New Jersey
 

The Garden State!

My Dad was born in Newark, but grew up in Staten Island.

Many years later, his mother and sister (my grandmother and aunt) moved to Manasquan.

I visited them and surfed the shore. Some good surfing! Love the groins!

I also worked one summer picking tomatoes at a relative of my late stepfather, who had a small farm in Jersey.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1709828970.jpg

That's a great chart.

Garden state no more. Towns bought all the farms to "preserve" them from us big-bad developers, and are planting solar cells instead of crops.

Born and lived there my whole life, however now I'm 60% physically, and 99% mentally done with NJ.

'tis my home sweet home. I've been around enough to know this is where I belong. Besides, no decent state would have me! :D

I left NJ more than 65 yrs ago and have never looked back.

I thank my lucky stars that Dad moved us west so long ago.

More Taylor Ham for me! SmileWavy

My dad spent some time out here in CA after he graduated from college.
He said he drove on the Pasadena Freeway back in '48 in a Model A.
He knew a good thing when he saw it so moved the family here in '55/56.
I grew up in Santa Monica and consider myself more a native than some of the younger CA born kids/people I've come to know during my life.

All pretty accurate, except the middle finger area extends way farther south.

The pork roll/ Taylor ham.... might as well make the state purple. Everyone argues over it. Except me. I don't eat that crap..:p

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Even MORE for me!!!

And yeah it's a very accurate representation. I'm a hill person...or a hill Flatty.

My mother is from NJ (Midland Park) but moved to Seattle in the early 70s. The rest of her family is still there. I spent a few long summers there as a teen and remember it fondly. I haven't been back in almost 20yrs, but will probably end up there again at some point as I do keep in contact with a few of my cousins.

"Basically Alabama" Wow! That made me laugh right out loud!

I thought fastfredracing was from Joizee, but PA instead.

That area of the state, Salem,/ Cumberland county is more Alabama than Alabama.. Scary.

Think canoe trips and banjos...

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Hill people here.

And the Alabama observations are accurate.

You and Flatty live in a beautiful part of the state. Love it up there.

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An early morning drive on a mid-Spring or Fall Sunday morning will disabuse people of their preconceived notions of NJ quickly

Especially the Rt 519 corridor all the way up to High Point.

Born in Perth Amboy.. and I would argue THAT is the armpit of NJ, and rarely washed. you can reach out and "touch" Staten Island... idyllic

Mom was born and raised in New Vernon/Green Village area - beautiful country - couldn't afford to live there now!

Yeah man much $$$$ to live down that way.

Where did Tony Soprano 'live'? Where was that butcher shop that he 'hung out' at?

The real locations were: the butcher shop was in Kearney, Tony's house is in North Caldwell and the Bada Bing was the Satin Dolls club in Lodi (I think).

edit oh and BTW in jersey you can't serve alcohol AND have naked dancers. One or the other but not both so the Bada Bing was not a legal place. Shocking isn't it?

I grew up in the "think they are NY" region. Ready access to NYC was a definite plus...

Tony's shop was called Satriale's Pork Store.

I lived in Red Bank, NJ for 10 years before moving to the land of the mass holes…people were friendlier there, we actually had friends. My wife suffered the most from leaving NJ. And I had a boat called Bada Bing that I used to take on the Navesink river and in Sandy hook bay to the sand bar. Life was great, spending the Sunday afternoons at Donovan’s, driving back home by Bruce Springsteen house in the 911. Good times…

I grew up in Flemington, went to Lawrenceville School and my folks now live on LBI. So I go back a lot, even met up with Vinman there for a few beers a while back. When my folks pass, I'm never going back. Love to visit, but once I have no family left there, it's a far away place on a different planet from AZ.

Our son lives in Jersey City and commutes by ferry to Manhattan for work. That’s all I know about New Jersey.

My next door neighbor owned the Pork Store and rented it to Sopranos production company. He initially bought it as a Condo/Townhouse project then the production company came in and rented it out from him. When the show wrapped he redeveloped the store and surrounding buildings as Townhouses and sold individual bricks as souvenirs of the show. He happens to be a great neighbor, too. I’m happy for him.

