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MONTCLAIR - MONTCLAIR - MONTCLAIR - super-artsy - big time cultured - TONS of restaurants - IT'S BROOKLYN-WEST
Listen to this man... because he took my answer.
Montclair is fantastic- tons to do. So much in fact that you probably won't even want to go into Hoboken. Focus on the Church St. area- it is younger and hipper than the upper portion of Montclair.
As for $1400/month, that should be enough to get you a decent apartment. I was 5 years ago, but I was able to land a HUGE apartment (1000 sq ft) two blocks off of Bloomfield (lots to do) with hardwood floors, a high ceiling and a screened in porch for $1400!
Englewood is nice. You can probably do well with your budget there BUT it's hard to look for stuff to rent there. Maybe Hackensack, you'll have a better chance.
But overall i would say Jersey City. Around the Hoboken Area and upper west side (Journal Square, JC heights, Paulus heights, and Newport) these are all n-hoods that are good areas. Greenville and parts of Bergen/Lafeyette are two sections that are not too good.
And as someone else already pointed out, Montclair
OP, listen to tommy; his post is the most accurate one in this thread by far. although i disagree with a few minor points, his general sentiments are accurate.
hoboken used to be relatively hip with a mix of artists and professionals seeking cheaper rent than manhattan, but in the past decade it has completely devolved into a playground for the early 20s frat boy crowd. these are your mainstream, beer-and-shots types who apparently haven't gotten the message that they're no longer in college despite holding white collar professional jobs in nyc or jc. of course there are a number of 30- and 40-something professionals in hoboken as well, not to mention the steadily decreasing population of multi-generational working class italian-americans and latinos, but the hip, artsy feel is long gone. the city just feels like one big college campus (and yes, i do realize that stevens institute is located in town).
the downtown jersey city neighborhoods mentioned are your best bet if you want to live in the midst of some hip or artistic elements, but even these areas have gentrified considerably since the '90s and are no longer as interesting as they used to be. still, given your age and interests, jc is probably a superior option to hoboken, although my honest suggestion is that you should take the best possible apartment within your price range in either city (hoboken is located just north of downtown jc). both areas are highly walkable with some nice brownstone buildings and good mass transit to manhattan, so you can't go wrong either way.
besides, it sounds like the place you'd really fit in would be one of the hipster neighborhoods in nyc, such as williamsburg, brooklyn. my guess is that while you'll be fine with living in either jc or hoboken, you'll be taking a lot of night and weekend trips into manhattan and brooklyn to catch live music shows, hang out at the plethora of hip bars and cafes (which are far less numerous in jc/hoboken than in williamsburg or for that matter, manhattan neighborhoods such as the east village and lower east side), and meet people your age who like to do the same things.
in other words, the biggest advantage of living in jc and hoboken for someone like yourself is the ability to get into and out of nyc quickly and easily, 24/7, while still being on the jersey side of the hudson river so that your bf can commute easily to englewood cliffs. if the cross-river commute from nyc to nj weren't such a pain in the neck, i'd actually recommend that you guys live in brooklyn and that your bf do a reverse commute. but you can't underestimate how frustratingly slow and congested it is to get from nyc to nj (or vice versa) via the bridges and tunnels that connect the region - consider how large the nyc metro is, and then realize that there are only a handful of river crossings to handle an insane amount of traffic. hint: it's not pretty.
the truth is that there isn't any single municipality or neighborhood in nj that is all that hip compared with the top hipster and/or artist enclaves in nyc proper. this doesn't mean that there aren't artistic communities in nj - there are plenty of working artists scattered throughout the state - but it seems that you're specifically looking to meet other hipsters and indulge in the associated hipster lifestyle more than anything else. and, well, hipsters don't seem to like nj as much as manhattan and brooklyn - which is ironic, b/c if you're truly hip, wouldn't you find a subversive appeal in a place that's as (undeservedly) mocked as new jersey than the average joe with mainstream tastes? in other words, shouldn't new jersey's downright unhipness with the uneducated, stereotype-believing masses make the state "hip" in the hipster's eyes?
