<p>Rob D: I work about 1/2 mile from Rutt’s. The funny thing is I haven’t had a hotdog from there in about a year! Argyles in Kearny for fish and chips. I still have it at least once during lent.</p>
<p>H and I are both from NJ. He spent his childhood in West Caldwell and then mostly Mendham. I was born in Jersey City, moved to Bogota (Bergen Cty) when I was 3 and then to Lake Hopatcong at 14. When we married we bought a house in Hampton Twp (Sussex Cty) and raised our kids there until moving to NH in 1999. The first thing we asked when moving here was “Where are all the diners?” We had no idea that the abundance of diners was unique to NJ! 
Pizza is still the first thing we all want for when going back “home”, followed by Taylor ham and egg sandwiches.</p>
<p>Last summer I went to visit my parents and we took a car ride back to JC and Bogota to visit all our old haunts. Since my father’s small business had been located in JC, I was also really familiar with that area. We had a blast and my parents said it will go down as one of their top days ever. What a trip down memory lane. We topped it off with a stop at B&W Bakery for a crumb cake!</p>
<p>Let others make all the jokes they want. Those of us from Jersey know the truth!!!;)</p>
<p>Signed,
Always proud to call Jersey home! :)</p>
<p>my-3-sons—when I was little, my grandparents had a place on Lake Hopatcong, and after my mom retired she rented a summer home there for a few years. It’s one of my other favorite parts of NJ. I rode my first roller coaster at Bertrand’s Island.</p>
<p>That Bertrand’s Island roller coaster was amazing-- all wood. Eventually it caught fire and burned down. Bertrand’s Island also had a beautiful merry-go-round.</p>
<p>yes, I remember that Merry-go-round (it’s actually got a bit part in my as yet unpublished novel.)</p>
<p>^^^I think the site is a condo community now. :(</p>
<p>Yes it is. My mom’s vacation rental had a view of where it wasn’t…</p>
<p>My grandmother had a small bungalow between Newton and Andover- by Lake Iliff</p>
<p>From a proud Sussex County girl (who worked in the ER where all those Action Park accidents were taken to pay for college) - thanks for the list and additions, LOVED it!!</p>
<p>John PIzzarelli - I like New Jersey Best</p>
<p>Traveling down the Turnpike
heading for the shore
A thought just then occurred to me
I never thought before
I’ve been a lot of places
Seen pictures of the rest
But of all the places I can think of
I like Jersey best. </p>
<p>Betting halls, shopping malls,
good old Rutgers U,
47 shoes stores line Route 22
The Meadowlands, the root beer stands
Main Street Hackensack;
I may leave for a week or two
But I’m always coming back. </p>
<p>The Pinelands and the Vinelands
Seaside Heights Margate
You can have Miami
I love the Garden State
I’ve been a lot of places
Seen pictures of the rest
But of all the places I can think of
I like Jersey best. </p>
<p>We have horses, Princeton courses,
Gas stations we have scores
Trenton, Hopewell, Lake Hopatcong,
Mantoloking Shores;
Some states have their rock stars,
But Springsteen beats them all –
And our beautiful arena has
Brendan Byrne carved on the wall. </p>
<p>Lots of dineries, oil refineries,
Our highways make you cough,
But Spring Lake Heights and Belmar
Are places to get off.
Drinking spots and used car lots
Make the place just grand,
If you want to pay a visit,
Newark Airport’s where you land. </p>
<p>The Pinelands and the Vinelands
Seaside Heights Margate
You can have Miami
I love the Garden State
I’ve been a lot of places
Seen pictures of the rest
But of all the places I can think of
I like Jersey best. </p>
<p>Philly dogs like Chili dogs
They eat in Cherry Hill
Woodbridge they make Haagen Dazs
I can’t get my fill
Saddle River ain’t chopped liver
Nor is Lavallette
There are no Jersey strangers,
Just friends we haven’t met. </p>
<p>The Jersey Nets went thataway, Piscataway
No more, had another winning season
And next year they’ll win more;
Our Giants could go all the way
If they could win just one,
But the parties in the lots
Before the games are really fun. </p>
<p>The Pinelands and the Vinelands
Seaside Heights Margate
You can have Miami
I love the Garden State
I’ve been a lot of places
Seen pictures of the rest
But of all the places I can think of
I like Jersey best. </p>
<p>Our famous Parkway is the darkway
Home from Manasquan
You’d think for all those quarters
They’d turn the road lights on
And have no pity, Jersey City
Once again will shine,
With Holmdel, Cape May, Highland Park
I like our state just fine. </p>
<p>The Pinelands and the Vinelands
Seaside Heights Margate
You can have Miami
I love the Garden State
I’ve seen a lot of places
Seen pictures of the rest
But of all the places
I can think of, I like Jersey Best!</p>
<p>I just noticed that the link I posted years ago to ABC am radio sound checks has changed.
