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entertainment

For those who have found this blog by Googling "Things to do in Monmouth County:" I am as clueless as you are. My main source of entertainment 'round here is wandering around with a camera, looking for interesting things to photograph.

Here are some things I have done:

1. Bowling. (Often with bumpers for the second game, because I am just that spectacular.) I usually go to The Lanes at Sea Girt, but I've been to Memory Lanes in Shrewsbury, Shore Lanes in Neptune (which is on the Asbury Circle, which is not a fun circle to navigate), and Brunswick Bradley Beach Bowl (maybe that link will work if you have the latest version of Flash, which I don't).

2. Bars (and/or restaurants, grills, etc. that serve liquor). Not so much fun here in suburbia 'cos you have to drive home afterwards, so you really need to (ought to) watch yourself. Unless you have a designated driver, which no one wants to be. (The above photo was taken in the Brickwall Tavern, Asbury Park.)

3. Coffee. Only really works if there's only a small group of you, though.

4. Movies. Hey, it's something.

5. The Datebook. Go find your local print copy of the Asbury Park Press and leaf through it until you find the Datebook, which takes up the bottom half of a page and is usually printed in red or blue ink. A lot of the stuff is craft sales and "square dancing for 'kids' 55 and over," but it's worth a look. I have been unable to locate the Datebook online; you do need an actual physical copy of the APP.

6. Go biking. All right, maybe it's not a 'Saturday night with the gang' sort of activity, but it's healthy. Bob Lucky reviews and photographs several Monmouth County bike paths, and many of the Monmouth County Parks are set up for that sort of thing.

7. Walk around. This sounds monumentally stupid, but if you have nothing better to do, give it a shot. Red Bank, Asbury Park, local parks, and anywhere with a boardwalk can be fun places to do this.

Speaking of Red Bank and Asbury Park, here are some official lists of what's going on in various towns:
Asbury Park

Red Bank (see also the Count Basie Theater, Two River Theater Company, Improv Comedy Jam, and Red Bank Art Cinemas)

Also see Go Kids NJ, which sounds stupid, but you're never too old to enjoy a boardwalk or a festival or an aquarium. You can search for specific towns.

pidgins

Pigeons in the Asbury Park Casino.

Rather than thinking something normal, like "Huh, we usually see more mourning doves than pigeons around here, 'cos these parts aren't too urban," I keep thinking something more along the lines of "Bet those pigeons don't speak Pidgin."

beautiful alley

I remember when this little balcony didn't used to be fenced off.

It's part of the Asbury Park Casino/ Boiler House/ Carousel complex, on the Ocean Grove side.

medusae

Detail of the copper Medusa heads* that surround the carousel house in Asbury Park.

Asbury Park notes:

First off, Madame Marie died last Friday, June 27, just nine days after I featured her. She was 93.

Secondly, someone threw... a raw hamburger? a large chunk of watermelon? at my car--about an inch below the driver's side window--while I was driving through Asbury Park last Wednesday. Having heard the ear-shattering THUNK with which it hit, I'm relieved that there doesn't seem to be any permanent body damage. Remember--Asbury Park is looking up, but it ain't there yet.

*Actually, as far as I can tell, nobody's entirely sure what these faces really represent. We all kind of assume they're Medusae, but we're not certain what Warren Whitney was thinking when he decided to add these faces to his design.

NO!

Boardwalks and beaches have a zillion silly rules.

Asbury Park, shown above:
"Welcome to Asbury Park boardwalk and beaches
For your safety and pleasure please follow these rules and regulations:

NO

Rollerblades

Skateboards

Dogs or other animals

Bicycle riding 12 noon-6 AM

Alcohol permitted east of Ocean Ave.

Please swim only in designated areas when lifeguards are on duty"

I love how alcohol is permitted WEST of Ocean Ave. In all fairness, east of Ocean Avenue pretty much is the beach.

Here are MORE Jersey Shore boardwalk "no" signs!

Ocean Grove, sign one:

"NO bicycles on boardwalk

except 3AM-10AM

Neptune Twp Ord. 1120
Strictly enforced by Neptune Twp. Police"

Because, y'know, I love to go out riding my bike at THREE IN THE MORNING.

