Do we have hippy/green/crunchy granola towns? (Hoboken, Asbury Park: real estate, health)

[AnthonyB]

I was reading some other state forums and noticed lots of questions about hippy/green towns, with lots of responses and it suddenly hit me - do we even have such towns here?
The obvious choices would be college towns like Princeton but they are overrun with wannabes, corporate types trying to buy some cache and people who want to be like them or have their kids go to the same schools. You would have to go outside of the NYC circle to get away from that, but how farther exactly?

Is there anywhere like that in NJ?

[mike0421]

The closest I can think of is maybe Stockton, which is near the Delaware River. Smaller towns around the Delaware River in general. I used to see a lot of people around there in the Subarus with the John Kerry bumper stickers. Maybe Cape May qualifies as well?

[Ms.Charlotte]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Is there anywhere like that in NJ?

Wow, I never thought about that. I don't think there is a single one! Maybe Southwest NJ? Nowhere that I know of on North, South, or East. Too much wealth. I'm interested in seeing the responses here.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by Ms.Charlotte

Wow, I never thought about that. I don't think there is a single one! Maybe Southwest NJ? Nowhere that I know of on North, South, or East. Too much wealth. I'm interested in seeing the responses here.

yeah, this one made me stop and think as well. I thought maybe Cape May too, but not really at the same time, LOL. Maybe parts of Red Bank, but I think that's trendy -vs- crunchy. I go to Woodstock once a year, that's my yardstick, so i'm thinking there aren't any!

[Ms.Charlotte]

Originally Posted by tahiti

yeah, this one made me stop and think as well. I thought maybe Cape May too, but not really at the same time, LOL. Maybe parts of Red Bank, but I think that's trendy -vs- crunchy. I go to Woodstock once a year, that's my yardstick, so i'm thinking there aren't any!

I think Cape May has changed too much to be considered crunchy. Red Bank may have been briefly before it became yuppie haven....
What do you think about Ocean Grove? Last time I was there, it still had an artsy/hippie vibe to it.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by Ms.Charlotte

I think Cape May has changed too much to be considered crunchy. Red Bank may have been briefly before it became yuppie haven....
What do you think about Ocean Grove? Last time I was there, it still had an artsy/hippie vibe to it.

Ocean Grove has the largest Methodist camp meeting site in the US, therefore a huge Christian presence. To me that precludes it from being crunchy. I remember going to Asbury Park as a kid and being facinated that you couldn't drive in Ocean Grove on Sundays (we'd stop at the town line).

[stmaarten]

The only town I can think of are (parts of) Hoboken.

[Ms.Charlotte]

Originally Posted by tahiti

Ocean Grove has the largest Methodist camp meeting site in the US, therefore a huge Christian presence. To me that precludes it from being crunchy. I remember going to Asbury Park as a kid and being facinated that you couldn't drive in Ocean Grove on Sundays (we'd stop at the town line).

Yes, I know about the Methodist camp site, but the year rounders are a different bunch altogether.

I would think there'd be pockets of hippy/crunchy areas in Hoboken, st.maarten (hope you're doing great, by the way) but I would definitely not consider it a green town. I don't even know what that is. I'm just using the OP's descriptions. I lived there about 15 yrs ago and it was nowhere near
"crunchy" as a whole. Maybe it has changed??

[stmaarten]

Hey Ms. Charlotte! Haven't seen you post here in a while. All is well here. I hope the same for you. I'm getting tired of the heat and drought. I hear NJ is just as hot, though.
As far as Hoboken is concerned, you're right. It's definitely not "green". I have a few friends that still live there and they live a sort of artsy, hippie-like existance. That's why it came to mind.
I'm NOT feeling the hippie-artsy-crunchy-green "thing" down here. I can tell you that much.

[shelly2]

Yes, Stockton and also Frenchtown... Cute, healthy places to eat, relatively inexpensive real estate for Hunterdon County and nice biking roads . As a side note the woman who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" the monster best seller and you know who's new Book Club pick settled in Frenchtown last year and also opened a cute store there that sells interesting import items from all around the world. She's pretty crunchy.