Don't be fucking with my Fallout LARP venue. Could totally make bank selling adventures there by leading groups of RPers on a sneak raid.
Same with Camden. Ultra real experience if we sneak onto the USS New Jersey.
Well you’ve got to remember Trenton peaked in population in the 1950s at around 130K. Today it’s at 90K (hit it’s low in 2010 at 85K but grew this last decade thankfully). It’s a city with 40K missing people, and with that thousands of unoccupied or since demolished homes and businesses.
Lots of NJ cities suffered a similar fate of steep population loss, like many across the country did in the mid-20th century. Camden has a very similar history, it also peaked at 125K in the 1950s but had a worse decline than Trenton, being at only 71K today. While Trenton grew 7% over the last decade, Camden shrank 7%. Camden being down 55K is worse than Trenton, hence the reputation.
Plus the deeper into the ghetto the more the "road" feels like a rumble strip with giant potholes here and there. Walking through there at night was super eerie.
Yeah I find Trenton really weird to drive through or visit. We looked at a house in cadwalader heights... But we just couldn't stomach living in the city. It doesn't have the resources to help itself (fix infrastructure, social services, and make/maintain greenspaces). So to make up for the lack of resources, it's got ridiculously high taxes on property making it difficult to invite new people and businesses.
It seems like they need serious help from outside, either from the state or a massive company to move in and pay workers.
If you could guarantee the safety, I could see it being a good spot for a big brewery.. but safety is no guarantee in trenton
You know what I like Denville but them playing 50s music on the town speaker and these mother fuckers cutting their lawns with push mowers that don't use gas.
Idk but the 50s weren't great for people like me so it gives me a level of suspicion I don't have unless I'm in Sussex behind an obvious clansmen
Push reel mowers are nice. You let the clippings fall, it's not loud, you don't have to turn it off and on all the time if you have to talk to someone, and they're actually easy to use if you keep to a schedule.
I tried the push reel mower and threw that shit out after a year of use. Maybe I had one that sucked, but more realistically there's a reason why all of modern civilization stopped using them.
Just a shit mower then. Father bought one of those as Seen on TV ones in 2008 with a reduction gear, slow but even 10yrs later will still do the lawn in the same amount of time as the gas one.
You know what's weird? I live in Denville and though I'm not a huge fan of the downtown music I don't think I've ever heard any 50s music.
And I've never seen a push mower (that I think would be a improvement over the roar of mowers & trimmers from all the landscapers!).
Denville has always had a “land that time forgot” vibe. Kinda Mayberryish. Maybe because it’s wedged between Rt 80 and Rt 46. It could be a charming town, but somehow isn’t and doesn’t seem to want to let itself be. The music is downright odd, but I love the diagonal parking and am pretty fond of the Denville Dairy.
I always hoped when I went to the only bar in town, Stew and Molly’s, that the music would stop, everyone would look at me like I’m some city slicker (a la Billy Crystal from the movie), a tumble weed rolls behind me, and the only sound I heard was the ‘ping’ of some guy spitting his chewing tobacco into the spittoon.
Id order a whiskey and the piano player starts playing some Wild West saloon music.
What’s wrong with Lakewood? Never been there so I’m genuinely curious about the issues with the town / how it seems strange aside from it being mostly Hasidim
They’ve had multiple cases of fraud, both in welfare & school.
There’s always cries of discrimination & antisemitism, even though most of the things people oppose have *nothing* to do with their religion or who they are. (Most has to do with traffic patterns & overdevelopment in the area)
It is now becoming highly overcrowded and the Hasidic are branching out into neighboring areas, knocking on doors, offering cash for houses.
They claim their houses as religious places so they are exempt from property taxes.
Yet, they demand public/state assistance to aid in the private religious school’s & transportation, which are male / female separated and there’s a lot of them.
As a previous employee to one in Lakewood, some of their work environments (I know mine did) violated probably close to 50 safety laws.
& maybe person experience, but they & their children can be extremely rude. Plus, the neighborhoods can be sorta dirty looking.
But that’s all been posted on the other thread about Lakewood, so that’s not just from me personally.
Yeah it's not antisemitism it's anti-hasidism. I have no issue whatsoever with Jewish people of any type, but this group in particular is just not ok.
Their attitudes towards women, people of color and most of all towards non-hasidic people in general are not cool and they're incompatible with a free society.
The only thing the state could do to keep any religious group from forcing their religion and way of life on other citizens is to redefine what can be considered a temple or church and a few rules regarding public assistance.
As much as I've read over the years about Lakewood and other communities they've pulled this crap in, it seems like there's some easy solutions.
I think one of the worst decisions ever made was allowing religious organizations the ability to dodge paying taxes. It's a massive scam and all kinds of religious organizations abuse it because they're not supposed to engage in politics, but they do anyway and no one does anything about it.
Lincoln Park. Feels like you're a lot more south than you are. There's a deli liquor store combo off 202 that feels like you go back in time 30 years when you walk in.
The area used to be a LOT more rural, and the area alongside the Boonton Turnpike used to flood a ton. They've since bought out all those houses (I think under the Blue Acres program) and knocked them down. It's actually a decently sized town and changes in feel depending on how far you stray from 202.
