January 11, 2009

Though the Jersey Shore town of Red Bank has always been home to director Kevin Smith, it’s much more than the ragtag places, slackers and drifters portrayed in his quirky films like Clerks and Chasing Amy. A ritzy downtown area, with its pristinely maintained old buildings, is home to hip young professionals and cash-heavy commuting bankers and lawyers. “Red Bank is the crown jewel of the Jersey Shore,” says Maury Povich, who, along with his wife, Connie Chung, lives in nearby Middletown. “It’s a happening town for couples and singles.”

As for celeb-spotting: Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, who both live just a few miles away, are frequent visitors to the shops, as is Debbie Harry. “Bruce comes and stays here for hours because nobody bothers him,” says Kimberly Landau, who owns Coco Pari, a three-story boutique that’s a hybrid of Intermix and Bergdorf Goodman.
The dining is also top-notch. Swank restaurant Reds and the more casual Downtown Café are owned by New York hospitality veterans Daniel Lynch and Matthew Wagman. Just five miles away in Rumson, Maury, Richie Sambora and Geraldo Rivera frequent NYC chef David Burke’s Fromagerie. Maury insists, though, “Red Bank’s not a pretentious town at all.” getting there: The train trip takes one hour and 20 minutes from NYC’s Penn Station to Red Bank Station on N.J. Transit; $11.75 one way.

By Liz Donovan, Kathryn Oldenburg, and Lisa Cohen Lee

Need a new summer wardrobe or a fresh look for your home? New Jersey Life editors have hand­picked the best hot spots for main street shopping.
Red Bank Fashion Balizza Boutique 48 Broad St., 732.842.4848 Balizza carries a diverse selection of apparel from European designers for all shapes and sizes. Full-figured fashions are available, as are girls’ sizes 2 to 12. Fashionable styles by such designers as Lauren Vidal and Cop Copine can be found among trendy handbags and custom jewelry.
CoCo Parì 17 Broad St., 732.212.8111

Receive red-carpet treatment and expert personal shopping service at this out-of-this-world boutique, where you leave looking and feeling like a movie star. With an impressive selection of Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo shoes and dozens of styles from René Caovilla, this fashion-forward store is known for its diverse selection of footwear and evening dresses. Also located in Deal.

Femme D’affaires 128 Broad St., 732.758.9699

This fashion boutique is for stylistas who make looking good their business. Peruse the expansive inventory of high-end clothes by Nanette Lepore and other popular designers or ask for the expert assistance of one of the shop’s helpful associates.
Funk & Standard 40 Broad St., 732.219.5885

Explore your inner rock star at this bad-to-the-bone variety store, with men’s and women’s fashions, apartment essentials, and bath accessories. Edgy T-shirts and over-the-top household accoutrements allow you to flaunt your bad boy or bad girl status and live the life of a daring trendsetter.
Garmany 121 Broad St., 732.576.8500

With La Perla lingerie and Roberto Cavalli evening wear for women and Gucci shoes and Dolce & Gabbana suits for men, this exquisite store offers quality service and designer merchandise. Personal relationships provide a solid foundation for the store’s many VIP perks, including a concierge service and private consultations.
Selve 54 English Plaza, 732.747.4000

Shoe addicts can indulge in their guilty pleasure at Selve, where exquisite Italian and German leathers and suedes are customized to suit individual shoe needs. Selve experts create pairs of shoes that meld to your unique foot shape, allowing for the ultimate in comfort. Determined shoppers can design their own handbags to match.

New York and Region
SHOPPING; A Cappuccino With That $5,000 Suit?
By MARCELLE S. FISCHLER; ABBY GRUEN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING. Published: November 19, 2006

Jack Mitchell, the chief executive of Mitchells/Richards/Marshs, literally wrote the book on passionate customer service, ”Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results” (Hyperion, 2003). His wife, Linda, the stores’ head buyer for women’s attire, is equally customer-centric.

For example, when she attends fashion week in Milan or in Paris, she takes along a list of her customers’ preferences, ”the kinds of things they like and the sizes they wear,” she said. Then she buys the clothes she thinks they will like, but she has to be careful with the ball gowns. ”You don’t want more than one person in the same dress,” she said.
Mr. Mitchell, 67, still works the floor at Mitchells on Saturdays, tape measure draped around his neck. He said that being successful was about relationships, not transactions.

