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Old 08-01-2022, 07:04 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
11,339 posts, read 16,691,416 times
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Madison.
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Old 08-01-2022, 10:05 PM
 
12,101 posts, read 17,083,796 times
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It's definitely not #1, but New Brunswick belongs up there somewhere considering a lot of the towns being listed. I know it gets a bad rep, but there's a lot of bars and restaurants. And Easton Ave and Highland Park make the walkable area even larger.

Jersey City and Hoboken have an unfair advantage being so close to NYC. So using them is cheating, and if you can use them, both/either win in a landslide.

Palisades Park, even if you're not into it is pretty unique.

I would like to include a strong Latino community, but not one jumps out at me.

Westfield and Cranford are decent, smaller and more generic than their ratings would suggest.

Last edited by jobaba; 08-01-2022 at 10:18 PM..
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Old 08-01-2022, 11:08 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,515 posts, read 84,688,123 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zhelder View Post
Denville

And a real under-the-radar one…

Hawthorne. Lots of great, reasonably priced places to eat, and less traffic than the hipper, wealthier towns.

And while it’s not a big section of the town, Hackettstown has an interesting downtown section along Route 46/Main Street, also with lots of great, reasonably priced restaurants.
Have not been to Hawthorne since I lived there for a few months in '09, but I agree.

Metuchen has a nice little downtown.
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Old 08-02-2022, 06:17 AM
 
1,384 posts, read 1,751,064 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jobaba View Post
It's definitely not #1, but New Brunswick belongs up there somewhere considering a lot of the towns being listed. I know it gets a bad rep, but there's a lot of bars and restaurants. And Easton Ave and Highland Park make the walkable area even larger.

Jersey City and Hoboken have an unfair advantage being so close to NYC. So using them is cheating, and if you can use them, both/either win in a landslide.

Palisades Park, even if you're not into it is pretty unique.

I would like to include a strong Latino community, but not one jumps out at me.

Westfield and Cranford are decent, smaller and more generic than their ratings would suggest.
Might as well mention the Ironbound in Newark as well in that case. For a Latino vibe, Dover. Does Bergenline Ave in Hudson County also not count?

Some others to consider:

Freehold
Long Branch
Point Pleasant Beach
Stone Harbor
Cliffside Park
Bergenfield
Westwood
South Orange
Maplewood
Clinton
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Old 08-02-2022, 07:10 AM
 
1,883 posts, read 2,826,303 times
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Wow, great list. I will definitely check them out...
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Old 08-02-2022, 08:13 AM
 
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in Burlington County you have Bordentown City, Burlington City, Mount Holly. Riverside also has a nice little downtown area with Portuguese and other nice restaurants. Willingboro has the Rancocas section with some cool shops. Pemberton also has a downtown.

Allentown in Monmouth County

Hightstown

Cranbury (one of the most gorgeous)

Jamesburg

Milltown

Hammonton
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Old 08-02-2022, 09:37 AM
 
1,384 posts, read 1,751,064 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by counter_inquisition View Post
in Burlington County you have Bordentown City, Burlington City, Mount Holly. Riverside also has a nice little downtown area with Portuguese and other nice restaurants. Willingboro has the Rancocas section with some cool shops. Pemberton also has a downtown.

Allentown in Monmouth County

Hightstown

Cranbury (one of the most gorgeous)

Jamesburg

Milltown

Hammonton
Willingboro has no downtown. A lot of these others ones like Burlington, Mount Holly, Riverside, and Hammonton seem like they would be nice, but as I have been through them, they always seemed to lack foot traffic and/or appear rundown. Burlington has some homeless people. If you are going to include them, might as well include Millville, Vineland, Bridgetown, Pitman, Glassboro, and Woodbury. Collingswood is livelier than all of them.

Mullica Hill and Swedesboro have similar vibes to Cranbury.

I love Bordentown.
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Old 08-02-2022, 03:05 PM
 
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I'd add a few more, such as:

Matawan

Keyport

Dunellen

South River

Asbury Park

Flemington
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Old 08-02-2022, 06:27 PM
 
10,434 posts, read 6,954,235 times
Reputation: 11504
Are we asking for best downtowns are listing all downtowns now
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Old 08-02-2022, 07:09 PM
 
1,384 posts, read 1,751,064 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyHobkins View Post
Are we asking for best downtowns are listing all downtowns now
You knew this shark would be jumped. I mean, you said Sparta (it’s decent because of the lake adding cool scenery, but in the grand scheme of things does not deserve to be lumped in with some of these other ones). One could instead just list out the best downtown for each county to do this in a way that hasn’t been done before. Some are easier than others, with some counties having several competitive ones, and likewise, some others being so weak that even the best downtown is nothing special.

Atlantic- Atlantic City
Bergen- Ridgewood
Burlington- Bordentown
Camden- Haddonfield
Cape May- Cape May
Cumberland- Millville
Essex- Montclair
Gloucester- Pitman
Hudson- Hoboken
Hunterdon- Lambertville
Mercer- Princeton
Middlesex- New Brunswick
Monmouth- Red Bank
Morris- Morristown
Ocean- Point Pleasant Beach
Passaic- Pompton Lakes
Salem- Woodstown
Somerset- Somerville
Sussex- Newton
Union- Summit
Warren- Hackettstown

Last edited by Leps12; 08-02-2022 at 07:18 PM..
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