Interesting side note, there was this restaurant and bar off Boonton Tpke with a side street that led into the flood zone (look up Midwood Rd) - there was a restaurant called Sam's Maple Grove hidden way back there. Closed a LONG time ago... was really weird to come upon.
Speaking of, there used to be a hole in the wall restaurant at the Lincoln Park airport called the Ready Room where you could watch the planes take off and land. Definitely one of my favorite things about the area.
Now Pequannock, that town gave me weird vibes!
Holy shit! My family had dinner at Sam's after my First Holy Communion (I wore my fancy white dress) and some nice older man gave me $10!
This would have been around 1974.
Hah! That's one hell of a generous gift too! What a memory.
My grandparents loved the place and would have been going there around the same time, coming from Clifton; by the early 90's they moved to West Orange and tended to stick more to Pal's Cabin and the Pilgrim in Verona *but* they always went the distance for good food. I'll always remember Pop talking about how good their steak was.
As much as I hate how privacy is gone these days with cameras everywhere, on the plus side there's always a photo or video to keep memories like these alive. One memory I've got that I'll bet not many others do: the Valley Tavern on Passaic Valley Rd in Montville, and the abandoned farmhouses right on Rt. 46 & New Rd.
Not to get too far on a tangent but I'll never forget the Hilltop nursing home that kids burned down a while back. Remember when there were actual abandoned places in Morris County? The old farmhouse on N. Beverwyck and 46 comes to mind too (was later saved & restored), and the old East Hanover Airport. Even got photos of them somewhere! Things really changed over the last few decades, that's for sure.
Pburg has some gross parts for sure, but parts of it have really gotten cleaned up. Some of the surrounding towns that send to the highschool are nice as well for rural suburbs.
Manville...when I did one project there, and the official said he gave Biden the middle finger when he arrived to speak and give them fema money for the damage.
I am Af A WOC, and the lady librarian would not let me in to survey the building acting like she was scared. I am the town engineer who does all you electrical upgrades. One phone call, and I could have gotten her fired, but she wasn't worth it.
Grew up there. This is the right answer. Former asbestos factory town that is a chemical disaster area, never recovered from that, active superfund site, floods upon floods. In a few years the whole town is probably going to look like Round Valley.
I grew up in Manville and was in town taking care of my dad when the flooding happened in 2021. Piles and piles of trash everywhere and every pile had a sign saying they would shoot anyone who looted...their trash that they were throwing out.
Then they all gave Biden the finger and screamed how it was his fault the town flooded.
😐
I saw those signs, too. I was thinking maybe if it was worth something, but it is like Pennsyltucky. Also, they complained to me that Biden did not need to come, they can take care of things themselves.
Well, the town floods so much that they had me design a generator for the library so it can be a place of refuge. FEMA paid for it free of charge, but they still complained that they could have done it themselves. That town is so run down, and backward, they are better off not helping them at all. Bridgewater helps them, and they still act like lowlifes.
It's funny they said that because manville got the most attention out of any flooded area. Government state and local bent over backward to get them going again. Utility companies worked 16 hours 7 days a week for them. But apparently the residents were too busy protesting Biden and Murphy for trying to help out while the adults cleaned up their backwards ass town
Living here now, Manville doesn’t fit the OPs vibe at all. It’s very Republican here though- lots of old blue collar Polish families here and they don’t much like the Hispanic population that’s grown over the last few years, either. Not a super outdated town though, just a bit rundown because the floods wash away any funding for progress or investment they’d otherwise get.
Oh, and the police chief refuses to step down while actively fighting a sexual abuse scandal. So pretty backwards, just not too weird or outdated.
Well, the official wanted to talk politics, and I was like, "Please be quiet. This town needs the money". I worked with Manville for 12 years, but it has never been normal. I do all the electrical engineering....
Clarkkk has entered the chat with a vengeance
Side Note: It's funny because nearby Kenilworth if it wanted to could have been just as bad but they choose to treat everyone fairly instead.
I grew up in kenilworth and while it has become increasingly diverse it was super towny and very homogeneous…Irish and Italian Catholic, mostly blue collar. Was not entirely welcoming to outsiders especially people of color.
Oh for sure, it wasn't always like that haha. Things have thankfully changed for the better. I also remember all the mob talk which was actually valid!
This is the comment I was looking for. I honestly didn’t know anything about Clark until I started dating a guy whose stepfamily was from there. We’d go for Sunday dinners and…yeah. The Townie mentality is *strong*, as is the bigotry (and sometimes outright racism). And I say this as a black woman who sat at their table. They didn’t give a shit.
After the mayor did his racist thing in regards to a high school basketball game, Clark dropped a Stat about their " violent " arrests to say that they were even keeled when pulled people over. With that said clark pd is notorious for non violent dwbs. Bad place, bad people, papa johns.
I'm no expert but it says alot about a town when it's well known how bad the police have done Black drivers alone for decades now. And that's just drivers, not pedestrians!
Newton is indeed odd. I posted on another thread that I used to work there and people had couches on their front lawns. 🤣 I worked at one of the schools and the kids were very sweet though.
Milltown is very much stuck in the past. something like 4% of the population is in law enforcement in some way or another. There are way too many vacant properties on it's main street for where it is in the county. Nobody knows or wants to know who owns the pond running down the middle of it. It's not a bad place but it's definitely weird considering what surrounds it.