”We are all about treating each and every customer as if you were a friend,” Mr. Mitchell said. ”I call it hugging. That’s how we can compete with the great stores in New York City. They are great stores. But why schlep to the city when you can find world-class people, world-class service and products in the suburbs?”

Like Marshs and Richards, Mitchells provides free alterations; the three stores employ 54 tailors. Patricia Burrows, a psychotherapist from Weston, Conn., said the free tailoring made shopping there stress-free.

”If I gain or lose a few pounds — and inches — I know that I can go back and have my clothes altered,” Ms. Burrows said. ”It makes the high prices a little more palatable.”

But, she said, she tries to restrain herself. ”It is impossible to find a sweater there for under $100, and if I shop there too much, my sense of economy and proportion will become totally distorted,” Ms. Burrows said. ”But the clothes are often beautiful, and the espresso is always delicious.”

There is similar cosseting at the CoCo Parì store in Red Bank, which doubles as an entertainment center on weekends. Cocktails and cappuccino are served, and club music plays until 11 p.m. Boyfriends and husbands wait out the shopping on a sofa, watching the flat-screen television above the display of Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo shoes.

Kimberly Landau, 30, opened the first CoCo Parì, in Deal, N.J., 10 years ago, inspired by her shopping excursions while on vacation in Miami’s South Beach. She carries diffusion lines, like Dolce & Gabbana’s D&G and M Missoni, a step below Missoni couture, for her customers.

”I dress them for the real world, not a red carpet,” she said. Her clothing racks are arranged by color, not label, and possible pairings — a Catherine Malandrino tweed jacket with Paige jeans, or a Robert Rodriguez leather jacket with Alvin Valley leather-trimmed pants — make coordinating easy.

At Mary Jane Denzer, in White Plains, outfits are less suggested than prescribed. Designed by the architect who built the Dior boutique on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, the store’s hushed central rotunda is lined with carefully selected clothes from a stable of designers — including Akris, Valentino, Nina Ricci and Ungaro — who have worked with Ms. Denzer for years. Her customers are wealthy women who buy the latest designer clothes each season and want complete ensembles.
An outfit at Mary Jane Denzer costs at least $1,800, and nothing is sold without matching shoes, which can add another $1,000 to the bill. Gowns cost $2,500 to $10,000. Ms. Denzer herself is usually on the sales floor, often with her tiny dog Bodhi, a floppy-eared Papillon, in tow. ”Our customer is not looking for what they need,” Ms. Denzer said. ”Our customer buys what they want.”

At Garmany, in Red Bank, Larry Garmany and his son, Johnell, also serve the well-to-do. ”We have dresses here that are $8,000 to $9,000,” Larry Garmany said. ”That’s not for everybody.” Neither are the $4,000 Kiton blazers or the $21,000 custom suits, which can be ordered from swatches of gold-threaded fabrics. The store has sold only one of those, but, Mr. Garmany said, ”Our sales staff is trained to handle people if a customer is going to spend $50,000 or just buy a tie.”

Located at 105 Broad Street, the new store will offer an array of renowned TIFFANY & CO. collections. Among them are the jeweler’s celebrated diamonds, including engagement rings and jewels of ultimate glamour in platinum and eighteen-karat gold settings, rare and lustrous pearls; the signature designs of Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, Jean Schlumberger, and the artful twists and curves of Frank Gehry; watches, accessories, china and crystal gifts.

“With its arts community, find restaurants and luxury shopping, Red Bank is an increasingly popular destination and a natural setting for a TIFFANY & CO. store”, said Beth O. Canavan, executive vice president of Tiffany & Co. ” We’ve secured an ideal location, and we think the many residents and visitors who enjoy shopping on this charming street in the center of town will appreciate Tiffany’s exceptional quality, craftsmanship and superior service.”

Tiffany & Co. operates jewelry and specialty retail stores and manufactures products through its subsidiary corporation. Its principal subsidiary is Tiffany and Company. The Company operates TIFFANY& CO. retail stores and boutiques in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe and engages in direct selling through Internet, catalog and business gift operations. Other operations included consolidated results from ventures operated under trademarks or trade names other than TIFFANY & CO. For additional information, please visit www.tiffany.com or call our shareholder information line at 800-TIF-0110.

