This is a very interesting and helpful discussion. I live downtown and have been here since 1999, although I left for a few years when I got married, returning only in June of this year. Lots has changed ,but I recall asking a lot of the same questions when I was looking to move here in 1999. Hard as it may seem to believe, back then, there wasn't a lot of hope that downtown was going to finally turn itself around, and there weren't a lot of 20-something single women living here. There were folks that had been here for 20+ years, young immigrant families from Central and South America, and a lot of poor artists. I had faith that downtown JC would find its footing, and since people are actually talking about being priced out of the neighborhood--I guess it's happened.

I have never been further east of Grand on Communipaw, and I had no idea where any of this was. I have driven around Lincoln Park in the past and admired some of the homes and a lot of the interesting architecture, but I have never, ever strayed south from Communipaw and I am happy to know so much is going on. I looked at the area on google maps and I think this weekend I will take my dogs and drive over to the park and check out this neighborhood that sounds terrific.

You have to believe and hang on. It took about seven years for things to really take root and begin to boom here downtown from when I got here, and that process was underway since the mid-1990s. With the price of housing in the boroughs and Manhattan, it is only a matter of time before more people see the light and move out to where you are. It sounds like those of you out there already are well positioned to reap the benefits that will surely come, and from a personal standpoint, I can tell you that there is a certain amount of satisfaction knowing how much of a return on your investment you can get after the area takes off.

I would be happy with garbage cans period. I live over by Torico's and the garbage in the blocks around it there is disgusting. There is no can in front of their storefront, which would really be the neighborly thing for them to do, but regardless, there used to be a can on Erie and First across the street from the shop and it is no longer there. Besides the trash from Torico's, the streets are filthy. There has been a large dead goldfish on a tree root on Manila between First and Second for two weeks now.

I used to shop at Food Mart Int'l when I lived here previously as I mentioned earlier in this thread, and after it closed I typically shopped in NYC when I was there or in South Orange/Millburn/Maplewood because I worked over there.

Since moving back I have been to Shop Rite exactly once. I bought three mangoes listed on the sign as "ripe", two heads of iceberg lettuce, two peaches and a few other non-produce things.

Each mango was sour and crunchy, even being sold as ripe and the third being eaten four or five days after purchase.

The two heads of lettuce were BOTH full of those brown veins, throughout the entire head, so I wound up throwing both of them out.

The peaches tasted like cotton balls.

I will never buy produce there again. It was appalling. I wasn't looking for it to be organic, or delicious, or even adequate. I would have settled for edible. It was none of those things.




Quote:

I stopped buying produce at the Shoprite for the same reason. I've been going to the Asian market on Tonnelle Ave 555 Market the produce is fresher & less expensive and the selection is better.[/quote]

The down escalator has been broken for over a month. Anyone know any details?

Quote:

This is the most elitist, arrogant post I have seen on here, and that is saying something. Morlee's has been around for decades, hanging on through some truly grim times. I would much rather have a cheap chicken place that makes decent chicken than an overpriced chain that isn't even based in the US like Bon Chon. I am all for an intelligent downtown business development strategy, but YOU deciding what the other people in the neighborhood--who maybe don't want to pay $11 for some chicken wing drumettes--need is not one. Not everyone is like you. Not everyone who lives downtown can afford to shop or eat like you can. Those people were here LONG before I got here in 1999 and certainly before people who think we need more bars with $14 cocktails got here.

I understand what downtown needs and I don't think you're wrong in wanting a more eclectic business mix that serves the needs of the different communities now living side by side here, but making statements like that really takes away from your good intentions and makes you sound like an elitist snob.

I drove by yesterday and it was open.

Quote:

I can't believe that place is still open.

Maybe you can't fathom it because walking is no problem for you. I have rheumatoid arthritis. Walking is hard. Carrying full shopping bags is hard. Walking while laden with full shopping bags is harder, and it isn't made easier with all the stairs at 23rd street. As you get older, you learn not to make statements that are as tinged with arrogance and narcissism as that one was. Not everyone is you.

Still hoping for a tahini lead.

I went to the Corrado's in North Arlington yesterday before seeing the responses here. It is MUCH smaller than the Clifton location but given the things I went there for--produce and meat and some kind of fresh bread--it was perfect. All the produce was well priced. Whole heads of romaine were .89 each. Basil was 2/$1.50. I also got ten pounds of bone-in chicken thighs (in total) that were .79 a pound.