Donavan's was always such a great bar. Started going there in the early 80's when I was still living in Staten Island.

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I am told a lot of the NYC Mafioso live in Nutley NJ ..RTE 3 right into town.... it's been called " the safest town in nj " for that reason...

Four young white boyz on a biz trip to Philly took a wrong turn and wound up in "the armpit" one morning. It wasn't like Mahwah :D

Sounds just like CopLand. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta

SmileWavy

A true cult classic!

Amazing cast....including even Blondie!

Cast

Sylvester Stallone as Sheriff Freddy Heflin
Harvey Keitel as Lieutenant Ray Donlan
Ray Liotta as Officer Gary "Figgsy" Figgis
Robert De Niro as Lieutenant Moe Tilden
Peter Berg as Officer Joey Randone
Janeane Garofalo as Deputy Sheriff Cindy Betts
Robert Patrick as Officer Jack Rucker
Michael Rapaport as Officer Murray "Superboy" Ba*****
Annabella Sciorra as Liz Randone
Noah Emmerich as Deputy Sheriff Bill Geisler
Cathy Moriarty as Rose Donlan
John Spencer as Detective Leo Crasky
Frank Vincent as PDA President Vince Lassaro
Malik Yoba as Detective Carson
Arthur Nascarella as Officer Frank Lagonda
Victor Williams as Officer Russell Ames
Edie Falco as Berta (Bomb Squad Agent)
Mel Gorham as Monica Lopez
Paul Herman as carnival worker
Paul Calderón as Hector (GWB Paramedic)
Vincent Laresca as Robert (GWB Paramedic)
Method Man as Shondel (rooftop perp)
Deborah Harry as Delores (4 Aces bartender)
Frank Pellegrino as Mayor
John Ventimiglia as Officer V
Robert John Burke as Officer B
John Doman as Lassaro’s aide
Tony Sirico as Salvatore "Toy" Torillo (photo only)

^
I watched this again very recently, last six months or so...hadn't seen it since it came out.
Great cast for sure, and the movie has a great 'look' (fantastic cinematography); however, I don't know if it's the script or the director, but there is something missing that keeps this film from being an "A" lister like a Casino or Goodfellas or Heat. So close, though and very watchable, and really fun to see all those recognizable cast members.

Tis true....born and raised there. From about the age of 10 I couldn't wait to get the hell out!!

I've done the "Guinea Hop" . Born and partially raised in Brooklyn, moved and grew up in Staten Island. Then in 1990, moved to NJ.

Called the "Guinea Hop" because that's what a lot of NYC Italians have done since the early 70s.

Jersey is fast becoming overcrowded and way overdeveloped. I'm in a good location, minutes from the beach and my boat but, nowhere near the way it was when I moved here. Sad what it's turned into.

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I haven't heard the Guinea Hop in ages!

Same up here Vinny. When I moved here it was mostly corn fields then the developers made the farmers multi-millionaires overnight. :(

I'm mostly sheltered from the ongoing pillage as I near the watershed and my backyard is a pond. the surrounding hills are always under attack by developers but so far the bribes haven't been big enough.

35 years in Brooklyn, but I secretly love NJ. I could live there....maybe... Favorite things are the country-side &..its proximity the ocean, to Philly to NYC... WFMU and ..it's tomatoes and food-culture. If you are ever passing through Lodi, check out Vitamia & Sons Ravioli Co. try the eggplant lasagna. Its things like that that make me like NJ.

I live in Sussex County.
Moved away from Crowder areas years ago but now even Sussex is getting spilled into…. No end in sight. Our governor is a POS ex Mass HOLE. He should go back where he came from.
The Jersey shore is beautiful in the summer. As many have said, your only escape will be on a boat which I am thankful to have.

It’s funny Copland was mentioned above. They were filming part of that in Edgewater. I happened to see Stallone in person then — super nice guy. I was shocked at how Short he was in person.

and Pizza Town

Rt 80 killed Morris County. Sussex still has a lot of great spots and some fun little roads.