Ocean Grove, sign two:

"No dogs permitted on beach or boardwalk
May 1-Oct. 1
Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association"

Sea Girt:
"[handwritten] No ball playing, frisbee, or kite flying
No dogs on boardwalk or beach
No bicycles surfboards, skateboards, or rollerskates on boardwalk
No consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages in public
No sleeping on beach from 5PM to 9AM
Bicycles permitted on boardwalk from 5AM to 10AM only
No one admitted to beach without a beach badge
No beach fires or picnic parties
No food allowed on beach
Bathing permitted in protected areas only"

the empress

The Empress Hotel began as a luxury resort for vacationing families in the 1950s. By the 1980s, it was pretty much out of business, and by 1991, it was boarded up. But in 1998, famous radio DJ Shep Pettibone bought the property and opened a nightclub inside. The Paradise Nightclub "lured crowds of gay travelers away from Fire Island and instead to the beaches of Asbury Park;" the hotel portion reopened 6 years later in 2004 and continues to attract a LGBT clientele. According to Wikipedia, "It is one of the Jersey Shore's most chic resorts, as well as its only Hotel which caters to the gay community."

And: CHECK OUT MY MAP OF ASBURY PARK! <--clicky clicky
It allows you to put all I've said in some sort of spacial context. :)

This concludes Asbury Park Feature Week (what's that? You didn't know I was doing one? Go back and read my last 5 posts! :) ). I am actually in North Carolina for a few days, so I will be relying on "automatic posting," will not update the archive until I return, and will be unavailable for comments.

madam(e) marie

Again with the Springsteen--if you've ever heard the line

Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do?

then now you know what he was talking about.

Yes, Madam Marie is a real person with a real shack on the Asbury Park boardwalk where she tells fortunes (though I believe the legitimacy of this operation was a bit dubious for many years--hence the reference to the cops finally busting her.) This is actually a new building--the original looked like this.

(I managed to take some photos at the lowest resolution my camera is capable of. So please don't look too closely at this.)

Edit: Madame Marie died June 27, 2008, just 9 days after this was posted. She was 93.

cookman avenue

Some of you non-Jersey-Shore-ites might be wondering why I'm featuring Asbury Park this week.

Asbury Park, aside from being one of two official "cities" in Monmouth County (the other being Long Branch), has one of the most interesting histories in the area (and, according to the official website, has been deemed the sixth-best place in the state for music).

In 1871, James A. Bradley (who developed several of the shore towns; Bradley Beach [a town slightly south] is named after him) established Asbury Park, and by 1894, the resort was officially a bustling city. Development grew; Art Deco and Beaux Arts architecture proliferated; over 600,000 people each year came by train from New York City and Philadelphia to enjoy the pleasures of Asbury. [1]

But progress wasn't kind to the city. After World War II, the surrounding farms were developed into suburbia, so those who could afford it moved into newer houses with spacious yards. The Garden State Parkway, built from 1946-1957, allowed vacationers to plan trips that didn't involve taking trains to the shore. Ten miles away in Eatontown, Monmouth Mall--established in 1958 and continually expanded through 1975, 1986, and 1993--was more convenient and attractive to shoppers than the boutiques of downtown Asbury Park. Thirty miles away in Jackson Township, Six Flags Great Adventure opened in 1972, making vacationers think twice about spending their summers on "a mile-long stretch of aging boardwalk amusements."[2]

Asbury Park was already on the down-and-down when the July 4 weekend race riots in 1970 destroyed several aging buildings and killed 46 people. (My mother actually worked in Asbury Park at this time; she came back from her pleasant little July 4th weekend, heard about what had happened in Asbury while she was off skiing, and got a call from one of her clients warning everyone in the storefront operation to get out, there's a mob coming your way!) It was official: there was no longer any reason for tourists to spend their summers in this seaside town.

Except, of course, the music scene, but I won't get into that here.

The carousel house and Palace Amusements managed to stay afloat until 1988 (in fact, the carousel horses were refurbished at great cost in 1986, but according to Palace Amusements Online:

During the summer of 1987, a 50-mile slick of discarded medical and hospital trash and household garbage ruined parts of the Jersey shore, and scared visitors away from nearly all the rest. Bill Foster, the Palace manager, was quoted as blaming the disaster for a 55 percent drop in Palace business; others, including Sam Vaccaro, dispute that figure but say the impact was very bad. A year later, mistakes made during the cleaning of Asbury Park's sewage line flushed high levels of fecal bacteria into the ocean, closing beaches for 19 days. The State of New Jersey fined Asbury Park more than $1 million for the mistake. The number of day visitors to Asbury Park dropped like a rock. [3]

(There was a lot of drama surrounding the auctioning-off of the carousel horses--read this for details.)

As far as I'm aware, everyone who could leave did. Growing up, we heard about the shootings, the dangers, the "don't go to Asbury if you don't have to." Last summer (2007), when I went to take some nighttime photos of the Asbury Park Casino, an Ocean Grove cop-on-a-Segway stopped for a few moments to warn me to BE CAREFUL! And there was an article on the front page of the Asbury Park Press today (June 18, 2008) describing "96 arrested in Asbury Park."

In 2002, the redevelopment began. The dilapidated buildings are either being preserved or demolished; either way, the city is cleaning up and attracting new people, including a substantial LGBT community. [2] Cookman Avenue, pictured above, is one of the hippest areas of Asbury. According to a friend, "There's a rainbow flag in like every window. It's not as bad as we were told growing up."

Asbury Park's got a rich history: some bright, some dark, all more interesting than, say, Farmingdale. And it's kind of exciting to share a zip code with the best-known municipality in Monmouth County.

Sources:
[1] Asbury Park, New Jersey- Official Website, History, accessed June 17 2008.
[2] Wikipedia, Asbury Park, New Jersey, accessed June 17 2008.
[3] Palace Amusements Online, 1986-1988, accessed June 17 2008.

casino 2

Interior of Asbury Park Casino--what's left of it, anyway. And, just to orient you, if you click that "Asbury Park Casino" link and pretend you're standing there, this is what you'd see if you looked through a hole in the wall to your left.

(Click the photo for a larger size! This is two photos hand-stitched together with no fancy software.)

tillie!

What is this?

Painted on Asbury Park's Wonder Bar, this is a reproduction of the original 'Tillie' faces found on the walls of Palace Amusements.

"Tillie?" You go around naming murals on walls?

George C. Tilyou, better known as the owner of Coney Island's Steeplechase Park (and the father of the contemporary amusement park), had a marketing strategy for his Coney Island parks: "his trademark image of a grinning face (replete with twice the usual number of teeth) appeared on the entrance, tickets, and all printed material."[1]

Here's a photo of the George C. Tilyou's Coney Island face, photographed in March 2008:

In an "homage" to Tilyou's original funny-face icon, Worth Thomas designed a similar (though not identical, under threat of copyright infringement) fifteen-foot tall face in the mid-1950s, painted twice--for two walls of Palace Amusements.[2] Why a giant grinning face, of all things to pay homage to? According to the Palace Museum Online, the face "stylistically continued a tradition begun in 1897 when Coney Island amusements impresario George Cornelius Tilyou introduced a fun face as the logo of Steeplechase Park in Coney Island. Tilyou so successfully integrated the image throughout his park that most other amusement entrepreneurs followed with designs of their own."[3] (I've never heard of other parks using the face, though.)

So, to answer the original question: Tilyou--> Tillie. That's all.

Okay, so why reproduce a random mural? It's just a face.

Tillie is/was one of the most recognizable icons of the Jersey Shore. Don't ask me why.

When there were plans to demolish the Palace Amusements building, a whole SWARM of people stood up and fought it for years. They called themselves 'Save Tillie' and managed to have the building listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. But, well, they didn't own the property; eventually economics won out, and the building was demolished in 2004... but NOT before Save Tillie managed to salvage the murals. (Here's a picture.)[4]

So... where's Tillie now?

In storage somewhere, waiting for an appropriate opportunity for display to arise.[5]

Sources:

[1] Ford, Robert C., and Ady Milman, George C. Tilyou--Developer of the Contemporary Amusement Park, August 1 2000; accessed June 15 2008.

