From shopping to entertainment This is a collection of useful facts and information about the time outside the labs. It can not be guaranteed that these facts are up-to-date (some hints are pretty old indeed), and we take no warranty whatsoever. Table of contents: Shopping Groceries Electronics/Cameras Clothing Malls Miscellaneous Electronic entertainment Movie theaters Video rentals Radio stations Night life New York City Tickets for shows Restaurants Bars/Pubs Dance clubs Clubs with live music Jazz Clubs Hoboken Summit Area Restaurants Bars/Pubs Discotheques 1. Shopping 1.1 Groceries In general, all of the big supermarkets are o.k. for normal grocery shopping; look for sales and coupons (e.g. buy one, get one free...). Get a savings card on your first visit, usually only then you are qualified for most of the sales. Recommended: Grand Union (Berkeley Heights, Springfield. Ave) Shop Rite (Summit, Morris Ave; Blue Star Mall) A&P (New Providence, Central Ave) Health food shop: "The Health Shoppe" in Morristown, Burgerking Shopping Center Good bread: Kings Supermarkets 1.2 Electronics/Cameras In general, always look for sales. In NJ sales tax is less than in NY!! If you order by mail, you don't pay any sales tax at all, but shipping and handling, that still might be cheaper. Recommended: TOPS (Route 22) for Electronics stuff 6th Ave Electronics (Rt. 22): quite OK and cheap, but they don't sell things to you if they are too cheap, instead they try to sell you something else Chinatown (NYC) for everything (incredibly cheap, no complaints so far!!) Broadway Stores (NYC): DON'T BUY THERE, you can`t make a bargain. Either they rip you off, if you don`t know the price, or if you DO know the right price, they don't sell it to you Mail order: Generally you must pay by credit card; in case it's a foreign credit card, they want you to fax the card and some other ID as a proof J&R Music/Computer World: they also have a nice store right across the Woolworth Bldg, where you can look at things and also buy things; they also offer mail order (1-800-221 8180); nice catalog Focus Camera: Store in Brooklyn (4419-21 13th Ave), orders 1-800-221 0828 1.3 Clothing In general, buy it in NJ, because there is no sales tax on clothes (NY: 8.25%)!! Jeans: Livingston Mall, two Levis for $60 Leather ware: street vendors in NYC, e.g. at Broadway and 4th St. on Sats and Suns (e.g. leather belts for $15); or try the Villages Shoes: Shoetown, almost everywhere; Hermans for sneakers 1.4 Malls The mall - the ultimate place to shop, America at it's best. Short Hills Mall - expensive and luxury stuff, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, BLOOMINGDALES, A&S; at JFK Parkway and Rt. 24 Livingston Mall - MACY's, LORD & TAYLOR; follow JFK PKWY North and make left to Livingston Bridgewater Mall - MACY's, STERN, follow Rt. 22 West, Exit "Commons Way" Woodbridge Mall - Woodbridge, at GS PKWY 1.5 Miscellaneous Auto Parts: on Valley Road, on the left side when driving on Springfield Ave from Berkeley Heights to Stirling Bike Shop: in Gilette, at Shop Rite, good selection of TREK and CANNONDALE MTBs CDs: Disc-O-Rama, NYC 4th St at Sheridan Square, every CD $9.99, with coupon (NY Press) $8.99 HMV, e.g. 72nd and Broadway Self-service laundries can be found almost anywhere, e.g. in New Providence near the A&P and at Sprinfield Avenue (Adam's Shopping Center): $1.75 per load, $0.25 per 7.5 min. tumbling 2. Electronic entertainment 2.1 Movie theaters Loews Mountainside: Price: 8.50$. Clearview Headquarters Morristown: 8 movies. Price: 3.75$ (student), 5.75$ (adult) (?) Blue Star Shopping Mall: 3 movies. Price: 7.50$ (regular), 3.75$ (afternoon) Cinema in 50th street (Cineplex Odeon): 6 (not brand new) movies. Price: 2.00$ Berkeley Heights Cinema closer than anything, but only one movie 2.2. Video rentals Grand Union, Berkeley Heights: free membership, 1.99 per movie. Hometown Video, next to Grand Union: two for one Mon-Thurs Video Station, Summit: 3.75 per movie. Wednesday special: two movies for the price of one. Thursday special: any movie 1.99$. Friday special: 4 old movies for 5.00$ Blockbuster, New Providence 2.3 Radiostations 95.5: WPLJ ("the hit music without the rap") 105.1: Schnulzies 104.3: Hard Rock (Headbanger's delight) 105.5: Pop/Rock 102.7: Pop/Rock 3. Nightlife 3.1 New York City A good source for info is the NY Press, free, every Wednesday for the next week, lots of listings; The Village Voice is available out here and therefore more convenient. Look in both for coupons, as usual you can save a lot. Try also this link to get more info. 3.1.1 Tickets There are several possibilities to get tickets for shows (in the order of price): go to the theater and get tickets (possible in advance), price=100% get a coupon and go to the theater (e.g. in tourist center at Columbus Circle) (possible in advance), price=-25-35% go to TKTS at Times Square or World Trade Center