How did New Jersey get such a bad reputation?

Well, we are called the Garden State!

New York is a bully and made NJ its bitch.

Have you been there?

It's better to live in NJ, because when you look out of your window you see NYC or Philadelphia.

If you live in those cities you see NJ

Now do you get it?

New York is the cultural center of the United States and the worst parts of New Jersey are located close to New York. So, New York decided that Jersey must suck. The rest of it is just like any other state on the east coast.

Unlike New York, New Jersey doesn't have a sophisticated cultural scene to offset its blue-collar insular reputation.

Good question OP

I've been told that it's because so much of what people saw was that area right outside Newark Airport with gas refineries that stunk.

But as a Manhattanite, I find the NJ suburbs to be nicest in the tri-state area. There's a huge swath that runs (roughly) from Montclair to Morristown to Westfield that is mostly beautiful older houses from the 1920s and big old trees and it looks like movie set.

DL icon M is from Summit, which is one of those towns.

And gays and lesbians who get married and have kids frequently wind up in Maplewood, which is another.

There's also the horse country further west where Jackie O. had a house and is still home to more down to earth rich people who are into horses--old mansions and lots of farmland. (And an unfortunate golf club, lol.)

There are parts of the state that are very blue collar and filled with 1950s split levels and all and parts where Real Housewives types live, and they get more hype, which I guess is as the people who live in the nicer sections want it.

Watch a few episodes of the Richard Bey show and all will become clear.

It started with Johnny Carson in the 50s or 60s when he filmed in New York and used to make fun of problem coming in from NJ

Plus people who fly into Newark and drive onto Manhattan pass the worst part of NJ: the oil refineries. So that’s what. It’s keoole associate it with.

This house in Maplewood (which I've heard referred to as "Gayplewood" by gays who live there) is sort of what much of that section looks like.

Gunnison Beach is the greatest place on Earth. Makes up for all of NJ's flaws with much left over.

Oh, wow. Why did I know, before I even opened this thread, that YourMillennialCunt would be here, filling the thread up. Anyway, the Jersey Devil is unique to New Jersey.

There's Alpine, New Jersey.

Birthplace of Connie Francis! For that alone, NJ will always hold a special place in my heart.

There used to be some lovely small towns.

Even Jerseyites mock their state. I was on a plane and two college kids were sitting in back of me. One said to the other," Did you taste what they called pizza?" The other agreed that the pizza was not very good and then began ragging on the city. The first kid said," Who are we to mock.? We're from Jersey." And they both laughed.

The accent

If NJ is so bad, why is it so damn overcrowded? You can't go anywhere

Reality TV. NJ themed anything guarantees an all-trash freakshow cast, worthy of ridicule.

Too many prostitution whores.

LOL. As a number of commenters on R17's YT video noted, that is not even close to a thick NJ accent. Though it is what most white blue collar natives if the entire tristate area sound like.

(I'm sure a linguist could figure out the difference between a Lawn Guyland accent and Joisey one, but I can't. There are probably a handful of words they pronounce slightly different at best.)

I've watched pretty much every season of the RHONJ, and it always stood out to me how beautiful the state itself is, despite the trashy housewives.

There are so many scenic locations that were filmed around the state, and it photographs very nicely, especially in the Winter.

Some surprising things that stood out to me, is that NJ is much more rural than one would expect. Also more suburban.

People often mistake NJ for Hoboken, Newark, and the NY metro area, but the majority of the state is not urban.

I've driven throughout NJ a few times, and I've seen a lot of cranberry bogs, and pastureland, and trees. Driving to Atlantic City is very nice, and once you get to the Jersey Shore, there are quite a few nature reserves.

Inland, you have some nice towns, and one of my favorites is Princeton. It looks like any other small college town, and it's very quaint.

There are also many farms, and in the upland region of the state, you can even find a castle.

I think that New Jersey is the perfect size for a state, too. You can traverse it within a matter of hours, and it's also very central to some major cities like New York and Philadelphia.

I can see why so many people want to live there.

How to know if your girlfriend is from Jersey.

New Jersey countryside...

Passaic River falls...

Paterson Falls...

Point Pleasant...

Ventnor Beach...

Delaware River in winter

Jersey City

Camden

Residents

IIRC, didn't they figure out that none of the actual Jersey Shore cast members were from New Jersey?

