Summit, NJ

[Thundertubs]

Summit is an upscale suburb/small city in Union County, New Jersey. It has a population of about 21,000 and is ten miles W/SW of Newark.

Springfield Ave is the main street downtown.


















NJ Transit trains to Newark and Hoboken (or transfer to NY Penn Station).












The Velvet Underground's first paid gig was in Summit in 1965. Minds were blown, squares were freaked out.



The Summit Diner is known for it's pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich






Leaving downtown, there are a bunch of these old courtyard-style apartment buildings






Most of Summit is big old houses on generous lots.








Rapper Ice-T was born in Newark, but grew up in Summit before moving to California as a teenager.

Meryl Streep was born in Summit, but grew up in nearby Bernardsville, NJ.













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Madison is a town of 15,500 in Morris County, New Jersey. It's a few miles NW of Summit and is another upscale suburb with a fine downtown.























Janeane Garofalo grew up in Madison, NJ.





In between Madison and Summit is Chatham, which is another very nice town with a historic main street. It's not quite is built-up as Summit or Madison, though. Right next to Madison to the NW is the charming city of Morristown (see thread).

[Nexis4Jersey]

Nice , but can I ask why are all your pictures or threads seem to depict a gloomy , depressing , rundown Suburban/Urban Jersey?

[Thundertubs]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Nice , but can I ask why are all your pictures or threads seem to depict a gloomy , depressing , rundown Suburban/Urban Jersey?

It's December? I like cloudy weather?

[ColDayMan]

My aunt lived in Summit for decades. Nice little place.

[Crawford]

Very nice.

If I were to move to the suburbs, it would probably be to a place like Summit, Madison, or Chatham. All great towns.

And, really, you can go to almost any town on the Morristown NJ transit line and see similar things. Virtually every town is walkable, with a nice downtown surrounding the rail station, and lots of prewar charm.

I think I prefer the inner suburban towns the most. Places like Milburn, Maplewood, and South Orange. A bit closer to NYC, a bit denser, more urban and more diverse, but still classic railroad suburbia.

[STLgasm]

Great tour! A friend of mine grew up in Summit, and I've been there. In fact, my visit to Summit is documented in her current NY Times bestseller:


/shameless plug.

[Danny]

Thanks for your pics of Summit and Madison, Thundertubs!

I like both of them. They look like comfortable towns to live away from the Big City of New York. Liked those pretty old houses and the architecture of those two towns in general.

Happy New Year and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by STLgasm

Great tour! A friend of mine grew up in Summit, and I've been there. In fact, my visit to Summit is documented in her current NY Times bestseller:


/shameless plug.

not to deveate from the thread but i heard that interview on npr, interesting.

lovely thread!

[STLgasm]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

not to deveate from the thread but i heard that interview on npr, interesting.

lovely thread!

^Yep, Susannah Cahalan is a native of Summit, NJ and a Wash. U. grad. She's a old friend of mine! Summit is beautiful, as depicted in this thread.

[sterlippo1]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Nice , but can I ask why are all your pictures or threads seem to depict a gloomy , depressing , rundown Suburban/Urban Jersey?

you think Summit looks rundown? if you do, i don't know what to tell ya

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by sterlippo1

you think Summit looks rundown? if you do, i don't know what to tell ya

Alot of his pictures are taken on depressing days , or quiet days as we call around here and they often make the towns or cities look rather rundown or empty.... Summit and Madison are nice towns , but these photos make it look depressing and dead rather then busy and festive which is what these towns are most of the time or the Urban areas.

[Evergrey]

Agreed. Thundertubs should wait until June before photographing New Jersey again.

[gothamite]

thanks, looks like such a nice town. I once worked with a woman who grew up in Summit. She was basically a spoiled, Ivy League-educated brat, so I always wondered what the town looked like, but always knew it had an upscale image, especially in recent years.

[Crawford]

Another thing; you may have seen Madison in quite a few movies. It is often used as "typical upper class suburban town" or "New England town" in many Hollywood films, even though it's not in New England and isn't really any more distinct than a number of similar upscale suburbs in the region.

Madison is also a university town, with Drew University and Farleigh Dickinson University. A Beautiful Mind was filmed at one of the universities, and all around town.

[sterlippo1]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Alot of his pictures are taken on depressing days , or quiet days as we call around here and they often make the towns or cities look rather rundown or empty.... Summit and Madison are nice towns , but these photos make it look depressing and dead rather then busy and festive which is what these towns are most of the time or the Urban areas.

ok, i understand. Ive been in many of the towns in that area as i have a close friend in Springfield . Since i know how the places normally look i didn't see them as depressing and being a New Englander that won't take day trips unless the sun is going to be out i get what you mean about the weather

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Agreed. Thundertubs should wait until June before photographing New Jersey again.

i <3 the fine art of sarcasm.

count me in as a thundertubs fan.

[tallboy66]

Cool.
Anyplace that has a Pizza food truck is ok by me.

[dc_denizen]

Fantastic photos.

I wonder which NY suburban area wins out in terms of the # of walkable towns and overall dense prewar built environment. Westchester/CT, NJ, or LI? I would venture it's NJ.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Fantastic photos.

I wonder which NY suburban area wins out in terms of the # of walkable towns and overall prewar density. CT, NJ, or LI? I would venture it's NJ.

I would say, without hesitation, none of the above.

Westchester County, NY, is the king of U.S. walkable suburbia, IMO. No place in the U.S. compares for quality and amount of walkable, prewar suburbia.

There are dozens of walkable downtowns, with significant surrounding walkable fabric (including apartment districts) throughout the county.

Nearly every train station in Westchester has an high quality accompanying business district. There are 44 stations in Westchester, so that's a lot of business districts. Then there are non-railroad business districts, like Wykagyl in New Rochelle and McLean Ave. in Yonkers.

But really all the suburban areas outside NYC have this type of fabric. I just think Westchester has the most, and the best.

[Thundertubs]

Thanks folks!

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Alot of his pictures are taken on depressing days , or quiet days as we call around here and they often make the towns or cities look rather rundown or empty.... Summit and Madison are nice towns , but these photos make it look depressing and dead rather then busy and festive which is what these towns are most of the time or the Urban areas.

Nexus, seriously, give it a rest, dude. I suggest you worry about the quality of your own threads before you go around bagging on other people's and nitpicking about stuff like "quiet days".

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Agreed. Thundertubs should wait until June before photographing New Jersey again.

Instead of photographing cities and downtowns, I should just focus on world-famous Shakespeare festivals, as one disgruntled local from Montgomery, Alabama suggested to me.