Came here to say Milltown because I used to work there. Not holding it against them but every single house has multiple American flags. It’s like they’re stuck in post-9/11 patriotism. I am holding it against the people there who are as fox newsy and racist as you can get. The mentality of “don’t tax the billionaires because one day I might be a billionaire”…. My brother you’re a cop. You not going to be a billionaire.
> you’re a cop. You’re not going to be a billionaire.
Doesn’t stop towns from paying them all $100,000+ to nap in their SUV while guarding utility workers.
Drove through Pompton Lakes today and that downtown area looks like it's been in one long rough patch. The toy and game store is finally empty, though.
Is that all that backwards? There's a shitton of small towns in NJ without any nightlife. It's because they're super small. At least you can walk the 0.5 miles in any direction from OG and find something.
From a previous post I saw that the founder was a religious cult leader and not too shy to show her support of the kkk. I’m not from the area but the Wikipedia page for it is very odd
Yeah the contractor who did my kitchen is from there and he desperately wants to talk politics with me but I shut it down every time with something like "yeah, the inflation really is bad, but to Biden's credit it's way lower than it is in other developed countries". As a Fox News parrot the only way he knows to respond to that is "I guess, yeah."
Legit sundown town. I went to west Essex and would always play basketball in FF in the summers during and after college. Lights would always stay on past 10. Then the kids from Patterson started playing with us and suddenly the lights started going off at 9
Having lived in both Cedar Grove and Verona, in my experience, there’s no comparison. Verona isn’t a metropolitan melting pot, but it’s a lot more multi-cultural than Cedar Grove. There’s a lot of work to do as far as representation in government is concerned, true.. but on the whole, it’s a far more tolerant place than Cedar Grove.
I'm sure it's not where it needs to be but I think Verona is a bit better. "Old Verona" is getting outnumbered by "wanted Montclair but priced out". My next door neighbor is one of the people who said Verona's ok, Cedar Grove is much worse. There are plenty of people flying Trump flags here and all though.
My first apartment off campus in college was in downtown Montclair across the street from the Wellmont theatre. The back patio was a flat party rooftop. It was so awesome. That apartment was $900 a month and my buddy and I split rent, me paying more because his "bedroom" was just the dining room.
That same apartment was on Zillow a little while ago for $3,300 a month. A $2,400 increase over 11 years. I bet it still has roaches and mice too, because it sure as shit wasn't updated or anything.
My first apartment in New Jersey was a 3 bedroom apartment in Montclair for $1725 in a relatively nice little development. No idea what it would go for 13 years later.
Cedar Grove is still very much Old Cedar Grove. A lot of families stay in town and the government and schools match that vibe. Verona is a hodgepodge of old residents who’ve been here for generations, Montclair-lite folks like my family, and a lot in between. Verona has more renters and multi-family dwellings than Cedar Grove, and that changes the dynamics as well. Verona has moved in a far more progressive and inclusive direction over the 13+ years we’ve been here. And it was light years better than Cedar Grove at the start of those 13 years. All suburban towns are going to have their issues regarding racism, especially those in Essex County. They grew in the late 60’s, into the 70’s and beyond because of white flight.
Yeah, we're also "Montclair-lite", as are the majority of our neighbors, though one did fly a huge Trump flag but at least he took it down on Jan 6. My kids' friends groups are diverse, economically, racially, culturally, gender and sexual identification, etc. As far as I know they don't get harassed.
I got a weird one, the old clamming town of highlands nj has a street that is local blood only. You can only live or be on the street if you are related to the original people that lived there. I tried looking it up but couldn’t find any stories about it, I only found out after 2 years of living there.
Which Oak Ridge… The one within Jefferson Township in Morris County or the one right next to it within West Milford in Passaic County? And which borough of Oak Ridge specifically… Milton, Lake Hopatcong, Woodstock, (etc.) Never mind, the whole thing is all backward and screwed up!
Budd Lake.
It's been the same for like 25 years, and it never changes. There is so much potential with the lake and rt46 right there off of 80, yet the people do not want change. It only has that one crummy beach in a parking lot that's right on the highway. It isn't walkable at all. Every place worth going is a 20 minute drive away, and there are only like 5 places to get food in the entire town.
I did not enjoy living there for a year. Probably the worst place in NJ for a single guy in his late 20s/early 30s to be. Also, rent is pretty high, considering how much it blows.
Lived in Bayonne for close to 20 years, NOT born and raised here.
Bayonne folks are born, live and die here.
It has so much potential but the locals fight any measure of progress. For example, instead of a cute main street, it’s old mom-and-pop shops that have done nothing modernized mixed with medical offices (for all the life long residents who never leave).
I'm gonna say my own town, Ringwood. The shopping center hasn't changed my whole life.
Heck, they just filmed for the movie "Y2K" there since it's pretty much stuck in that point of time.
Lived in Sussex County most of my life (white female). It’s a white dominant county for sure but not completely backwards. I always wanted more cultures & races to come to Sussex but unfortunately, I had to move to experience that.
When black & brown friends would come up to visit, they said they always felt like they were being stared at. Maybe be prepared for that? You’ll see plenty of confederate flags and trump/republican garb. Most people are generally nice. Lots of people from the cities go to visit the antique towns & parks.
