Hey all,

I'm moving to the NYC area for a job in Ridgefield Park, NJ (just over the GWB on the other side of Fort Lee). I'm ready to spend weekends at the Gunks or the Delaware Water Gap, but not sure where I should live during the week. I'm looking for a good mix of affordability, proximity to a good climbing gym, a pulse suitable for a 34yo single guy, and a manageable commute. I've got friends in Brooklyn, Harlem, Upper East, and the Village that I wouldn't mind seeing occasionally, too, and I've got a car.

Thanks for any thoughts at all!
Emmett

I think you are better off staying in NJ side of things. Staying in Fort Lee is fine. Since you have a car, Hoboken is probably your best bet. Driving to Fort Lee for work is easy. Meeting friends in city from Hoboken is easy (PATH train). Gas is cheaper in NJ, and you save money on the New York City tax.

If you're working in RP (I live around the corner), then stay in NJ for sure. Look at Hoboken (already gentrified) or Jersey City (in the process of gentrifying) if you want to save a little money but live in a neighborhood that's a bit rougher. JC has a whole crop of brand new condos, lofts, etc that are going for very cheap (25% less than comparable NYC or Hoboken accommodation, probably). Very up and coming area, lots of young professionals, etc. I'm strongly considering a move to JC myself later this year.

Another area worth looking at is Edgewater or Fort Lee - good young crowd, nightlife, modern apartments, VERY easy commute to work, and much simpler to get to/from the area rock gyms.

Living in the city as a climber is pretty silly - keeping a car means sacking up and spending $300+/month for a parking spot, or risking street parking and averaging 2 tickets per month anyway, working out to at least $250 per month. Additionally, you'll spend $12 on tolls EVERY time you drive into NJ - so you're looking at another $250/month right there. On top of that, it adds another 20-50 minutes to your Gunks drive and $12-$20 (yeah, $20) onto your tolls.

Drop me a line when you arrive, I'm happy to give you a tour of Northern NJ, show you some local crags and the good gyms within a 30 minute drive.

As painful as it might seem, these guys are right. Living in NYC w/ a car is WAY too expensive. Too bad, because it's a brilliant city and you can even boulder in CP!

Make sure you can get to a good gym at a time when it isn't packed full of bumblies. Living in a big city means training your ass off for pre-planned trips. Hopefully you get more vacation than the average American...

Try and get used to the idea of driving a few more hours to Keen Valley or anywhere else in the Dacks. One of the best climbing locations in the eastern US and about 1% of the climbers that you'll find at the Gunks on a weekend.

+1 for staying in northern NJ. There are plenty of gym options and much easier travel options.

There isn't any real reason to stay in NYC. You can visit easily whenever you want from northern nj but maintain a higher standard of living at a lower cost.

You gotta choose between the Gunks, climbing gym and night life. If you are single, do not move to NJ - I would live in NYC, any of the boroughs even is fine. Taking a PATH on weekends is a pain and rushing to catch that last NJ Transit commuter bus while the party is just getting started, sucks (friends who live in NJ always had to rush/run for that stupid 1 am bus).

If you want an easy commute to work, look for a place in Washington Heights (you could bus or bike to work). If you are looking for a place close to a climbing gym and good bars, get a bike and move to Brooklyn (if you are ok with its denizens' idiosyncrasies). East Village/LES are fun too (and a short bike ride away from the Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym), but expensive and could be way too much noisy/partying from neighbors.

If you are thinking of keeping your car (a must if you want to get to the Gunks on weekends), look into maybe W. Queens - lots of free street parking and most neighborhoods only clean streets once a week.

Single, 34, new in town, friends in the city - I vote for NYC.

As far as tolls go, get an Eazy Pass with a carpool option and make sure you get passengers every time you go climbing - the tolls are only $2 (used to when it was $8) when crossing any NJ/NY bridges/tunnels. NYC is a great place when you live there and has a ton of cheap tricks, but is nasty and mean when you are a visitor (even from Jersey).

Disagree with Doligo and agree with most everyone else.

I'm a young 30's professional who works in midtown. I climb and skydive in the Hudson Valley almost every weekend its not absolutely soaking wet and climb in the Adirondacks and Northern VT/NH every weekend in the winter. I live in Hoboken and love it. Jersey City may be more your scene. I don't know much about the rest of the Jersey waterfront suburbs because I never go there but I do know that being a weekend commuter to the mountains I have it so much better than city based or queens/brooklyn based climbers. Remember I commute into the city on a daily basis (30 minutes walk-PATH-walk from my front door to the office on 40th and 6th) which is another huge plus for me and why its so convenient for my lifestyle.

The PATH train is perfect for getting gin soaked in the city with friends and getting home easy even late night. I've taken it on weekends and it works just fine, but I'm not around on weekends so whatever. Bottom line, normal hours a train leaves every ten minutes and on the weekend you might want to look at a train schedule.

