Newark, NJ

[rosco rathbone]

Anyone know Newark?

I was out there for a couple of days. It's a strange place.

One minute you're in a neighborhood that looks like a third world war zone, next thing you know you're looking at a full sized gothic cathedral with perfectly manicured grounds, or a beautiful neoclassical stone building with bats flying out of a collapsed roof....then back into an area that looks like it ought to have teenaged boys with AKs stopping traffic behind a wall of burning tires.

A brand-new gated subdivision with flowerbeds and lawns across from a vast empty field strewn with rubble, shell casings and old EPA Superfund signs. A street where you're actually glad to see no businesses except storefront churches, bail bondsmen, liquor stores, chicken joints, pawn joints and weave joints...because the previous street had the same businesses but all boarded over with sidewalks that looked like they hadn't seen traffic since the 1970s.

 

[lovetoread]

I visit it mostly to get onto a plane.

It has its various nice spots, though.

 

[islandman]

There's a reason why you can buy a 3-BR, 2.5 baths house with a yard for $35K down there.

 

[rosco rathbone]

There's a reason why you can buy a 3-BR, 2.5 baths house with a yard for $35K down there.

That's basically why I was out there.

 

[rosco rathbone]

It has its various nice spots, though.

Details pls.

 

[Joeybagadonuts]

It must have been a high end city at one time but it's been a sewer since even before I was a kid.

 

[rosco rathbone]

It must have been a high end city at one time but it's been a sewer since even before I was a kid.

That's what's so weird about it. You can see all the ruins of the city it used to be. That's what Rome must have looked like in 600 AD. Still people living there, cooking over open fires in what used to be a Senator's front parlor.

 

[islandman]

It must have been a high end city at one time but it's been a sewer since even before I was a kid.

Still better than Camden, which I drove through last week on the way to Philly.

Now there's a shit-hole.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Details pls.

The east end in the Iron Bound section.

 

[rosco rathbone]

There's been a huge amount of money sunk into Downtown Newark, the Ironbound, and the university area. They're trying hard for top-down urban renewal. Some of it leads to comic excess, like the new fancy signs 2 miles away directing you to the "ARTS DISTRICT". When you get there it's one block with a new bike lock rack, new planters and street lights, one shitty gallery open a couple hours a week, a yuppie bar and a hipster coffee cafe manned by youths who look like they'd much rather be in Brooklyn.

Anyone with any knowledge of the town, speak up. All I know is what I saw in two days of recon.

 

[lovetoread]

The east end in the Iron Bound section.

Yes, that's it.

I got lost there the first time and i liked it.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Yes, that's it.

I got lost there the first time and i liked it.

Yeah that area has good fung shui. It reminds me of central Queens, what Corona would be like if it had more property owners and fewer renters.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

There's been a huge amount of money sunk into Downtown Newark, the Ironbound, and the university area. They're trying hard for top-down urban renewal. Some of it leads to comic excess, like the new fancy signs 2 miles away directing you to the "ARTS DISTRICT". When you get there it's one block with a new bike lock rack, new planters and street lights, one shitty gallery open a couple hours a week, a yuppie bar and a hipster coffee cafe manned by youths who look like they'd much rather be in Brooklyn.

Anyone with any knowledge of the town, speak up. All I know is what I saw in two days of recon.

I grew up in the area, & Newark was never a place you wanted to go. When we played certain Newark high school teams we were told to get on & off the bus without making any trouble.

Sharpe James was supposedly one of the most corrupt mayors this country has ever seen. There was a documentary made about this first time he ran against Cory Booker.

This book was also very popular 15 years ago. I'm guessing at one point Newark was just another ethnic enclave for immigrants.

http://www.amazon.com/Newarks-Littl...ie=UTF8&qid=1343929721&sr=1-5&keywords=newark

 

[kbate]

I go by on the train to New York and I just shudder and thank Amtrak for express rail.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I grew up in the area, & Newark was never a place you wanted to go. When we played certain Newark high school teams we were told to get on & off the bus without making any trouble.

Sharpe James was supposedly one of the most corrupt mayors this country has ever seen. There was a documentary made about this first time he ran against Cory Booker.

This book was also very popular 15 years ago. I'm guessing at one point Newark was just another ethnic enclave for immigrants.

http://www.amazon.com/Newarks-Littl...ie=UTF8&qid=1343929721&sr=1-5&keywords=newark

I watched the Corey Booker doc awhile ago. He seems pretty similar to Obama--a black (Ford/Rockefeller) Republican. They hate him on the Nj.com Newark forum though.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I go by on the train to New York and I just shudder and thank Amtrak for express rail.

The part you see from the train is the nice part.

 

[kbate]

The part you see from the train is the nice part.

*shudders*

 

[coachdb18]

Socialism in its senescent stages.....

 

[Shagly]

I visit it mostly to get onto a plane.

It has its various nice spots, though.

I try to stay away from the "Soprano's" when I have to fly out of that place.

 

[Shagly]

There's been a huge amount of money sunk into Downtown Newark, the Ironbound, and the university area. They're trying hard for top-down urban renewal. Some of it leads to comic excess, like the new fancy signs 2 miles away directing you to the "ARTS DISTRICT". When you get there it's one block with a new bike lock rack, new planters and street lights, one shitty gallery open a couple hours a week, a yuppie bar and a hipster coffee cafe manned by youths who look like they'd much rather be in Brooklyn.

Anyone with any knowledge of the town, speak up. All I know is what I saw in two days of recon.

Newark has one thing going for it, the highest cancer rate city in America.

 

[Shagly]

I go by on the train to New York and I just shudder and thank Amtrak for express rail.

That's the fast track.

 

[sweepthefloor]

I want to live with you in your cheap house. I will work at the local trauma center, and live happily ever after.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

Newark is a great example as to the corruption from democrats. the city is a toxic dump, just like anything pro obama people touch

 

[clutch1]

There's a reason why you can buy a 3-BR, 2.5 baths house with a yard for $35K down there.

Not in the ironbound.

 

[Shagly]

All of that gun fire at night reminds me of Manhattan.