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Cliffside Park
Cliffside
Park is a small friendly community about 6 miles
from NYC and about 15 miles to Newark Airport. Where
Luxury high rises now stand was once the site of the
old Palisades Amusement Park and the Grand Roller
Coaster.
Cliffside
Park lies at the crest of the Palisades in southeast
Bergen County, situated between the George
Washington Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel, and close to
the ferry to midtown Manhattan. With 20,800
residents within a square mile, it makes Cliffside
Park the most densely populated communities in the
county.
Cliffside
Park was once a heavily blue collar community that
drew Italian, Polish, and Irish Immigrants,
Cliffside Park in recent decades has evolved into a
bedroom community for an upscale - white collar
population attracted to the Hudson River high-rises
and short commute to New York City. The town
is known today for its scenic views, clean and safe
streets, quality municipal services, and a variety
of restaurants.
Cliffside
Park's main street is Anderson Avenue, a commercial
strip with strong ethnic flavor. Off Anderson
Avenue stretch neat blocks of one - two family
homes. Heading east toward the cliffs are the
large homes and high rises with a view of the
Manhattan skyline.
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Edgewater
Edgewater
was first settled by the Lenape Indians who traded
up and down the Hudson River. They referred to
it as KIN-NAS-NA-KI-KING which in English means LONG
PASTURE. In 1894 it was incorporated as the
Borough of Edgewater by which it is now known.
Originally Edgewater was a summer resort for wealthy
New York families who came by boat and stayed at the
luxurious Octagon House built high on the Palisades.
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Fairview
Fairview
is a close knit, blue collar town that takes pride
in its ethnic diversity and vast variety of programs
for residents of all ages. Fairview is a place
where people of all backgrounds and persuasions come
together to help out in times of need or tragedy.
In recent years, the town's predominantly first and
second generation Italian immigrants have been
joined by an influx of new-comers from El Salvador,
Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, former
Yugoslavia, and Middle East.
Once
a hub of the textile and embroidery industries,
Fairview is struggling to revitalize its business
district, upgrade its schools and stabilize property
taxes. Modest homes crowd the narrow streets
that run between Bergen Boulevard, Anderson Avenue,
and Palisades Avenue, the town's main thoroughfare.
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Fort
Lee
Fort
Lee (otherwise known as "Hollywood on the
Hudson" for its history of filmmaking), is
bordered on the north by Englewood Cliffs, on the
west by Englewood and Palisades Park and on the east
by the Hudson River with panoramic views of New York
City. Despite its rapid commercial and
population growth, it still retains the charm one
expects to find in a small town. The town has
a combination of attractive features: small houses
with gardens, along with its mid and high-rise
apartment buildings as well as historical landmarks,
such as the Revolutionary War Fort - Fort Lee
Historic Park named for General Charles Lee.
Moreover, Fort Lee's ethnic and cultural heritage
have been greatly diversified and arrivals from all
nations are settling in the borough.
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Leonia
Artemus
Ward would be pleased by the Leonia of today.
In 1899, his Leonia Heights Land Company set out to
create a community that would be unique - an idea
sparked by a trip to Leonia on the Edgewater Ferry
that year. Ward, head of a New York
advertising concern, envisioned a white-collar
community whose residents would enjoy open space and
upper-class residential environment with an emphasis
on education and culture. today, while most
towns in the northeast New Jersey are being
urbanized rapidly, the tiny borough embraces Ward's
ideal, shunning high-rises buildings, fighting to
keep its open spaces and true "bedroom
community" style.
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Palisades
Park
Palisades
Park originated as farmland to feed the growing
metropolis. The town remained a quiet
farming community until the turn of the coming of
the railroad after the Civil War.
For
decades, this working class town prided itself on
its small town atmosphere and civic-mindedness.
Industries provided many jobs and the town had faith
in its school board and Police and Fire Departments.
There
are ongoing tensions between long time residents and
newly arrived Korean-Americans, who now make up 20%
of the town's population and have transformed the
large downtown with many new businesses.
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Ridgefield
If
New Jersey could be telescoped into a single
representative town, that town might look like
Ridgefield. Once an untamed expanse of
woodland and marsh, the area that is now Ridgefield
- bordered by Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park to
the north, Cliffside Park to the east, Fairview to
the south, and the Meadowlands to the west - has
gradually been transformed by the force of
immigration, transportation, and commerce into a
compact mix of industry and suburban living.
Though
it sounds like a contradiction, Ridgefield is
properly named. Near Broad Avenue, the town's
main north-south thoroughfare, the steep eastern
hills of the Palisades flatten into the western
lowlands of the Hackensack River.
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Ridgefield
Park
Ridgefield
Park, founded more than 300 years ago, still clings
to its small-town roots in the late 1990s. The
village has the oldest continuous Fourth of July
celebration in the nation. For 103 years, neither
war, economic turmoil, nor social upheaval have
interrupted the annual day-long event. The
tiny village compromises 1 square mile in southeast
Bergen County, and many of its families have been in
the town for generations.
Local
politics are non-partisan; the Board of
Commissioners has never had republican or democrats,
just citizens. The town is located in the
middle of everything; routes 46, 80, 95 all run
through it, which makes an easy trip to NYC to the
east and Passaic and Morris to the west.
A
significant number of Ridgefield Park's home were
built more than 100 years ago, most are charming and
very well maintained. The village is also home
to a handful of apartments and condominiums.
The eastern edge is filled with numerous recreation
areas - pool, numerous fields, and 6 baseball
diamonds.
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