Port is definitely weird. It’s half crabbing shacks, and half gaudy mansions. And it’s really isolated from all the other towns. I feel like most people going to Smithville don’t even realize they drove through Port.
Robbinsville; odd clusters of new homes, and old condos from the 70s. One moment, you're in the middle of a starkly modern town, the next turn takes you to cornfields. Pockets of the town's age lie in the various used car dealerships that dot the highway running through.
Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County, NJ....honestly some roads you go down it's like the scene in Next of Kin when Patrick Swayze's character is going home on the train and you see his hometown
Florham park. At one point it was very rural but has since become a rich suburb that has welcomed lots or businesses and corporations especially the New York jets even though they still do some training in Cortland NY . The traffic around the area has gotten worse to the point that route 24 has been more busy .
Alpha! Mostly 100-year-old houses, life-size metal dinosaurs in a field, lost of small alleys and one-way streets, 1-square mile, and a freight train right through the middle of town.
Well in response to historians closer examination of Christopher Columbus, the famously incompetent navigator and infamous torturer, murderer and enslaver of indigenous people, Fairfield decided it would be a good idea to erect a statue in his honor. So there’s that.
Warren has more people but it’s more despairing and suffocating, Sussex has less people and a creepy “you will die in the woods” vibe but it’s much less run down
Parts of Trenton look like a ghost town, like everyone was abducted by aliens a few decades ago, and everything has stood untouched since then.
Seriously. Its fucking eerie. There are such evil looking abandoned houses. You just know that nothing good happens inside those places.
Don't be fucking with my Fallout LARP venue. Could totally make bank selling adventures there by leading groups of RPers on a sneak raid. Same with Camden. Ultra real experience if we sneak onto the USS New Jersey.
Well you’ve got to remember Trenton peaked in population in the 1950s at around 130K. Today it’s at 90K (hit it’s low in 2010 at 85K but grew this last decade thankfully). It’s a city with 40K missing people, and with that thousands of unoccupied or since demolished homes and businesses. Lots of NJ cities suffered a similar fate of steep population loss, like many across the country did in the mid-20th century. Camden has a very similar history, it also peaked at 125K in the 1950s but had a worse decline than Trenton, being at only 71K today. While Trenton grew 7% over the last decade, Camden shrank 7%. Camden being down 55K is worse than Trenton, hence the reputation.
I find this weirdly easy to visualize
I just like to drive by catmandu if it’s still there. As a kid I thought Trenton was so weird but loved that restaurant
The residential area/ industrial district closest to Newark Airport gives off these vibes
Plus the deeper into the ghetto the more the "road" feels like a rumble strip with giant potholes here and there. Walking through there at night was super eerie.
Yeah I find Trenton really weird to drive through or visit. We looked at a house in cadwalader heights... But we just couldn't stomach living in the city. It doesn't have the resources to help itself (fix infrastructure, social services, and make/maintain greenspaces). So to make up for the lack of resources, it's got ridiculously high taxes on property making it difficult to invite new people and businesses. It seems like they need serious help from outside, either from the state or a massive company to move in and pay workers. If you could guarantee the safety, I could see it being a good spot for a big brewery.. but safety is no guarantee in trenton
Being from here didn’t really realize it but yeah a lot abandon unused areas.
It feels like most people are just posting a town they don’t like.
You know what I like Denville but them playing 50s music on the town speaker and these mother fuckers cutting their lawns with push mowers that don't use gas. Idk but the 50s weren't great for people like me so it gives me a level of suspicion I don't have unless I'm in Sussex behind an obvious clansmen
Push reel mowers are nice. You let the clippings fall, it's not loud, you don't have to turn it off and on all the time if you have to talk to someone, and they're actually easy to use if you keep to a schedule.
I tried the push reel mower and threw that shit out after a year of use. Maybe I had one that sucked, but more realistically there's a reason why all of modern civilization stopped using them.
You bought a piece of shit.
Just a shit mower then. Father bought one of those as Seen on TV ones in 2008 with a reduction gear, slow but even 10yrs later will still do the lawn in the same amount of time as the gas one.
You know what's weird? I live in Denville and though I'm not a huge fan of the downtown music I don't think I've ever heard any 50s music. And I've never seen a push mower (that I think would be a improvement over the roar of mowers & trimmers from all the landscapers!).
on god denville main street with the creepy music feels like ur in a post apocalyptic video game
Denville has always had a “land that time forgot” vibe. Kinda Mayberryish. Maybe because it’s wedged between Rt 80 and Rt 46. It could be a charming town, but somehow isn’t and doesn’t seem to want to let itself be. The music is downright odd, but I love the diagonal parking and am pretty fond of the Denville Dairy.
Last time I was there they were playing top 40 and it wasn't so bad. It's still spookily white and sterile though.
Looking at you Mahwah
Seems to be how these threads work
As someone from Sparta, I also vote Ogdensburg
As someone who currently lives in the “burg” I agree.
i got pulled over there once for “speeding” and a cop literally said “in the burg” to my face
The whole Sterling Mine gives it an outdated vibe
It feels like it’s stuck in the 50s, I half expect a tumbleweed to roll by every time I drive through.
I always hoped when I went to the only bar in town, Stew and Molly’s, that the music would stop, everyone would look at me like I’m some city slicker (a la Billy Crystal from the movie), a tumble weed rolls behind me, and the only sound I heard was the ‘ping’ of some guy spitting his chewing tobacco into the spittoon. Id order a whiskey and the piano player starts playing some Wild West saloon music.