and see what they have (for the same evening), price=-50% Try to avoid TicketMaster, they charge at least $4.25 per ticket and $2.75 per order (and don't have a 1-800 number, but let you hang on for hours). However, for certain events (like sports) it's the only or most convenient way. 3.1.2 Restaurants Hundreds and thousands of restaurants, every possible ethnic direction. Recommended: Chinese: The Cottage: Lex. Av and 16th Street (Free White wine!!) Eastern Vila Restaurant, 66 Mott St. (Chinatown) Tai Hong Lau, 70 Mott St. (Chinatown) Triple Eight Palace, 88 East Broadway (under Manhattan Bridge, in the Mall): authentic Chinese food in the heart of Chinatown; Dim Sum, the Chinese brunch - a delicious adventure Everything: DOJOs: Broadway/W4th Street or St.Marks Place betw. 1st and 2nd Ave (Very inexpensive) Sizzler's: chain, everywhere Tad's Steaks: Steak chain, fast food steaks, OK TGI Fridays: American food, chain Veggie: Zen Palate: Union Square and 16th Street Mexican: Bennys Burrito: Avenue A and 6th Street Tijuana Joe's (New Jersey): Rt. 22 West, before K-Mart Santa Fe Yacht Cafe (New Jersey, Hoboken): across the Path Station, at the corner Japanese: Kinoko, 165 W. 72nd St., Sushi Special around $14 Sapporo East, 10th St. at 1st Ave, Sushi Special around $10 Sushi Desse, 113 E 18th St., betw. Park & Irving, good Sushi a la carte Daikiri, 72nd and Broadway, Take-out sushi, OK and cheap Indian: In the East Village, in 6th St., are lots of Indian Restaurants. Gandhi, 6th St at 1st Ave Passage to India, 308 East 6th St Seafood: City Crab, 235 Park Ave South at 19th St.: expensive, but delicious, specials before 7 Pennyfeathers Cafe, 7 Ave South, North of Bleecker: good Lobster, but also everything else Don Pepe, 844 Mc Carter Highway, Newark, NJ: good and expensive, the ultimate thrill after the thrill of going through Newark at night for having dinner Brasilian: Cabana Carioca, 123 W 45 St betw. 6th and Broadway German: Times Square Brewery, Times Square: reasonable prices, order Bratwurst and Pilsner! Rest. Niederstein, 6916 Metropolitan Ave, Middle Village/Queens 3.1.3 Bars/Pubs There are obviously also many many pubs around. For example: Greenwich/West Village The Slaughtered Lamb: 4th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue (Nice haunting atmosphere) Caliente Cab Cafe, Bleecker and 7th Ave South, Mexican Bar/Restaurant Jekyll and Hide, 7th Ave South: scary... East Village Cafe Orlin, St. Marks Place and 2nd Ave Yaffa Cafe, St. Marks Place and 1st Ave 3.1.4 Dance clubs Usually the type of music you find in the clubs depends on the day of the week, so check the Village Voice or the NY Press Webster Hall, 11th St., 3rd Ave., "Psychedelic Thursdays": good mixture of Rock Music on the main floor, Funk, Hip Hop and Live act on the other floors; coupons in the Village Voice; the NY version of the so-beloved-JJ Rockers, but no NJ pickup drivers ($5 w/ coupon e.g. in Village Voice, $15 w/o) Palladium: kiddies and awful techno stuff 3.1.5 Clubs with live music CBGB, Bowery and Bleecker: Rock and Punk, inexpensive (<$10) and good atmosphere Brownies, Ave A and 10th St.: Rock and Punk, not so nice as CBGB, $6 Maxwell's, Hoboken, 11th and Washington Cafe Wha?, MacDougal St., West Village: nice live Funk, people dance in the aisles, $10 on weekends Ludlow Cafe, Ludlow St., south of Houston: nice atmosphere, $3 admission 3.1.6 Jazz Clubs Arthur's Tavern, Grove St./7 Ave South: nice atmosphere, no cover, drinks still reasonable, not the latest in Jazz though Village Vanguard, 7th Ave South and Greenwich Ave, cover $20 on weekends The Blue Note, 3rd St: very famous and very expensive, dress code Visiones, 3rd St The Knitting Factory, TriBeCa 3.2 Hoboken In Hoboken there are a lot of nice bars and restaurants, esp. at Washington Avenue and near the train terminal. On summer Wednesdays you can watch 'movies under the stars' on the plaza next to the train terminal. 3.3 Summit Area 3.3.1 Restaurants Shen's Restaurant, Springfield Avenue (Village Shopping Center), New Providence dinner about $10, lunch menus at $5.50 Bellariva, Village Shopping Center, New Providence Hung's Shanghai Restaurant, 362 Park Ave, Scotch Plains; good lunch menu <$5, over Rt.22 at Blue Star Shopping Center (RJ) Recommended steak houses on Route 22: Steak&Ale, The Lone Star If your favorite steak size is 24 oz. (really big), visit the Alexus! (Nobody has gone there twice.) 3.3.2 Bars/Pubs The Office, Summit (opposite train station): about 50 different beer brands Alley's, Springfield Avenue, Berkeley Heights (between Pizza Hut and movie theater): often life music on Friday nights Traprock Brewery, Springfield Avenue, Berkeley Heights: home-brewed beer Berkeley Heights Cafe, near Kings 3.3.3 Discotheques Of course one is worth mentioning: J.J. Rockers (Scotch Plains): Hard Rock Music and Techno Stuff (2 dance floors) Back to the top. Back to the main page.