Dataloungers tell me about New Jersey

It gave us cumin!

I live in Morris County NJ OP, and it's a great place to live. My town is very nice, low crime, clean etc and a five or ten minute drive will bring you to beautiful scenic horse country.

It's nothing like anything depicted on trash TV shows.

They voted repeatedly for Chris Christie.

Western Jersey along the Delaware River is drop dead gorgeous. Leafy tree-lined winding narrow roads, heritage farm lands, warm stone colonial farmhouses and inns. Bucolic and expensive.

I went to graduate school at Princeton, which is a very nice school.

There is a new mall being builded and it will be the biggest mall in the country and it will have a rollercoaster, too. It is called American Dream and it will be in New Jersy near the Meadowlands. That is something.

Wildwood!

Leonardo is cool.

The Princeton area is beautiful R5, I'm guessing you're familiar with Conte's. We always go there for pizza when in the area.

I lived in Morris County for much of my life. It is absolutely nothing like Snooki or The Sopranos.

Tell me about Trenton. Do the Janet Evanovich books get it right?

Lots of cute Italian boys in Hoboken.

[quote]There is a new mall being builded

Oh, DEAR!

There are two Jerseys: the beautiful parts (Hunterdon County, Morris County, Cape May, Deal, Princeton, Avalon, Long Beach Island, among others) and the shitholes: Camden, Trenton, Atlantic City, Newark, Paterson, among others). There doesn't seem to be many in-between places in Jersey.

I love my ocean view condo on the Jersey shore. It's a little tiresome in the summer when all of the bennies show up, but it's a great place to live.

Stone Harbor is beautiful. That part of the Jersey Shore is fantastic!

North Jersey is just New York suburbia, South Jersey is Philadelphia surburbia.

Springsteen.

That kid in OP’s photo is exceptionally ugly. Wow. What’s wrong with her face?

only part of the state speaks with that new yawk-light accent. If you go to central or south jersey they speak like they're from kentucky.

Where are the gay neighborhoods and nightlife, or do they NJ gays stay in the closet?

Plainfield, NJ is upscale homosexual central, at least traditionally.

Asbury Park, Plainfield, Maplewood, and JC are pretty much the only places to find the gays.

"A sizable and diverse LGBTQ community contributes to the long-time perception of Plainfield as a stronghold of gay life and gay community in the suburbs of New Jersey.

Plainfield has one of the highest percentage of same-sex householders in the state of New Jersey.[89][90] The First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, the oldest such congregation in the United States, is certified as LGBTQ welcoming.

In 1986, The New York Times reported on what was termed at the time as the "growing homosexual population in Plainfield" drawn to the stock of aging Victorian, Tudor and colonial homes, and featured interviews with various gay men who lived in Plainfield and worked in Manhattan.[91]

One of the Queen City's elected leaders, former Councilwoman Rebecca Williams (who now represents all of Union County as a freeholder) is openly lesbian and the city honored its LGBT community at a flag-raising commemorating the victims of the Pulse Orlando massacre during Pride Month.

What's the commute like from Plainfield to Manhattan?

About an hour and 15 minute commute

Plainfield is known as the Queen City for a reason.

I thought Maplewood and South Orange, which are less than 30 minutes by train from Penn Station, are where all the married gays and lesbians (with kids) live. Like a straight FB friend of mine who lives there posted about how they have rainbow flag crosswalks on Pride Week.

But to answer OP: there are several really nice sections.

There's a big swath from Montclair through the aforementioned Maplewood and South Orange, into Millburn, Summit and Short Hills and then out to Chatham, Madison, Mendham and Morristown that's all picture postcard affluent suburbia, mostly built in the 20s, kind of upscale Norman Rockwell. Most of the people who live there are not originally from NJ. Depending where you are, it's lawyers and Wall Streeters or media types

There's the horse country out near Bernardsville and Peapack and Harding and Basking Ridge where serious old money types live on hundred acre "farms" -- Jackie O had her country house out there

There's the area around Princeton which is also upscale old school suburbia

There are many pretty shore towns--Cape May is probably the prettiest, but Spring Lake and Mantoloking have their charms and Asbury Park is very gay and getting very gentrified.

