Suburbs Of New Jersey Cool Again Thanks To Millennials? (Jersey City: real estate, homes)
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I moved from the city back to the suburbs, though I'm a GenXer and I don't have kids.
There's definitely a significant shift.
Back in the 80s/90s, you either lived in the city or you lived in the suburbs. If you lived in the burbs, you went to the city for fun, though there were a couple of places in the suburbs, there wasn't much. Movie theatres, a few Irish bars, a few dance clubs. But pretty much, if you were liberal, artsy, or liked to party you lived in the city.
Now that NYC has become prohibitively expensive, more 20s/30s people are living are shifting towards living in the burbs. Downtown areas have revitalized.
Downtown Morristown, Westfield, New Brunswick, Jersey City, Somerville, Asbury, Montclair have all recently revitalized their downtowns. And they are destinations to go in lieu of taking the train into the city. I'm not familiar with what all those places used to be but I can tell you half of them were either sh@tholes or boring places with a movie theater and a couple of Irish bars. Now, they have lounges, Korean fusion places, Tapas, etc.
That doesn't mean people who live in Chelsea are going to take NJ Transit to hang out in Montclair. It's doesn't have that going on.
But, used to be if being young, hip, liberal, arty, cool was like 6 out of 10 important to you or up, you just lived in NYC. Nowadays, you only move to the city if you're 7.5 out 10 important to be young, hip, liberal, arty, cool, etc. If that makes any sense...
It's also pretty difficult to live in the richest city in the world if you're an artist. So, a lot of them have migrated over to NJ.
I moved from the city back to the suburbs, though I'm a GenXer and I don't have kids.
There's definitely a significant shift.
Back in the 80s/90s, you either lived in the city or you lived in the suburbs. If you lived in the burbs, you went to the city for fun, though there were a couple of places in the suburbs, there wasn't much. Movie theatres, a few Irish bars, a few dance clubs. But pretty much, if you were liberal, artsy, or liked to party you lived in the city.
Now that NYC has become prohibitively expensive, more 20s/30s people are living are shifting towards living in the burbs. Downtown areas have revitalized.
Downtown Morristown, Westfield, New Brunswick, Jersey City, Somerville, Asbury, Montclair have all recently revitalized their downtowns. And they are destinations to go in lieu of taking the train into the city. I'm not familiar with what all those places used to be but I can tell you half of them were either sh@tholes or boring places with a movie theater and a couple of Irish bars. Now, they have lounges, Korean fusion places, Tapas, etc.
That doesn't mean people who live in Chelsea are going to take NJ Transit to hang out in Montclair. It's doesn't have that going on.
But, used to be if being young, hip, liberal, arty, cool was like 6 out of 10 important to you or up, you just lived in NYC. Nowadays, you only move to the city if you're 7.5 out 10 important to be young, hip, liberal, arty, cool, etc. If that makes any sense...
It's also pretty difficult to live in the richest city in the world if you're an artist. So, a lot of them have migrated over to NJ.
True, true.
You also have the cultural shift towards "inclusion", "equality" and whatever taking hold in many suburbs. Gays, lesbians and even trans no longer have to flee into Manhattan for various reasons. More importantly many of the communities you mentioned are welcoming to families of all sorts including LGBT. This is important now that gays are having kids and want same things as anyone else.
You also have the cultural shift towards "inclusion", "equality" and whatever taking hold in many suburbs. Gays, lesbians and even trans no longer have to flee into Manhattan for various reasons. More importantly many of the communities you mentioned are welcoming to families of all sorts including LGBT. This is important now that gays are having kids and want same things as anyone else.
Correct. 'Freaks' used to flee into the city. Now, they are fleeing back to NJ.
It is the same story repeated for generations in the NYC metro area. When you cannot afford to pay or refuse to pay the exorbitant $$$ for real estate in NYC, plus you want some control over where your kids go to school - the answer is "move to the suburbs".
It is the same story repeated for generations in the NYC metro area. When you cannot afford to pay or refuse to pay the exorbitant $$$ for real estate in NYC, plus you want some control over where your kids go to school - the answer is "move to the suburbs".
When I was young, it was cheaper to live in the city than in the suburbs. Not Manhattan, but definitely Queens and Brooklyn.
NYC isn't as interesting as it used to be. All the weird little businesses and restaurants have been replaced by banks and chains. I've never lived in NYC, but the appeal is gone.
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