[2] Mister Snitch, A Tale of Two Tillies, August 2 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[3] Palace Online Museum, 1955-1956, 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[4] Palace Online Museum, Save Tillie, 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[5] Crane, Bob, Asbury Park redevelopers disregarding historic artifacts, May 11 2008; accessed June 15 2008.
(If that link doesn't work, try Backstreets.com)

(This bibliography is absolutely improper, but hey, at least I'm citing my sources.)

carousel 2

I have several points to make today. Enter the numbered list:

1. On the left (below) is an exterior shot taken at the same time as the photo featured above. Compare to the photo I took of this building back in January:

This is super-exciting, because--you'll note--this closed-to-the-public-for-20-years carousel IS OPEN. No fences, no doors, no broken glass, no debris, and lights that work! Plus you can see the grooves in the floor where the carousel used to be, which is just awesome.

When I originally posted this in January, I was encouraged to break and enter to obtain photographs. But look--if you're patient, you can do these sorts of things LEGALLY. Yippee.

2. For a full history of the carousel building, visit my original post on the matter. For the abbreviated version-- the Asbury Park carousel building (along with the Casino) was designed by Warren Whitney (one of the guys who designed Grand Central Station); the carousel was installed in 1923; it closed sometime in the late '80s (I think) for economic reasons, and the carousel itself can currently be found in Family Kingdom in North Carolina.

3. There was supposed to be a farmer's market in this building today. There wasn't. There were four vendors (1-flowers, 2-veggies, 3-coffee, 4-pasta) in the Casino next door. I got up early this morning to enjoy the pleasures of this well-publicized "farmer's market in the carousel building," and I was most disappointed. And from the snippets of about 7 other conversations that I caught, I was NOT ALONE. Of course, this means that the next time Asbury Park actually wants to have a farmer's market in the carousel building, we shoppers will all be damned if we bother to show up again.

4. I may make this into an Asbury Park feature week--I have lots of photos and I'm slightly obsessed with it at the moment. Be prepared!

transplant

From an artistic perspective, I'd like to have darkened/de-contrasted the background a bit, just so it didn't blend into the foreground so much... but that is pretty darn time-consuming, and the artistry of my photography is not the point today.

This is one of the two carousel horses found in the Grand Arcade between Asbury Park's Convention Hall and Paramount Theater.

I don't think this is a carousel horse that was actually used in Asbury Park--mostly because I didn't see a description near the horse (nor the other one--there's a black steed a few yards away), and everything I've read on the fate of the Asbury Park carousels indicates that the horses found homes elsewhere.

But I really don't know. The town--especially the boardwalk area--is beginning to clean up surprisingly well, so maybe the historic society collected the funds to buy back a few of their own horses and show 'em off in the Convention Hall. Or, more likely, they've been there all along and I just haven't noticed.

*Edit: No, they're a recent introduction.

YOUNG MAN

Well, I haven't featured this building in a while, so why not? It's still a neat shade of orange.

It used to be Asbury Park's YMCA, but it's currently serving as Young at Heart. I think. It might have changed, actually, but last time I checked, it was..

paramount theatre

Remember when I showed you Asbury Park's Convention Hall? Well, this is Paramount Theatre, the bit that faces away from the Atlantic Ocean.

(This is the west front; the top photo shows the north side.)

Everything I told you in the first post still holds true, but I'll repeat some of it:

1. While most people refer to the entire structure as the "Convention Hall," the building is ACTUALLY a union of both the Paramount Theatre (west of the boardwalk) and the Asbury Park Convention Hall (east of the boardwalk). In the words of the official website, it's "a multi-purpose venue of two separate buildings joined by a Grand Arcade."

2. It was designed in 1923 by Warren and Wetmore, the same guys who designed Grand Central Terminal in New York City as well as the Asbury Park Casino and Casino Carousel House. It is a registered historic building (according to Wikipedia).

convention hall

The Asbury Park Convention Hall juts on the beach. Unlike the Casino, this beach-jutting has not yet caused it to fall into the ocean. (Side note: if you click that casino link, just so you know, everything to the right of the large casino pillar has been demolished now.)

While most people refer to the entire structure as the "Convention Hall," the building is ACTUALLY a union of both the Paramount Theatre (west of the boardwalk) and the Asbury Park Convention Hall (east of the boardwalk). In the words of the official website, it's "a multi-purpose venue of two separate buildings joined by a Grand Arcade."

(presumably, the red-and-white striped bit, which was not always red-and-white striped, is the "Grand Arcade" that connects the two buildings.)

