I explored the old Bell Labs by bike — here’s what I found

The old Bell Labs complex in Holmdel, NJ, site of so many scientific discoveries and advancements that we take for granted today, has long been on my list of places to visit.

Lucky for me, a friend was up for a ride. Even better, she planned the route!

We picked a Wednesday because that’s farmers market day. And while there may not be a lot of produce for sale, there is lots of everything else. The big line? For bread. It was there when we arrived at 11 and still going strong when we left an hour later.

Not that we were ready to carry a sourdough loaf on our bikes. Instead we grabbed snacks elsewhere — I went for a s’mores brownie. Sorry, no photo, but think of a brownie with graham cracker and marshmallow on top.

What’s the story behind Bell Labs?

This complex was built in the early 1960s by the architect who designed the futuristic TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, now a hotel. At one point, more than 5,000 engineers and researchers worked here. I thought this building would be curvy, like the TWA site, but nope, that’s the road layout around it. The structure itself is a large rectangular building clad in reflective glass. It’s very light and airy, designed to be great for collaboration and creating that sense of community that people say is missing in today’s world.

Only a small part of the building now honors Bell Labs. Look for the phone booth (with old phone books!) and wall displays by one of the the entrances. Lots of Nobel Prize winners!

Outside you can still see the water tower that resembles (deliberately or not) an early transistor (invented by Bell Labs).

And a nod to more history:

But all this ended when AT&T was broken up, and Bell Labs was sold to Lucent, which later became Alcatel-Lucent. By 2006, that company had its own troubles and was trying to sell the property. It took a while, but eventually the Bell Labs site was redeveloped.

Today, or at least on the Wednesday we visited, it’s a stunningly vibrant reimagining of the complex. Stores and other small businesses line the ground floor of what’s called Bell Works, serving office workers and visitors. Lots of food choices, including Jersey Freeze, an iconic Freehold ice cream spot. The farmers market claims dead center, but there’s also basketball further down the atrium. The concert and theater space is in a lower level, but it was closed off when we were there.

There’s no doubt more to explore. We’re told there’s lots happening after work.

And as part of the work-play-live concept, land that surrounded the office building was sold off for housing. Now there’s plenty of single-family homes nearby.

Are there lessons in all this for dying malls?

The route

So how did we get there? Two of us chose to begin in downtown Freehold, at the end of the recently extended Henry Hudson Trail. Yes, there’s parking. A third opted for Big Brook Park, where the southern-most section of the trail ends just over 6 miles to the north. Plentiful parking there too. Loved how the tree roots have been smoothed out on this section of the trail.

Then we headed out on the road.

This 35-mile route is suited for people who are comfortable riding on roads with narrow to no shoulder in spots. But those roads + traffic were brief; it was mostly either quiet roads or more traffic roads but with wide shoulders.

And yes, you turn on that road toward Collier Youth Services, never mind the need to register with security because you’ll turn off before that. That’s the one spot where we said huh, is this really where we are supposed to go? But it’s quiet, the hill isn’t bad … and it’s much better than being on Route 79. Trust me, we rode to that intersection and looked.

You’ll ride through some posh parts of Jersey horse country (you know which Jersey icon lives in Colts Neck, right?) and see some jaw-dropping homes. What do people do with all that space?

Here’s some of what else we saw:

More off the Henry Hudson Trail

Bruce Springsteen’s Freehold by bike

What an amazing day biking to New York City!

I biked to Freehold for the Henry Hudson Trail and ended up in a brewery