Several years ago in a small town of Red Bank, New Jersey, was open a fancy boutique for women-CoCo Pari. Elegant and sexy, it has been attracting women from all parts of NY,NJ and Philadelphia for the last 8 years. Who contributes to such a great success of the boutique? The answer is simple: Kimberley Landau and her infinite desire to help each and every woman to feel confident and beautiful. No formulas of success-just her desire to bring joy in other people’s lives.

On a sunny day in the beginning of September, LEADER went to chat with Kimberley Landau, and tell our readers about this goal-oriented, enthusiastic woman and her “paradise spot”-CoCo Pari.

Once you enter CoCo Pari it is as if you visited a small and cordial country, where you are surrounded by joyful, caring and attentive people. The world of fashion and perfections fills up the walls of CoCo Pari, and you surely deserve for at least a couple of hours to feel as if you ere a queen. This is how they celebrate you here! Even if you come with your husband and kids, they will be taken care of, so you could free your mind and enjoy the time.

Along with all this magnificence, gorgeous Kimberley will meet you as if you were her old friend. Beautiful, stylish, sexy, good-natured and confident Kimberley is a woman other women love to love!

Kimberley starts a friendly conversation and invites us over to her office on the second floor. We “Locate” ourselves in the comfy chairs and start chatting.

Kimberley, how did it all start? Dream or just an occurrence? What was ruling the ball?

Dream. Several years ago my husband and I went to Miami, and once at the dinner for some reason I felt bad that NJ does not have this cosmopolitan as on Ocean Av in South Beach, where fancy boutiques, cafes and restaurants stretch down the street. I passionately wanted to bring in some changes into the loves of NJ women, and I got overwhelmed by my dream of creating a boutique for women where they can relax and really take care of themselves, dedicating some time to their own world. Red Bank in my mind was the best place to make my dream come true. I started looking for a space, and to find a space in RB at that time was extremely difficult, especially there were not that many people who believed in the success of my idea. I was ordering clothes for my store, although I really did not have the store yet. The merchandise was delivered to my townhouse, and it was really insane. However, everything came alive. A fairy-tale became reality.

People come from all over to CoCo Pari, different people? Do you have any Russian women?

Absolutely! Those are my favorite clients. Russian Women have so many amazing and rare qualities, that you can say they are the sample of being an ideal woman. The most that amazes me is that they are very strong women and at the same time somehow they are elegant and feminine, and still are very lady-like. They always notable in the crowd, they love life, and take the most out of it! These are stunning people, with out-of-the way personalities. I very much respect and love them.

Thanks for your warm words. In that respect, what do you think is the most rewarding thing for a woman; to be beautiful, be very successful or have a happy marriage?

The most rewarding thing for a woman in my opinion is her relationship with her man. If my home is ok, then I am ok.

Kimberly, you are a very easy-going, sweet and down to earth person. It is amazing! What do you think is the most important quality to have for a person?

Be Simple. The meaning of life is not in money, it is our relationship with significant others, that is what matters the most. Judging other is the same as judging yourself to some extent. No one can know what other person is all about, and what his soul and hear are made of; jealousy, arrogance, composure will never make anyone happy. Kindness, generosity and open heart-that is what I am all about. We all human beings and thinking that I am better than someone else is basically humiliating to me.

You can definitely see that in you, you respect people. Let’s talk about the boutique a bit now. What do you love the most about you paradise spot-Coco Pari?

Atmosphere. We are very different from others, we try to fill the woman’s world with beauty and sincerely help her feel who great and wonderful she is. We are open till midnight, and although it is late time, you always feel life at CoCo Pari, it is always lively in here. I would name our boutique a “fashion amusement park”, this is some kind of place where you learn how to make other people happy, people you don’t really know. We try to bring every woman to a pedestal. No one can deprive any woman a fight to feel beautiful and gorgeous. We even have a so-called “personal club”. Women can call us before they go on vacation and ask for help. We put a whole show together to them, prepare many different outfits and when they come to tell us all they have to do is chose what their heart feels right for them.

Who does the buying of the merchandise?