Most were from Staten Island, NY and Snooki was from Rockland County, NY

Much or most of NJ is beautiful. It doesn't have to be so queerly categorised by each extreme, as someone upthread is wont to do....working class homes from mid-century in disrepair to manse and farm in horse country. Much of Bergen County is lovely, and many parts right in the sweet spot known as the middle. It certainly doesn't mean most of the houses are affordable or even with middle-class pricing however, but they appeal more towards a broader swath of people. Passaic county as well.... Places like Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Old Tappan, Tenafly, Closter, and Park Ridge are wonderful small towns with an historic downtown feel or main drag to enjoy shopping and restaurants. If more people knew how truly beautiful NJ is, no one could afford to live there!

They elected this.............

Somehow you end up feeling superior by knowing and proclaiming just how much you suck

It's all of that super pushy super nasty Italian white trash.

Best tomatoes you'll ever eat are grown in NJ. As someone from NJ once told me that's why Campbell's Soup is based there

I grew up in NJ and could wait to get the fuck out. The worst place in the world to grow up. Even now when I'm asked where I'm from I say "right outside of NYC"

People always mock neighboring states. When your neighboring state is the media capital of the world, the mocking gets amplified.

Add to that the route from NYC to Newark airport and the approach to NYC on 95 pass through some industrial zones which give an uncharacteristic view of the state.

Another issue is that for the moment, the state is one big suburb of two major cities (NYC and Philly), with only small, distressed urban centers. The high cost of New York has (finally) caused a spillover into Jersey City, revitalizing much of that City. Now, there is new development in Newark. But neither city is a destination in its own right. The state has no scenic natural resources other than the overly-developed Atlantic coast, so the dominant image in popular imagination is the opening credits of The Sopranos.

Plus the Rutgers of South Jersey is there

What was so awful about it R39?

The Sopranos

It wasn't the worst place in the world to grow up, but I agree it's somewhere that a gay teenager wouldn't want to return to. Even a straight single woman in her thirties years ago told me that the New Jersey suburbs were incredibly family-oriented to her.

As for pizza, well, actually New Jersey has probably some of the best in the nation. So, they have a right to be dismissive.

I was shocked when I discovered Maplewood, Montclair, etc. Some beautiful residential streets. And strangely affordable for NY - though with insane real estate taxes.

But there is still....something ....about the surrounding area. Maybe it’s the ugliness of the main roads and strip malls. Or the people - many of whom live there because they don’t like the city. Compared to Westchester, NY or the Main Line of Philly, it just seems lacking.

Princeton NJ

I went to Princeton, which is beautiful, but the people are aggressive and there is very little variety of restaurants and shopping compared to other parts of the country. I didn't like it but I hated Philadelphia even more.

Jersey City, sometimes called the 6th borough of NYC.

[quote]And strangely affordable for NY - though with insane real estate taxes.

Not unrelated.

Poor air quality because of the mass use of hairspray.

Friends live in the rural northwestern part of NJ. It is like something out of The Sound of Music. They are in the hills, my God the views!

I grew up in North Jersey (South Jersey isn't real).

It's great for a quaint suburban childhood, but I left at 18 and only return for the holidays. The idea of being an adult there...no thank you.

Suburban co-workers claiming that taxes in Essex County (Montclair, Maplewood) no worse than taxes in Westchester (Scarsdale, Rye) and that CT (Greenwich, Westport) is the only NYC suburban area with low-ish taxes.

Did not have a chance to provide independent verification.

NJ>Long Island in my opinion. I think the NJ bashing was a Manhattan dismissive of the suburban crowd and the West bridge and tunnel people.

It's easier to classify NJ as not being New York, then to qualify Long Island and what it is. People know NJ is a state - but you'd be shocked how many Americans (outside of NY) have little idea what Long Island is or its reputation.

NJ gets a bad rap - mainly because of the big-mouthed, crass working people that live there. NJ is no more working class than anywhere else, but somehow it has that reputation. There's a LOT of money and beautiful areas of NJ. But lacking any major cities, it is seen as almost entirely suburban and middle-class or working class.

Chris Christie does it no favors.

Meadowlands and Secaucus---That's whence the bad raps.

Best pizza in my life---including plenty in NYC and even in Italy---was in Bayonne.