sorry, i had to get that off my chest...
and for what it's worth, there aren't really any municipalities or neighborhoods in nj with a huge concentration of artists. there are towns that have relatively large concentrations by nj standards, such as jc or even montclair, but it's nothing compared with nyc. again, please note that i'm differentiating between working artists vs. hipsters - some people may be both, but from my observations, many of the former don't care about the latter, whereas most of the latter like to pretend that they're the former.
as for montclair:
again, i agree with tommy. montclair is very hip for a suburb, but it cannot compare with urban areas such as jc or especially nyc. plus, it's about 15 miles west of lower manhattan, whereas jc and hoboken are literally right across the river. and while montclair does have excellent rail access to hoboken/nyc, you have to realize that these are suburban commuter trains, which, unlike a city subway system, don't run frequently except during rush hour - and even then, there are only about 2-3 trains per hour. on weekends, there might only be one train every 1-2 hours. and the worst part is that they stop running altogether around 1am and don't start up again until after 5am. so if you want to hang out in the city until 2:30 or 3am, you'll have to wait a few hours for the next train, which is no fun at such a late hour (think: drunk guidos and/or meatheads catcalling at any remotely attractive women they see, or simply passed out on the penn station floor like bums).
the alternative is to drive into the city every time you plan on hanging out late. this gives you more control over how long you can stay out, but the drawback is that driving and especially parking in the city are a pain, even for those of us with extensive experience navigating the city's streets. it can be done, but i'm not sure that it's worth the hassle, especially for someone who's never lived in the ny area. the only reason i did it in my teens and early 20s was because i grew up in the area and know my way around north jersey and the five boroughs like the back of my hand - and yet i still received my fair share of parking tickets and even got towed a couple of times.
unlike montclair, jc and hoboken are linked to manhattan via the PATH, which is a 24/7 subway system that connects a handful of north jersey's urban areas with downtown/midtown manhattan and is completely different than nj transit's suburban commuter rail system. the PATH is also separate from the nyc subway system, BUT most of the stations for the two systems overlap in manhattan, or at least are in close proximity to each other, which makes travel using the two quite feasible. while there are no free transfers from the PATH to the city subway, at least you can make that trip from jc/hoboken to the east village/lower east side/williamsburg via rail pretty easily and with only one switch of trains in most cases.
as for fort lee and edgewater:
very nice towns, but totally not what you're looking for. both have a mix of asian families and white and asian young professionals who commute into nyc daily, but as with montclair, you're going to have to rely heavily on your car to get around. unlike montclair, there is no train into nyc from these towns (only buses or the ferry) along with the same late night commuting issues between 1am and 5am. and edgewater is not walkable at all - it's basically a dense suburban town filled with strip malls and self-contained townhouses and high-rises, with driving necessary from one shopping center or apartment complex to another.
like edgewater, fort lee has a lot of strip malls and self-contained residential complexes, but one key difference is that it does have a compact, walkable downtown area. a lot of people who live there are professionals who want a more car-oriented lifestyle than in nyc/jc/hoboken but don't want to commit to a single family detached house with a white picket fence. there are also quite a few empty nesters who have decided to downsize from their mcmansion in the more remote suburbs as well as asian immigrants who like the quasi-urban/suburban hybrid and high concentration of ethnic restaurants and shops. still, the town is best characterized as inner-ring suburbia that serves as a transition point between the truly urban areas (hudson county, nj or nyc) and the more traditional suburbs (englewood cliffs, tenafly, ridgewood, etc).
if you wanted to be in a heavily asian neighborhood as opposed to a hipster neighborhood, then i would recommend these towns - especially if you felt comfortable driving into nyc on nights/weekends. otherwise, just go there for the great korean and japanese restaurants.
oh, and i think it's going to take more than 25 minutes from jc or hoboken to englewood cliffs during rush hour. to get from those towns to your bf's office, he's going to have to work his way around holland and lincoln tunnel traffic, which will slow him down considerably, even if he drives along tonnele ave (route 1-9) on the western side of jersey city. unless he leaves the apartment at 7am, figure on a 40 minute commute at a minimum; realistically, he should budget over an hour just in case, even though englewood cliffs really isn't that far away.