I do. We never sell the clothes for last seasons. If we have leftovers we put it on sale. We have “sale basement” where we take our leftovers from the last season. I am very meticulous about the merchandise I bring in, and I try to choose things that are original and feminine. I trust my instincts. I don’t buy clothes for Hollywood, I buy clothes for regular women, and I always keep that in mind, but I buy clothes that definitely makes my clients feel as they were celebrities. I get a lot of phone calls from different designers, but if I don’t feel their collection is a perfect fit for my clients I would politely decline the offers. I love fashion. This is my passion!

What would you say to our readers?

To the Russian women: first I wish them to stay as they are-inimitable, strong and feminine. Patience and good luck in everything you do. To Russian men: stay as generous as you are, as your women deserve special attention from you. Stay generous not only in terms of how much you spend on your women, but be generous with feelings and take care of your lovely ladies. They definitely deserve all the love from you!

We wish you all the best as well, lots of luck in your business and peace and happiness in your home. Stay as you are: beautiful, stylish, warm, responsive and kind.

© The Leader Magazine. Re-printed with permission.

A remarkable creature appeared in the doorway- a very tanned woman with very long, very blonde hair wearing black satin hot pants, a very low-cut-V-neck shirt, and a diamond=encrusted pendant in the shape of a heart. She recognized vonFurstenberg immediately and beamed at her and Louboutin.

“My two favorite designers!” she cried. ” I feel like I’ve walked into heaven!”

She explained that she was Kimberly Landau, proprietor of the CoCo Pari stores in Red Bank and Deal, New Jersey.

“Oh, Deal- with all the Sephardic Jews”, von Furstenberg said dryly.

“We do phenomenal with your line,” Landau told her. “Phenomenal”.

“I like your shorts” von Furstenberg said, slouching back lazily on the sofa in her trousers and scrutinizing the tiny garment, which at first appeared to be a miniskirt. “When you walked in, I thought, don’t walk on your skirt”.

“My skirt?” Landau asked, confused, looking down at her legs.”It’s a joke”.

© The New Yorker. Excerpted and Re-printed with permission.

You’ll find sizes 0-12, and enough interesting fashions to make a visit to the store a day-trip destination. “What’s different about us is that we don’t just carry the main lines of the major designers but their complete lines, including their defusion (bridge) lines, so there are price points to fit most budgets,” says Kimberly. “It’s one-stop shopping because we can outfit a woman literally from from head to toe including ‘must-have’ sexy little nothings that go underneath.”

Since Kimberly enjoys dressing the fashion-forward woman whose personality may be described as funky, sexy, always fun, and certainly never boring, she’s included an interesting selection of furs. “We’ve searched the markets to find the best quality and best stylesin furs at the right price,” explains Kimberly. “The value and designs are truly amazing. You won’t see minks like your grandma used to wear, that’s for sure.” What you will see are funky Furs in pink and baby blue, and gorgeous denim jackets beautifully lined in rabbit, for example.

In the shoe department, designer brands include Jimmy Choo, Sergio Rossi, Guiseppe Zanotti, Casadei, and Stephane Kelian, to name a few. You’re bound to walk out with a pair that will either have you dancing all night or walking in style. “Our buyer thinks in outfits,” explains Kimberly. By that she means that you’ll find shoes that match CoCo Pari’s gowns perfectly, or a day time casual outfit that you’ve put together from one of its racks. Since the store also shares space with Wisteria, a cosmetic and accessories boutique, a visit to CoCo Pari is a full fashion experience.

But by far, the best part is that you can wander without being accosted by a pushy salesperson. “Only when you ask for assistance will you receive it,” she adds. For even more of an idea of what an in-person visit will bring you in holiday fashion finds, log on to its website at www.cocopari.com. And if you’re one of those people who shops at all hours, remember that the store is often open until midnight during the holiday season.

Re-printed with permission

Only about an hour away from the Princeton area is a Monmouth County municipality known as the “hippest” town in New Jersey. Red Bank is well worth a visit - whether it’s a day trip or weekend stay. You can explore its fine stores and restaurants, saunter through Riverside Gardens Park along the Navesink River, attend one of the many scheduled musical events at the historic Count Basie Theatre or stroll along Monmouth and Broad Streets, window shopping, visiting galleries of artwork in every genre or stopping in for a bite to eat or something to drink at one of the 60 plus restaurants, cafes and pubs in Red Bank’s downtown.

