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."
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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.)
This photo was 100% luck.
I tried to replicate this shot under the next few overpasses (sitting in the passenger seat, going 65mph) and got nothing. Overexposed blurs, underexposed blurs, blurs that couldn't figure out where to focus, blurs with glare from the windshield behind which I was sitting, etc. etc. etc.
Someone else in my position might get frustrated that her lucky shots often have as much merit as the ones with careful attention to exposure and composition, but me? I'm a casual snapshot photographer anyway, so it doesn't bother me one bit.
....okay, I'm a little annoyed.
A sign above this door reads,
"NOTICE
is hereby given of an application
for DEMOLITION of this BUILDING.
Final action is to be taken by the
Neptune Township Historic
Preservation Commission on
July 27, 2004. Persons interested
in the acquisition and preservation
of this building should contact
Rose Havey at 732.555.1234 x.247"
(That's not really the phone number.)
I get a huge kick out of peoplewatching. I think everyone does, really. It's fascinating to imagine what's going through their minds--why they're in the same place as me today--where they're going--where they came from--what they're going to do when they get home and why they're going to do it--who they know--et cetera et cetera et cetera.
Remember when I showed you Asbury Park's Convention Hall? Well, this is Paramount Theatre, the bit that faces away from the Atlantic Ocean.
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).
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.
Today's City Daily Photo theme is graffiti!
Well, I already posted my favorite graffiti some time ago, so here's some more, underneath a Rt. 18 overpass in Tinton Falls. (When I took this, some cops pulled over to ask what the heck I was doing, hanging out under overpasses!)
Here are some other Daily City Photoblogs participating in today's theme (check them out! they're even arranged alphabetically by city this month!):
Adelaide, Australia by Gordon, Albuquerque (NM), USA by Helen, Aliso Viejo (CA), USA by Rodney, American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Athens, Greece by Debbie, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Bandung, Indonesia by Guntur Purwanto, Baziège, France by PaB, Belgrade, Serbia by BgdPic, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Boston (MA), USA by Fenix, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Boston (MA), USA by Sarah, Whit, & Leyre, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Bucaramanga, Colombia by Fernando, Budapest, Hungary by Isadora, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Buenos Aires, Argentina by Karine, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cape Town, South Africa by Kerry-Anne, Chandler (AZ), USA by Melindaduff, Chateaubriant, France by Bergson, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chicago (IL), USA by b.c., Chicago (IL), USA by U R us, Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Clearwater (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Clearwater Beach (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Cologne, Germany by April11, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Detroit (MI), USA by Taittems, Dunedin (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, Evry, France by Olivier, Forks (WA), USA by Corinne, Glasgow, Scotland by Jackie, Greenville (SC), USA by Denton, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Guelph, Canada by Pat, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Gerald, Inverness (IL), USA by Neva, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Joplin (MO), USA by Victoria, Juneau (AK), USA by Gwyn, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Las Vegas (NV), USA by Mo, Le Guilvinec, France by ds2944, Lisbon, Portugal by Sailor Girl, Lisbon, Portugal by Jsaltao, Lodz, Poland by ritalounge, London, UK by Ham, London, UK by Mo, Mainz, Germany by JB, Maple Ridge, Canada by Susan, Mazatlan, Mexico by Kate, Melbourne, Australia by Mblamo, Melbourne, Australia by John, Memphis (TN), USA by SouthernHeart, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico, Mexico by Poly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Montréal, Canada by Douber, Moscow, Russia by Irina, Mumbai, India by Kunalbhatia, Mumbai, India by MumbaiIteanu, Naples (FL), USA by Isabella, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK by Cassie & Chris, Niamey, Niger by Dinabee, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Nottingham, UK by Gail's Man, Ocean Township (NJ), USA by Josy, Paris, France by Eric, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Pasadena (CA), USA by Petrea, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Pilisvörösvár, Hungary by Elise, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Port Elizabeth, South Africa by Sam, Port Vila, Vanuatu by Mblamo, Prague, Czech Republic by Honza03, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Radonvilliers, France by Deslilas, Riga, Latvia by Prokur, Rome, Italy by Giovanni, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Saint Paul (MN), USA by Kate, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation by Lark, San Antonio (TX), USA by Kramer, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Diego (CA), USA by Zentmrs, Santa Fe (NM), USA by Randem, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Seguin (TX), USA by Thien, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, Silver Spring (MD), USA by John, Singapore, Singapore by Keropok, Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia, St Francis, South Africa by Sam, Stavanger, Norway by Tanty, Stayton (OR), USA by Celine, Stockholm, Sweden by Stromsjo, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Sydney, Australia by Sally, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Terre Haute (IN), USA by Zann, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Torun, Poland by Torun Observer, Toulouse, France by Julia, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina by Jazzy, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Wassenaar, Netherlands by Rich, Wellington, New Zealand by Jeremyb, West Paris (ME), USA by crittoria, West Sacramento (CA), USA by Barbara, Weston (FL), USA by WestonDailyPhoto, Wrocław, Poland by Loompi, Yardley (PA), USA by Mrlynn
This is the side of one of the Ocean Grove fire stations.
I know that Ocean Grove has more than one fire station (the internet says it has 3, but I've only seen 2)... but I'm not sure WHY there are so many in such a tiny area. My guess is either A) only one is actually active and the others are just pretty remnants of firehouses past, or B) everything in Ocean Grove is made of wood (except this fire station) and would go up in flames in A SPLIT SECOND.
(Seriously.)
Man oh man. I hauled my tripod around and got several neat photos last night, but unfortunately, NOT A ONE was taken in Monmouth County. So here's a shot of Spring Lake station that I finally got around to salvaging.
This is a fairly old photograph (circa 2006, huzzah for Asbury Park), but I still like it, and I'm running low on photos 'cos I'm a little short on time at the moment. (Grad school applications, due in like a week, and I still have no idea who my third reference will be. Cripes.)
P.S. If you go to the thumbnail archive (available at the top of the right-hand sidebar), does the thumbnail for this post look funny to you, or is it just me?
A shopping cart... all alone behind Value City, which used to be part of Ocean Township's Seaview Square Mall back when there WAS a Seaview Square Mall. Some years ago (maybe 10, give or take a few), the crime rate for this mall increased significantly, so people stopped going here and went to Monmouth Mall instead. As a result, Seaview Square is now comprised of a few large stores (Value City, Target, and Sears) but not much else. The large stores are no longer connected in a mall format.
Wikipedia tells the story better than I do.
(Gosh this picture is old.)
This is similar to one of my top-ten year-end nominations (see next paragraph), but today was kinda wet, and I still like this photo, so...
In case you're wondering about the new poll on the sidebar and the funny footer (scroll down a few more inches), it's time to vote for OTDP's photo of the year! I've narrowed it down to my top 10 (which may have changed since the last time you looked), and linked them in the bottom footer (click to see any of them larger). Vote for as many as you like (preferably less than all 10) or, if you have another favorite, note it in a comment somewhere and I'll take it into consideration.
CA[UT]ION
do not play
on, in, or around
(Not responsible for personal injury)
Seen at the Ocean Township recycling site.
