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Ehh Im not sure id put NNJ above the MetroWest in Boston. But other than that, I agree. Like Im in NNJ now and as great as Summitt, Far Hills, Short Hills, Montclair, Livingston are, it definitely pales in comparison to Weston, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, Dover, Sherborne, etc.
But Main Line im unfamiliar with. It kind of reminds me of the North Shore of MA, and a little bit like Westchester too. Its very British looking.
But yeah I would add a few areas to this poll:
-Northern NJ (Livingston, Short Hills, Far Hills, Montclaire)
-North Shore MA (Marblehead, Ipswich, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea, etc)
-Hartford Area (Farmington, West Hartford, Avon, Canton, etc)
-Baltimore's MD Suburbs (All of them)
That's a solid argument. I am not as familiar with the Boston towns, but one positive for CT and the Main Line that sticks out to me is the connectivity, several towns that are a part of one large area. I am guessing the Boston burbs in this thread follow that setup. NNJ seems more disconnected (still very nice though).
The Main Line has similarities to West Chester and Gold Coast CT, but quintessential Pennsylvania in terms of the architecture and heavy use of field stone on most homes. I love stone homes and The Main Line has no shortage of those. The Main Line also has a main road (Lancaster Ave, Route 30) that takes you from one end to the other and it runs generally parallel with the train line. And there are several little downtowns every few miles surrounded by leafier streets. And of course there is a huge legacy of notable institutions, wealth, and an independent culture from other suburbs, but a little more understated than its CT counterpart.
NNJ lacks a lot of that. Now that I think about it, I would def place Metrowest Boston ahead of NNJ.
Can we please stop calling Fairfield County the "Gold Coast" in this thread? The phrase "Gold Coast" has always referred to certain parts of the North Shore of Long Island
Ehh Im not sure id put NNJ above the MetroWest in Boston. But other than that, I agree. Like Im in NNJ now and as great as Summitt, Far Hills, Short Hills, Montclair, Livingston are, it definitely pales in comparison to Weston, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, Dover, Sherborne, etc.
But Main Line im unfamiliar with. It kind of reminds me of the North Shore of MA, and a little bit like Westchester too. Its very British looking.
But yeah I would add a few areas to this poll:
-Northern NJ (Livingston, Short Hills, Far Hills, Montclaire)
-North Shore MA (Marblehead, Ipswich, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea, etc)
-Hartford Area (Farmington, West Hartford, Avon, Canton, etc)
-Baltimore's MD Suburbs (All of them)
Tbh as prestigious as MetroWest is their towns aren't as "complete" and they have many clear shortcomings. Less so in NNJ. NNJ feels like a more cohesive community of wealthy people across towns. Less seperation and less town centric than Metrowest. Theres a more interconnected street network that lends itself well to his. NNJ is neater, Metrowest is more country.
Both the New York Times and WSJ real estate sections use Gold Coast to refer specifically to Long Island's North Shore. Whenever another "Gold Coast" is referenced they place it in quotation marks to signify that they're not talking about Long Island.
Tbh as prestigious as MetroWest is their towns aren't as "complete" and they have many clear shortcomings. Less so in NNJ. NNJ feels like a more cohesive community of wealthy people across towns. Less seperation and less town centric than Metrowest. Theres a more interconnected street network that lends itself well to his. NNJ is neater, Metrowest is more country.
NNJ is a bit punctuated. Not an overall feeling of wealth even if you only consider areas west of the Parkway. Northern and Central NJ have four wealth nodes of various sizes that two of which may be slightly merging.
The four would be;
1. Northern Bergen from Alpine west to Franklin Lakes.
2. South Orange west to Chester south to northern Bridgewater and back east to Cranford(the largest one by far aka NJ wealth belt)
3. Princeton and the towns bordering it.
4. Northwest Monmouth County.
There are signs merging between 2 and 3 by way of Hillsborough and Somerville, but not quite there yet if it happens at all.
Tbh as prestigious as MetroWest is their towns aren't as "complete" and they have many clear shortcomings. Less so in NNJ. NNJ feels like a more cohesive community of wealthy people across towns. Less seperation and less town centric than Metrowest. Theres a more interconnected street network that lends itself well to his. NNJ is neater, Metrowest is more country.
They arent complete, but the poll is prestigious. I dont really consider NNJ Suburbs as prestigious as SWCT, Westchester, Main Line, Metro West Boston, North Shore Boston and even LI. But prestigious doesnt have to have a purely positive attribute.
MetroWest is just a continuous 40+ towns of inflated home prices, mansions, NIMBYist, classist a*hles and country clubs. NNJ is not like this, its definitely more inclusive and although until recently may have been just as wealthy, also had more diversity in its wealth. Even in towns like Short Hills and Summit. If they tried making MetroWest more urban, there would be another Battle of Lexington and Concord.
I dont mean to bash MetroWest, but to me its not even the nicest part of Greater Boston.
NNJ is a bit punctuated. Not an overall feeling of wealth even if you only consider areas west of the Parkway. Northern and Central NJ have four wealth nodes of various sizes that two of which may be slightly merging.
The four would be;
1. Northern Bergen from Alpine west to Franklin Lakes.
2. South Orange west to Chester south to northern Bridgewater and back east to Cranford(the largest one by far aka NJ wealth belt)
3. Princeton and the towns bordering it.
4. Northwest Monmouth County.
There are signs merging between 2 and 3 by way of Hillsborough and Somerville, but not quite there yet if it happens at all.
Yea no doubt. I get what you're saying, I just feel as though the population is more connected by proximity and density, you do have to drive through some less wealthy or even poor areas, but depending on which belt -not so much.
In Metrowest, you will drive through a lot more faceless greenery and ultra-low density that doesn't give any cohesive feel whatsoever and it's not usually as well maintained as low-density sprawl in CT's Gold Coast. The town centers are generally less developed and less useful than what I've seen in NNJ, they're also further apart.
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