With New York City this close and, with all due respect to Brooklyn, our town owning the best views of the island around, some notable names in sports, politics, radio, television and music are now calling Hoboken its home.

Here’s a list of our top five:

5. Artie Lange:
A former cast member of Mad TV before being fired from the show for doing lines other than scripted ones (see: cocaine bust), Arthur Steven Lange has served for the past four years as one of Howard Stern’s on-air joke writers for the hugely popular nationally syndicated morning show heard locally on 92.3 K-Rock.

Unlike the other names on this list, Lange was born and raised in New Jersey (Union). He can often be seen at the Liberty, one of Hoboken’s true sports bars, trying to bring home one of 10 games he likely bet on that day.

Lange can be seen in first starring role in Beer League with 80’s screen legend Ralph Macchio. The movie was filmed in East Rutherford and Bayonne, and will be released next year.

Lange lives in the Shipyard Building.

4. Natalie Morales:
Already being groomed to be poll-plummeting Katie Couric’s heir-apparent on NBC’s Today show, the Weekend Today and MSNBC anchor chose to call Hoboken her home despite recently having a baby boy (Josh) with her husband, Joe Rhodes.
The normal sequence for most newly married Hoboken couples in their 30s is to make a move west to the suburbs, but Morales chose to stay in town. MSNBC studios are located in Secaucus (a ten minute ride without traffic), while the Today Show is hosted from Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan, making the commute essentially equidistant to both workplaces.

Or perhaps Morales, 33, has endured enough of a nomadic life growing up. As the daughter of an Air Force Dad, she was born in Taiwan and spent her first 18 years moving from Panama to Brazil to Spain before coming to America and attending Rutgers University.

Morales lives on Garden Street.

3. Kanye West:
Before becoming an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina by declaring that George Bush "doesn’t care about black people" (Bush’s two Secretary of State appointees are African-American, as is his Education Secretary, but no matter), West was piling up Grammy nominations to the tune of a whopping 10 in 2004.

The College Dropout captured the Best Rap Album award, Jesus Walks won Best Rap Song, and a songwriting credit on You Don't Know My Name saw West sharing the Best R&B Song award with Alicia Keys and Harold Lilly.

Before launching a solo career, West, 28, was behind scenes writing and producing for artists such as Jay-Z (a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets) and Ludacris (the big hit being "Stand Up"). His latest hit with Jaime Foxx, Gold Digger, is the #1 song on the billboard charts.

It is unknown where West lives in Hoboken, but one publication has his monthly rent at $3000.00.

2. Eli Manning: Often seen out on the town at such popular haunts as The Madison and 340 Grill with Jesse Palmer and tight end Jeremy Shockey (who despite rumors lives in West New York, not Hoboken) the baby-faced younger brother of Peyton has exceeded even the most optimistic Giants’ fans hopes with a stellar start to his sophomore season.

After enduring a rookie year that included one of the ugliest stat lines in NFL history for a #1 overall draft pick (one touchdown, five interceptions and two fumbles while compiling an 0-4 record), Manning is now the 2nd highest rated passer in the NFC with even eclipsing future Hall-of-Fame big brother’s numbers with the Colts thus far in 2005.

Manning, 24, lives in the Hudson Tea Building.

1. Jon Corzine:
Staying within the general social makeup of the town, Corzine, 58, is still a swinging single despite being a U.S. Senator and New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate. With polls showing him running neck-and-neck with GOP challenger Doug Forrester, Corzine is rarely in town while out on the campaign trail. Before getting into politics, the 58-year-old divorcee was the CEO of Goldman Saks.

The Democrat grew up in the cornfields of Taylorville, Illinois. Population: 10,500. Square miles: 10. Hoboken has a population of 38,500 and is 1.3 square miles. Quite a contrast…

Corzine also lives at the obviously popular Hudson Tea Building.

Honorable mention- Jesse Palmer:
Ok, so he isn’t famous for his three touchdown, four interception and 4.68 yards-per-attempt stats during his four uneventful years with the Giants as a backup. But he’ll forever be known as the first active professional athlete to ever star in a reality show.

Predictably, Palmer received much flak for a career decision of putting his love life on display for entire country to see. Even more predictable was his decision to break up with his alleged soul mate Jessica Bowlin about five minutes after the show’s final episode credits rolled.

With all the beautiful babies strutting around the Mile Square, was it overwhelming temptation that forced "The Bachelor" to stay a bachelor?

Palmer, cut from the Giants this summer in favor of 290-pound quarterback rookie QB Jared Lorenzen, now hopes to catch on with another NFL team if injuries force one to make the same call the Jets did to 42-year-old counterpart Vinny Testaverde.

The 27-year old lives at the (sing along now) Hudson Tea Building…

If you know of any other Hoboken celebrities we may have missed, contact us at editor@realhoboken.com or use the message forum located on the home page.