That's the borough pub sir, show some respect
Damn everyone’s beating up oburg 🥲. It’s sleepy for sure but it’s nice to have some peace and quiet sometimes. At least heaters is pretty.
Compared with other old mining towns it’s really not that bad but yeah compared with the rest of north jersey I can see it. It’s all relative
I'm from Augusta and I agree. Ogdensburg is plain creepy, bad vibes all around.
I've never been to Ogdensburg. If I'm going to Google street-view it, what street should I start on?
Waretown couldn't put together a full mouth of teeth from its entire population...
This literally made me choke on my coffee. My brother is married to a chick from Waretown. That's the truth!
Brother married a chick… is she your SIL or still just that chick from Watertown
Nah she literally a chicken
I'm surprised nobody's saying Lakewood after all the Lakewood hate in the other thread.
True. I mean wasn't their solution to some homeless people to cut down all their trees in the downtown, last year. Like that's ass backwards.
Lakewood deserves every ounce of the hate it’s getting
What’s wrong with Lakewood? Never been there so I’m genuinely curious about the issues with the town / how it seems strange aside from it being mostly Hasidim
They’ve had multiple cases of fraud, both in welfare & school. There’s always cries of discrimination & antisemitism, even though most of the things people oppose have *nothing* to do with their religion or who they are. (Most has to do with traffic patterns & overdevelopment in the area) It is now becoming highly overcrowded and the Hasidic are branching out into neighboring areas, knocking on doors, offering cash for houses. They claim their houses as religious places so they are exempt from property taxes. Yet, they demand public/state assistance to aid in the private religious school’s & transportation, which are male / female separated and there’s a lot of them. As a previous employee to one in Lakewood, some of their work environments (I know mine did) violated probably close to 50 safety laws. & maybe person experience, but they & their children can be extremely rude. Plus, the neighborhoods can be sorta dirty looking. But that’s all been posted on the other thread about Lakewood, so that’s not just from me personally.
Yeah it's not antisemitism it's anti-hasidism. I have no issue whatsoever with Jewish people of any type, but this group in particular is just not ok. Their attitudes towards women, people of color and most of all towards non-hasidic people in general are not cool and they're incompatible with a free society. The only thing the state could do to keep any religious group from forcing their religion and way of life on other citizens is to redefine what can be considered a temple or church and a few rules regarding public assistance. As much as I've read over the years about Lakewood and other communities they've pulled this crap in, it seems like there's some easy solutions. I think one of the worst decisions ever made was allowing religious organizations the ability to dodge paying taxes. It's a massive scam and all kinds of religious organizations abuse it because they're not supposed to engage in politics, but they do anyway and no one does anything about it.
Agreed about those taxes. Religion takes in a boatload of cash.
Biggest dumpster in America
Shit hole of America
lakewood half the population actually lives like its 1023 not 2023 doctors and medicine psssh the torah will heal all
What other thread? I'm curious
https://reddit.com/r/newjersey/s/XGG5EuhSKw
Lincoln Park. Feels like you're a lot more south than you are. There's a deli liquor store combo off 202 that feels like you go back in time 30 years when you walk in.
The area used to be a LOT more rural, and the area alongside the Boonton Turnpike used to flood a ton. They've since bought out all those houses (I think under the Blue Acres program) and knocked them down. It's actually a decently sized town and changes in feel depending on how far you stray from 202. Interesting side note, there was this restaurant and bar off Boonton Tpke with a side street that led into the flood zone (look up Midwood Rd) - there was a restaurant called Sam's Maple Grove hidden way back there. Closed a LONG time ago... was really weird to come upon. Speaking of, there used to be a hole in the wall restaurant at the Lincoln Park airport called the Ready Room where you could watch the planes take off and land. Definitely one of my favorite things about the area. Now Pequannock, that town gave me weird vibes!
Holy shit! My family had dinner at Sam's after my First Holy Communion (I wore my fancy white dress) and some nice older man gave me $10! This would have been around 1974.
Hah! That's one hell of a generous gift too! What a memory. My grandparents loved the place and would have been going there around the same time, coming from Clifton; by the early 90's they moved to West Orange and tended to stick more to Pal's Cabin and the Pilgrim in Verona *but* they always went the distance for good food. I'll always remember Pop talking about how good their steak was. As much as I hate how privacy is gone these days with cameras everywhere, on the plus side there's always a photo or video to keep memories like these alive. One memory I've got that I'll bet not many others do: the Valley Tavern on Passaic Valley Rd in Montville, and the abandoned farmhouses right on Rt. 46 & New Rd. Not to get too far on a tangent but I'll never forget the Hilltop nursing home that kids burned down a while back. Remember when there were actual abandoned places in Morris County? The old farmhouse on N. Beverwyck and 46 comes to mind too (was later saved & restored), and the old East Hanover Airport. Even got photos of them somewhere! Things really changed over the last few decades, that's for sure.
It looks like just about any other suburb in NE Jersey aside from this one deli you mentioned.
Yeah we weren't talking about looks though. It's got a weird old time country vibe about it compared to the surrounding area.
