No, he loves Newport too much! That's why he thinks "Jersey City is a cultural wasteland" -- no Red Bank! haha Quote:

Quote:

Wow, hopefully your lease ends shortly so you can move to greener pastures.

Let us know what you chose and why you chose it?

Lincoln Park is a decent size park as well and has a lot more in it than liberty state park, such as all the tennis courts which has semi-pro there if you like to play tennis, there is only two places in Hudson County with a lot Lincoln Park and down in Bayonne and no where else so many of them. Lincoln Park is a county park, while liberty state park is course a state park. It is well maintained as well and also offers tennis courts, a track and a golfing range, it is about 1/3 the size of central park.

The most expensive area of Jersey City is downtown of course, but a minute or two path ride away is Journal Square which also have buses which go to exchange place as well any only cost $1.35 each trip and you can get a month bus card and it is even cheaper, though the bus takes a few more minutes than the Path.

Most of the time if you are living in Jersey City and are going out, you either head downtown or you head to the city.

The Price in Journal Square is about 2/3 to 3/4 the price of downtown in rent. Any if you have any savings at all 401 or IRA since you said you are paying $3000 a month, you probably can get a condo with FHA and only put down 3.5% instead of renting, for the prices the one bedrooms are in the area. Of course it is more of a commitment than just renting if you don't like renting in Jersey City you can just more back to the City, but in the long term you gain equity than paying someone elses mortgage.

It is all a toss up.

seinberg,

No matter HOW you slice it, you will be looking at the same 35-40 minute commute between NYC and Jersey City if there's no transit SNAFU. If you stay in Manhattan you will have the commute twice a day for work. If you move to Jersey City you will be looking at the commute egvery time you want to do ANYTHING that is not work. Jersey City is a cultural wasteland and EVERYTHING you do will be done in Manhattan unless watching TV is your be all and end all. I go into Manhattan 4 times a week to do something.

If you want that advantage of avoiding bridges and tunnels to go West for entertainment it means adding a car and about $8,000 a year in expenses assuming you are now carless.

So what it will boil down to is dollars and cents. Look into that tax differential that is very dependent on your salary. Compare it to rental differential of probably $800- 1000 a month and see if a car fits in. Remember the couple $$grand and hideous aggravation that moving entails. Jersey City is more pleasant if you are married and settled...boring as drying paint if you are not.

^^ thanks for catching that. I meant liberty state park

"Lincoln park which is a couple blocks from Van Vorst is really nice as well. I'd say it's better than central park bc you have the ellis island and the statue of liberty right there and a great view of the manhattan skyline."


I think you meant to say LIBERTY STATE PARK, not Lincoln Park.

Lincoln Park is nice too, but on the West Side.

I think you guys hit it on the nose.

I'd agree with your assessment sticking with historic downtown or the waterfront.

To break it down some more "historic downtown" is split into two areas - the Hamilton Park area and the Van Vorst Park area. Hamilton Park is a little quiter and far from the path. Van Vorst is closer to the Grove St path station and is where all the bars and restaurants are. You could even get away with walking to exchange place from there.

Like people said, coming home late night can be a pain but the trains typically run on schedule. Going into the city during the day say on a weekend is easy. I use this website to catch the path when I go in and it's always accurate: http://nynj.net/

Lincoln park which is a couple blocks from Van Vorst is really nice as well. I'd say it's better than central park bc you have the ellis island and the statue of liberty right there and a great view of the manhattan skyline.

I have a lot of friends who live in queens and Bklyn. When we are meeting somewhere in NYC, I very often get there in less time than they do. I am also counting destinations in the outer boroughs. It seems to me that my travel time to the WTC/downtown area is less than my friends who live somewhere north of 70th st in manhattan, more than a couple stops into downtown brooklyn, all of Queens, Bronx and of course Staten Island. A similar experience for midtown except that most manhattanites arrive in less time as well as some a couple stops into Queens and maybe the L line. Once your destinations require a transfer to the subway you start to see some more differences depending on the transfer(s) needed.

