Place branding: South Orange, New Jersey

If you would have asked me in the late nineties what I thought about New Jersey, the answer would have been: "I don't". I was living in New York at the time, and New Jersey was a black hole. Crossing the Hudson river was something you did only when homesickness struck and you took the free bus to Ikea, to eat Swedish meatballs and watch the Scandinavian Airlines planes lift and land at Newark Airport.

Manhattan was the place to be. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was slowly starting to wake up and attract artist souls, like my my photographer friends, but walking there at night was still an adventure. My base was the Spanish Harlem, which also made New Yorkers frown and ask how on earth I could live there, and if it wasn't really dangerous. 105th between 5th avenue and Lexington still left a lot to wish for, but you couldn't beat the location right next to one of the nicest little parks in the Park (Central Park that is).

But New Jersey (or New Joycey as it was sometimes referred to)… Later on it became Soprano land, but then all we thought about in connection to it was house wifes and conservatives.

Yesterday I arrived in Newark airport. Luckily, I might add, considering the volcano ash adventure. I took a cab to South Orange, NJ. My friends from back in the nineties live there today. So much has changed. New Jersey still sports the image of a lesser brother to New York, but there are parts, like South Orange, with a completely modified brand image.

In South Orange you find the New Yorkers who wanted to continue their free minded New York lives and still start a family. The people caring for community gardens and organic food. People of mixed backgrounds, still working on Manhattan.

I've only just arrived but I'm looking forward to find out more and add some pics. For now, see the link.