What do we love most about Bloomfield, NJ?

• Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionery on Broad Street – excellent ice cream and a world famous location now…thanks to HBO’s THE SOPRANOS

• Summer days at the Farmer’s Market on State Street – where else do you buy fresh Jersey corn for the grill?

• Ok, so it isn’t the easiest to find parking for, but LOVE the pizza and chicken piccata at Vinnie’s on Broad Street

• Check out some up and coming stage talent at Westminster Arts Center at Bloomfield College (who doesn’t want to see an 18-year old soliloquize from A CHORUS LINE?)

• BEST dog run at Brookdale Park – 121 acres of green expanse, walking trails, rose garden, tennis courts, ball fields and general weekend frolicking space!  Can’t miss the summer concerts & Spring/Fall Craft Shows, too!

• Always a favorite: IHOP on Broad Street – where you get the “rooty-tooty fresh & fruity” and discovered a lifelong love of the American pancake as a food group

• Take an improv class at the NJ School of Dramatic Arts – classes for adults, kids and summer camps for your more artsy child…

• Check out a Bloomfield institution in J.T. Murdoch’s Shoes – where every boomer’s parents bought new shoes for school when they were growing up

• Not sure you if you want to dance or do martial arts?  Take a capoeira class at the Afro Brazilian Cultural Center of NJ (oh, they have yoga, too…if you just want to stretch and strengthen your core)

• A MUST try at Stamna Greek Tavern on Broad Street – the lemon potatoes, chicken kabobs and bronzini are outrageously delicious

• Dazzling July 4th fireworks at Brookdale Park & Foley Field

• Compare notes at the Bloomfield Center Holiday Window Display Competition

• Enjoy a well-deserved rub down at the Serenity Spa and Salon

• Firetruck playground at Brookside Park.  Enough said.

• Listen to concerts and enjoy fine art, as well as youth camps at the historic Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center year-round

• Old quilts!  Old instruments!  Old maps!  Did I say old?  I meant HISTORIC – visit the Museum of the Historical Society of Bloomfield and learn all over again to appreciate all the conveniences of modern life!

• Handball at Pulaski Park

• Explore the vendors and kid activities at Bloomfield’s end of September Harvestfest

• Did you know Bloomfield has a Symphony Orchestra?  Yep, they do…

• NJ Tap Ensemble – I know!  Shocking right?  And they are GOOD…if you like tap…

• Who’s that walking his tiny dog at Watsessing Park?  Mustache?  Black socks?  Fedora?  Tattoos?  It’s Hipsters!  Welcome to Bloomfield!

Just 10 miles from Manhattan, Bloomfield, NJ is a bustling, geographically expansive, and diverse municipality of nearly 50,000, with easy access to the city from two Midtown Direct train stations, including one in the center of its fast-growing downtown. There’s also DeCamp private buses to the City and crosstown NJ Transit bus service.

Bloomfield offers a wide array of single and multi-family living choices (most homes are under $600,000, many in the $350,000 range) and some well-priced townhomes as well. The Brookdale section’s 3 and 4 bedroom inventory, built primarily in the thirties through the sixties and many updated, are both affordable and charming. Hundreds of new rental units have gone up near city center in recent years surrounding one of the last remaining historic village greens, where you’ll also find the scenic Bloomfield College campus, including new dorms and a Barnes and Noble, plus a performing arts center.

Stretching miles through town is bustling Broad Street, with many cozy restaurants and mom and pop shops. Bloomfield’s a favorite destination for City-centric performers and people on long schedules who can catch the last bus out of Manhattan at 11:45 pm and optimally be home in half an hour to rest for the next performance. 

The town’s Brookdale, Oakview, and Demarest primary schools, representing some of its most popular neighborhoods, rank high in Essex County. Historically, the town’s high school performance is more modest but certainly improving. Recently, Bloomfield’s in-demand Brookdale Section (which has its own charming neighborhood shops) borders the County of Essex’s incomparable, Olmstead-designed Brookdale Park.

That Bloomfield borders Montclair and Glen Ridge is another plus in terms of access to local services, parks, sports, music, film, theater and arts activities. Bloomfield’s youngest mayor in history, just appointed to a second term, says he believes in the spirit “of giving back to the town and serving the public.” Sometimes called the “sleeping giant” of Essex County, Bloomfield in reality, has become one of Essex County’s liveliest destinations. It was named to Niche.com’s best local places to live.