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From the outside, the Court Tavern looks like a Monopoly house set on Church Street in the midst of New Brunswick’s growing skyline. But the Court once seemed like the biggest place around. Back then, it was the epicenter of the city’s local music scene, the second home of the bands that played there in the 1980s and ’90s. “We considered it our Cavern Club,” says Jim Babjak, guitarist for the Smithereens, a band that cut its teeth at the Court, as did the Bouncing Souls. Drive 50 minut...

Tinton Falls trainer Heather Freeman’s most accomplished dog was her own. A pit bull, German shepherd, bichone frise rescue, Nathan Jr. was named after the kidnapped infant in the 1987 cult-classic crime comedy Raising Arizona, so he arrived with pop culture—and energy. “He was a crazy puppy,” she says. “I didn’t know what to do with him.” Then living in Georgia, Freeman rented a weekend cabin and learned of his obsession with water. “He’d run out, then jump back in,” she rem...

Tess Hazen was born a creator. Growing up in upstate New York, she watched her parents transform rundown buildings into restaurants, bars and retail spaces. “It was in my blood from a young age,” she says. After college and a fast-paced foray into the fashion business, Hazen had that nagging urge to create something from nothing, just as her parents had done. In an enormous leap of faith, she and her new husband purchased a 19-room boarding house in Bay Head, a circa-1886 building a block fr...

Whoopi Goldberg has many titles. Grammy-winning stand-up comedian. Oscar-winning actor. Emmy-winning talk show host. Tony-winning Broadway producer. And that’s just her EGOT haul. To Danielle Pinnock, Goldberg has always been a beacon, an absolute North Star. When she first saw the TV special adapted from Goldberg’s 1984 one-woman Broadway show, she was transfixed. Growing up in New Jersey, she would travel by bus to the Port Authority in Manhattan just so she could watch the hit performance...

Ryan DePersio is one of the most celebrated chefs in New Jersey, with two popular restaurants, TV appearances, and another restaurant on the way. We talked recently while he was driving to work—between back-to-back trips to Italy (one to choose wine for his new spot), hiring new staff, and calls with his videographer. He’s a busy guy—and he definitely isn’t slowing down anytime soon. DePersio, who owns Battello in Jersey City and Ember & Eagle in Eatontown (both on New Jersey Monthly...

The results of our 43rd annual Readers’ Choice Restaurant Poll are in. They showcase New Jersey Monthly readers’ picks for their favorite places to eat, by category, in New Jersey. The winning restaurants in each category received the most votes in their region—North (Ⓝ), Central (Ⓒ) or South (Ⓢ) Jersey. Ballots from duplicate email or IP addresses were disqualified. Editorial discretion was used when votes were cast for restaurants that, in our judgment, belonged in another catego...

Set on the banks of the Navesink River, this Fair Haven home’s backyard presented an ideal opportunity to create a private oasis that rivals an upscale resort. Designer Kelli Suozzo, principal of Bowerbird and its companion retail arm, Nest, both in Red Bank, describes the homeowner as “someone who moves through the world with intention.” The aesthetic would be drawn from her interests: wellness, yoga and travel. The outdoor space would be an extension of that energy—a restorative, calm,...

In 2020, Stacy Shoemaker Rauen, who has roots in Monmouth County’s Two River region, moved from Brooklyn to Rumson with her husband, Jon, and their three boys to be closer to family. “There is something special about the area that keeps drawing you back,” she says. They fell for a 19th-century house on a Hamptons-like street. It had a large backyard overlooking a river cove and was close to local beaches. “It was 100-plus years old and needed work, but we loved the bones,” she says. Wi...

Timothy White, photographer to some of the biggest celebrities and rock stars in the world, broke into photography using what he calls "New Jersey chutzpah." It was 1980, and the kid from Fort Lee had just moved to New York City after graduating with a degree in photography from the highly regarded Rhode Island School of Design. “I was doing anything, whatever it took, to try and find myself and make it as a photographer,” he says, including assisting a fashion and music photographer and sho...

No more fumbling with your wallet or change purse at Atlantic City Expressway toll booths. That’s because South Jersey’s “seashore highway” between Turnersville (Gloucester County) and Atlantic City has gone cashless, marking New Jersey’s first major roadway to do so. It’s the end of an era when humans in little huts extended their palms to collect paper bills and coins from motorists on the 44.2-mile toll road. Starting in 1965, when the expressway was completed, cash transactions w...