My rule of thumb in terms of time driving, energy used, wear and tear versus not driving is really based on what I need and how much time I have. I tend to walk over to the vendors on Newark, the Key Food or La Conga or even ShopRite when I need a few items and I don't have a lot of time, but I drive to a larger place when I need to do a real substantive shop. I've seen Tender Shoot mentioned here a few times, so I will give them a try. I've been going to the place a few doors up from the firehouse on Newark just above Erie and I wasn't happy with anything I got there except the yellow pepper.

When I lived here previously, as I mentioned in another thread, I practically lived at Food Mart International, so I didn't have this issue. When I lived in Brooklyn, I went to the Red Hook Fairway or the Western Beef off of Flatbush at the end of Prospect Park two or three times a month with the car and filled in with things I could get close by. When I lived in the Village, shopping was miserable, so we had to get more strategic. We began driving out to Paramus to hit TJs and Fairway when we visited my mother, or Fairway in Douglaston on the way home from visiting my husband's father.

The Monday/Thursday market at the PATH plaza is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood, but I think the prices are pretty high. The Greenmarket at Union Square was our main source of produce when I lived in the Village and the prices there were more competitive. I have a house upstate in the Catskills as well, and you can't go a mile up there without passing by three people selling tomatoes and cukes and preserves, so for the moment I guess I am well fixed.

I am happy to try to coordinate a group trip once a month to a Fairway or Corrado's or something if anyone is interested.

Moving here again after being away for 6 years has thrown me a little. All the places I used to go in Manhattan and BRooklyn are not convenient any more, and to be honest, I can't remember most of where I used to go here in JC. I would like to avoid schleps to Western Beef and Fairway if I can help it.

Are there places people feel have good, inexpensive produce? Brooklyn has a number of 24/7/52 fruit and vegetable warehouses open to the public that I am missing already.

What about tahini? I use a lot of it, and I can't be spending $9 a jar.

Thanks.

Quote:

THis is great news. I have great admiration for the original Corrado's in Clifton but trying to shop there is virtually impossible. Hopefully the North Arlington one is less crowded. I want it to be successful, but the Clifton location is a victim of its own success.

Quote:

Every person who isn't like "you" is an "other". I've owned here since 1999, and I can assure you that there weren't many people like me here then, but there were plenty of "others" who made me feel welcome and safe. After a 6 year marital detour to Manhattan and Brooklyn, I have discovered a JC that is barely recognizable. There is no parking, where it used to be ample. Same for seats on the PATH. There are local businesses I loved that have been replaced by expensive condos, and entire new streets that didn't even exist. There are lots of things I could choose to complain about because NEWPEOPLE moved here, but I don't, because with all of the drawbacks that NEWPEOPLE brought, there are some wonderful additions their coming here have brought too. I think it is hilarious when people think they're righteous pioneers for discovering a place that has been happily inhabited for generations for the same reasons they think it's wonderful.

A real, live bookstore is a wonderful thing. Yuppies, hipsters, aging hippies or any other pejoratively named social class are all welcome, as far as I am concerned. My Dominican and Salvadoran neighbors didn't react with hostility when I moved here, and I will do them the courtesy of acting with the same respect.

I didn't know there was a Fairway on Route 46, thank you. I thought the closest (only?) NJ location was in Paramus. Regardless, JC is a natural fit for any of the companies we are talking about, whether it is TJ or WF or Fairway. I still mourn the loss of the amazing, incredible Food Mart International supermarket we had over where the Target is now. It was in an old Kmart space, so it was gigantic. The other locations have apparently closed, which is very very sad.

I am looking for someone reputable, with actual listening and problem solving skills, to fix two laptops I have. One of them needs a new motherboard and the other one has weird quirky problems that only a Jedi can probably figure out. I had a great place in Park Slope where I was living until recently, and brought them there, and the owner DISAPPEARED for over two months with them. He closed his business and vanished. The day I filed a police report, he turned up again, saying he had been in the hospital and he was sorry. Meanwhile, they are not fixed. I can't go through that again. Anyone know of a place where the people are not flakes and they actually fix things the first time? Thank you!

Having just returned here from Brooklyn, I would gladly trade a kidney for a Fairway. I have already spoken to them and they are aware that a location here would mint money, but that is a long way from convincing them to come. They are better quality across the board than Trader Joe's in my opinion, have just as many in-house products that are outstanding, the produce is fantastic, the organic selection is huge and the prepared foods, including house-roasted coffee, in-house baked goods and hot foods, are amazing. I think they have better prices than Whole Foods too. I like WF and TJ's but having shopped at all 3 for the last fifteen-20 years, in my opinion Fairway has them all beaten. I would encourage anyone interested to let them know, as they are very receptive to suggestions, are in an expansion period, and are still small enough to respond personally when they get suggestions.

