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Newark, NJ

University Heights

NJIT and Rutgers-Newark give this neighborhood its rhythm, but the street-level culture belongs to the people who were here before the universities and will be here after. Food entrepreneurs test concepts from converted kitchens. Young makers and designers build their first businesses next to longtime residents. Ambition here is local. Accountability is communal.

Priya Anand·University Heights·ParticipatingJul 7
Creator Post

How Five Newark Artists Decided to Share a Studio and Build Something Together

The Heights Makers Collective started with a storage problem. Tonya Alcott had more prints than she had wall space. Rafael Guerrero was binding books on a kitchen table that was also the dining table. Three other makers had similar situations. They found a studio space near NJIT and split the rent five ways. That was two years ago. Now the collective has a joint storefront, a shared website, and a reputation in Newark's maker community for work that is serious and priced honestly. I asked Tonya what made it work. She said: we all showed up on the same day and we kept showing up. That's it. That's the whole thing. The Heights Mural Print series — Tonya's documentation of University Heights' public art — is the kind of project that only gets made when someone has a studio and time and people around her who care about the same things she does.

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University Heights·Heights Makers Collective
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Heights Mural Print — Silkscreen, 18×24

A silkscreen print documenting the murals of University Heights, designed and printed by collective member Tonya Alcott. Two colors on cream stock, edition of 50. Each print is signed by Tonya and stamped with the Heights Makers mark.

$32.00

University Heights·Heights Makers Collective
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Handbound Sketchbook — Kraft, 5×7

Made by collective member Rafael Guerrero using a Japanese stab-binding technique. 80 pages of cream cartridge paper, ideal for pencil, pen, and light watercolor. Kraft cover with stamped Heights Makers logo.

$20.00

University Heights·Tia Carmen's Cocina
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Carmen's Sofrito — 8oz Jar

Tia Carmen's sofrito is not what you get from a grocery store. Fresh culantro, ají dulce, onion, garlic, and tomato — blended and packed into a jar you'll use for everything. This is the base of the base.

$13.00

University Heights·Tia Carmen's Cocina
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Pique Hot Sauce — House Blend, 5oz Bottle

A Puerto Rican vinegar-based hot sauce with whole peppercorns, ají caballero, garlic, and oregano. This is the sauce Carmen puts on her counter and forgets to charge for because she assumes everyone just has it. Now you can have it.

$11.00

Community Picks

Real businesses in this neighborhood that haven't joined TheGoods yet.

Community Pick·Not yet on TheGoods·Restaurant
Buen Provecho

A Puerto Rican lunch counter run by Norma Vega out of a space she has held since 1999. The pernil on Sundays is the neighborhood event. Norma makes the sofrito herself every morning from a recipe she brought from Ponce, and the counter has never needed a menu board because the regulars already know.

184 Clinton Ave, Newark, NJ

Community Pick·Not yet on TheGoods·Bakery
Yaya Dough

Nigerian chin chin, puff puff, and small chops made to order by Adaeze Okafor from a licensed home kitchen. She got her start supplying Nigerian student organizations at Rutgers-Newark and expanded to take orders from the wider community. Her egusi and crayfish-seasoned savory snacks are a category unto themselves.

University Heights, Newark, NJ