How well do you know the Garden State? Are you a hardcore fan? Can you name the entire cast of The Sopranos and recite every Bruce Springsteen song by heart? Maybe? Well, what about city nicknames? Here at The Montclair Girl, we picked 10 large and small hometowns and looked into their nicknames. Read on for a guide to nicknames of New Jersey towns + cities and see if you know them all.

Asbury Park

This Monmouth County shore town is home to The Stone Pony, The Empress Hotel, and Paramount Theatre. During the 1960s, Asbury Park was plagued with blackouts and earned the name “Dark City”. Home to the Stony Pony, this shore town has a boardwalk, beach, and an NJ Transit station.

Read More: The History Behind Essex County Town Names

Belleville

Before becoming Belleville in 1797, this settlement was called “Second River” and then “Washington”. Home to the first Chinatown on the East Coast, Belleville is also where Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons band formed. Belleville has long called itself the Cherry Blossom Capital. Branch Brook Park is located in both Belleville and Newark and is the nation’s first county park and home to the largest cherry blossom collection in the United States. To really live up to the name, in 2001, Belleville’s then-Mayor Angelina M. Paserchia ordered about 3,500 cherry blossom trees and planted them throughout the community.

Caldwell

As early as the 1850s, city folks found western Essex County a delightful place to spend the summer months. Abundant pure water and equally clear air were the main draws. Caldwell was promoted as the “Denver of the East,“ and stocked with hotels and boarding houses for seasonal visitors. Caldwell is also the birthplace of Grover Cleveland, the only president born in New Jersey.

Denville

Denville, home to roughly 17,000 residents, is a commuter town with two train stations. This suburban community is known as the “Hub of Morris County” due to its central location and the major transit routes that run through it. Overall, Route 10, Route 46, Route 80, and two NJ Transit stations pass through Denville.

Fort Lee

Bergen County’s Fort Lee is nicknamed the “Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry.” Fort Lee was once the motion picture capital of America before it moved to Hollywood. In 1919, Within Our Gates was produced here by African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and is the earliest known and complete film made by an African-American director. It was developed as a response to D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film Birth of Our Nation, which includes racist and highly controversial portrayals of African-Americans. This was the first film ever screened at the White House but was widely protested and even banned in some cities.

 

Hoboken

Hoboken may be nicknamed the “Mile Square City,” but it’s actually 1.25 square miles. This charming city is the birthplace of Frank Sinatra and is home to the Stevens Institute of Technology. It is extremely walkable, just a short ride to New York City, and has amazing views of Manhattan.

Jersey City

Jersey City is home to Journal Square, Colgate Clock, Liberty Science Center, and nearly 300,000 residents. Settled initially by the Dutch and later by the English, this community has flourished over the last four centuries to become New Jersey’s second most populated city.

Jersey City has had several nicknames: “J.C.,” “Chilltown,” “America’s Golden Door,” and “Wall Street West.” The nickname “America’s Golden Door” did not catch on so Jersey City officials proposed Silicon Valley East. That did not stick either, so Wall Street West was promoted as a more catchy nickname. “America’s Golden Door” derives from the city’s proximity to Ellis Island, America’s busiest immigration station for nearly five decades. It also partially comes from the last line of “The New Colossus,” a poem by Emma Lazarus to help raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

Newark

Settled in 1666 by Puritans from Connecticut, Newark is the largest city in New Jersey. It possesses the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the country, an international airport, and the headquarters location for companies like Mars Inc. and Audible.com. Since the 1960s, this city has been known as the “Gateway City,” possibly as a way to encourage tourism. Newark has also been referred to as the “Brick City.” This name came to be thanks to younger Newark residents living in the high-rise structures of the Newark Housing Authority projects.

Paterson

Paterson is nicknamed the “Silk City” for its multitude of 19th-century silk factories. The city is also notable as the site of a six-month strike in 1913 by the Industrial Workers of the World who demanded an eight-hour day and better working conditions. Paterson, the state’s 3rd largest city, is home to the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park and William Paterson University.

See More: The Stories Behind Old Hoboken Signage

Spring Lake

Monmouth County’s Spring Lake is known as the “Irish Riviera“ because of the large Irish-American population in the area. In 2000, Spring Lake had the highest percentage of any municipality in the state with almost 51% of residents possessing Irish ancestry, according to The New York Times.