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Morristown is a good place for the stuff you're looking for. Another town with similar appeal is Montclair, which is not a bad commute to/from Parsippany either. Montclair is closer to NYC but the train service doesn't operate on weekends, until next year anyway. Express buses run 7 days/week though.
i would agree with most of the posters here. morristown sounds exactly like what you're looking for. hoboken is cool, but you're commute will be a lot longer to parsippany. guess it depends on how often you'll want to head into nyc. if you're going in every weekend, then hoboken or jersey city would probably be a better option.
Native New Yorker, 9 year Morristown resident, frequent D.C. partier in the day (late-30's now- so not too long ago):
If you're a go out to clubs and see live music person, you'll spend alot on NJ transit.
If you're a take-a-someone-out-for-a-nice-meal-after-work-and-see-where-things-lead-person, can do in Morristown.
If you're hit-the-stool-at-the-pub-at-5:15,-work-hard-till-closing guy: can do in Morritown.
Morristown is walkable at night (safe, short distances), especially if you're imbibing.
Great people, not all that diverse, though. Women are good looking, but again very same-same (preppy Irish chicks for the most part). Guys too (don't know your preference). No alt scene to speak of. One or two good coffeehouses.
Weekend into Manhattan is easy: take a car, cause the last train is around 11:30 or 12 (we have young kids so I'm not allowed to be on that train so often anymore)!
It's cleaner, safer than D.C.-proper, kinda Bethesda Chevy-Chase with a fruit-loop in the middle.
Morristown is fairly diverse, but highly segregated. Most of the black people live down in "the Hollow" (anyone know the history of that phrase?) and Colombians (and other random Latin American immigrants) live along Speedwell ave from the Movie theater over to the high school. The rest of the town is fairly white. There are a lot of tensions between the blacks and spanish in Morristown as the Colombians slowly but surely displace black people out of their neighborhood. These tensions usually manifest themselves thru random knife fights at the high school. (As a sidenote, Morristown has one of the biggest concentrations of Colombian people in the USA as a percentage of the population).
If anything, with all of the newly planned luxury condos and the Mayor's plan to give the Spanish illegals the boot, the town might become whiter in the future.
If you are looking for NYC you will not find it in Morristown. If you are however looking for a decent old-school suburban area to live with fairly good restaurants and bars, then you can definitely find that in Morristown.
I am currently renting in New Brunswick and pleasantly surprised by the city and its amenities (theatres, festivals, arts, etc). It is a very diverse city and Rutgers brings tons of college and grad students to the area. The train is also in the center of the city and about the same commute to NYC as Morristown. (However will probably be longer drive to Parsippany vs Morristown, but I'm sure the people on the board will let you know).
Some parts of the city are not the best, but the town has been revitalizing for many years now and tons of new highrises and upscale restaurants have opened. If your from D.C. you should be used to this type of environment.
I felt the need to post b/c I had a conversation with a good friend who also rents in New Brunswick and previously lived in Morristown. He said New Brunswick has much more going on any day of the week.
New Brunswick is a pretty nice town, but the drive from New Brunswick to Parsippany during rush hour is easily going to be an hour. I don't know if the OP wants to have to deal with that.
I'm from Morristown, born and raised. i enjoyed growing up in Morristown and a lot of people go away to college and come back. it's a small town with a lot of things to do, you just have to find them. I currently moved away again to finish my education but I do miss Morris County a lot. There are many little shops in Morristown and pretty much everything is close by. It's approx. 40 min. from NYC and it's near a lot of malls and things like that. So, if you have the opportunity, check it out. If you are working in the City the trains run frequently from Morristown and Morris Plains. There's just a lot there. Do I like it better than Hoboken, of course!!
umm... Mead, where do you get your information from? I lived in Morristown all of my life and i am African American and I DO NOT live in the 'hollow'. There are a lot of Latino, White, and East Indians that live in that area. The 'hollow' is a lower income area. So, maybe you need to do a little more research before you start telling people things you know nothing about. Get your information straight!!!!
I am looking into a job in Morristown and wondered whether you ended up moving to Morristown and if so, how you like it. I have the same concerns as you (single chic in my mid 30's and wondering if Morristown would be too "suburbia").
Thanks!
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Morristown vs. NYC
