The neighborhood between Downtown and Liberty State Park: Berry Lane Park, the cafés and bars along Communipaw Avenue, two light-rail stations, and blocks of brownstones and frame houses still priced below the ones a mile north. Bergen-Lafayette is where Downtown buyers go when they want the same house for less and a real park at the end of the street.
Bergen-Lafayette is the part of Jersey City between Communipaw Avenue and Liberty State Park: brick rowhouses, the light rail at the edge of Berry Lane Park, and a stretch of Communipaw that has filled in with restaurants over the last few years. I live a mile north in Downtown and show homes here, so I built this day from the places locals rate highest, and I am walking it myself. Every place is real. The map is real. Scroll, and I'll walk you through it. Tap any stop for the full story.
The Jersey City roaster's fourth cafe, on Communipaw across from Lafayette Park. The cup to carry back to the park bench.
A small cafe on a side street by Lafayette Park that serves breakfast all day and, without making a fuss about it, bulgogi bowls and kimchi fried rice too.
The light rail stop at the edge of Berry Lane Park: a few minutes to Liberty State Park and Exchange Place, and on to Hoboken without changing.
From here it is a walk to the Garfield Avenue light rail station at the west edge of Berry Lane Park, two or three minutes on foot, for Liberty State Park, Exchange Place and Hoboken.
Big made-to-order sandwiches on Communipaw, the lunch the neighborhood argues about least. Chicken parm or the ribeye cheesesteak.
The errand of the afternoon: a nail salon up Communipaw past the Junction, open seven days, for a manicure before the evening.
The neighborhood branch of the Jersey City library on Pacific Avenue, a block from the park. The free hour for a rainy afternoon with small children.
The science museum inside Liberty State Park, a short drive or a light rail stop from home. The after-school hours in this neighborhood have a planetarium in them.
The Caribbean gastropub on Communipaw that put the neighborhood on the city's dinner map. Walk-ins only, and the cocktails are the reason to arrive early.
The dressed-up dinner: the second restaurant from the family behind Corto, on a quiet block off Communipaw, with a full bar where Corto is BYO.
Jersey City's ice cream since 1968, and this is where they make it: the factory and scoop shop on Garfield Avenue across from Berry Lane Park.
The nightcap: a brewery taproom at the south end of Pacific Avenue with a rooftop deck that looks straight at the Manhattan skyline.
Saturday brunch a block from the park: chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, and sangria if the week earned it.
The state park at the end of the neighborhood: two miles of waterfront walkway with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Lower Manhattan across the water.
And back to the park for the Sunday evening hour, when the courts and the skate park are full and the light goes down behind the rowhouses.
Honest footnotes. None of these places pays me or knows I wrote this. I built this Bergen-Lafayette day from the places locals rate highest and I am walking it myself — tell me what I missed. Hours change; check before you go.
The neighborhood between Downtown and Liberty State Park: Berry Lane Park, the cafés and bars along Communipaw Avenue, two light-rail stations, and blocks of brownstones and frame houses still priced below the ones a mile north. Bergen-Lafayette is where Downtown buyers go when they want the same house for less and a real park at the end of the street.
Bergen-Lafayette is the part of Jersey City south of Downtown and east of Journal Square, running from Communipaw Avenue down to the edge of Liberty State Park, with Bergen Avenue, Jackson Square and Martin Luther King Drive as its spine. Lafayette, the eastern half, has the brownstone and rowhouse blocks; the western half has frame houses, small apartment buildings and the old industrial land that is turning into new housing.
Berry Lane Park changed the neighborhood: seventeen acres built on a former rail yard and factory site, with ball fields, a skate park, a splash pad and a running loop, the largest park the city has built in generations. Communipaw Avenue has the coffee, the sandwich shop, the cocktail bar and the brewery that make it a place to spend a Saturday, and Liberty Science Center and the state park are on its doorstep.
The commute is the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: the Garfield Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive stations run north to Exchange Place and Hoboken, and Liberty State Park station is on the eastern edge. Buses on Communipaw run to Journal Square for the PATH, and the Turnpike extension and Route 440 are close for drivers.
For buyers this is a brownstone neighborhood priced a step below Downtown, and the step is still meaningful. I show it to people who have walked Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park and want the same house type with a yard and a parking pad, and to investors who see what Berry Lane and the new construction along Garfield Avenue are doing to the blocks around them.
Best for: brownstone and two-family buyers who want Downtown's house type at a lower price, and anyone who uses a park every day. Harder for: buyers who need to be inside a ten-minute walk of a PATH station.
The walk above is a real day in Bergen-Lafayette — coffee, the commute, the park, dinner. Answer four questions and it reorders itself around your morning, or open the route map and follow it yourself.
30,872 people live in Bergen-Lafayette, where the median age is 37.7 and the average individual income is $45,236.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is plenty to do around Bergen-Lafayette — shopping, dining, parks and nightlife. The three scores below rate how easy it is to get around without a car.
Walk Score®, Transit Score® and Bike Score® provided by Walk Score.
The places within walking distance — where to eat, shop, train and get a haircut. Tap a row to find it on the map.
| Name | Category | Distance |
|---|
Places and addresses from OpenStreetMap contributors. Distances are straight-line from the centre of Bergen-Lafayette. Hours change — check before you go.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Daycare through high school, in or next to Bergen-Lafayette. A starting point for comparison — visit before you decide, and call me about catchment lines, which move.
| Name | Type | Grades | Students |
|---|
Public and charter schools from the NCES Common Core of Data; daycare and pre-school locations from OpenStreetMap contributors.
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