This place is the home of the University of Delaware. It’s known for its green spaces, like Rittenhouse Park, with its trout-filled creek. On the outskirts, White Clay Creek State Park has miles of forest trails, plus a late-1700s mansion on the estate of Judge Morris. A path circling Newark Reservoir offers city views. The University Museums at the University of Delaware include collections of art, plus the Mineralogical Museum.
But, the town is very small, and there is not all that much to do in the way of nightlife and entertainment and there are a lot of annoying frat boys who drive around in jeeps and chuck things at people. The drug scene is somewhat unstable here, there is a lot of laced and bad stuff, gotta be careful!
There is a great hippie-friendly bar called the East End Cafe here in Newark where you can meet all kinds of interesting people, drink some fine beer, and listen to great live music.
Madison Ave.?!?You gotta be jokin’.There isn’t too much in Newark,that i know of,that caters the hippy.Yeah,the East End. There is a new place near the East End called Solstice.It’s pretty chillin.No alcohol served though.All herbal drinks and teas.Poetry readings and acoustic jams.It’s also a cigarette smoke free environment.There is also Jammin’ Java.Coffee(obviously),tea,baked goods.Sometimes they also have poetry readings and acoustic jams.Homegrown Cafe is a fairly new establishment.Vegetarian dishes,herbal drinks and non-vegetarian food.No entertainment though.Let’s see…as far as shopping…Homegrown,Outer Limits,Frolick and GrassRoots.Now, everything i’ve mentioned is located on Main Street in Newark.Home of the University of Delaware.So that is the extent of the hippy scene in Newark,Delaware.I wish there was more to it.If anyone knows more,please post it.Maybe someone can clue me in on the whole tri-state area(Pennsylvania,Maryland,even New Jersey).PEACE,LOVE & HAPPINESS:)
Ummm yeah before all the hippies lived on madison, now it is only crack heads, section 8 and dumb people who pay 3 times as much to live next to it. But hey if that is your bag man, then go for it. I chill at East End Cafe, only because I know everyone who works there and it is actually a chill place unlike some of the wannabe hippie joints that have recently cropped up. Plus they have the most amazing food. Trust me I haven’t yet tried everything on the menu, but every single thing I have tried is orgasmic. It’s right next to the Newark Co-op as well, which is cool if you are into the natural food, co-op type program. You can even work for food there. Those people are very kind. There are many “hippie like” people in Newark that we refer to as locals. They are pretty much fucked in the head from doing too much acid or meth or heroin. They will rob you blind and you will think that they are your best friend. I’d be cautious of these types. They are usually found on North Campus though. The frat boy thing, I haven’t had any problems with them or even the sororities. There are quite a few wealthy people here, mostly from New Jersey, but if you are tolerant then they are no biggie. At the most they are annoying, but who isn’t sometimes. Anyway, I’ve been going to main street for quite a while and it is pretty much the most chill spot in delaware unless you count Rehoboth, but there are quite a few homosexuals there and I realize that many people are still homophobic these days. But they have great music down there at the beach. Just don’t go to Dewy, its an overpriced tourist crap trap with a bunch of stuck up tourists who cut in line and hate hippies. Trust me on this one. I’ve lived in DE forever.
If your gonna devote a website to this kind of stuff atleast get your facts right. There are not a lot of “hippies” in Newark its dominated by a buch of New York and Jersey kids who suck at life and invade newark like a disease to culture. Most kids who are “hippies” live on Prospect, Wilbur and North Street. The most thing you’ll find on Madison is Section 8 housing. The drug scene is not bad either, hard drugs are always dirty!
-July 2003
I”ve lived in Delaware all my life as well. I’ve spent lots and lots of time in Newark (live there on and off) and I too will tell you. The East End Cafe is basically like the epicenter of Hippiedom in Newark but there are lots of dumb frat boys, jocks and DARE I say … YO BOYS. Lots and Lots of YO BOYS.
In Conclusion. Newark Delaware has a fair amount of Hippie Types, some of them being crack heads and some of them being more the real deal but just about everywhere that you will find a hippie in Newark you will find 2 retarded (look at my nice shoes) frat boys, 2 Jocks, and 4 YO BOYS so it kind of sucks ass. Oh don’t forget half the hippies are crackheads.