It wasn’t always like this. Fifty years ago you might have heard a similar description, but then something happened - progress some might say - and after shopping malls began to spring up in the 1960s and 1970s and the population shifted out of town centers into new suburban developments and neighborhoods, small towns like Red Bank began to suffer the consequences.

By the 1980s, current Red Bank Mayor Edward J. McKenna heard the town where he grew up called “Dead Bank.” As he describes the situation then, almost 40 percent of the downtown area was boarded up with two enterprising landlords (slumlords?) buying up 240 properties and renting them, but certainly not taking care of them.

There were fights in the streets around a couple of local hangouts - on a regular basis. The Molly Pitcher Hotel was closed then and the Count Basie Theatre, a famous vaudeville venue built in the 1920s and once known as the most beautiful theatre in New Jersey, was virtually shut down.

And then the 1990s began. McKenna was voted in as the new mayor, the Planning Board and Zoning Board were dismantled and reformed with new members and Red Bank started anew in an era of rejuvenation, reform and renewal that is still booming today. The first thing the new government did was buy back the liquor license of one troublesome liquor establishment, closing it and then encouraged another owner of a second establishment to sell it to the town, according to Mayor McKenna.

“We took the worst corner in town on Shrewsbury Avenue and Bergen Place where there were fights and crime, tore down the buildings and put a mini-park there - if you drive by there you’ll see it’s gorgeous,” he exclaims. Another former bad corner is now a learning center for children.

“Where a bombed out school stood empty for 20 years, there is now a senior center and housing complex called River Street Commons,” says McKenna. “And right next to it is a free health care facility called the Parker Health Clinic - the first of its kind in the country as far as we know - for people without health insurance. There are no questions asked; people walk in and get service. Doctors and nurses volunteer their time to staff it.”

The train station was completely redone; the entire Shrewsbury Avenue area has been revitalized, notes McKenna. The transformation of Red Bank was well underway by the mid 1990s with local individuals like the mayor and other dedicated members of the local government working hard to sell businesses on the idea of opening locations in Red Bank.

Says McKenna, “In 1991, we were the second highest taxed town in Monmouth County. Today we’re the 26th. We focused on collecting taxes from the people that owed them, and now our tax collection rate is the highest and the crime rate is lower than it has ever been in this town.”

Having the same mayor through this entire period of rebuilding has probably helped Red Bank achieve its goal. McKenna has been elected four times and twice ran unopposed, including his most recent election!

“The State of New Jersey is using Red Bank as a model for the rejuvenation of a town,” says McKenna. “We have 1.3 million visitors each year coming to see what Red Bank has to offer.” Just for its annual Jazz & Blues Festival alone that is held in the spring each year, Red Bank welcomes about 150,000 people into the town.

And the Count Basie Theatre, which has long been considered the “Cultural Heart of Monmouth County” and a venue for everything from classical to popular to rock concerts, is again a thriving organization. The theatre could use some cosmetic touches, as there’s some peeling paint and chairs that need repair, but these only add to the character of the building. The Molly Pitcher Inn, an elegant waterfront hotel built in 1928 underwent complete restoration in the 1990s and offers a perfect spot for weekend getaways, special social or business events.

An organization called the RiverCenter, formed in the early 1990s, is a nonprofit corporation run by three staff members. The RiverCenter is supported by an assessment based on the value of the properties within the Special Improvement District of Downtown Red Bank and maintains responsibility for the downtown area. There’s a volunteer Board of Directors, task forces comprised of business owners, managers, residents, seniors and students and many other volunteers that help when needed. The RiverCenter downtown area projects include the Horticulture Project, Streetscape Improvements, Sidewalk Clean Team and Bench Sponsorship Program as well as getting involved with special events.

Red Bank’s bustling downtown filled with boutiques, cafes, also has a spectacular waterfront. Riverside Park, a new addition in the late 1990s, provides a picturesque view with beautiful, accessible walkways and comfortable park benches from which to enjoy the lovely Navesink River. During the summer months, Comcast Jazz in Park Concert Series in Riverside Park is free entertainment every Thursday evening.