Long story short, I feel I am closer to downtown and midtown than my friends in many of the popular Bklyn and Queens neighborhoods and those on the far upper east and upper west side of Manhattan.

Erica, good point on getting out of the city faster. I can be on the slopes or hiking in an hour flat! When you come back you dont have to sit in traffic at a tunnel & bridge choke points. Its satisfying to get off the TPKE at CC just before the massive backup at the Holland tunnel every sunday eve, especially because you can see it ahead of you but not have to get into it.

Also to add to my other post, the night life i think you are looking for is only found around Grove st. I haven?t really seen it happening around exchange or Newport (although they are fantastic places to live). You could easily get to Grove street from many areas of JC but if you want to live right around the night life, I suggest you look around grove.

Living in JC definitely doesn't discourage us from going into Manhattan - for downtown, especially, the PATH ride is short and easy. Even going through Hoboken on the weekends isn't too bad. (But we did move here from Brooklyn so we were already a subway ride from Manhattan anyway.)

The only time it feels like a drag is when we're in the city late at night and all we really want to do is hop in a cab and zone out but instead we have to hassle with a) convincing the driver to go to JC at all and b) negotiating a non-ridiculous price. We usually compromise by taking a cab to WTC and then catching the PATH from there.

For us, it works out fine because we're past the point of late night partying every night of every weekend. I think if you're still in that mode, you might be better off moving to Tribeca or another Manhattan neighborhood further downtown from where you are now and just deal with commuting to JC. But if you're just as likely to have dinner at a non-trendy restaurant on a Saturday night and love Manhattan as much for its daytime offerings like museums, then you'll probably like living in JC. If so, I think the areas you're looking at (Downtown/Waterfront) are right on target.

PS One other benefit of JC life no one's mentioned yet is that it's so much easier to get out of town on the weekends. You don't have to deal with bridge/tunnel traffic just to get on the highway and it's insanely fast/easy/cheap to get to Newark Airport.

So based on what I'm hearing in this thread, Hoboken is more or less the cliche "bridge and tunnel" frat party crowd (are there exceptions to this, e.g. a more mature but still lively area?), and that Jersey City is quieter, has less going on, has a few sketchy areas, but that Grove St, Paulus Hook / Exchange Place, Pavonia, Van Horst Park, and maybe others are good places. And also that JC is cheaper. So since it's closer to where I'll be working and not any less convenient in terms of getting into Manhattan, I'm not sure I see a reason to really consider Hoboken. So it's really between staying in Manhattan and moving to JC. Based on this map of JC, the only areas I'm interested in are the waterfront or downtown - the other areas look like they'll be too far to be convenient to NYC. My main worry about being in Jersey City is that I'll be a little too far away for it to be convenient to go into Manhattan for the things I do now (theatre, music, museums, nightlife, etc.), or even for an impromptu stroll in Central Park or something. How do you JC'ers feel about it - does it hinder your desire/motivation to go into the city? And does that even bother you? Regarding staying in Manhattan and taking the PATH from 33rd street: since I work basically next to the Exchange Place stop, there's really no direct route that I know of from Manhattan other than WTC. My current commute is the 6 to Union Sq, then transfer to the 4 train; the 4 to Fulton St, walk to WTC PATH, and take that to Exchange Place. It takes about 35-40 minutes door to door. Any other suggestions? The issue with 33rd to Grove St currently is that I'm a ~10 minute walk from the 33rd st station, so going 33rd to Grove to Exchange Pl ends up being a little longer. Thanks lots for your suggestions - it was a shockingly good response. Most forums don't bother to reply

Quote:

I am in that age group, work in Newport, have lived in Paulus Hook, by Exchange, Grove and now the Beacon. Based on what you said above if you move to JC my opinion is that you should locate yourself immediately around the grove st station. If it is not important to actually live in/be immersed in the social night life center of JC you have many other choices.

