Super Bowl attractions in New York, New Jersey

Generations of punch lines notwithstanding, northern New Jersey is more than just shopping malls, refineries and turnpike traffic — though you can certainly find those without looking too hard.

The truth is that the counties that lie within 15 miles of downtown Manhattan are home to a richly diverse population and contain something for everyone, from high art to ignominious history and everything in between. Of particular interest to visitors for next month’s Super Bowl, many attractions are within walking distance of public transportation and are, thankfully, indoors.

Great Falls

Yes, natural beauty exists even amid the rust and grime of northern New Jersey’s once-thriving industrial areas. In the case of Paterson’s Great Falls, it is beauty with a purpose: the majestic, 77-foot waterfall in the heart of the working-class city generated power to a network of mills and factories that fueled the Industrial Revolution, from textiles to the Rogers Locomotive Works and the location where the first Colt .45 revolvers were manufactured.

The Great Falls (www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm), which are second in water volume only to Niagara Falls east of the Mississippi, were designated a national park in 2011. Nearby is Hinchliffe Stadium, a national landmark and once-grand Art Deco stadium that in its heyday was filled to capacity for Negro League baseball games featuring future Hall of Famers Larry Doby and Monte Irvin and teams like the New York Black Yankees, the New York Cubans and Newark Eagles.

Mayhem, real and imaginary

‘‘The Sopranos’’ ended its six-season run in 2007, but the locations that gave the HBO series its gritty backdrop still fascinate, judging by the two dozen people taking a tour recently past the former site of Satriale’s Pork Store in Kearny, the fictional clubhouse of Tony and the gang.

Satriale’s is now a parking lot, but you can stand on the sidewalk at Kearny Avenue and Dukes Street where Paulie, Silvio and the rest sipped espresso and pondered life’s riddles. Other popular locations include Satin Dolls (230 Route 17, Lodi), the real-life Bada Bing strip joint; the Soprano house (14 Aspen Drive, North Caldwell) and Holsten’s (1063 Broad St., Bloomfield), the diner where the last scene of the final episode was shot.

If actual bloodshed is your thing, there’s the monument that commemorates the famous 1804 duel between Vice President Aaron Burr and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Along the Palisades in Weehawken (Hamilton Avenue and Boulevard East), a bust of Hamilton stands next to a boulder where he allegedly rested his head as he lay mortally wounded. The site offers a spectacular, unimpeded view of the Manhattan skyline.

Three blocks from Newark’s Prudential Center, site of Super Bowl Media day, a sidewalk plaque in front of 12 East Park St. marks the spot where Arthur Flegenheimer, better known as the Prohibition-era gangster Dutch Schultz, was gunned down in 1935 by rival mobsters.

Museums

The 104-year-old Newark Museum (49 Washington St., Newark) is home to 80 galleries of world-class art and artifacts with a particular emphasis on Asian and African art. During Super Bowl week it will have on display the original Lombardi Trophy that was handcrafted in Tiffany’s Newark in 1967. It’s part of an exhibition celebrating Newark’s place as the former hub of the country’s precious metals industry.

The Montclair Art Museum (3 South Mountain Ave., Montclair), celebrating its centennial this year, specializes in American and Native American artworks from the 18th century to the present.
For a change of pace, the Yogi Berra Museum (www.yogiberramuseum.org), on the campus of Montclair State University, offers a collection of mementos from the Hall of Fame catcher’s career during the New York Yankees’ heyday in the 1940s and ‘50s, and also provides sports-based educational programs for kids.

Hoboken

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer takes it in stride when people joke that she is the second-most important person in the city of 50,000 across the Hudson River from Manhattan. After all, who could compete with the addictive confections of ‘‘Cake Boss’’ Buddy Valastro? His bakery, Carlo’s, sits across the street from city hall at 95 Washington St. (hint: it’s the one with the line stretching around the block).

Another favorite son grew up a half-mile away and went on to become a pretty fair singer. The house at 415 Monroe St. where Frank Sinatra was born is gone, but the spot is marked by a bronze plaque on the sidewalk and a brick arch. (Try humming ‘‘Summer Wind’’ to take your mind off the biting cold.)

Ol’ Blue Eyes probably never performed at Maxwell’s (11th and Washington streets) but many other big names did, including REM, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Blue Oyster Cult and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and part of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘‘Glory Days’’ video was shot there. Maxwell’s closed as a music venue earlier this year but remains open as a restaurant.

Blink and you’ll miss the plaque standing in a traffic island catty-corner from Maxwell’s. It marks the spot where, according to some, the first baseball game was played in the 1840s at Hoboken’s Elysian Fields.

Liberty Science Center

The Liberty Science Center’s (http://lsc.org) 88-foot IMAX movie screen, considered the largest in the country, will dwarf any puny 50-inch flat screen your buddies will be watching at home in their man caves. You won’t be able to watch the game on it, but who needs football when you can watch penguins, dinosaurs and great white sharks in such detail that you can critique their dental work? The science center, along the Hudson River in Jersey City, also features loads of exhibits on inventions, health and the environment, with many interactive components. There’s also a pristine view of the Statue of Liberty.