There's also the very rural western and northwestern parts of the state which as noted above are beautiful and feel like you're hundreds of miles from NYC

The parts people think of are not the rundown cities, but the tract housing suburbs that went up in the 50s, 60s and 70s in Bergen, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties. Lots of unremarkable split levels and not a whole lot of trees. Lots of working class Irish and Italian.

Wendy Williams is proud of her Jersey heritage, as is...

...Michelle Visage.

Asbury Park is fantastic. Lots of art.

Jersey City has been growing by leaps and bounds plus it is not as expensive as living in Manhattan. Real Estate values have held steady during the great recession, I bought in years ago I couldn't afford to buy into the market today.

Lucky you R33, Jersey City is lovely. Asbury Park is really up and coming too R32, I love it there.

[R7]....I love the old Wildwood, not the gentified new one.An that boardwalk was my oasis growing up.....i got stuck on the feris wheel for 2 hrs.

You know, even the state's shitholes have their moments.

For example, Newark has Branch Brook Park (especially during the Cherry Blossom Festival), the Museum, the Ironbound & Forest Hills sections, & NJPAC; Paterson has the Passaic Falls; and AC has the boardwalk & beach (& some decent hotels)

And conversely, part of Plainfield & Asbury Park are pretty damn scary.

In some ways NJ is the equivalent of A Tale of Two Cities - sometimes within in the same community.

As for the poster who wrote, "They voted repeatedly for Chris Christie," remember NYC repeatedly gave the world Rudy Giuliani.

Christie banned gay conversion therapy. It wasn't all bad.

Ok laugh... but South Jersey is a great place to live,

There are still great shore towns and wide open country and you're right between NYC, Philly and DC.

Tons of celebs are from there (too many to mention). Guess the state has an overall inferiority complex which makes its residents try harder.

Do any notable celebrities, besides reality tv stars, live in Jersey? Where do you go celebrity sighting?

The stars of Jersey Shore are from New York. Well, Staten Island, but still.

Millencent Fenwick, from eons ago when honorable republicans roamed the land, prior to their extinction

"You cannot have peace where there is no justice"

They don't make names like "Millicent Fenwick" anymore.

The don't make republicans like millicent fenwick anymore

Before the Chris Christie disaster.....there was another blimp

We got tons of awesome disasters for ya.

You're so right R36. I live in Morris county and I live to go to the Ironbound district of Newark to eat, especially during the World Cup. Such fantastic Spanish and Portuguese restaurants there, I love it.

There are a number of mostly African-American musicians and athletes who live in Alpine, R40

Stephen Colbert lives in Montclair

Springsteen lives in Rumson

But most celebrities are going to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn rather than suburbia.

This was always the quintessential New Jersey song for me

Millicent was my congressman when I was a kid living in Morris County. She was a real one of a kind.

What's so "scary" about the West End of Plainfield? And the West Side of Asbury Park? That black people live there?

And what most people don't realize is that much of the center of the southern part of the state is a virtual wilderness, the Pine Barrens. Not particularly gorgeous -- though there's some great canoeing -- but amazing that it's been preserved when it's less than 100 miles from NYC and even closer to Philadelphia.

Melissa Gurga has a dressy shop in Montclair NJ. She's in RHONJ.

There is a decommissioned reservoir in Jersey City that has become a nature preserve.

Is it true NJ law enforcement turns a blind eye at drunk driving in certain communities?

R55 is that a racist crack at the undocumented?

In New Jersey all seems to breathe freedom and peace and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

When I was much younger, my father would take my brother and me to look for the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens.