The issue si one of money. Remember that living in NJ and working here saves a lot on taxes.
Newport/Pavonia is probably your best bet but there is NOWHERE downtown that has a decent nightlife. You will wind up going to New York.

Restaurants...a smattering in Newport, none worth doing downtown. In town you'll wind up going quite a distance to Laico's, Lincoln Inn, or the Coach House for passable dining. But like me, you will probably do most of your dining and ALL your entertainment in Manhattan.

So it's Jersey City if you can find a nice apartment under $2 g's, not unlikely.

But you won't go far wrong staying in Murray Hill and jumping on the 33rd Street PATH for work.

Wow, thanks for all the great responses! For some reason I wasn't emailed when people replied, so I figured it got none. Now let me read them all...

The restaurants and bars in Hoboken and to also not Newport are genrally similar to the city, all because there rents are also high. In the grove Street area they are much better in General, and since you are talking about paying 3000 a month, and if you want to be in a doorman elevator building in the Grove street area a grat place which includes heat and hot water, that is close to the Grove Street Path, not far from exchange place which i am guessing is where you will have your job in the financial industry like most, would be at 270 0r 280 marin blvd, the two buildings right behind city hall which is on grove street. In those building is a coop, many people aren't aware of it, but they don't get as high of rents as you would think, and that is because one of the individuals who bought so many of the apartments when the building we bankrupt now holds like 40% of the building and the banks won't finance them so they are all cash deals and thus the units are cheaper to buy than the rest of the condos in downtown jersey city and the landlord doesn't have high rents, from what I have heard it is $1400-1600 a month for a 1 bedroonm and around 900 sf, not like the 650 Sf in most brownstones, or 600 SF since most are 16-20 ft wide on average more like 17 or 18 and 35 feet deep that comes out to 630 sf a floor, and you get to pay the utilities of heeat and hot water which can be $100-200, so for the $1200 rent on some places it all pans out. The Grove Street areaa is where you can save money to buy in a few years. The bars and restaurants are good, though you just have to check out the many around some are better than others just like in the city, good luck.

Your options on nightlife:

LITM - used to be a cool place to hang, but then they changed their prices and added an extensive bar menu. Now it's an overpriced pseudo-Hoboken bar with a gallery.

Lucky 7's - cheap drinks, loud drunks, frat boy/hipster mix. Smells like a foot locker.

Iron Monkey - great if you like to hang around corporate d-bags that smoke cigars on the roof deck.

Lampost - only slightly classier then the Latin Lounge across the street.

White Star - cheap eats on Wed, but the regulars are always yelling at whatever sports they are watching on Tv.

Golden Cicada - some people swear by this little "secret" bar on here, I don't see what all the hype is about. The place is always empty, and whatever you do don't go to into that bathroom.

Occasionally, gallery 58 hosts a cool party, where you can dance.

JC totally lacks on places to go dancing - that's sad.

I haven't spoken to many European 'East' Asians while I was in Europe, so I can't deny or confirm that fact. But I guarantee you won't hear 'East' Asian Americans referring to themselves as "Orientals". I've seen many "East" Asian taken offense to it. So either way, I'm just saying it's not a proper term to use.

Quote:

LOL, rather I think it was South Asians who referred to East Asians as Oriental.

Quote:

Heights doesn't need a reminder, he's just an ignorant racist. Look at his previous posts on this forum.

topic:
Newport: Diversity
Grove St: Fun
Hoboken: College Fun
Downtown Waterfront: Nice highrises, but quiet.

I've heard Asians (east Asia) refer to themselves Oriental in Europe

Reminder or FYI: East Asians don't like to be called "Orientals"...orientals are objects from "The Orient", not the people.

"So there are Native American Indians living in Newport ? If not then you just mean Asians. Arabs, Orientals, and Hindus all come from the same continent of Asia. Also people of Egyptian decent have African heritage as does Obama, and many African American people here in the United States"

Pavonia, newport, exchange place - though they have some really nice luxury high rises that are totally in your budget, it's very quiet. I dont think it's the scene you're looking for.