THE END….Oh best record shop: Berts, of course. There’s one off of Concord Pike (not in Newark) too….a better one. Bert hangs out there. He likes wine alot. Go say hi and buy some records. Maybe bring him a bottle of wine to drink. You’ll know who he is when you see this hairy 20 year older version of Krist Noveselic come out from behind his little secret entrance, stumbling with a wine glass and bitching about all the slutty mainstream record stores choking the life out of his store.
Do you guys know of any hangouts down south? Sussex County?
i cant believe i came across this webpage..i used to live in newark forever and then decided to make the plunge, get married and have kids and move to the good ol midwest. i’ll tell you what…madison is seedy. i dont know if it has changed, but i seriously doubt it. that street was full of shady people. maybe a cool place tucked in here or there, but there was just a paranoid and dark ora about the entire street. wilbur and north street has always been the “sweeter” side. there is where you find the kind people with flowers in a vase on their front porch and a pretty tapestry hanging in the window. where people smile and wave and throw their love your way……isnt that what “hippy” is all about? of course drugs help, but its really all about a certain kind of people. East End is the best place because it has history. It has had many a hippy sit up and the bar and many hearts singing at the microphone. I was there during the “grinch” days, where we used to dance until 1 am…if not beyond that. I used to work there and it truely is a place where you can be u and theres no beefed up, low self esteem “frat boys” to clutter the air. Its a wonderful, open minded place that attracts just those types. I hope that it continues on with every generation. Another good place to hang around is the art department at Univ. of DE. Theres some great people there with some great vision. No offense to the guy that lives on Madison, but it still makes me laugh…you should try to get outta there and move to the other side of Newark. I think you would feel a difference.
I used to work at the East End. Really, I have never been to a better bar since. There is something about the place. The nachos are infamous. Newark really isn’t that bad. The locals are cool. The layout of the town is really perfect if you think about it. You don’t really need a car. Hippies? Sure. Plenty. Enough for a school that’s mainly business and science. I had a blast in Newark. Madison, when I lived there, was for people on a budget. Wilbur was for kids not on a budget. Sorta.
I lived in Newark for my sophmore year in high school. and i didnt really notice a huge hippie scene, but its not too bad of a place. go to the deer park on main street- its a pretty cool bar. It seemed to me that the area is time consumed and rushed.
Live your life and don’t forget that LOVE IS THE ANSWER(John Lennon)
BE friendly and love as mich as you can and you’ll see that you’ll be loved back.
And remember that with WAR nad FIGHT you won’t have anything good come out only pain!!!
BE YOURSELF,LOVE YOU-PEACE
I’m only 17 years old and go to Newark High…lived in Newark all my life..All this talk about Madison being hippie territory baffles me because as long as I could remember Madison was and is the ghetto. I wouldn’t dare go into that neighbrohood alone or even with a few people. Robberys,rapes and homocides happen often. As for Newark being a “hippie” town…it’s not. The rich stuck up Jersey kids with their BMW’s take it over for 9 monthes of the year. East End cafe only really has two GOOD bands that play there which is Apex Watson and the Elktones. Newark is horribley non-environmentally aware. Though, we do have the Co-Op which rocks. I’m just really confused about the whole Madison thing…I live across the street from it in Devon and I’ve always stayed FAR away.
Hi,
The old deer park was probably the best bar I’ve ever been to. The crowd was more mixed than the EE, but it was as if there was an unspoken ‘leave your judgments at the door’ rule. The deer park always felt accepting.
The East End has the same atmosphere in that you’ll always feel welcome there. The food is good and the waitstaff and bartenders are just plain good people. Recently they’ve been spiffing the place up, I hope they are careful not to ruin it’s personality.
See you all at the bar, save me some guiness.
Shelby = 2nd greatest bartender ever.
Is the east end still there? I heard it was bought by new people. (The place won’t be the same without Rich and Gary). I hear it’s not the same. Shelby still works there?
Shut up you stupid kid. Madison was not a ghetto. Not like a real ghetto. It was a place for cheap rent. An ingredient for a ghetto, but certainly no ghetto. i lived there for years. Around late 90’s. Shit hole, sure. Not that dangerous.
