South Asian shopping district in Edison, New Jersey
Oak Tree Road is a predominantlySouth Asian shopping, business, and dining district centered on a road designated County Route 604 inMiddlesex County, inCentralNew Jersey.[1][2] The commercial district, which is commonly known asIndia Square and also asLittle India,[3] is set amidst a suburban residential area that is home to many South Asian families.[4][5] It runs through parts of Edison and Woodbridge Township.[6]
Oak Tree Road runs for about one-and-a-half miles throughEdison and neighboringIselin, a section ofWoodbridge Township.[7][8] The epicenter of Little India retail is traditionally on the two-block stretch of Oak Tree Road between Correja Avenue and Middlesex Avenue in Iselin, an area officially known as India Square; there, as of 2017, rents were roughly double over the rest of the area.[9] The intersection of Wood Avenue and Oak Tree Road is where the two towns meet.[10][11] Some have lamented the "stroad" status of parts of the western portion of the road as inhibiting idealwalkability from establishment to establishment, and have advocated for improvedsidewalks.[12]
Many come to the area for its traditional gold andMaharashtrian jewelry retailers.[9] In 2023,Tanishq, the luxury Indian jewelry brand, opened its U.S. flagship store on Oak Tree Road.[23]Kalyan Jewellers opened in 2024[24]
Indian-American supermarket chainPatel Brothers has several locations on the strip.[25]
Over 145Indian restaurants alone are found in the neighborhood.[26][27] Establishments have appeared on food critics' "best of South Asian cuisine" national and regional lists.[28][29][30] The district is also known as a destination forIndo-Chinese cuisine.[31] Establishments range from vegetarian to non-vegetarian, South Indian to North Indian, and sweet to spicy.[32] One food and entertainment critic has named the "atmospheric" Little India as one of the "50 Best Reasons to Live in New Jersey".[33]
The actor-comedianOmi Vaidya celebrated the Oak Tree Road scene and South Asian culture in his 2020 song "Oak Tree Road," a parody ofOld Town Road.[34][35]
Oak Tree Road has a long history in commerce. It is named for a largeoak tree which stood at a crossroads where a market was located during theRevolutionary War era.[36][37] This crossroads and surrounding area was the site of the Oak Tree Engagement during theBattle of the Short Hills.[38][36][39] It was a relatively rural area in the early to mid 20th century.[40][41][42]
In the early 1990s, prior to the arrival of significant Indian investment, Oak Tree Road was a down-on-its-luck strip ofbiker bars and abandoned buildings.[17]Some late-1980s-era economic pioneers to the then-rundown strip experienced racism from the locals, which largely subsided by the early 1990s.[9]
In the 2024 PBS documentary,Destination: Oak Tree Road, Jaswant Singh, owner of Ashoka, shared his experiences of his restaurant business being targeted with eggs and baseball bats, and even having a week’s worth of onions destroyed in a break-in. Other business owners also endured similar attacks during that era, such as repeated vandalism of store signs.[1] Groups of motorcycle bikers would frequently gather at a bar across from the businesses. Former New Jersey GovernorJim McGreevey, who served as mayor of Woodbridge during the 1990s, recalled complaints from Oak Tree Road business owners about harassment by these biker groups. In an interview in the aforementioned documentary, he stated that he intervened by talking to the bikers, emphasizing that vandalism and harassment would not be tolerated. The discussions helped subside the tension, although it took time to build a better relationship between the bikers, the local businesses, and the community.[1][43]
The firstNavratri festival in the state of New Jersey was held in the area in 1991.[44]As Indian businesses began arriving in the 1990s en masse, the area transformed over time into the "thriving market full of pedestrian traffic on weekends" seen today.[9]
By 2022, the Indian population was approaching one-third of the population ofMonroe Township in southernMiddlesex County, and the nicknameEdison-South had developed, in reference to theLittle India stature of bothtownships in Middlesex County.[45]
A blend of South Asian religious festivals and cultural events are held in the Oak Tree Road district in Edison and Iselin, each featuring amelting pot of visitors and celebrants of all religions and backgrounds.[46]
The annual New Jersey India Day Parade, hosted by the Indian Business Association,[47] is held every August on Oak Tree Road to celebrateIndian Independence Day.[48][49][50] Celebrants such as GovernorPhil Murphy start in Edison at Cinder Road and march eastbound towards Iselin, finishing the parade at India Square in Iselin. In 2022 as in other years, local officials attended, including SpeakerCraig Coughlin, U.S. congressmanFrank Pallone, New Jersey state senatorPatrick J. Diegnan, AssemblymanRobert Karabinchak, MayorJohn McCormac, and Edison mayor Sam Joshi.[51][52]
In 2022, controversy and concerns aboutanti-Muslim animus arose at the annual parade when members of the community objected to a yellowwheel loader, resembling a bulldozer, seen in the August 14 parade displaying photographs of Prime MinisterModi and theconservative Hindu nationalist monk,Yogi Adityanath, who is also the chief elected leader of the Northern Indian region ofUttar Pradesh.[53][54] Modi and Adityanath are both members of the right-leaningBharatiya Janata Party, a major Indian political party.[55] The 2022 Oak Tree Road parade's grand marshal,Sambit Patra, is the national spokesperson for the same party.[56][57][58] The yellow construction vehicle displayed at the 2022 parade included a placard with the words"Baba ka bulldozer" written inHindi.[59][60] This display was a reference to themonk's nickname, both affectionately and pejoratively, of"Bulldozer Baba" (roughly equivalent to "Father Bulldozer," "Saint Bulldozer" or "Bulldozer Monk")[61][62]for his extensive use of the machine in demolishing structures.[63][64] Ultimately, the parade organizers apologized for the parade display. The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office characterized the display as a "bias incident," although no probable cause existed to press criminal charges of bias intimidation.[65]
During the 2023 parade, reports arose of anti-Muslim intimidation by a group of young men waving the militant Hindu nationalistBajrang Dal flags and chanting, concerning Indian Muslim parade-marcher witnesses.[66][67][68]
Diwali. Celebrations for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, are held annually on Oak Tree Road and surroundings.[70]
Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, is also celebrated with the use of color and dancing at events on Oak Tree Road.[70]
Eid. Visitors and theDesi Muslims in the Oak Tree Road area celebrate the Eid religious festivals twice a year with feasts and celebrations:Eid al-Fitr at the end ofRamadan andEid al-Adha later in the year.[70]
A variety ofHindu temples have been established along the strip, alongside diverse Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregations in the greater area. Shirdi Sai Cultural and Community Center is one such temple. Located on the Iselin side of the district, it is devoted to the 19th century Indian saintSai Baba of Shirdi.[78]
New Jersey-India Commission, a state commission created in 2024 to enhance New Jersey-India trade.[79][80][81]
New Jersey India Center, formed by the state of New Jersey in 2019 as an economic contact point for Indian businesses interested in bringing business to the state.[82]
^"America's 25 Best Indian Restaurants".The Daily Meal. August 24, 2018.(listing Dimple’s BombayTalk in Iselin and Shalimar in Iselin among America's top 25 Indian Restaurants)