Hoboken is more of a younger crowd, lots of bars that are usually packed thurs, fri and sat nights. Recent grads and party goers from NJ flock to hoboken on the weekends. If that's the scene you are looking for.

Grove st. is a lot more laid back but still has a bunch of restaurants and bars. The crowd is a little older, I'd say late 20's early 30's is the average. Easy access to downtown and midtown seeing how the train lines split at Grove st.

If I were you, I'd stay in the city esp bc all of your friends are there...I'd find a place that is close to one of the path stations. It runs one after the other during rush hr.

Fun things to do in Paulus Hook....

Quote:

Man from heights is very wise. Yes, I am a native american living in Newport.

Quote:
So there are Native American Indians living in Newport ? If not then you just mean Asians. Arabs, Orientals, and Hindus all come from the same continent of Asia. Also people of Egyptian decent have African heritage as does Obama, and many African American people here in the United States

I tend to agree with many of the above opinions (sutherland, jmcee, grovepath).

Hoboken vs. JC debate, Hoboken has more of a scene than JC does, but the vibe skews a little frat house.

When we (my boyfriend and I, in our mid-late 30's) were moving to JC from NYC, we wanted to be within a 5-10 minute walk of the Grove PATH for both commuting and living reasons. The JC neighborhoods we really liked were (and still are) Harsimus Cove, Hamilton Park, Paulus Hook, and Van Vorst Park. We really didn't like the Newport/Pavonia area (too sterile, not enough of a neighborhood feel) and found the Heights too inconvenient for getting into and out of NYC at any time of day/night.

We love it here and have found plenty to do and met lots of cool & interesting people. But there are downsides. Getting back to JC from the city late at night is a hassle - the PATH runs much less frequently than NYC subways and cabs are pricey/can refuse to take you to NJ. (Not to mention that a lot of our friends still live in Brooklyn, which is a 2-river pain in the ass.) And I don't think I would want to live here if I were single - the dating population doesn't seem to have reached critical mass. There also aren't enough local restaurant/bar options, although the upside of that is that it's easy to become a beloved (we hope!) regular.

I'd definitely come wander around near places you're thinking of living. Stop by the nearest bar and see if you'd like to have it as your local. See what the food options (both grocery and restaurant) are. Walk to the PATH. Etc.

seinberg, I sent you a PM. Paulus Hook is my favorite neighborhood in Jersey City... close to the PATH, lots of apartments have great views and the light rail provides easy access to Hoboken!

I would stay in manhattan and move to fidi. The nightlife there is comparable to the nightlife in jc. however it also gives you easier and more convenient access to the rest of the city.

You could probably stay in Manhattan and easily reduce your rent to about $2200 a month by either negotiating with your landlord or moving with in Manhattan. The vacancy rates are higher than ever. But if you're interested in being closer to work and save even more money Hoboken would offer you a better social scene than Jersey City. I can't comment on the Hoboken rental market, but suspect it's less expensive than Manhattan. The Jersey City social scene has made dramatic strides and depending on your life style and how important your commute time is, can be a good option. Just be mindful that once you move into either Jersey City or Hoboken your Manhattan friends aren't going to be coming into NJ to see you as often as you like. Also ask yourself whether you think you will still be going into Manhattan on weekends. The PATH could be a PITA, especially when coming home. Of course you could take a cab for about $40 all in, especially since you'll be saving so much money on rent.

Hoboken is the post college perpetual frat party scene if you live anywhere near the PATH.

Newport is a bedroom community which is pretty detached from Jersey City in general and is overwhelmingly asian and indian.

I would think you would be best to stay in downtown JC close to Exchange Place or Grove PATH stations for the convenience. There are many nice high rises you can rent for between 1800-2300 that are worth the money.