Chesterfield/Charming Way - Lakewood

amother

Silver

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 9:08 pm

I am looking into the crowd who live in this area, who daven in Rabbi Oelbaum's shul.
Is it a chassidish or litvish community, or mixed?
In town or out-of-town style? Does the community have a laid back feel, or more pressure in terms of what people have and how they dress?
Is it mostly Kollel or mostly professionals?

Thanks so much!

sty123

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 10:39 pm

A nice mix. Rabbi Olbaum is wonderful more right leaning tho. But overall the crowd is mixed learning and working.

amother

Silver

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 11:30 pm

thanks. and haskafically? and materislistically?

we're pretty simple people, OOT style, but can get along with anyone. kids go to a very right wing school, we keep many chumras in kashrus, tznius, etc. my kids aren't generally matching and I have very little concept of whats in style. we try to keep ourselves quite sheltered in terms of secular influences.

would we stick out there? or could we feel comfortable?

amother

Mauve

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 11:36 pm

pretty sure the Rav is R' Yitzchak Oelbaum. Reb Avrohom is the Rav in Regency.

amother

Silver

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 11:54 pm

if your sure, then I'll take your word for it. the realtor said 'yes' when I asks if it was R' Avrohom, but she may not have a clue.

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 12:13 am

R' Yitzchak Oelbaum is the Rav in the Ashkenaz minyan.

R' Eliyahu Friedman is the Rav in the Sefard minyan.

There is a very nice mix of people. Some are more into matching their kids' clothes, and some aren't. There are definitely enough people who fit your description.

amother

Silver

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 9:06 am

Thanks so much!
Another question - around how long does it typically take to drive to the yoshon/bais shalom at the typical yeshiva schedule times - 9:20am, 3:30pm, and how long to get back to charming way at 9am, 2pm, 7:40pm?

amother

Mauve

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 9:23 am

hahaha, forever 15 minutes with no traffic, at least a half hour with.

amother

Mauve

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 9:32 am

hahaha, forever 15 minutes with no traffic, at least a half hour with.

amother

Khaki

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 9:40 am

45 minutes if you are lucky. I always try to avoid going anywhere yeshiva time. And all the shortcuts are backed up too so sometimes I think it's easier to just sit on the nine and at least you are going straight.

amother

Blue

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 9:50 am

If you do mapquest right now (9:45) ,
Rout 9 - it says traffic is heavy and it will take - 35 minutes.
Massachusetts - 20 minutes
Cross street - 18 minutes
I would say to add 10 minutes to each estimate

amother

Salmon

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 10:00 am

I would say majority is definitely not a chassidsh crowd. More Litvish or yeshivish.

amother

Khaki

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 10:04 am

Cross street is the worst traffic ever. Never take cross street.

amother

Silver

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 10:21 am

oh my. does someone else want the cute house I was looking into? I don't think DH will ever agree to this!

amother

Khaki

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 11:37 am

You have to learn to adjust your schedule to the traffic. Kids playgroups have to be closer by traffic is a disaster. Just to get across street to grocery store and back is a nightmare.

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 12:16 pm

amother wrote:

oh my. does someone else want the cute house I was looking into? I don't think DH will ever agree to this!

You'll have the same issue almost anywhere else in Lakewood.

Cross St is not as bad as Rt 9, except school starting time (8:45 to 9:30). Rt 9 has traffic all day long.

amother

Aubergine

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 12:22 pm

I don't know what it's all about the traffic. I live past the 70 and I shop for food once a week. Usually on Thursday. And the traffic can be not good,but if you compare this to New York it's way better! This is all perspective. Anyway welcome to Lakewood. It's not as bad if you don't do carpool. By 6 usually traffic is eased up. Other times it's nice and calm.

I know that between 2-5 is the worst. Taking the shortcuts does help. Come for a weekend and experience it for yourself.

amother

Aubergine

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 12:25 pm

No no no rat 9 does not have traffic all day! That is absolutely not true!

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 12:46 pm

amother wrote:

No no no rat 9 does not have traffic all day! That is absolutely not true!

Maybe that's your experience, but my experience has been that Rt 9 is busy from Spruce St until Central Avenue almost all hours of the day. Starting from 8:30 AM, easing up around 11 for a bit, then heavy again from 1 pm to 9 pm. I call that all day.

kollel wife

Mon, Nov 07 2016, 2:21 pm

I had to drive today to James Street (from near the old Shoprite) at around 10 am and found the traffic on the way there - very, very light - there was some traffic on the way home - maybe it took me 10 minutes on the way back.