Today I’m working from the very cute downtown of Montclair, NJ, and it has me thinking about something I can only describe as the scene.

Not just where people live. Not just what a town has. But the feeling that something is happening. People are out. Cafes are full. Strollers are passing by. Someone is reading at the corner table. Someone is lingering after lunch. A kind of low-stakes aliveness that happens on a random Tuesday afternoon.

Many of you may not know this, but two years ago, we seriously considered uprooting our lives from Bayonne, and Montclair was at the very top of our list.

That is another story in itself. We started visiting open houses and quickly realized that, between the economy, the over-asking prices, and the enormous taxes, it was not going to be our move. But we flirted with the idea.

And strangely enough, one local business helped stop that thought process: Lavaccino.

We love coffee shops. And when this new cafe popped up in our area, it quietly became the missing thing we had been craving from our peninsula. Suddenly, Bayonne felt more complete. We had a nice apartment, a beautiful waterfront to walk, a safe family neighborhood, Costco within walking distance, and now — a genuinely nice coffee shop.

It sounds small, but sometimes a place becomes home through one missing piece finally arriving.

And now, sitting here in Montclair on a completely random Tuesday, I’m looking around and seeing so many people simply... out. Kids in strollers. People working from cafes. Restaurants busy in the middle of the day. A downtown that feels fully inhabited. It makes you wonder what a Saturday looks like.

And of course, it got me thinking about Bayonne.

Because Bayonne is cute, too. Adorable, even. Charming in a way that sneaks up on you. And I really believe that five years from now, people will be driving here to work from a cafe and take a midday stroll by the water.

So why are we not doing that already?

Because the environment is here.

We have the waterfront walks.
We have the parks.
We have the restaurants and cafes.
We have relatively affordable living.

What we need now is society activation.
Or better yet: scene activation.

We need more reasons to be out, more reasons to bump into one another, more reasons to stay a little longer than we meant to. And yes, maybe this is the most me thing I’ve ever said, but I’ve decided I want to be one of the bees doing that work.

Not in some grand, official way. Just in the way bees do anything useful: quietly, consistently, moving from place to place, helping things bloom.

And I know this kind of activation already exists in pockets. Around Little Boho Bookshop, for example, there is clearly a little society already humming. Sandra built that. Or maybe “built” is too cold a word. She pollinated it. She became the bee.

So that’s part of what I want Bayonne Pulse to become, too. A reason to go. A reason to notice. A reason to show up. A small nudge toward the places already trying.

I recently read about Dunbar’s Number — the idea that humans can only really maintain about 150 meaningful relationships. Not followers. Not contacts. Not people whose stories you “keep meaning to reply to.” Real relationships. The kind built on trust, familiarity, and reciprocity. The kind where if you run into each other at a cafe, you actually sit down.

Apparently, that number has followed us from hunter-gatherer villages to military units to modern life. Which I find oddly comforting. Because it means a good life may not require thousands of people. Maybe it just requires the right 150.

And I have a feeling I know about 10 of them.

So consider this my gentle public declaration: I’m on a mission to meet the other 140.

This week: working from a Montclair cafe on a random Tuesday · Diana Ross and Blondie on repeat for the waterfront · going to Double Batch Bakery on Thursday — if you see me, say hi

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The Pulse This Week

On the table: Double Batch Bakery has come highly recommended by a few people recently. I’m going this Thursday to try a few things. Recommendation from Bob. If you know, you know.

This weekend: On Sunday, March 15, at 12:00 PM, author Maureen Hurley Brown will be at the Bayonne Museum for a reading and signing of her book Will You Be My Friend. It’s for children ages 3+, with coloring pages and light refreshments — a very sweet way to spend a Sunday.

From the waterfront: My dear friend Pratibha captured a Bayonne sunset recently, and I can’t stop watching it. [Watch it here.]

From the archive: If you haven’t read it yet — The Bookstore on Broadway That Smells Like a Story: Little Boho, Bayonne

On that note, I have to share my dear friend Pratibha’s latest video of a Bayonne sunset. She captured it so proudly, and rightly so. It is mesmerizing.
Watch it here:

Love, Sheetal

Seven storefronts I’d never stepped inside. A bakery that opens before the sun comes up. A restaurant with a line of reviews that made me stop on the sidewalk and read four of them out loud to nobody. A bookshop with a window display that made me late for everything.

I’ve lived in this city for years, and I’m still finding things.

That’s the thing about Bayonne. It doesn’t announce itself. There’s no PR team. No influencer campaigns. No one standing on the corner saying hey, look at this place, look at this person, look at what’s happening right here on this block.

So I’m going to do it.

BayonnePulse is a weekly letter about the Bayonne you discover when you slow down. The person behind the counter has a story you didn’t expect. The side street you’ve never walked. The food that someone’s grandmother taught someone to make. The spot where the skyline shows up between the buildings is a secret.

Every Tuesday morning, you’ll get a short letter from me. One story. One hidden spot. One reason to walk a block you usually skip. It takes about 4 minutes to read. Bring coffee.

Here’s what you’ll find in your inbox:

☕ The Regulars — the people behind the places you love (or haven’t found yet). Their story. Their craft. The thing that’s not on the menu.

🗺️ The Hidden Map — the walking routes, the views, the benches, the corners of Bayonne that feel like somewhere else entirely.

🍽️ Table for Bayonne — the food. Always the food.

👤 Pulse People — the interesting humans living in this city. The dancer. The barber. The woman who remembers your name at the front desk.

📅 This Weekend — what’s happening, what opened, where to go.

🎵 The Playlist — a handful of songs that felt like Bayonne this week. For the walk, the commute, the Saturday morning.

💬 Overheard in Bayonne — one thing a real person said to me this week that I can’t stop thinking about.

I’m Sheetal. I walk these streets every day. I notice things. I am, what you may call, a fly on the wall. I take too many photos. And now I’m writing it all down.

This newsletter is free. It will always be free.

If you know someone who just moved here — or someone who’s lived here forever and still hasn’t been to that bakery that opens at 5 am — forward this to them.

See you Tuesday morning.

Sheetal ☕

P.S. — Reply to this and tell me your favorite Bayonne spot. The quiet ones. The ones you keep to yourself. I want to know.