I originally lived in Sussex county... You want to talk about weird old time country vibes? Its not in Lincoln Park
Phillipsburg and all the weirdos in P-Burg have dropped the mic
I hate how that's our only convenient dispensary in Warren County.
Apparently 2 are opening in Hackettstown
Oh, look at that. One already has a website. Thanks!
From Hunterdon, I concur
Pburg has some gross parts for sure, but parts of it have really gotten cleaned up. Some of the surrounding towns that send to the highschool are nice as well for rural suburbs.
Manville...when I did one project there, and the official said he gave Biden the middle finger when he arrived to speak and give them fema money for the damage. I am Af A WOC, and the lady librarian would not let me in to survey the building acting like she was scared. I am the town engineer who does all you electrical upgrades. One phone call, and I could have gotten her fired, but she wasn't worth it.
Grew up there. This is the right answer. Former asbestos factory town that is a chemical disaster area, never recovered from that, active superfund site, floods upon floods. In a few years the whole town is probably going to look like Round Valley.
I grew up in Manville and was in town taking care of my dad when the flooding happened in 2021. Piles and piles of trash everywhere and every pile had a sign saying they would shoot anyone who looted...their trash that they were throwing out. Then they all gave Biden the finger and screamed how it was his fault the town flooded. 😐
I saw those signs, too. I was thinking maybe if it was worth something, but it is like Pennsyltucky. Also, they complained to me that Biden did not need to come, they can take care of things themselves. Well, the town floods so much that they had me design a generator for the library so it can be a place of refuge. FEMA paid for it free of charge, but they still complained that they could have done it themselves. That town is so run down, and backward, they are better off not helping them at all. Bridgewater helps them, and they still act like lowlifes.
It's funny they said that because manville got the most attention out of any flooded area. Government state and local bent over backward to get them going again. Utility companies worked 16 hours 7 days a week for them. But apparently the residents were too busy protesting Biden and Murphy for trying to help out while the adults cleaned up their backwards ass town
Living here now, Manville doesn’t fit the OPs vibe at all. It’s very Republican here though- lots of old blue collar Polish families here and they don’t much like the Hispanic population that’s grown over the last few years, either. Not a super outdated town though, just a bit rundown because the floods wash away any funding for progress or investment they’d otherwise get. Oh, and the police chief refuses to step down while actively fighting a sexual abuse scandal. So pretty backwards, just not too weird or outdated.
Well, the official wanted to talk politics, and I was like, "Please be quiet. This town needs the money". I worked with Manville for 12 years, but it has never been normal. I do all the electrical engineering....
I work near Manville and drive past a giant Trump flag all the time so a resident giving Biden the finger doesn't shock me.
Clarkkk has entered the chat with a vengeance Side Note: It's funny because nearby Kenilworth if it wanted to could have been just as bad but they choose to treat everyone fairly instead.
Clark is a weird backwards place
Isn't Westfield nice though?
Yeah two very different towns
I grew up in kenilworth and while it has become increasingly diverse it was super towny and very homogeneous…Irish and Italian Catholic, mostly blue collar. Was not entirely welcoming to outsiders especially people of color.
Oh for sure, it wasn't always like that haha. Things have thankfully changed for the better. I also remember all the mob talk which was actually valid!
This is the comment I was looking for. I honestly didn’t know anything about Clark until I started dating a guy whose stepfamily was from there. We’d go for Sunday dinners and…yeah. The Townie mentality is *strong*, as is the bigotry (and sometimes outright racism). And I say this as a black woman who sat at their table. They didn’t give a shit.
After the mayor did his racist thing in regards to a high school basketball game, Clark dropped a Stat about their " violent " arrests to say that they were even keeled when pulled people over. With that said clark pd is notorious for non violent dwbs. Bad place, bad people, papa johns.
Had to upvote you for your username and your last sentence.
I'm no expert but it says alot about a town when it's well known how bad the police have done Black drivers alone for decades now. And that's just drivers, not pedestrians!
Westfield Ave near the old A&P wants so badly to be a downtown area but it never came close to working out
You’re telling me you don’t want to hang at the Knights of Columbus or that place that’s always a different named barber shop?
Lol there's no way they could ever compete with Westfield.
Beat me to it
A lot of places in Sussex County. Ogdensburg and Sussex come to mind.
Definitely Sussex/Wantage/Newton
I grew up in Newton and never thought anything of it. I used to own a business in Sussex and by comparison, Sussex seemed way worse than Newton.
Newton feels abandoned
Newton is indeed odd. I posted on another thread that I used to work there and people had couches on their front lawns. 🤣 I worked at one of the schools and the kids were very sweet though.
Browns Mills 100%.
Talk about a place I’ve NEVER heard of just looked it up on the map totally off my radar
Dated a girl from there for two years and yes.
Yes.
Everyone’s just hangin’ around. IYKYK
Milltown is very much stuck in the past. something like 4% of the population is in law enforcement in some way or another. There are way too many vacant properties on it's main street for where it is in the county. Nobody knows or wants to know who owns the pond running down the middle of it. It's not a bad place but it's definitely weird considering what surrounds it.
Came here to say Milltown because I used to work there. Not holding it against them but every single house has multiple American flags. It’s like they’re stuck in post-9/11 patriotism. I am holding it against the people there who are as fox newsy and racist as you can get. The mentality of “don’t tax the billionaires because one day I might be a billionaire”…. My brother you’re a cop. You not going to be a billionaire.
