Yes I said New Jersey.

[superTrash]

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I know it's not exactly the most progressive or cosmopolitan place, hell it's rich spoiled white people and god forsaken post riot ghetto warzones; my point, any North Jersey people out there?

Here are my favorite places in North Jersey.

Montclair :: Bloomfield Ave

Lot's of good restaurants, interesting antique stores.

Favorite places.

a. Semblance [Furniture, Interior] just off of Bloomfield Ave + Park St.

b. Greek Delights [Food] who would have thought that greek food made by Ecuadorians would taste this good or authentic.

c. Satesh Palace [Food] authentic southern indian, very southern.

So Orange :: The Village

Pure Kitsch. Soccer moms, wealthy college professors, people who work in Manhattan.

Favorite Places.

a. Haru [Food] Academy St, 3 blocks over from the train station, good sushi.

b. Cryan's [bar] a block behind the train station. Cheap drinks, cheap Van Halen knockoff bands. It's fun, especially cause you get to hit on all the cute beer drinking Seton Hall fraternity guys.

Newark :: Downtown

Yes it is a ghetto, but it's not that dangerous. Or at least this part isn't. Think of it as being the ultimate militant fashionista. Fashionista Terrorista!

Favorite Places.

a. Branch Brook Park [Park] The Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Watch your step and the heroin needles and used condoms.

b. Q's [bar,Dance] Mulberry St just so of City Hall. Suburban Goth Children. This is like a hardcore petting zoo. Go on a Friday evening.

c. Riviera Pastry [Cafe] On Ferry St in the Ironbound. Few workers speak English, so drag your Portuguese or Brazilian friend along with you. It's just like a Lisbon streetcorner, minus the old world ambience and American tourists.

Other places I like.

Edison :: Hilltop

Ikea :: Newark Airport/Port

Jersey City :: Exchange Place

Jersey City :: Grove St

Metuchen :: Main St

Millburn :: Millburn Ave

Westwood :: Westwood Ave + Main St

Places I hate.

Hoboken :: All of it sucks, too many sorostitutes and drunk guidos.

So here is my list, if anyone has any place else or wants to tell me how much New Jersey sucks, go for it!

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[everything is insanity and I have a headache]

[Ryan]

sorostitutes! man thats a good one

jersey head here..born and raised for 10 years in jersey city, my family relocated to the jackson area, i moved to brooklyn at the end of last year but whatev im a jersey head.

elizabeth, right next to newark, so many good portugese spots

i went to school at rutgers in new brunswick, that area is on the up and up, not 100% sure if thats good or bad or what though.

edgewaters saving grace is mitsuwa and thats not even saying much

seaside heights = hell on earth.

wha?http://www.livejournal.com/users/dorien/

[superTrash]

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Mitsuwa in Edgewater is nice.

I like the sense of danger of picking out something off the shelf and having absolutely no clue what the hell it is.

The cafeteria there is nice too, not the best food in the world, but nice.

Except when I was standing in line, I noticed that several workers were speaking in Spanish. It's nice to see that in a Japanese mini mall /grocery store.

I digress..

Other places to avoid at all costs.

Paramus [yes all of the malls, especially Garden State Plaza]

Anything so of New Brunswick

Short Hills Mall [like wandering through a Nordstrom's from hell filled with botoxed women with bleached out hair carrying Louis Vuitton bags and talking very loudly on cell phones, with the occasional lap dog thrown in for good measure. I hate this place.]

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[everything is insanity and I have a headache]

[oneself]

Big Up to Great Adventure! (Six Flags). That was the spot back in the day during the summer.

[Ryan]

heh. yeah man. great adventure..that place is seriously like 15 mins away from my parents house, for a couple summers i used to rock the SEASON pass. it was pretty fun, go scream machine a couple times like on a tuesday night and your set. nowadays i cant f with that place, way too crowded with annoying people.

its true..anything south of new brunswick, ie my area, is pretty much zombieville, its literally a bunch of trees, and some deer

then you get down to camden and then you REALLY see whats hood.

wha?http://www.livejournal.com/users/dorien/

[My Pal the Crook]

ahh Mitsuwa. I remember back when it was called Yaohan and had that HUGE japanese toy section! This was decades before anyone had even heard of Gundams and Dragon Ball Z! I loved that place, my eyes would bug everytime i stepped foot into it and i'd have a near panic attack praying my parents would buy me something from there! They also had this sick little famicom section full of games your Nintendo couldn't play. On the playground back then, having a toy from there was the equivelant of having a fresh pair of Js.

I never understood why they got rid of the Toy section, or actually scaled it down to a glorified gift shop of keychains just before they changed their name to Mitsuwa.

Edited by My Pal the Crook on Apr 25, 2005 at 11:21 AM

[sr20det]

^ is that on river rd near the korean driving range? i used to stay in edgewater when i used to visit friends in new york.

Edited by sr20det on Apr 25, 2005 at 10:26 AM

[stickykrylon]

has raised a brow; might have to look into some of these spots and give jersey a chance.

i guess?

dig.

