Red Bank
Old Town · Red Bank, New Jersey
A small town of about twelve thousand on the Navesink River in Monmouth County that has spent forty years reinventing itself from a declining main street into the most reliably good night out on the north Jersey Shore. WILLIAM "COUNT" BASIE WAS BORN HERE IN 1904, and the restored 1926 theatre on Monmouth Street now carries his name and books serious touring acts. Broad Street holds independent shops, antiques and a very dense run of restaurants. It is ten minutes from the beaches, on the train from New York, and it is a town rather than a resort.
Broad Street, Red Bank, New Jersey, 07701, United States
A public town, free to walk at all hours, and unlike the shore towns nearby IT DOES NOT CLOSE IN WINTER. Shops and antique dealers run roughly 11:00 to 18:00 with MANY CLOSED ON MONDAYS; restaurants and bars run from about 17:00 until late and are the town's real strength. WEEKEND AND SHOW-NIGHT DINNER RESERVATIONS ARE ESSENTIAL — the town fills around performances at the Count Basie Center for the Arts, whose calendar is worth checking before choosing a date. Metered street parking and paid municipal lots, enforced. Reachable from New York in about 90 minutes on the North Jersey Coast Line, which makes it one of the few towns in the area doable without a car.