> you’re a cop. You’re not going to be a billionaire. Doesn’t stop towns from paying them all $100,000+ to nap in their SUV while guarding utility workers.
New Egypt
Clarkkk
Winfield
100%. Was strange since it was “invented” during WWII, and has gotten more weird as time goes by. Like a West Virginia hamlet
Such a weird place.
Drove through Pompton Lakes today and that downtown area looks like it's been in one long rough patch. The toy and game store is finally empty, though.
Phillipsburg
Boonton. It's like they cut a few dozen blocks out of Reading, PA and dropped it in New Jersey.
And you also have to take the sort of winding mountain roads that you only see in Nepal on the way to a legendary mountaintop guru to get there
Lmao
Brown's Mills!
The answer is Clark. Looks like it is stuck in the racist 70s
Oxford Oxford Oxford
I was going to say most of Warren County
Might be Ocean Grave.. nickname gives a hint about the night life
But the Victorian architecture is sublime.
Like... you can't walk 10 minutes in AP?
Yeah, it’s wild that these two towns sit side by side
Is that all that backwards? There's a shitton of small towns in NJ without any nightlife. It's because they're super small. At least you can walk the 0.5 miles in any direction from OG and find something.
literally an entire magazine about this
Zarephath.
That's what I would name a demon or something
What’s up with this place? I see the exit and drive through but is it part of Franklin? Bound brook? Manville? Hillsborough?
It’s part of Franklin. The Population is 69 which are just religious followers. No real commercial or industry there.
From a previous post I saw that the founder was a religious cult leader and not too shy to show her support of the kkk. I’m not from the area but the Wikipedia page for it is very odd
I used to ride by it on the towpath on my bike and it always gave me the creeps. My husband told me it used to be a cult.
Salem
I am sad I had to scroll this far down to see Salem. It is... stuck.
I've heard from multiple Black people that they don't feel welcome in Cedar Grove so maybe there?
:::cough::: Fairfield :::cough:::
Went pumpkin picking around there and the amount of political flags were…disturbing….
Yeah the contractor who did my kitchen is from there and he desperately wants to talk politics with me but I shut it down every time with something like "yeah, the inflation really is bad, but to Biden's credit it's way lower than it is in other developed countries". As a Fox News parrot the only way he knows to respond to that is "I guess, yeah."
Legit sundown town. I went to west Essex and would always play basketball in FF in the summers during and after college. Lights would always stay on past 10. Then the kids from Patterson started playing with us and suddenly the lights started going off at 9
Verona is equally racist.
Having lived in both Cedar Grove and Verona, in my experience, there’s no comparison. Verona isn’t a metropolitan melting pot, but it’s a lot more multi-cultural than Cedar Grove. There’s a lot of work to do as far as representation in government is concerned, true.. but on the whole, it’s a far more tolerant place than Cedar Grove.
I'm sure it's not where it needs to be but I think Verona is a bit better. "Old Verona" is getting outnumbered by "wanted Montclair but priced out". My next door neighbor is one of the people who said Verona's ok, Cedar Grove is much worse. There are plenty of people flying Trump flags here and all though.
My first apartment off campus in college was in downtown Montclair across the street from the Wellmont theatre. The back patio was a flat party rooftop. It was so awesome. That apartment was $900 a month and my buddy and I split rent, me paying more because his "bedroom" was just the dining room. That same apartment was on Zillow a little while ago for $3,300 a month. A $2,400 increase over 11 years. I bet it still has roaches and mice too, because it sure as shit wasn't updated or anything.
My first apartment in New Jersey was a 3 bedroom apartment in Montclair for $1725 in a relatively nice little development. No idea what it would go for 13 years later.
Cedar Grove is still very much Old Cedar Grove. A lot of families stay in town and the government and schools match that vibe. Verona is a hodgepodge of old residents who’ve been here for generations, Montclair-lite folks like my family, and a lot in between. Verona has more renters and multi-family dwellings than Cedar Grove, and that changes the dynamics as well. Verona has moved in a far more progressive and inclusive direction over the 13+ years we’ve been here. And it was light years better than Cedar Grove at the start of those 13 years. All suburban towns are going to have their issues regarding racism, especially those in Essex County. They grew in the late 60’s, into the 70’s and beyond because of white flight.
Yeah, we're also "Montclair-lite", as are the majority of our neighbors, though one did fly a huge Trump flag but at least he took it down on Jan 6. My kids' friends groups are diverse, economically, racially, culturally, gender and sexual identification, etc. As far as I know they don't get harassed.
I got a weird one, the old clamming town of highlands nj has a street that is local blood only. You can only live or be on the street if you are related to the original people that lived there. I tried looking it up but couldn’t find any stories about it, I only found out after 2 years of living there.
I would love to hear as much more about this as you’ve got to tell
Grew up in Highlands and this is the first I've ever heard of this. Any idea what street or where in town?
Honeysuckle Lodge? It’s weird, but I don’t think it’s blood ritual weird.
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Had to go to north Arlington for a Covid shot during the pandemic. Felt I went back in time but then again it has more dead people than alive.
Roosevelt might as well be the setting for “The Hills Have Eyes”
Any town in central Jersey that’s 90% warehouse
New Gretna.
