Little India, Edison/Iselin
Little India, Edison/Iselin, also known as Oak Tree Road, is a heavily South Asian shopping, business and dining district centered on a road, designated County Route 604, in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It is about a thirty-five-minute drive southwest of Manhattan amid a leafy suburban residential region home to many South Asian families. One food and entertainment critic has named the "atmospheric" Little India as one of the "50 Best Reasons to Live in New Jersey." Little India on Oak Tree Road runs for about one-and-a-half miles through Edison and  neighboring Iselin, New Jersey. 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 strip. The intersection of Wood Avenue and Oak Tree Road is where the two towns meet. Oak Tree Road in Edison and Iselin is home to over 400 South Asian business establishments, including dining, halal grocery, jewelry, apparel and electronics retailing, and entertainment. Many come to the area for its traditional  gold and Maharashtrian jewelry retailers. Indian-American supermarket chain Patel Brothers has a location on the strip. Little India is located in Central Jersey in Middlesex County, the U.S. county with the highest concentration of Indian Americans. This zone is the largest and most diverse South Asian ethnic enclave and cultural hub in the United States. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 42.6% of Iselin residents identified themselves as being Indian American, the highest for any census-designated place in the United States. Over 60 Indian and Pakistani restaurants alone are found in the neighborhood. Establishments have appeared on  food critics' "best of South Asian cuisine" national and regional lists. The district, which lies nears the sprawling Chinatown, Edison, is also known in particular as a destination for Indo-Chinese cuisine. The area is served by Metropark Station, providing a one-seat commuter rail connection to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. A variety of Hindu 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  saint Sai Baba of Shirdi. The actor-comedian Omi Vaidya celebrated the Oak Tree Road scene and South Asian culture in his 2020 song "Oak Tree Road," a parody of Old Town Road. History. Oak Tree Road is named for a large oak tree which stood at a crossroads where a market was located during the Revolutionary War era. This crossroads and surrounding area was the site of the Oak Tree Engagement during the Battle of Short Hills. It was a relatively rural area in the early to mid 20th century. In the early 1990s, prior to the arrival of  significant Indian investment, Oak Tree Road was a down-on-its-luck strip of biker bars and abandoned buildings. Some late-1980s-era economic pioneers to the then-rundown strip experienced racism from the locals, which largely subsided by the early 1990s. The first Navratri festival in the state of New Jersey was held in the area in 1991. 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. Festivals and events. A blend of South Asian religious festivals and cultural events are held  in the Little India district in Edison and Iselin, each featuring a melting pot of visitors and celebrants of all religions and backgrounds. Events include: