Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Jersey
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-11-2008, 06:36 AM
 
18 posts, read 79,404 times
Reputation: 12

Advertisements

We are coming to NJ this weekend to check out a few cities. We would like to tour the following cities, and was wondering if anyone could recommend some good streets (town center, nice neighborhood, recreational areas) in any of these cities that would give us a good feel for the town. We have picked these towns based on proximity to NYC and a few other reasons. Thanks in advance!!

Chatham
Cranford
Millburn/Short Hills
Ridgewood
Summit
Westfield
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-11-2008, 07:52 AM
 
Location: Historic Downtown Jersey City
2,705 posts, read 8,254,205 times
Reputation: 1227
All really great towns. All of those towns have a downtown area, so I'd recommend starting there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 09:13 AM
 
18 posts, read 79,404 times
Reputation: 12
If you could be more specific that would be really helpful, I plan on just plugging various addresses into the GPS for each town. So for example if you know the street name for the town center or a great neighborhood, that would help me immensely. I have never been to NJ before and am trying to narrow down towns for our house search. (NJ or Westchester).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Historic Downtown Jersey City
2,705 posts, read 8,254,205 times
Reputation: 1227
Cranford: Intersection of North Ave and Eastman Street, this is downtown Cranford.

Westfield: North Avenue and East Broad Street, this is downtown Westfield.

I'd park the car in these spots and walk around.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 06:06 AM
 
18 posts, read 79,404 times
Reputation: 12
Can anyone recommend a beach, lake or ocean w/in an hour of these towns. Not necessarily a beach people go to for vacation, just a nice place a local family might go on a Sat with their kids. If there is not maybe a nice park you could recommend. Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 07:30 AM
 
730 posts, read 2,883,347 times
Reputation: 346
There are tons of beaches within an hour of all of those towns. Do a search of Jersey Shore Beaches, there are many maps that will dot each beach along the shore (or the public access ones at least) Then you can see which are going to be nearby where you will be that day. Also you can do a search here for Jersey Shore Beaches/Towns and find some good suggestions.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 07:34 AM
 
Location: Old Bridge, NJ
171 posts, read 814,458 times
Reputation: 69
Cranford has a very nice park called Nomahegan park (I don't know the street name though)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 07:35 AM
 
1,542 posts, read 6,028,108 times
Reputation: 1705
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjmmgott View Post
Can anyone recommend a beach, lake or ocean w/in an hour of these towns. Not necessarily a beach people go to for vacation, just a nice place a local family might go on a Sat with their kids. If there is not maybe a nice park you could recommend. Thanks!
i'm a big fan of spring lake, which is a nice beach town down in monmouth county. no boardwalk or games, and no food or coolers allowed on the beach, but this allows the beach to remain clean and litter-free. very family-friendly and usually not as crowded as the beaches that cater to the teenage/boardwalk crowd.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 08:39 AM
 
1,542 posts, read 6,028,108 times
Reputation: 1705
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjmmgott View Post
We are coming to NJ this weekend to check out a few cities. We would like to tour the following cities, and was wondering if anyone could recommend some good streets (town center, nice neighborhood, recreational areas) in any of these cities that would give us a good feel for the town. We have picked these towns based on proximity to NYC and a few other reasons. Thanks in advance!!
ridgewood's downtown area is centered along ridgewood ave between maple ave (eastern boundary) and monroe st (western boundary), although the road is divided into two sections - west of the train station (west ridgewood ave) and east of the station (east ridgewood ave). the train tracks and the station form a barrier in the center of the village that cuts off the livelier eastern portion of the road from its western side, which prevents ridgewood ave from being a single, continuous thoroughfare. to traverse the entire length of ridgewood ave from east to west, you have to loop around the train station before continuing onto the western portion of the road:
from:ridgewood ave & maple ave ridgewood nj to:40.979866,-74.120228 to:ridgewood ave & monroe st ridgewood nj - Google Maps

along ridgewood ave - not to mention the side streets that intersect it - you'll find a bunch of shops, restaurants, and cafes. there's a small park/village square at the intersection of east ridgewood ave and walnut st that's a popular spot for locals to hang out. and across from the western side of this park is the bus depot, from which residents take buses to nyc.

ridgewood high school, which has a very nice campus, is located just east of downtown along ridgewood ave.

some of the nicest residential neighborhoods are on the western side of town. check out the area south of godwin ave, west of lincoln ave, and north of rock rd (which is the approximate border with the adjacent town of hawthorne). there are some lovely homes on highland ave, mountain ave, and knollwood rd in particular.

i'd also recommend driving northbound up crest road, which takes you to one of the highest points in the village and affords beautiful views of the valley below. not surprisingly, there are some nice houses in this area of town as well. you can access crest rd from west ridgewood ave (just west of the train station) by going up corsa terrace and then making a right up the hill.

just south of the high school, take a look at brookside ave. and you might want to drive through the small section of town east of route 17 as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2008, 05:27 PM
 
Location: GA
2,791 posts, read 10,789,507 times
Reputation: 1181
In Paramus, Bergen county near Ridgewood is Van Saun Park.
Bergen County Department of Parks (http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/parks/parks/Van%20Saun%20Park.htm - broken link)

Chatham, try Main St.

Sandy Hook is probably the closest beach.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:




Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Jersey

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top