Grew up in South Jersey in the 70s in Cherry Hill, 90 miles to Manhattan, 7-15 miles to Philadelphia. Nice community and site of the Cherry Hill Mall, I think one of first or the first indoor malls. Had a bj in the parking lot at 18 by a young hot blonde but that surely couldn't happen today as I'm sure they have too many security cameras.

It still has excellent schools (two high schools) and a large Jewish community. Close to Philadelphia, so sometimes took the high speed line to Center City and the "Gayborhood" as a teen, but II don't think it had a name then, or maybe wasn't even that that gay yet. Went to my first bathhouse in Philly at 18 in that area as well as a porno movie at the gay Samson Cinema, and another gay cinema where they had a small seating area -- both had sex in the seats!

Many Philly athletes live in the desirable Moorestown, Haddonfield and Cherry Hill area over the decades. Collingswood has had a revival in the past 20 years and has some fine restaurants in its little downtown, with a speed line station into Philly

Sone NYC athletes can often be found living in North Jersey.

Newark has the modern Prudential Center arena where the NHL Devils play as well as big concerts there.

Never been but: I think Melville (sp?) in South Jersey has some appeal, as does Lambertville, the adjacent town to the popular bed and breakfasts and antiquing in New Hope, PA?

I think Hoboken has a computer boat to Manhattan and is fun and full of yuppies -- a big turnaround in recent decades? Short Hills in North Jersey is expensive and boasts an upscale mall?

Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park and animal area off the Turnpike was a class outing senior year.

New Jersey Monthly is the magazine for the north Jersey area

I read years ago it has some of the country's highest-paying jobs in North Jersey. But isn't most of the state cursed by high property taxes? Some of the best school districts in the country are in North Jersey, I think.

Martha Stewart is from Nutley, NJ. outside of NYC So there!

R26 Do you still have to change trains in Newark?

There's also the matter of auto insurance in New Jersey, which folks in other places take for granted, but which is a big deal in the Garden State.

R14 and R36 Jersey has always intrigued me for these reasons. You have a beaches up and down the East Coast, close proximity to NYC in the North, Phily in the South. Sounds perfect!

Yet, the portrayal of it in the media has always been very negative. I also remember reading about all the toxic waste dumps in National Geographic when I was a kid. The most in the nation, yet such a small state?! A lot of the cities are very ghetto. I liked Las Vegas and thought Atlantic City would be fun to go with the beaches and casinos. Apparently, it is a very crime ridden place, the ghetto is very close to the boardwalk.

R62 The bad can be very bad(the bad areas of some of the cities are very scary) but that isn't most of the state. Aside from those areas, most of it at worst is boring suburbia and there are many very lovely areas, nature, historical sites. Mostly pretty low crime. It is ridiculously expensive, but it has some of the best school systems on the country. Considering it's the most densely populated state in the Union, there is a lot of green, a lot of parks, a lot of areas that just simply haven't been built up yet. Most of those toxic waste dumps were cleaned up a very long time ago.

But the thing is NJ has always had that "negative" rep, precisely because it's between NY and Philly - so the two big cities always picked on the state, which in turn got picked up by everyone else. I believe this even goes back to colonial times.

My mother lives in Hackensack

It's called the Garden State FYI

Nanette is going to visit her grandmother in Trenton, NJ.

[quote] close proximity to NYC in the North

Over an hour commute (from the nice areas) isn't really "close proximity" if you're working in NYC every day.

I grew up in NJ and still live here. It's like an abusive relationship. Taxes are way high. Overcrowded, you really can't go anywhere and auto insurance is ridiculous.

[R62]Atlantic City was dirty and overhyped.Ironically, i went a few times...even stayed at Trump's horrible casio.Both times the toilets on the floor with the slots were broken,so you could not use bathrooms downstairs.Management gave us complimentary gift certs for buffet to make up for inconvenience. An right down the street...not far from the hotel's entrance was a whore stroll.

r69 - What's a whore stroll? Can I buy one?