Red Bank includes many homes and other buildings of old-fashioned, Victorian architecture, adding to the overall ambiance of this cheerful, charming community. In fact, establishments like the Galleria, with its complex of retail shops, entertainment, restaurants and offices, take old buildings and restore them. The Galleria, constructed in 1905 by Sigmund Eisner, was originally a factory - the largest manufacturer of World War I and II Army uniforms.

The Antiques Center of Red Bank on West Front Street is a place to spend some time, meandering through three different buildings where you can find a delightful selection of fine antiques through which to browse. There are other antique stores in the area as well and many eclectic boutiques, galleries and stores with many unique items. It’s easy to whittle away a whole afternoon finding one great find after another.

Coco Pari takes care of sophisticated fashions for women in its lovely Broad Street boutique that carries carefully selected clothing, including some exclusive designers’ lines as well. There’s also a fine men’s clothier on Broad called Garmany’s that enjoys a national reputation for quality.

On Broad Street you can also find Reussilles’, a fine jewelry store founded in 1886 by Alphonse De La Reussille of Switzerland. This store features many high quality jewelry lines, unique designs and a collection of estate jewelry. Buyers can always find something special at Reussilles’.

The stores already mentioned, the many restaurants and entertainment make a day-trip or weekend the best way to experience the Red Bank of today. That will give you enough time to really explore the area.

Ongoing renovation and renewal of Red Bank will continue for years to come with plans for new establishments opening within the next few years. Adam Rechnitz, one of the partners who owns Triumph Brewing Company, originally one restaurant in Mercer County, says that he and his partners chose Red Bank and an old building to renovate, catty corner to the train station for their third restaurant, scheduled to open in late 2004, because they believe very much in the strength and vitality of downtowns. Rechnitz also grew up in Red Bank. He comments, “All three of the towns [where Triumph will be located - the other two are Princeton and New Hope, PA] are walking towns and are really active.”

And speaking of the Rechnitz family, Adam’s parents, Joan and Bob, bought the Anderson Brothers Moving & Storage building in 1997 as well as some adjacent buildings. Rechnitz says that his parents will create a theater for their well-known Two River Theatre Company in the southern end of the Anderson building directly across from the train station. The theater will probably open in late 2004 or early 2005. “To reuse old buildings is very smart - sustainable - there’s so much character in old buildings that you can not achieve from scratch,” notes Rechnitz.

So Red Bank continues to change, grow and prosper and life there is good for all. Summing up his description of Red Bank - his hometown, Mayor Ed McKenna says: “It’s [Red Bank] diverse from a cultural standpoint, from a racial standpoint, from an economic standpoint, a religious standpoint - everybody is accepted. That’s just the rule here. It’s a place where everyone should feel welcome [and they do].”

Article and photos, reprinted from Princeton: Arts, Culture & Living, and used with permission from the publisher, Media Resources Group, www.insidenj.com.

Copyright 2003, Media Resources Group and Kelly L. Griffin.

Re-printed with permission. All images are copyrighted. Images reproduced with permission.

There is a place in New Jersey at which bustling street life and hopping night life cross paths with the slow pace of a little country town, where sitting under a tree watching a movie outdoors is about as ambitious as anyone wants to get.

That place is Red Bank, a community that encompasses all of the good characteristics and all of the contradictions of an urban city in the Garden State.

Red Bank is one of numerous little communities that, until recently, had seemed to have its best days behind it. Shopping malls arrived and took the customers away from the stores and easy transportation took the entertainment seekers to Philadelphia and New York City.

But then a revolutionary thing happened. A group of dedicated residents and business owners got together and decided this downtown area in a middle class community surrounded by wealth could make a comeback. Red Bank has accomplished that comeback with a vengeance.

Dubbed the hippest little town in the state by some, the borough is home to a thriving shopping area, nearly two dozen art galleries, a nightlife that rivals the best offered in the big cities, and gourmet restaurants and brew pubs. There are also a series of classic events that have become traditions along the shore attracting tens of thousands of people to Red Bank. The special events planners of the borough and the RiverCenter, the nonprofit organization that oversees the special improvement district for the business owners, are busy year round keeping track of the many events and making sure they come off without a hitch.