I’m from Wilm,Delaware but now I live out in San Diego, CA. I frequented the EE quite a few times and it was a buzzkill. That place is filled with superficial hippies…stoners…and these loser 16-19 year old delaware “punk rockers” as well as some emo kids who I question are bisexual. You walk in there….its as if the whole bar is staring at you. If your not wearing a hoody, emo sweater,or have tats on your arms than your not welcomed. AS for the music there…every stupid 18 year old kid probably bugs management to set up there band to play there on a friday night…and these bands that come in and outta that place are flat out awful. It’s anything from hardcore to folky crap. The only good thing I have to say about that place is there delicious food and cheap beer…otherwise the atmosphere is a buzzkill…i had to get outta delaware…thank god i’m out west…good riddance.
What’s all this demented like, uh, stuff about the so called “Least end” cafe in the great cultural metroplolis of hippiedumb called New(really Old)ark Dela-where! ? Yooz space troopers gotz tuh be kiddin bigtime …that dump died eight solstaces back when the planet shifted toward the nether regions of Lynch-him-burg Virginia and its grand Drag-on Jerry Fall-well. Newark is about as Christian as a zoo of piercings and tattoos can get, and the tunes now are toneless Wonder bread, I mean nonfunkified. Where’d the groove go??? I’ll tell yuh, it ran away! These bitchiz iz uugly man, and I mean stupid too. Newark ain’t got no granola hippiechicks no more, suckuh! Just diseases …youch my thing! You know it hasn’t been the same since the toilet incident. Friggin East End, and I ain’t jokin when I’m smokin.
Go back tuh skool allyuhz! I’m out >>>
I hate to reiterate myself regarding the East End Cafe, but unfortunately people can’t grasp how phony and lame it is going to the East End. The East End I admit has remnants of the hippy days at univ of delaware, but that is a dying breed. Things have changed, people change,culture has changed, and it all progressed into a pile of superficiliaty at East End. The East End is comprised of lame hippies,emo-kids,hardcore kids, and the occassional punk rockers. All of these social groups are either bi-sexual,gay, or fucking losers. They have nothing good to say about anyone. Everyone knows everyone there, and if your not part of one of the social “classes” I listed above, then unforutnately your an outsider open up to criticism from these loser East End People. The music is by no means engrossing. The music ranges from post era hippy/folk twangy bullshit to the screamo/hardcore/punk bands that come in there and try to make some noise. These so called musicians have little or no talent and keep throwing the same story to everyone that they “know” Boy Sets Fire. The only bright spot of the East End Cafe is there food. I’m surprised they still serve food with the amount of fake me out artsy vegans frequenting EE on a daily basis. I don’t recommend this bar to anyone. I’d rather sit home by myself pop open my OWN beer and listen to MY own music and comfortably enjoy myself without any fake me out social class bullshit.
Note to readers: This is the cliche loser guys you have entering the East End.
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Just to give you some perspective. I went to Delaware from 92-96. There was plenty of hippies back then. The East End was a great bar back then because Grinch played frequently and the vibe was very laidback and jamming. This was BEFORE they renovated and added the big room. The food there was pretty good, with killer chilli-dogs. Personally, I spent many more nights at the Deer Park, and it still is one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been to. I now live in LA and miss the vibe of the old Deer Park. $1.50 Mexican beers on Weds and $1.50 import bottles on Fridays…doesn’t get much better than that. Well worth trekking through the snow from the Towers or East Campus. Wilbur was the real hippie scene back then. Wilburfest was one of the best block parties ever. Hippie music (Grinch, Nazarites), hardcore punk (Walleye), metal (Mother Nature’s Blacklight Rainbow) and even cheesy emo (Schroeder) all playing on the same stage.
There were always plenty of annoying fratboys, jocks and townees, but all-in-all, Newark was a very cool little town and beats the hell out of major cities. Stumbling from a bar on foot is way better than hopping on a freeway. See you at the Deer Park next time I’m back.
PS- does anybody know what the guys from Grinch are up to nowadays? I always dug their guitarist.
I need some help from everyone here. I have an old cassette from my UD days and I believe its a recording of some vintage Grinch, but I can’t remember and I have lost touch with so many people. Anyways, I sampled it and have it as an mp3, anyone want to send me their email address to rehowingstogo@msn.com I will send you a copy and I would love to figure out who it is.
