In the sixties I was in a small town in New Jersey.It was a fantastic time, clean, safe and friendly.I had not seen the the place for many years and as my wife and I were passing close by and she heard so much about it we went for a look.The tavern we used is now a biker hangout, rusty cars on the side of the road so in less than twenty years the place had turned to crap.Anyone else had an experience like ours?I guess the saying is true you can never go home again.

What you've found holds true for a lot of New Jersey, unfortunately. Hard to believe it used to be the Garden State. Nobody who didn't live there up until the late 1970s would understand that slogan now. The state has finally realized its full potential as the punchline to its own joke.

bill
that is so NOT true! Where there used to be fields there might be houses, and along some cheesey highways and towns that were already poor, there is still poorness. But NJ has become one of the richest states in the US, so I do not think that you are correct at all.
Out towards Pa and Deleware, there used to be woods and fields, there are lovely small towns with horses and families enjoying living in NJ.
Are you sure you have been in all of NJ or just along the Turnpike?

Sorry NJ, I gotta disagree. No disrespect meant to you, but I also grew up there in the 60's and 70's and the area is unrecognizable to me now. Where once there were many farms, wild meadows and forests are housing developments, McMansions and a lot of cheesy "big box" retailers. It used to be so peaceful and now the traffic congestion (on roads that were not improved with the development) makes it noisy, polluted and clogged. It's so depressing I never go back there to visit, I hate remembering the countryside and seeing the urban sprawl. It's fine for some people but not for me.

See, that's the advantage of growing up in an area that's already developed! When I go back to visit my parents in the area I grew up in, the only difference is that the trees in the front yards are bigger.

Unfortunately, it isn't just Jersey. But, I also grew up in NJ in a sleepy little town. We rode our bikes to the playgrounds and fished for guppies in the ponds. We swam in the lake and put on plays in the backyard. Now, it is all cement and all about the malls. No wonder kids today can't carry on a conversation and have no imagination. But they know where every single Nike Town and Video game store is. Now THAT is progress.

I used to visit my aunt's house just outside Rochester NY, and I loved it because behind and in front of her house were just fields and fields, of corn or sunflowers or whatever. She had a creek ("crick") that ran through her back yard and we would swing on a rope across to the corn-field side and then back again, and once my cousin built a raft and we went back and forth behind the neighbors out between the fields. At night the din of crickets and frogs kept me (a suburban chick) awake, but I loved it.

I went back a few years ago after a long absence. On three sides there are new, cookie-cutter house developments and right behind her house is a strip mall with a tire store just across the "crick." Until 9 pm every night you can hear the scream of the machines removing and replacing wheel bolts and the PA system telling workers they have a phone call.

Justified or not, many people's image of NJ is consistent with that of the opening credits from the HBO TV series, "The Sopranos". Newark, Jersey City, Atlantic City. Even if you love the undiscovered parts of NJ, most folks have these cities in mind when NJ is mentioned.

They paved paradise? Put up a parking lot?

Actually, most of my experience w/ NJ was the Parkway and Turnpike. Then I signed up (5-7 yr ago) for a week-long bicycle ride from High Point to Cape May. WHAT A SURPRISE! First, that it's not flat at all, not the northern half anyway, and second that it truly is a very beautiful state. We camped each night, at 4H, Y-camps, private campgrounds and state parks. The 3 years I did the ride they used a different route each time. Maybe you gotta get out from behind the automobile wheel to see beauty of the Garden State! (remove x in my eddress to reply)

My home town in Ohio is just as crummy as always, but now I am smart enough to see what a filthy city it really is.