Best diner ever is in Trenton.

r22: "one of my favorites is Princeton. It looks like any other small college town, and it's very quaint." Princeton---its shops, homes, and school architecture---is a Crown Jewel among college towns.

r41, You might want to look at a map, re: Rutgers and Princeton.

I went to Princeton too, r47, and it truly is beautiful, if pricey (the town, not just the university).

But if you think people in Princeton are "aggressive" -- I take it you've never been to New York?

NJ is the second wealthiest State (median annual household income). Wealthier than NY, wealthier than Calfornia.

South Jersey is it's best kept secret. Some beautiful towns (Haddonfield) and great beach towns: Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Cape May.

Miles and miles of wild forest and open farm land....yet conveniently located between NYC, Philadelphia, Washington.

Cape May

Fellow alum R57 and I didn't get the aggressive bit either, assumed troll from the rest of the post, though maybe he meant the people who actually live in Princeton Township?

No idea.

Besides being the second most wealthy, It also ranks near the top for education:

12 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in New Jersey

It's more the people that brings the reputation. Plus, the New York-centric television networks decided that they would put shows on which would bring ridicule to Jersey. In addition to Jersey Shore, we have:

New Jersey has become the state of choice for cable reality shows:

-- Bravo's "Real Housewives of New Jersey": Monday's finale of the original Garden State reality show was the season's most-watched episode, with 3.4 million total viewers, and became the network's highest-rated telecast of the year. A two-part reunion special kicks off Monday.

-- Style's "Jerseylicious": Season 1 averaged 349,000 total viewers and reached more than 15 million unique viewers. The show became the network's most-watched first season in the women 18-34 demographic. Season 2 premieres Sept. 15.

-- Oxygen's "Jersey Couture": Season 1 ratings were not made available by the network, but the show met with mediocre reviews and hasn't yet been picked up for a second season.

^hello?

Jersey guys have always given off a highly sexually charged vibe to me. They're seem very masculine and dangerous.

For r65

Your show is in there , Snooki. Look carefully.

That's right, r57, I never went to New York. When I went to Princeton they had strict rules that said you couldn't leave the Borough after sundown or at all on weekends. They hung the carcass of a freshman by the gate to show they were serious.

They’re kind of assholes.I mean that kindly, but you can’t help but pick out the Jersey Boys and Girls in a crowd. They’re like Texans: loud, braying, foul-mouthed, arrogant and their tits sway freely.

Really, who wants to see that at mass?

I grew up in a town where (seriously) all of my family (including myself) and all of my friends ended up with cancer (and all different types). We had a Bristol Meyers plant and a Pabst's brewery on either side of town and who knows what the fuck they were putting into the water and soil. And my town was about as homophobic as they come so growing up as a gay boy int he 70's was tough. So happy to be gone.

Same with Philly - I wonder what chemicals are causing disproportionate cancer cases.

Others have nailed it. NYC has long dominated American culture, and New Yorkers love cracking jokes about Jersey.

People don't realize how they are just absorbing the Manhattan mindset.

Counterpoint to TV: "Jersey Boys."

God, I hated Jersey Boys. The story was boring, but the songs were even worse. The high pitch screaming was like nails on chalkboard everytime.

r74, Please. Singing in falsetto is not "screaming." You can hate falsetto, but try to stay factual.

R75 nice assumption, but IMO falsetto is fabulous when done right. Frankie Valli's voice is fine. The guy who played him when I saw it in 2012 on Broadway was awful. Mic was too loud and he sang with too much gusto, especially those high notes. Grating.

[quote]You might want to look at a map, re: Rutgers and Princeton.

R56, long ago, New Jersey was divided into two parts, North Jersey and South Jersey. You basically knew which part you lived in because of your area code. North was 201. South was 609. Rutgers is in New Brunswick, which was 201. Princeton is in Princeton, which was 609.

Princeton is in South Jersey.

The kids in r16 have all the room in the world to mock other pizza. NJ has—or had, when I was growing up there—the best pizza in the world. It was so good, I didn't know there was such a thing as "toppings" until I moved to PA to go to college (WORST pizza in the world then).

Princeton is classified as part of the NY metro area, and part of North Jersey r77.

Well, that's the NEW New Jersey, r79. "Acceptable alternative for millennii" New Jersey.

TFW someone on DL (R77) offers a rational explanation for something and the anonymous original poster still feels the need to defend his mistake.