What kind of area/towns are fort lee and edgewater? Suburb types? Family homes? Is there a younger vibe? I looked into Washington heights in NYC but I'm a little worried about the crime rates listed. I might be wrong about the area.
Edgewater is the land of waterfront highrise condos Fort Lee has similar buildings, but less spectacular. But I think Fort Lee also has a pretty good downtown. If you are into Japanese and Korean food, you won't go hungry at all in Fort Lee. Both are more family friendly type towns, though.
As for Washington Heights in Manhattan... Washington Heights is a pretty big area. If you want something that's relatively safe, the area called "Hudson Heights" by some real estate brokers (to distinguish it from the larger Washington Heights neighborhood) is the "nice" and "safe" area within the larger neighborhood.
Take a walk along Cabrini, Pinehurst and Fort Washington between 181st and 190th. You won't see too many buildings this nice in Manhattan with spectacular views. I feel safer in that general area than the Lower East Side. This area is filled with doorman co-ops on top of hills that will make you feel you are not in Manhattan. You also have Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters. There's a Starbucks and a few good restaurants on 181st and 187th. Several are the types of restaurants you won't generally find in lower income neighbrohoods.
You could also live in Morningside Heights, near Columbia and take the train up to the GWB where you can catch a bus to Englewood Cliffs.
Everyone here is amazing! I really, really appreciate all of this in-depth information I'm receiving. As to the hipster comments, I'd say that I'm not an American Apparel wearing bonafide hipster. I tend to laugh at the self created angst and elitist attitudes these "hipsters" seem to all share. I do love a good live music venue and a cozy coffeehouse feel, though. LOL. I would love to live in NYC but the prices and the commute for the bf would be a little difficult. I guess we're just looking for an area with some diverse restaurants, and bars or lounges to go to on weekends. I appreciate the warning about the frat attack in Hoboken. I'm all about taking some shots every now and then but I don't want that to be the main vibe all the time either. I'm going to look at Montclair and JC. 1400 would be really pushing it so maybe the rent will end up being the deciding factor. I hope I can meet great people like yourselves once I arrive! Lastly, I'm using craigslist, only, for my apartment search. Any other resources I should be looking at? Thanks, again!!!
One last question. What's the word on Union City? No need for PC here so just tell it like it is. Haha. I see that the prices are lower and the places are newly renovated. I'm also thinking that there isn't a nightlife, hip scene but is it close enough to JC and Hoboken where we could maybe drive to get to the better restaurants in these other two areas? Is it fairly safe? The money we could save here could help us since we have an owned place here in St. louis that we'll have to rent out and still pay a monthly difference on. Yikes! Jersey City is my first choice but is Union City a feasible option for a year in order to cut costs or is it too, too sketchy.
One last question. What's the word on Union City? No need for PC here so just tell it like it is. Haha. I see that the prices are lower and the places are newly renovated. I'm also thinking that there isn't a nightlife, hip scene but is it close enough to JC and Hoboken where we could maybe drive to get to the better restaurants in these other two areas? Is it fairly safe? The money we could save here could help us since we have an owned place here in St. louis that we'll have to rent out and still pay a monthly difference on. Yikes! Jersey City is my first choice but is Union City a feasible option for a year in order to cut costs or is it too, too sketchy.
It's TOTALLY not what you're looking for. As in, not even close. Union City has some sketchy parts, not terrible, but the main reason I'm saying to avoid it is because there is no nightlife or nice restaurants, no vibe, no nothing. It's actually about 85% Hispanic.
Regarding JC...make sure you keep your search in the Downtown neighborhoods. Feel free to reach out with any questions on specific areas...
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Fort Lee has similar buildings, but less spectacular. But I think Fort Lee also has a pretty good downtown. If you are into Japanese and Korean food, you won't go hungry at all in Fort Lee. Both are more family friendly type towns, though.