A man matching the description in the OP was over on Erie today walking north from Newark and I unfortunately wound up right behind him. I crossed the street and sat down by Torico's until he left, but he was yelling as he walked along Erie and then he stood at First and Erie for a good three or four minutes screaming angrily at imaginary companions about irrational things. This is the first person I can ever recall over here who was remotely violent, which he definitely seemed to have the potential to be. I am a little concerned because I live right there and walk my dogs all alone multiple times a day.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I don't know this person at all. We were matched on a dating website and at this point I'm ready to bite the bullet. There's only so much introductory crap I am willing to share with someone I haven't looked upon in real life. It seems like Marc Anthony's and Surf City are the big winners, here, but I am shocked that there aren't more waterfront bars here by now. Don't want to go to Hoboken--ever.

Hey all, I am recently returned to JC after my marriage went pear-shaped. I left in 2006, and since then it has just exploded. I am going on a first date on Thursday evening, and the guy asked if we could meet for a drink somewhere on the water. Since back in my day that meant the Starbucks over in Newport, I am at a loss. I am more of an Iron Monkey rooftop person, but I think he wants more of a view. Anyone with thoughts on this? Thanks.

Quote:

Having just returned to JC from first the Village and then Park Slope, Brooklyn, in my experience the bike lane experiment in NYC is a miserable failure. I am not anti-bike, and I appreciate those people who want to do what they can for traffic, health and environment and intrepidly bike around town. However, the bike lanes in NYC and especially Brooklyn wreak havoc even more than the pedestrians do. I do not hold all bikers responsible for the actions of some, but in my experience and the experience of a lot of my friends, MANY bicyclists either get complacent or develop some kind of myopic view, and do NOT pay attention to traffic signals, use common sense, and worst of all, do not watch for cars or pedestrians when on side streets. When you create a bike lane, you obviously lose more room on the streets for cars to pass by, and it creates very dangerous bottlenecks on many corners where I have seen horrific close calls created by NOT the drivers but the bikers deciding that making a light was worth risking multiple lives.

I cannot emphasize enough that I am not opposed to bikes in general nor the reasons of those wishing to bike more, and I am not even considering the loss of parking when I weigh in here, even though I own a car. I have been knocked over by bikers twice, seen two of them hit by car doors opening and lost one acquaintance who hit a car--he wasn't hit BY a car, but he hit one because he wasn't paying attention to traffic and he died. Since I was a witness to both car door accidents, I stayed to see if I could help, and in one case, the cyclist had been talking on his phone. !!!! While many folks who ride bicycles are careful and responsible, just like car drivers, MANY are not. When you consider that you can't lose a license to bicycle as you can if you're an automobile offender, there is little incentive for people to adhere to rules. Tons of people ride bikes on the sidewalks in Brooklyn and Manhattan, even though there are now multiple bike lanes and it's against the law. I notice many riders doing so here, and since there are no bike lanes and I don't know the local laws, I have tried to be understanding. Will that change here? I doubt it.

I don't argue that in certain areas with less vehicular traffic a bike lane would be a blessing for the cyclist and not much of an imposition on the driver or pedestrian, but overall, in lower Manhattan and Chelsea and especially in Brooklyn, I have seen a lot of reckless disregard for their surroundings by cyclists and in my opinion, they create more problems than they solve. I don't have a solution. I wish I had one. I think the bike share program is a wonderful idea, but in the last months I lived in NYC, I can't tell you how many hapless riders I have seen who have jeopardized their own safety and that of others because they simply don't know what they are doing.

Anyhow, just my two cents. I wish I could support bike lanes, but given my experience with them, I don't believe I can.

I am recently returned to JC and when I left in 2006, this kind of list didn't exist, so finding contractors and tradesmen was rough. This time around, I knew there had to be this kind of resource, so I searched the archives for a plumber and used Byron at Hutch Mechanical because of what I read here. I would like to add my compliments and appreciation for Byron here. He came right away, negotiated his price with me, listened, gave me good advice, negotiated another price for additional work, came just when he said he would the following day, brought his OWN FAN, dropped his price when he couldn't entirely fix my problem and told me to call him immediately if things went south and I wasn't satisfied. Overall, as a single woman, I felt listened to, respected, and not taken advantage of, and I feel that he did the best work he could do under the circumstances that were not of his making nor his power to control. His price was reasonable. I would use him again and definitely recommend him to others.