Two words for the “Least End”- FUCK FRANK!….Hopefully that assclown will someday choke on his glow in the dark dildo. The place has gone down like Pauly Hamburger on a passed out drunk, since Frank took over. See Y’all down the street.
I live near by in maryland, but I went to college at U.D. and I lived in Newark. My favorite bar was the Deer Park. And I mean the old Deer Park, not the new one that has taken it’s place. That place was awesome. It was my home away from home. The East End was always cool, but I never cared for it as much as the Deer Park. Once the Deer Park closed for renovations, me and all my friends migrated to the East End. It took a while but the East End grew on me. I love the place now. It’s been freshened up with a new coat of paint and new chairs, but still the same old crowd and still the same good music!
As far as Madison? I have a lot of friends that lived there. I went to many good parties there. A fun place. Good memories, from what little i remember!
(I have posted here more than a couple times), I haven’t been in Newark since late ’98. I worked at the EE and Deer Park. They were both great. I have a special place in my heart for the EE. Seems to me something has happened in Newark since I left, sadly. I lived in Newark from 93 to 98. Were these the golden years? They sure felt special. Such a vibrancy at that time. There was something in the air, but I was in my prime. So, I’m unsure if it is just my enthusiam. Regardless, it was great.
and btw, Eric the doorman deserves a mention. Such a great guy. Very quiet and intimidating, but a wonderful soul. (old schoolers will know who I mean).. Rich Katz, father figure. Rich WAS the EastEnd..You’d never be the same after meeting Rich. Such a fun guy. .. Gary, kind, benevolent soul. Marie! Hatian beauty. (What happened to Mrie?!) What happened to Chris Shegrew! (there’s a hippy!). Erin, beautful amazon woman. Shelby, the hardest working bartender ever. (Can’t forget the produce man in his military garments!!) This was a true hippy bar whether you know it or not. Real personal charater. No Bullshit. The deer park was fun, but it was a college bar. The EE was the townie bar and that much more. I really need to go back and see the changes.
Grinch started as a Dead cover band in my basement and
went on to do Phish covers by the end of college. The first time
they played as Grinch was in my house on S. College. My
roommate Shelly and I made up their name (although I argue
with them daily about that – they don’t seem to remember that
they were so drunk and stoned all the time to come up with a
damn name for our X-mas party, so we had to do it) — I toyed
around doing keyboards just for fun with a small group of girls
and we ended up opening up for them at the party. We sucked!!
When I moved out to Colorado in ’94, they toured out there
and stayed with me in Nederland.
I am currently in touch with each and every one of them and
they will all be coming to Wilmington near mid- end September
this year to play around Newark and near Harrisburg at the
Sandy Hollow Festival – FUN!!!!!! And I’m talking 5 out of 6 of
the ORIGINAL members, including Scott Alexander!
I have tons of old original studio recordings of them on tape if you are
interested and some CDs that I can dig up. THEY F*CKING ROCKED,
HUH????
Whats the deal with Grinch? Jenobee we don’t give two licks about how Grinch formulated in your musty 1995 Cleveland Avenue House. It’s so lame how you even incorporate Grinch with The Grateful Dead. Personally I don’t like “hippy poshy bullshit” music, so maybe I should shut my mouth. I hate to run it by all you hippies, but the movement has been so faded out a few million years ago. I don’t even have an appreciation for people to maintain a hippy persona. Hippies are no longer ubiquitious in American culture, the truth of the matter is Britney Spears, Christina, and Jennifer Lopez is our next phase of pop culture. Actually after the so-called hippie days of University of Delaware….the Dave Matthews aura filled the house parties, streets, and dorms of everyone on campus, that sooner better than later faded out and hip-hop went noticed in the main street area of Newark……The John Mayer, Phish bullshit attempted at its best to squeeze into the University of Delaware culturalistic agenda but that fizzled out. So yea…Main Street is filled with music ranging from hip-hop to Britney Spears. Blame who? The Highschool situated minutes from Main Street? Blame who? The media? Blame who? Eminem. There is nobody to blame other than the progression of pop culture. It disturbs me to even look 10 years ahead of todays progression of pop culture and what movement will rise in the future of our children. I live in Southern California and fortunately it’s maintained to a rock n roll, punk rock sorta culture. Good Riddance to Newark, De and the Main street kids.