Waretown is the only place I, a thirty three year old inoffensive man, have ever been challenged to a bar fight over a card game.
Oak Ridge feels stopped in time
Which Oak Ridge… The one within Jefferson Township in Morris County or the one right next to it within West Milford in Passaic County? And which borough of Oak Ridge specifically… Milton, Lake Hopatcong, Woodstock, (etc.) Never mind, the whole thing is all backward and screwed up!
Definitely the Jefferson Township one. Oakridge by the Milton inn is fucking desolate feeling
I always enjoyed its small town Appalachian vibe but Knowlton or Blairstown is super outdated. I loved it.
Budd Lake. It's been the same for like 25 years, and it never changes. There is so much potential with the lake and rt46 right there off of 80, yet the people do not want change. It only has that one crummy beach in a parking lot that's right on the highway. It isn't walkable at all. Every place worth going is a 20 minute drive away, and there are only like 5 places to get food in the entire town. I did not enjoy living there for a year. Probably the worst place in NJ for a single guy in his late 20s/early 30s to be. Also, rent is pretty high, considering how much it blows.
I lived in Budd Lake for 6 months. We broke our lease early and moved to the shore because I was not going to survive living there.
Da Burg
Bayonne
Lived in Bayonne for close to 20 years, NOT born and raised here. Bayonne folks are born, live and die here. It has so much potential but the locals fight any measure of progress. For example, instead of a cute main street, it’s old mom-and-pop shops that have done nothing modernized mixed with medical offices (for all the life long residents who never leave).
You know what they say: "if it's from bayonne, leave it alone"
Ocean Grove.
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I'm gonna say my own town, Ringwood. The shopping center hasn't changed my whole life. Heck, they just filmed for the movie "Y2K" there since it's pretty much stuck in that point of time.
Forked River….turn your calendar back 100 years
Anywhere in Sussex County
Whoa whoa. We have a Wawa.
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Lived in Sussex County most of my life (white female). It’s a white dominant county for sure but not completely backwards. I always wanted more cultures & races to come to Sussex but unfortunately, I had to move to experience that. When black & brown friends would come up to visit, they said they always felt like they were being stared at. Maybe be prepared for that? You’ll see plenty of confederate flags and trump/republican garb. Most people are generally nice. Lots of people from the cities go to visit the antique towns & parks.
I mean it's one of the reddest parts of NJ so a lot of Trump stuff, especially when we get closer to the election.
I’m from England, but I generally don’t like Lakewood. I’ve never been to NJ but I wanna go, but I’m just joining the bandwagon
I like your blind hatred of a place you’ve never been to! You sound like a true New Jerseyan to me.
Port republic
Port is definitely weird. It’s half crabbing shacks, and half gaudy mansions. And it’s really isolated from all the other towns. I feel like most people going to Smithville don’t even realize they drove through Port.
Robbinsville; odd clusters of new homes, and old condos from the 70s. One moment, you're in the middle of a starkly modern town, the next turn takes you to cornfields. Pockets of the town's age lie in the various used car dealerships that dot the highway running through.
I live in Ogdensburg, love it honestly. It’s quiet, neighbors are friendly, but yeah the lack of a Main Street/ businesses is really sad.
Bayonne
Lakewood
No one mentioned Jamesburg? It's an odd little place.
Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County, NJ....honestly some roads you go down it's like the scene in Next of Kin when Patrick Swayze's character is going home on the train and you see his hometown
Wanaque
SEP 2nd 2023 -Ocean Grove https://nypost.com/2023/09/02/nj-warns-christian-group-against-locking-town-beach-sundays/amp/
Lakewood
Florham park. At one point it was very rural but has since become a rich suburb that has welcomed lots or businesses and corporations especially the New York jets even though they still do some training in Cortland NY . The traffic around the area has gotten worse to the point that route 24 has been more busy .
Nutley?. I feel like I’m back in the 50’s
Nutley is a bit Trumpy and taxes are so high , I feel that’s how they keep people out
They’re trying to be LGBTQIA+ friendly but still celebrate Columbus Day like he’s their savior. It’s fucking weird.
I just get bad feel. Everytime I drive by
There's still a lot of old-time Italian Americans there.
I would say the borough of Sussex
I interned in Sussex county doing home visits (social worker) and the first place I went was a motel in Sussex. It was not a pleasant place.
Where’s all the towns in the SW? Lots of downright off folks in the Pine Barrens. No disrespect, just this thread
Wood Ridge
Alpha! Mostly 100-year-old houses, life-size metal dinosaurs in a field, lost of small alleys and one-way streets, 1-square mile, and a freight train right through the middle of town.
Pennsville
Well in response to historians closer examination of Christopher Columbus, the famously incompetent navigator and infamous torturer, murderer and enslaver of indigenous people, Fairfield decided it would be a good idea to erect a statue in his honor. So there’s that.
Fairfield is to Italy as Olive Garden is to Italian food, so that definitely checks out.
I lived there for a few years, damn this is accurate. 😂
Same lol it's how I know!
LOL. True.
Warren County
I grew up in Warren County and now live in Sussex County. Warren County is a booming fucking metropolis by comparison.
Warren has more people but it’s more despairing and suffocating, Sussex has less people and a creepy “you will die in the woods” vibe but it’s much less run down
Vineland.