Sept. 11 memorial

The Liberty Science Center’s (http://lsc.org) 88-foot IMAX movie screen, considered the largest in the country, will dwarf any puny 50-inch flat screen your buddies will be watching at home in their man caves. You won’t be able to watch the game on it, but who needs football when you can watch penguins, dinosaurs and great white sharks in such detail that you can critique their dental work? The science center, along the Hudson River in Jersey City, also features loads of exhibits on inventions, health and the environment, with many interactive components. There’s also a pristine view of the Statue of Liberty.

Football at the Metropolitan Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is more likely to be associated with Egyptian artifacts and Renaissance paintings than football. But the museum on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street is getting into the Super Bowl spirit with an exhibit of vintage football cards called ‘‘Gridiron Greats,’’ Jan. 24-Feb. 10, www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/gridiron-greats .
About 150 cards printed between 1894 and 1959 will be shown, from the first football cards ever produced to cards featuring legendary coach Knute Rockne and Jim Thorpe, one of the 20th century’s greatest athletes. Also on display: rare action photos of early varsity teams.

Other museums with football exhibits: the interactive ‘‘You Make the Call: Learn to be An NFL Official’’ at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, through Feb. 28; and at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, ‘‘Madden NFL: 25 Years and Running,’’ a look at the enduringly popular football video game, through Feb. 23.

Super Bowl Boulevard

More than a million people are expected to visit Super Bowl Boulevard, Jan. 29-Feb. 1, noon-10 p.m., along Broadway between 34th and 47th streets, www.nfl.com/superbowl/48/events/boulevard . Entry will be free, though sliding down a toboggan run at 40th Street will cost $5. The toboggan will operate with or without snow.

In honor of the 48th Super Bowl, giant Roman numerals XLVIII will be set up at 42nd Street as a backdrop for photos. Fans can also stop by for autograph sessions with current and former NFL players, noon-6 p.m., at a stage at 39th Street. The stage will also display the Vince Lombardi Trophy, awarded each year to the Super Bowl champions, and named for the man considered one of the sport’s most successful coaches. Concerts will be held on the stage each evening, 8 p.m.-10 p.m.

A 10-minute video celebration of football will be projected on Macy’s facade at 34th Street, every 30 minutes between 5 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Macy’s will also host an NFL shop on its fourth floor, Jan. 17-Feb. 4.

Kids ages 6-13 can check out the animated ‘‘NFL PLAY 60 Field’’ experience, noon-5 p.m. in the NFL Rush Zone in heated tents between 34th and 35th streets. Fans of all ages can take part in interactive games and enjoy Video Park, a video that looks at the host region, in tents between 35th and 36th streets, noon-10 p.m.
For sightseeing advice, the city’s tourism agency, NYC & Company, has a tent between 43rd and 44th streets and an information desk on Macy’s mezzanine; http://www.nycgo.com .

What’s new

If you haven’t been to New York City in a few years, you’ll want to check out its newest attractions, such as the High Line, a unique urban park built on an old West Side railway line, running along 10th Avenue from 30th Street to just below 14th Street. Entry is free.

The 9/11 Memorial i(pictured) s a must-see, beautiful tribute to those who perished on Sept. 11, 2001. Reservations recommended; timed tickets are $2 from http://www.911memorial.org/visitor-passes . A limited number of walkup passes are available at the entrance at Albany and Washington streets. One World Trade Center is not yet open to the public but it’s visible from many vantage points.

Calling all hipsters: Take the L train to Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to hang with the cool kids.

Hockey in a baseball stadium

Never mind football. For hockey fans, there are games in a baseball stadium, as Yankee Stadium hosts its first hockey games. The New York Rangers play the New Jersey Devils Jan. 26, while the Rangers play the New York Islanders Jan. 29.

Big Apple classics

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island have reopened to visitors following months of closure after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

For panoramic views of the city from up high, take your pick of observatories: the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center.
If you don’t mind the cold, there’s nothing lovelier or more New York than walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. For the best view, take the A or C train to the High Street stop in Brooklyn and walk back to Manhattan to see the skyscraper canyons coming into view with every step.

Skating rinks at Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park and Wollman Rink in Central Park are among the most magical places you will ever take a spin on the ice.
Love theater? Two-for-one tickets are on sale now for many shows during Broadway Week, Jan. 21-Feb. 6, www.nycgo.com/broadwayweek .

Just before the big game, Chinatown’s Lunar New Year Parade and Festival take place in Lower Manhattan Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.: http://betterchinatown.com/ .

If the football card exhibit at the Met whets your appetite for more museums, consider the American Museum of Natural History, a favorite with kids, or the Museum of Modern Art, home to Picassos, Van Goghs and Monets. The Guggenheim is famous for its Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, while tours by costumed actors at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side bring the 20th century immigrant experience to life.