R7, this New England girl, raised on Cape Cod beaches, was amazed at how beautiful Wildwood was when I visited in 2004. I followed the Monarchs as they flew down the highway and when I got to the beach, it was covered with butterflies all over the dunes. I'll never forget the overawing sight of it or how magical the light was on the dunes that fall afternoon.

Do the Monarchs still gather there? So much has gone missing and I see fewer and fewer every year up here in the North Country. I hope Wildwood is still as sweet as that perfect day in September.

Every school in that state has an arboretum. It's the place where all the southern species have their northernmost limits and all the northern species have their southernmost limits. For a botanist, it's heaven.

Another thing I've noted when I saw this title: most of my personally favorite people have been from NJ. My best friend is from the north, up by the Delaware Gap. Sweetness must be in the water there because I just love these guys. They laugh at how they're perceived, but they're blunt, honest, and loyal to the bone.

There's a reason a large part of the Continental Army was from NJ and we should all bow down to their contribution to the founding of this country and the NJ blood shed for it.

New Jersey gave the world the great gift that is Miss Connie Francis, so all else is forgiven!

THE best PIZZA in the country.

Nothing grows a tomato like New Jersey loam. Most delicious I've ever had.

The blueberries that are commercialized? The best are from NJ. Wild? New Jersey berries grow bigger and for longer. Just ask Smelly Anne, she apparently picked quite a few in her youth on farms in NJ.

I wish I had a growing season like NJ. Their weather (was) perfect for agriculture. I once toured the state looking for farmland I could afford back in the 80's. I struck out, but sure wish I had a bit deeper pockets because some of those old run-down farms became developments that ruined perfect soil.

They paved paradise....

[quote]What's so "scary" about the West End of Plainfield? And the West Side of Asbury Park? That black people live there?

So that's your idiotic takeaway from my post @ R36?

How about the chance of being a victim of a violent crime in NJ is 1 in 408, but in Plainfield is 1 in 145. Or that Plainfield has an overall crime rate that is higher than 85% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

Now to Asbury Park, and I'll quote this stat: "In regards to violent offenses, Asbury Park, NJ has a rate that is 478% higher than the New Jersey average; compared to the United States, it is 266% higher than. Looking at crimes involving property, Asbury Park, NJ is 197% higher than its state's mean, and 87% higher than the country's average."

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

oh, this place is polluted as fuck! "garden" state my ass LOL!

Just google it if you don't believe me!

I would say the best thing that NJ gave the world is Frank Sinatra, from Hoboken.

But Hoboken floods like a motherfucker. Every time there is a little rain, the streets are flooded.

You find trash and scammers everywhere. Divisive trolls like to generalize so people will pile on. It's been happening a lot on this site and too bad.

I'm guilty of contributing and I'm sorry to the: South (well, not too sorry), and anyone else I shit on as coming from a regional shithole.

I'm not a fan of Texas, for instance, and few Bostonian Irish are (they killed JFK)...but I like Beto O'Rourke and if I stuck to my 'all Texans suck' mindset, I wouldn't see him for who he really is.

What and who would like to see us divided? What and who wants to see us at each other's throats rather than on theirs? Ask yourself this and you know who the trolls are.

Well r77 your not gonna mention in your stats that NJ has a large black middle and upper middle class population cause that wouldn't work for your purpose, would it?

[quote]Well R77 your not gonna mention in your stats that NJ has a large black middle and upper middle class population cause that wouldn't work for your purpose, would it?

I didn't have to mention it because that's implied at my post @ R36 as per my use of the word "[bold]part[/bold]".

Tell me more about the whore stroll!

The West End of Plainfield is where Parliament-Funkadelic, George Clinton, and 90s R&B lesbianish girl group Total are all from. Also various other doo wap and gospel acts.

Is NJ the only place where people blow their horn for you to move BEFORE the light changes to green?

r86 No.