It was designed in 1923 by Warren and Wetmore, the same guys who designed Grand Central Terminal in New York City as well as the Asbury Park Casino and Casino Carousel House.* It is a registered historic building (according to Wikipedia).

Maybe someday later, if you're lucky, I'll show you the west Paramount Theatre side. :)

*Some pictures may not show up today. Zooomr, one of my photo-hosting sites, is having issues (as usual).

stone pony

The Stone Pony in Asbury Park!

...You've never heard of it? Check the extensive Wikipedia article on it, or investigate the Stone Pony's official website!

Basically, it is famous for launching the careers of Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and a few others. The club originally opened in 1974, grew famous, filed for bankruptcy and closed in 1991 (as Asbury Park deteriorated), reopened in 2000, and remains a popular venue in the Jersey Shore music scene today.

greetings from asbury park

This is the view from INSIDE the Asbury Park Casino, looking out at Asbury Park.

And here are some exterior views of it: View 1 and View 2

boardwalkin' and streetlampin'

(Click on any photo to view it larger.)

This past weekend, I took a walk/jog/leisurely photographic tour down part of the Jersey shore boardwalk, from south Asbury Park to north Belmar. It's about 2.7 miles, and I set foot in 5 different towns. (Shewd observers will note that I have no photograph of the fifth town, Bradley Beach, which is located right between Ocean Grove and Avon-by-the-Sea. Guess what? Its street lights look exactly like Ocean Grove's. The only thing different is the fancy red brick/stone boardwalk.)

The POINT here is to show the different streetlights you'd see as you cross from town to town. I just think it's kind of interesting. Oh- and if you want to know what town you're looking at, just hover your cursor over each photo. The title will tell you where you are.

These photographs, all of which look north, were taken between 9:23AM and 9:57AM; here is the route I took. (Unfortunately, if you click on that link, it will only appear as the furthest zoom possible ["Oh look, it's AN ENTIRE WORLD MAP"], so you need to drag the +/- slider up to about 4-5 notches from the top [as zoomed-in as possible].)

old neptune high school

I have featured this building in an older post, but it was dark, and you only see the side in that one. So here is the Jersey Shore Arts Center (which used to be the Neptune High School, as you can see) in Ocean Grove/Asbury Park.

Here's what I wrote about it last June, 'cos I'm sure you've forgotten it by now:

This is the Jersey Shore Arts Center, located in what you'd THINK would be Asbury Park, right outside Ocean Grove's main gate... but is apparently Ocean Grove's territory. It used to be the old Neptune high school, and it was hailed at the 1906 World's Fair as "an architectural splendor," but it died, as neglected buildings often do. In 1997, the Ocean Grove Historic Preservation Society began turning it into "a beautiful home for the cultural arts at the New Jersey shore."

carousel

It's time to bore everyone with a little history!

Asbury Park, in its heyday, had two notable carousels: the Palace Amusements Carousel (not pictured) and the Casino Carousel House (pictured). The carousel inside both structures were removed in the 1980s--so I actually got a chance to ride one of them (don't ask me which one; I was less than 5 years old) before it was too late.

The Palace Amusements Carousel (not pictured) was designed by Charles Looff, c. 1888. A fire in 1910 did a lot of damage, but repairs were made, and the carousel went on jingling until another fire in the 1960's. The wooden horses were then replaced with fiberglass ones. So if it was removed in 1988, where is it now? According to Carousels.com, in 1988, "the frame went to an amusement park in Mississippi; many of the horses were used as replacements for other carousels and ultimately, the frame was destined for the scrapyard." The Palace Amusements building was demolished in 2004 (but they were able to save Tille, a local landmark).

The Casino Carousel House (pictured) was designed by Whitney Warren (one of the men who designed NYC's Grand Central Station), and it used to house the Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #87, which was installed around 1923. I don't know exactly when the carousel was removed from Asbury Park, but parts of it can now be found at Family Kingdom Park in Myrtle Beach, SC. (The horses are not the original ones, but some of them are said to be cast from the originals.)

(Side note: Lowercase Es and As are not showing up in my Blogger window, but they seem to be posting all right. This is REALLY throwing me, though, because I see:
"Sid not : Low rc s Es nd As r not showing up in my Blogg r window, but th y s m to b posting ll right.")