TV and radio personality Arthur Godfrey and Orange is the new Black actor Jason Biggs - both who attended the high school.
Sinatra lived at 220 Lawrence Street in a modest Cape Cod-style house from 1941-1944. The Sinatras nicknamed it 'Warm Valley' - located just a block off the main boulevard. It still stands in 2015, with a new rectangular addition that didn't exist in his time.
In a place with not much in the way of entertainment, Sinatra's residency became a source of excitement. It’s said that young bobbysoxer girls would stand outside Frank and Nancy’s house, screaming to get a glimpse of ‘Frankie.’ Police often had to break up the crowds if it became too noisy. In an article written after Sinatra’s death, Former resident Robert A Erlandson remembered bike rides where he and his friends caught a glimpse of the singer, who would pose for photos with fans.
Sinatra left Hasbrouck Heights after only three years in 1944 to set off for Hollywood; still, 71 years later, his old house is a conversation starter for citizens, known even today as only ‘The Sinatra House.’