[WABC</a> Musicradio “Radio”](<a href=“http://www.musicradio77.com/Radio.html]WABC”>WABC Musicradio "Radio")</p>
<p>Ellen–you can tell the song’s getting old–many names has the Arena had since Byrne?</p>
<p>thanks for sharing it!!!</p>
<p>Ellen: Thanks for posting that, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that.</p>
<p>Garland: I thought the same, but for us it as always just been the “Arena”.</p>
<p>Jersey not such a terrible place to live according to new poll 
[Poll:</a> New Jersey is actually a pretty good place to live | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/us-newjersey-homesweethome-idUSTRE75L3BR20110622]Poll:”>http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/us-newjersey-homesweethome-idUSTRE75L3BR20110622)</p>
<p>I love the “Not such a terrible place” “actually pretty good”. it’s how we think, like that John Gorka song:</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
I don’t expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
No I don’t talk that way
I watched too much TV
When I was young</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
My mom’s Italian
I’ve read those mafia books
We don’t belong</p>
<p>There are girls from New Jersey
Who have that great big hair
They’re found in shopping malls
I will take you there</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
It’s not like Texas
There is no mystery
I can’t pretend</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
It’s like Ohio
But even more so
Imagine that</p>
<p>I know which exit
And where I’m bound
The tolls on the parkway
They will slow you down</p>
<p>New Jersey people
They will suprise you
Cause they’re not expected
To do too much</p>
<p>They will try harder
They may go further
Cause they never think
That they are good enough</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey
I don’t expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust
I would adjust
I would adjust</p>
<p>Inexpensive indoor/outdoor type carpeting is sold on those big rolls in Lowe’s and Home Depot. Also, cheap, er “inexpensive” vinyl flooring. See it all the time.</p>
<p>I will see your John Gorka, and raise you one Richard Shindell</p>
<p>Transit
from Somewhere Near Paterson </p>
<p>The merge from the turnpike was murder, but its never a cinch
It was Friday at five, and no one was giving an inch
They squeezed and they edged and they glared
Half them clearly impaired by rage or exhaustion
The rest were just touchy as hell</p>
<p>Somewhere near Paterson everything slowed to a crawl
The all-news station was thanking someone for the call
Its a van from St. Agness choir
Theres a nun out there changing a tire
By the time they got by her, tempers were out of control</p>
<p>So they all hit the gas in a dash for position
Bobing and weaving and flashing their highbeams
Fliping the bird and screaming obscenities
A well-insured hoard hell-bent on Saturday</p>
<p>(There is more - great song!
[Richard</a> Shindell](<a href=“Home - Richard Shindell”>Home - Richard Shindell) )</p>
<p>I graduated from Colonia High School with John Gorka in 1976. He was and I sure still is a very nice guy.</p>
<p>Witth huge apology to Bruce’s Jersey Girl</p>
<p><a href=“http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2006/11/jersey/13_-_Tiffany_and_Rocco_-_Im_A_Jersey_Girl.mp3[/url]”>http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2006/11/jersey/13_-_Tiffany_and_Rocco_-_Im_A_Jersey_Girl.mp3</a></p>
<p>NJres–I absolutely *adore *Richard Shindell, and that is one of my favorite songs of his.</p>
<p>(the Gorka one is fun because of the lyrics, but Transit is simply sublime.)</p>