[Ryan]

yeah this place is on river road

theres still a store that sells toys now but the selection kinda sucks

sticky: is it worth it? enh..i wouldnt go out of my way, thing is for me, i dont mind driving and some of these places are pretty far from each other..*shrugs*

wha?http://www.livejournal.com/users/dorien/

[superTrash]

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I think the thing about NJ, is that you can't really go looking for culture here. While yes, there is culture in NJ, it is not and never will be the same thing as NY.

But on the other hand, I find NJ very comforting. I think my favorite part of the NJ experience is the diner.

I recommend these diners, partially only because these are local to where I am.

Tops :: Passaic Avenue + Clay St, East Newark

Pilgrim :: Rt 23, Verona [just no of where Rt 23 meets Bloomfield Ave in Montclair]

No Arlington :: Along the Passaic River, No Arlington [just off the exit to Belleville|Nutley on Rt 21]

On the other hand, I hate NJ because I despise driving.

Granted there is mass transit here, but unless you live in Jersey City it sucks.

There are some urban places here that are on the up, but we definately need more progressive clothing stores, art galleries, restaurants, bookstores, etc...

Like as much as I hate Hoboken, there are some nice clothing stores developing there. Especially on Washington around 7th street and Stevens.

But still this is a pale comparison to even the least exciting parts of Manhattan.

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[everything is insanity and I have a headache]

[Ryan]

Jersey Diners > *

The disco fries at Tropicana in Elizabeth, NJ bangin!

I actually like driving. and i do miss driving now that i live in brooklyn, im actually back in jersey this weekend..gonna stretch the legs out of the WRX

wha?http://www.livejournal.com/users/dorien/

[DaBestSpoona]

I goto mitsuwa just about every other weekend, cus my woman be fiending for toro and yellowtail.

whats up with the bergen county blue laws, they're retarded. why cant I buy a rice cooker on sundays?

[sepia007]

i can't believe you forgot six flags, great adventure. jackson,nj

[apollomfcreed]

Listen up. First of all, I'll give ya New Brunswick, but you know damn well the only things truly worthwhile about it are its sloppy drunken late-night eat spots like Tido's and the Greasetrucks (Fat Daryls and Cats all the way). As for whoever posted everything south of there suckin a fat ding-dong....

Well, how bout Red Bank my man, home of Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash, some thrift stores, cafes, other neat local shops and small businesses, and not to mention pretty much one of the only remaining art house theaters anywhere in this fuckin state where you could actually see a film that wasn’t a Bruckheimer picture and even for less than 12 bills without an audience full of imbeciles squawking at the screen and/or screaming little children doing backflips in the aisles.

Great Adventure- Fright Fest- need I say more? (No, I needn’t.)

And don’t even pretend the first Friday night possible after you were handed that little laminated plastic rectangular self-portrait that said you could drive you didn’t go to the boardwalk at Seaside.

Asbury Park, as run down as it may be had its "prime" even in our day when Casino was just teetering on the edge of condemnation long enough for there to be a skatepark in there, the Stone Pony was being resurrected (sort of), and Warped Tour used to be a good time.

Speaking of some shore towns, it also was not too bad at all having beaches with ocean-water warm enough to swim in for durations longer than five seconds before hypothermia sets in as anywhere north of there on this coast.

And if your idea of fun is losing a ton of loot in a game of chance and catching an std from a prostitute you didn’t find out had an external sex gland of the penile persuasion between the thighs until after the herp-ooze lubricated blowjob was done and paid for, then AC is the place.

In Old Bridge, M&M Hall was rockin every weekend night on Texas Road with every local band who either had some talent or some delusions or both and Birch Hill was not yet bulldozed into the ground and Art had only lost his liquor license two or so times yet, while "Krome" up in South Amboy was still Club Benet and Ricky was running shit with Bomb Shelter. Speaking of that place go find Scortino's and you'll realize "shit, I never really have had brick oven pizza before..."

Downtown Freehold was tryin pretty hard until the boro skate-proofed any and everything even reminiscent of a skatespot and Nevergreen was put out of business by the corporate slobs of Blades invading the malls or whatever and there was a brief revival of the area and its shops.

Don’t forget about the flea market and auction days either, where you could go and sell/swap all the comics, cards, toys, and anything collectable you could imagine.

Now, I don't know if you lost your eyesight a few years back or something (and if so I do sincerely apologize for this comment may seem a bit abrasive), but whoever said there is nothing but trees and deer around here in the "Gardenstate" must be fucking blind! Every single time I've returned to my hometown in central NJ more of these mystical enchanted forests then must be somehow "magically" transformed into developments, as grass is paved over with tar and asphalt and huge strip malls erected upon every possible inch of commercial zoning, and well, you may be right about one thing, there may be more deer- more deer rotting on the side of every highway mauled by some gas-guzzling banana-ram yellow hummer-tank piloted by some ponytail toting menace of a soccer-mom.

However even Howell, my beloved little suburban wasteland of a home, still has managed to preserve its few perks like the Regent “doyner†and our independent somehow-surviving Record Store of the same nomenclature (and I guess Ippy’s Video should be mentioned too, but that place sucks and that lady is a cucking funt)….

Admittedly, if you live in NYC it’s not really worth coming down to the Jers. for the cult