# Everybody makes fun of NJ for being awful. What does NJ have that's the best you can get anywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726 "2012-06-01T01:11:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/21 "2012-06-01T03:37:01Z")
Damn. Nineteen posts and still nobody mentioned the tomatoes, and then… ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/22 "2012-06-01T03:38:33Z")
And, at least when I was growing up there (I’ve been gone for 25 years), Jersey girls. This great mix of Italian, Polish, Ukranian (Gods, the Ukranian girls!), with some attitude and some awesome '80s hair. Not the Snookies or the J-Wows, or whatever. Think more like Marissa Tomei. Yeah, I know Ms. Tomei is from New York, but she could easily be from Jersey. In fact, I consider her an honorary Jersey Girl. One of the biggest crimes against humanity is casting Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum in “One For the Money.” Any girl from the 'burg would eat her for lunch. Marissa Tomei is too old to play the role, but that’s the kind of woman that can survive and thrive in Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/23 "2012-06-01T03:42:20Z")
A late-night slice of pie or cake at [Mastoris diner.](http://www.mastoris.com/) Damn, I’m getting nostalgic. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/24 "2012-06-01T03:45:02Z")
Pork roll. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/25 "2012-06-01T03:49:17Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > A late-night slice of pie or cake at [Mastoris diner.](http://www.mastoris.com/) > > Damn, I’m getting nostalgic. Wow, Mastoris! We went there all the time! First place I ever heard of curly fries. Kinda big - I never considered it a “diner,” per se. Joe ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/26 "2012-06-01T03:54:21Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Pizza. Going to New Jersey for pizza is like going to Branson for the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/27 "2012-06-01T04:43:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Boardwalks. Which other state has Boardwalks by the Ocean? In Massachusetts and California and Virginia they don’t. I think they might have one at Coney Island, and maybe elsewhere in Long Island. But Asbury Park (now finally starting to rise again), Point Pleasant, Seaside Heights, Ocean City, Atlantic City, and Wilwood there are Boardwalks by the ocean. I beg to differ. We certainly do have boardwalks in California. Santa Monica Pier and Santa Cruz Boardwalk to name two prominent ones. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/28 "2012-06-01T04:46:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Boardwalks. Which other state has Boardwalks by the Ocean? In Massachusetts and California and Virginia they don’t. Maybe you have a different definition of “boardwalk”, but there are plenty in California. Santa Cruz, Venice, Mission Beach (San Diego), Newport Beach… ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/29 "2012-06-01T05:07:58Z")
Agree with **woodstockbirdybird** and others, CA has ocean boardwalks. NJ jokes? Growing up in Upstate NY & CT, I did hear some. Never told any, of course. :eek: How about the Jersey Shore? Ain’t never been there but they tell me it’s nice. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/30 "2012-06-01T05:16:41Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Have you ever been to the top of an elephant named Lucy? I once drove two hours out of my way to visit Lucy the Elephant and it was completely worth it. I think the thing I liked the most was the neighbourhood. This giant elephant-shaped building standing in the middle of a quiet residential neighbourhood like it was nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/31 "2012-06-01T07:11:53Z")
They have the best artificial vitamin D emanating machines in the country. Just ask Tan Mom and the cast of Jersey Shore! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/32 "2012-06-01T07:19:50Z")
I grew up in SOUTH Jersey, a different country than North Jersey. Stay down south, enjoy the woods, tomatoes, corn and beaches. Go up north to enjoy the random hypodermics the Yankee fans dumped in the Hudson to wash to Kevin Smithland. I am happy to say after all the time spent living there, I never met a guy like The Situation, but the girls OTOH… I live in Southern CA now and I really wish Ocean City, NJ was here. These beaches suck. More diapers than seagulls. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/33 "2012-06-01T09:16:14Z")
Another shout-out for the beauty of South Jersey - my mom’s a Margate girl, and I spent a lot of time there as a child before my grandparents succumbed to the call of nature and moved to Palm Beach County. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/34 "2012-06-01T10:09:14Z")
I thought it was pretty along the AC exp, lots of woods, short pines and such, don’t your trees grow tallah dere? Whites Sub’s on the boardwalk mmm-mmm ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/35 "2012-06-01T10:10:17Z")
Blueberries definitely taste best when eaten fresh from a roadside produce stand on the way home from a long day at the beach. Then when you get home, cut up those big juicy tomatoes for your salad and throw that corn on the cob on the grill. The Pine Barrens are quite nice, and as any true New Jerseyan will tell you, home to the nation’s finest devil. There’s great hiking and some lovely little lakes for your water-based entertainment of choice. There’s some terrible places along the Jersey shore (everything north of Atlantic City other than LBI), but there’s also some incredibly _lovely_ places to kill a nice summer day/weekend/week. If it’s not in NJ it can’t be a great diner. The best are the old, unassuming looking ones; the waitresses may be cranky and sporting 80’s hair but they’ll guide you honestly as to what’s good and you will never empty that coffee cup. Just stay south of Princeton and you can have a lovely time in New Jersey. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/36 "2012-06-01T11:49:05Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > MA has boardwalks. Sandwich and Salsbury come to mind. Salisbury beach does NOT have a Boardwalk. I’ve spent plenty of time there. Neither does Hampton Bea ch across the river i n NH. Both towns are examples of the “attractions across the street from the Ocean, but no Boardwalk” situation in most places. In fact, Salisbury is prsactically the “anti-Boardwealk”. For years the actual beach was hidden by warehouses and cinder-block buildings. You had narrow beach access alleyways, but you could walk down the street parallelling the beach and not even SEE the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/37 "2012-06-01T12:26:25Z")
Diversity. Seriously. In the years I lived in New York City, the most eye-opening jumble of people I encountered was in parts of suburban New Jersey. It’s truly the Lower East Side of the 21st Century. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/38 "2012-06-01T12:43:49Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > I beg to differ. We certainly do have boardwalks in California. Santa Monica Pier and Santa Cruz Boardwalk to name two prominent ones. Santa Monica Pier is a _pier_, not a Boardwalk I’ve been there. There are piers all over the place (including New Jersey), but they’re not Boardwalks. Santa Cruz VBoardwalk is an samusement park: > **[Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Beach_Boardwalk)** > > The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States. > The boardwalk extends along the coast of the Monterey Bay, from just east of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf to the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. At the western edge of the park lies a large building originally known as The Plunge, now Neptune's Kingdom, a pirate-th... Not a Boardwalk, which is generally a ommunity-built and supported structure above the sand and beach extending some distance and with multiple unrelated businesses on it. I haven’t seen anything loike the New Jersey boardwalks in any other states. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/39 "2012-06-01T13:09:02Z")
New Jersey has the best carcinogens. Having grown up just across a heavily polluted waterway from N.J.'s gorgeous northeastern petrochemical corridor, with a childhood enlivened by brown clouds drifting over and the occasional earth-shaking explosion, I am probably prejudiced. But those are some fine carcinogens. The extreme north of the state is quite pretty however. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726/40 "2012-06-01T13:09:35Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Ever eaten at Highlawn Pavilion at Eagle Rock Reservation? (Get an east side window seat, after sunset. You’re welcome. ;)) Eagle Rock has awesome views. > [@](#): > > Ever driven on a road that could get you 5 years in federal prison just for making the wrong left turn (and you’ll never know why)? Ok, can you explain this? I think I need to take a road trip, a dangerous road trip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-makes-fun-of-nj-for-being-awful-what-does-nj-have-thats-the-best-you-can-get-anywhere/623726.md?page=3)