The heart of the county's Cuban community, packed onto the top of the Palisades between North Bergen and Hoboken: Bergenline Avenue, a bakery on every block, an underground light-rail station and buses straight into Port Authority. Union City is dense, loud and alive, and the rents and prices are still below the waterfront towns on either side.
Union City is one of the most densely built cities in the country: a grid of two- and three-family houses on top of the Palisades, Bergenline Avenue running the whole length of it, and Cuban since the sixties. I show homes here but I do not live 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.
A cortadito at the counter, Celia Cruz and José Martí on the wall. The first stop of the day and, if you are honest, the third too.
A family bakery on a side street off Bergenline, open at six every morning for four decades. Pastelitos de guayaba, a loaf of Cuban bread, and the cake counter for later.
The only underground stop on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, under the busiest corner of the avenue. Hoboken Terminal in a few stops, then the PATH or the ferry.
From here it is a walk to any corner of Bergenline Avenue — the NJ Transit 159 and 156 and the jitneys run up the avenue and through the Lincoln Tunnel to Port Authority, a few minutes on foot from anywhere in town.
A Cuban restaurant and cafeteria on Park Avenue, one block off the strip. Lunch is a plate of whatever came out of the kitchen that morning.
A barbershop on Summit Avenue with fifteen years behind it, and a kids' cut on the menu for the after-school run.
The branch at 18th and Summit: bilingual storytime, music and movement, pajama storytime. The free indoor hour with small children.
The city's museum of art and museum of history in one building on 15th Street, free, and a five-minute walk from the library.
The Puebla sandwich, on its sesame roll with the meat, the cheese, the avocado and the chipotle, is the reason to eat on 24th Street tonight.
The Cuban dinner on Bergenline, in the same family since 1974: ropa vieja, lechón asado, picadillo, and a flan to finish.
The bar for the nightcap: mojitos and Cuban tapas over several floors on Park Avenue, with a roof. Closed Monday.
The big park, shared with Jersey City Heights: ten tennis courts, four ballfields, a playground and a spray pool for July. Saturday morning belongs here.
Start the Bergenline walk at the little park the city named for the queen of salsa, and go north: seventeen blocks of the longest commercial avenue in the state.
And back to the park at the southern end of town, where the day started. Everything on this map is a walk or one bus up the avenue from here.
Honest footnotes. None of these places pays me or knows I wrote this. I built this Union City 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 heart of the county's Cuban community, packed onto the top of the Palisades between North Bergen and Hoboken: Bergenline Avenue, a bakery on every block, an underground light-rail station and buses straight into Port Authority. Union City is dense, loud and alive, and the rents and prices are still below the waterfront towns on either side.
Union City sits on top of the Palisades between West New York and Jersey City Heights, with Weehawken and Hoboken below it to the east. It is one of the most densely populated places in the country, a grid of brick walk-ups, two- and three-family houses and small apartment buildings on short blocks, with Bergenline Avenue running through the middle as the main street.
The town became the centre of Cuban life in the Northeast after the 1960s, and that is still what you taste on Bergenline: cortaditos, pastelitos and roast pork, alongside the Dominican, Colombian, Salvadoran, Mexican and Ecuadorian places that arrived after. The William V. Musto Cultural Center, the old library, and Celia Cruz Park on Bergenline mark the story in stone.
Getting to Manhattan is easier than the map suggests. NJ Transit buses and jitneys run down Bergenline and Kennedy Boulevard through the Lincoln Tunnel to Port Authority, the Bergenline Avenue light-rail station sits underground at the north end of town for Hoboken and Jersey City, and the walk down the hill to Hoboken is real if steep.
For buyers this is a town of multi-family houses and condo conversions, priced below Hoboken, Weehawken and West New York's waterfront. Investors like the tenant demand; owner-occupiers like a two-family where the rent covers a chunk of the mortgage. Parking is tight everywhere, and I say so before anyone bids.
Best for: two-family buyers, investors who want rental demand, and anyone who wants Latin food and a bus into Midtown for less than the waterfront. Harder for: buyers who need a driveway, a quiet street or a yard.
The walk above is a real day in Union City — 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.
66,918 people live in Union City, where the median age is 38.1 and the average individual income is $32,309.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is plenty to do around Union City — 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 Union City. Hours change — check before you go.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Daycare through high school, in or next to Union City. 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.
Before you go
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Next neighborhood day, you'll hear about it first. Now, back to the walk.