All of this activity takes place in a bucolic setting on the banks of the Navesink River, where a short stroll into a park or a quick drive into the surrounding countryside can slow life back down to a crawl. It’s just a few minutes drive from the wide stretches of beach that make up the northern end of the New Jersey shore.

All of that is to say that Red Bank has succeeded in reversing the trends of aging and now has something to offer just about every taste.

If shopping is your passion, Red Bank will satisfy your yen. “Red Bank is the Soho of the shore,” says Kimberly Lindau, the owner, buyer and store manager of Red Bank’s Coco Pari (www.cocopari.com), located at 17 Broad St., the heart of the restaurant district. According to Lindau, many of the restaurants offer outdoor dining creating an atmosphere ideal for people watching, strolling and shopping

“Many of the boutique’s clientele travel an hour or more to visit the store,” Lindau says. But “they don’t just come to buy a dress, they come to spend the day. There are over 100 restaurants [in Red Bank], there’s an antique district, and a nightlife that is second to none,” she adds. Joining in the festive atmosphere on Fridays and Saturdays Coco Pari stays open until 11 p.m. and pumps up the music. (During the week the store is open until 9 p.m.)

With designers such as Jimmy Choo Moschino, and Blumarine, any fashion desires can be sated at Coco Pari. Then stop by the neighboring store, Wisteria Beauty, which boasts a plum roster of cosmetic and skin care products from Kiehl’s, Laura Merrier and NARS, among others.

For gift items, the Galleria, a converted factory is now lined with shops featuring crafts, antiques and gifts, and the side streets of the borough abound with art galleries and more antique stones.

“The renaissance of Red Bank is attributable to a determined group of people who saw the possibilities of this picturesque downtown area located on the water and surrounded by upscale communities,” said Regina Paleau, marketing director for the Count Basie Theater, an old movie theater that has been home to some of the best rock and roll shows ever staged. “They started with that and built on it. Now we have the perfect mix of day and night activities that anyone cart enjoy.”

The Count Baste Theater, named after a native son, has staged a series of popular musical, theatrical and comedy shows in recent years. It also is a home away from home for such famous Monmouth County residents as Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, both of whom live in nearby Rumson It is often the setting for a traditional New Year’s Eve show by former Monmouth Countian, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

The theater also has been host to national acts such as Willie Nelson and Family, The Fab Faux - a Beatles tribute band, and Legends of Soul starring Ben E. King and Martha and the Vandellas.

But this is Red Bank, where residents and visitors alike do not want to wait for a special occasion or a one-time benefit concert to have a good time.

They want the electricity flowing every night of the week and that is just what can be found here.

Red Bank is one of the few small towns where visitors can park their cars and actually go club hopping. Starting with the Walt Street Pub, across from the train station, where rock is on the menu. Further down Monmouth Street at Echo, there is a mix of local bands including reggae, and a disc jockey, depending on the night of the week. The Downtown Cafe on West Front Stmt, as well as several other clubs in town, also has five music almost every night.

. “The great thing about Red Bank is you can walk down the street and see two or three young people walking along carrying guitars. The young, talented musicians come here and emulate the older ones,” said Patrick Nulle Downtown Cafe owner: “There is more good musical talent in and around Red Bank than nearly anywhere else.”

For those who lean more to high brow tastes, there is Danny’s Steakhouse and Seafood Grille on Bridge Avenue. On Monday night Danny Murphy brings in opera talent from New York City with stars from the Metro Lyric Opera Company performing for dinner guests. There is a direct train from New York City just get off at the Red Bank station and walk to Danny’s Steakhouse or to almost any other location in town as well.

In addition to the talented entertainment, Danny’s Steakhouse, which does a variety of contemporary music the rest of the week, also rivals the best New York City steakhouses for food. Or there is Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill where customers can sample six kinds of homemade beer made on the spot and named for the owner’s grandchildren and pets. For gourmet meals, one needs look no further than Bacchus, featuring Italian and nouveau American cuisine.

All summer long Fleet Bank Presents Street Life where groups of musicians and entertainers perform at different locations throughout the downtown area, as well as a series of concerts and classic movies in the Riverside Garden Park. In the fall two film festivals show at least some of their presentations at the local cinema where independent films are shown all year.

The mix of events and activities, shops and restaurants, adds up to a successful rejuvenation for this formerly sleepy little town.

Re-printed with permission.