Its not a cheap but contrary to what Doligo says, I don't feel I have had to choose between anything. You get the best of all worlds being less than 2 hours from climbing at the Gunks, a little over 4 hours into Keene Valley, close to work and close to the city for being social. Personally, I think Hoboken is great for food and drinks dates (not into the fist pumping club scene normally), but do spend more time going places in NYC just because its a central location to meet up with friends. Traffic on Friday night is not so bad although it adds probably another 25-30 minutes onto my drive if I leave at 6pm. There are no traffic issues until 9-10am on Saturday morning but you should already be well on your way before then. Sunday nights theres no problem getting back into town except for sometimes a little traffic on the Thruway coming back into Jersey in the summer, and no problems in the winter.

Anyway, good luck getting on the ground in NYC and get excited for some fast living!

Definitely stay in northern NJ. I don't know the specifics for each community, but as a single guy you probably want to live in a more populous and urban area, possibly with a bad school district. The places with world class school districts will be quite expensive and everyone your age will be married. A decent tactic is to find a city (Paterson maybe?) that has a neighborhood or two that's free from urban blight and live there cheaply. Your neighbors will likely be younger and singler, and you'll be working elsewhere during the week and leaving the area on weekends, so it probably doesn't matter that much anyway.

Be prepared to crash on your friends' couches when you miss whatever the last of whatever form of transportation you'd be taking out of the city. Pretty much everyone else has it covered re: owning a car, presence of local crags, and affordability.

Oh yea, one more thing: DON'T BUY A DOG!

Hoboken all the way, lived there in 04' and it's great....tons of places to go, a better commute to your new job(trying to cross the GW everyday will make you go insane) and really quick to downtown Manhattan on the PATH train. Not sure of prices these days but I'll bet they're high like everything surrounding NYC. Otherwise go upper west side...quick to the Gunks and quick to the west side highway into NJ.
Enjoy..
-Nick

Hey all,

Thanks for all this great beta! Doligo - A wise friend once said that everyone should live in NYC at least once while they're young, because it's such a unique experience. So I totally get where you're coming from.

But the overwhelming opinion seems to be that Jersey will be a better bet, and probably makes more sense while I get my feet wet in the job and the area. A lot of people have suggested Hoboken.

One question - if I live in Hoboken, where's the climbing gym? I typically go twice during the week, and maybe again on the weekend if I'm stuck in town or the weather's bad. So I hope there's a good one nearby!

Thanks again - appreciate the help!
Emmett

NJ Rock gym in Fairfield and Gravity Vault in Chatham, NJ are both about half an hour away.

Another vote for Hoboken, but as someone said - hopefully you'll be too busy living to actually spend any time at home anyway. At least Hoboken is central to your interests/work.

How far are you looking to commute? Hoboken is pricy depending on where you are coming from.

You could also move toward Paramus/Saddle River if you wanted a less urban environment. But if you want to save money/headaches I would live in NJ. NYC living isn't all that great.

There is also some afterwork spots to hit up if you have some daylight after work from Hoboken area.
FYI if you are driving to the DWG bring a Tyvek suit for the Poison Ivy.

I agree with the fact that living outside of NY, you will at least save time on the commute to the climbing. But that's not the point - Emmett is new to the area, so choosing what his priorities is important, IMHO. If he's not much into immersing the city life, yeah suburbs are great.

If I were the OP, I'd couch surf in the city for a bit and see if that hustle and bustle for him. You can also find a month-long sublet on Craigslist to give the city a test drive. Your friend is right - living in NYC is an experience not to be missed if given an opportunity, so is dirtbagging. If you are looking for the safety of regular white picket fence comforts, go for the burbs. If you're looking for an experience and adventure, go for the city.

Edited to add: because of the high concentration of bars, drinking in NYC could be cheap if you know where to hit when. I was price-sticker shocked when I moved to New Paltz and had to pay $6 for a microbrew pint - I'd almost never paid over $4 in NYC...

Thanks for all the great beta. The transition has been a really fast and intense one, and I decided to just get a place in Hoboken rather than deal with subletting and re-moving again in the near future. If I change my mind at some point then I'll just have to suck it up. But based on all teh positive remarks from folks here, I'd feeling pretty good about Hoboken!

In the meantime, it looks like I'm splitting the difference between the two Gravity Vaults. The Saddle Brook one is closer to work but further from home, and the Chatham one is neutral to both. I'll probably give them both a try, but it's hard to really learn about the gym culture from a couple visits as a newcomer. What do you guys think - is one of them a better place to spend your time than the other?

Thanks!
Emmett

Both gravity vaults are great. The newer facility (Chatham) has some really nice featured rope walls and a good amount of overhanging stuff. The bouldering wall is also pretty extensive. USR feels a lot bigger but actually isn't; the definitely tend to have more volumes because the place has been around longer, but I honestly haven't climbed at USR more than once or twice. They're both two of the better gyms...I wouldn't really prefer one over the other.

Emmett,

Here's one group that hits the gyms.

Move to New Paltz. Live at the cliff, hit the 5:30 bus ($300 month pass) to get to NYC by 7:30 for work. Climb 2-3 hours, get 100+ days/ year + weekends. If you buy a house, you'll basically be making payments on your vacation & retirement home.

No matter where you end up, it's so important to love your job and where you live.

Awesome. Thanks for all the beta, and the meetup group looks like just the thing to find some partners. Lucander- enticing idea! Will have to consider it for my next move...