With elegant architecture and high-end restaurants all within walking distance, Ridgewood is both urbane and sophisticated.
By Mary Ann Castronovo Fusco | September 1, 2015
Young parents pushing strollers share the broad sidewalks with friends schmoozing at an outdoor café. Teens hunt for bargains, while grandparents treat their charges to a matinee at the Bow Tie Cinemas Warner Quad or a fresh-made waffle cone at Kilwins. Nearby, Memorial Park at Van Neste Square is an oasis of calm. Welcome to downtown Ridgewood.
“I love how walkable it is, and that everything is in one small area,” says children’s book author Ann Malaspina. “I can go to the post office and mail a package, get a coffee at Ridgewood Coffee Company, meet a friend for lunch—all while having my car serviced.” And the town is “family friendly,” adds Malaspina, who raised her two sons in Ridgewood.
East Ridgewood Avenue is the main artery, ending at the sprawling California Mission Revival-style train station, which dates to 1916 and is listed on the national and state Register of Historic Places. Over the past year, elegant way-finding signs—a joint effort by the Village and the local Chamber of Commerce—have sprouted on downtown corners, pointing visitors toward the many shops and restaurants on the side streets. More will come.
“I look at downtown as a destination,” says Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, a 19-year resident. “We have lots of people coming from different directions. It’s a small town feel that is also urbane and sophisticated.”
We lost out to Princeton in the first round! Tough draw, I guess.
I think they’re describing the Ridgewood that I moved into in 1971. You can mail a package and get coffee in the same downtown? Wow.
I wonder where we would stand in the rankings if they knew the town was going to start squeezing in apartment projects all over town.
Don’t worry… once we erect that monstrous garage, we’ll be a cinch for 1st place…
The object is to keep it that way.
The Two Suck-Up Amigos can go to their deathbeds knowing they ruined their own town because a newbie who was interested only in his own “political future” (good luck) and whose campaigns were supported financially by unions drew them in. When was “build, build, build” the answer to problems in a small town? The Suck-Ups had a much longer history here than the Newbie Carpetbagger and should have known better, and should know better now. Their behavior is a shame bordering on a crime bordering on a sin (if I believed in such things).