During my early adulthood (1980s) Asbury Park was indeed a squirrelly place to inhabit but it did provide many with an affordable, if dicey, apartment (often shoehorned in an old Victorian that now goes for many hundreds of thousands). There were young families, old codgers, many single girls and lots of struggling folks who wanted to live close to the ocean but couldn't afford their own home. Lots of the shore towns became party centers for the baby boomers and there were always plenty of bars to unwind in. The beaches, however, varied in quality (Asbury being not very popular, unless there was a radio-promoted concert). Today, it boasts an attractive beach, boardwalk and shopping vibe and is relatively safe...I'm glad I've lived to see it in all it's splendid seediness as well as its current trendiness. It is about time and I think it's here to stay.
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“Not all of iStar’s properties are high-end, he added, pointing to Asbury Lanes, a vintage bowling alley that was reborn two years ago with a new concert stage and a diner.” However, that’s an entertainment venue, and likely of little interest to low income residents. That’s how he’s defending the fact that he’s building $6 million condos?
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Actually, James Bradley resisted numerous calls to segregate Asbury Park for some time. However, around 1890, a local newspaper and hotel owners group pushed for this as Asbury Park became popular with Black visitors. There were complaints of "dusky visitors coming where they are not wanted" as they were occupying the best benches on the boardwalk. Eventually, signs were erected restricting Blacks to certain pavilions and a section of the beach south of the Casino near Ocean Grove.
Asbury Park as popular with people from Trenton, NJ, as it was an easy trip on Route 33. I recall the 1950s when the boardwalk was an elegant place and the town parks filled with flower beds and fountains. Sadly, things badly deteriorated in the 1960s with racial unrest and more affordable flights to Florida. I once visited Ocean Grove and ventured over to Asbury Park and fell through the deteriorated boardwalk. At that time, no one used the beach and all of the boardwalk businesses were gone. I am pleased to see the current improvements given the several failed attempts at urban renewal. The several blocks behind the boardwalk had been leveled for redevelopment that has yet to come. Neighboring Ocean Grove to the south has changed from year round residences to summer second homes. After Labor Day, one wonders what became of all the people.
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@David When was Ocean Grove full of year round residents? I remember it in the 50's and 60's as totally deserted in the winter. (I grew up in Wanamassa and my friends and I would ride our bikes there because it was so empty.) The best days were Sundays when no cars were allowed on the streets.
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While as a gay man I appreciate Deputy Mayor Quinn's concern, many of my friends have (mostly sedond) homes in Asbury Park, and I don't think revitalization is going to chase any of them away. In fact, they'd likely consider they and others like them the revitalizers.
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I always have mixed feelings reading stuff like this about Asbury Park. Growing up at the Shore Asbury always seemed to possess an almost mythic quality. I heard stories from my grandparents and great-grandparents about the glory days of dances and boxing matches on the boardwalk and the great commotion of the Morro Castle burnt shell off the beacj. From my parents, I heard with great jealousy of early Springsteen shows but also of the urban plight and social upheaval. In my childhood, I remember always feeling a melancholy sense of abandonment near the boardwalk, like it was a ghost town, then as a teen as the revival happened it was an exiting place for us shore kids to escape our boredom and experience a bit of urbinity. Now I always feel like its lost a bit of its magic with the luxury condos and brooklyn hipsters and I selfishly wish less people knew about it, but at the same time I remember a time when people thought the boardwalk would never see summer crowds again. Hopefully, the town continues its efforts to protect its lower income residents so locals and new visitors alike can enjoy AP's revival.
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@cm I grew up in a neighboring town and it was our beach go to place. Almost every afternoon, my friends and I went to 7th Avenue beach where our families rented a locker for the season. Because it was the furthest from where the buses let out the day trippers, it was the least crowded beach. Our biggest decision was beach or pool. We switched between the 2 multiple times a day. At that time the boardwalk extended past there. The pool is gone too. When I turned 16, my beach life turned into a summer job on the boardwalk. (The building where I had my first job just burned down.)
My love for the beach and the boardwalk is now tempered by the knowledge that while the beaches may not have been legally segregated, they were effectively segregated well into the 1960's and none of the black kids at Asbury Park High School got jobs working retail on the boardwalk.
Unfortunately, riots were not what really destroyed the place. It was the greed and utter inability of the city government to see that what they had was worth saving. The saddest thing for me is to go back and see the Casino utterly destroyed, the wonderful carousel shipped off to South Carolina, and the still empty blocks near the water. It's saving grace has been the people who have revived its spirit.
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Absolutely correct regarding the loss of quirky energy. All of the seaside towns that have been over built & overpopulated, have lost some of their edge.
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@skyecat Not unlike NYC.
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@skyecat do you live here?
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Kneips Bakery located in Asbury since 1890 will never be forgotten!!
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I was a kid in the late 70's and have nostalgia for AP, when my Dad used to take me there in the summer to play rooftop miniature golf, ride the ferris wheel and carousel, watch WWF Wrestling matches at Convention Hall, and eat Kohler's custard and fresh roasted Planter's peanuts.
In the 90's, while in my 20's, I loved the urban decay of it, seeing shows at the Stone Pony, hanging out at Dugan's Stout and Ale House, and eating at Stanley's Adriatic Inn.
Now in my 40's, I love going back and enjoying yet another act of the AP story, with all the restaurants and the Festhalle. It is the only place now for Jersey Shore locals to enjoy, since my Long Branch sold its soul to developers, and it is overrun with Bennys.
Asbury Park, please keep your diversity, charm and ever-changing character. The locals need you more than you will ever know...
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It’s Kohr Bros custard—-not Kohler’s! A perennial favorite!
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I have vivid memories of people fleeing Asbury during the riots of the the 70's. Throwing what they could into the backs of pickup trucks and getting the hell out, while Steinbeck's boarded up its windows against the looters. I also have earlier, just as vivid memories of the boardwalk in its vibrancy, watching the fireworks from my father's shoulders, eating salt water taffy and knishes, riding the tilt a whirl at Funsville and, of course, enjoying the spectacular beach. Over the years I have watched the various attempts at bringing my beloved town back to life. It has seemed like two steps forward, one step back. Let us hope this effort stays the course, because Asbury Park is truly a gem deserving to be polished.
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@Tess
Steinbach, I think. My grandma always dressed up and wore white gloves when she went shopping there. It was ‘classy’
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@Michael c I do remember Steinbach's as the "big" dept. store but my mom never wore white gloves when she shopped. What really destroyed it and Cookman Avenue was the mall built in Eatontown.
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“One-way fair”? Is this the Times? What happened to proofreading?
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Asbury Park is an unusual, eclectic mix of demographics. Like any city in America it has all the good, bad, beautiful and ugly pieces that make up a city. And along with that is lack of parking. Not sure when your reporter was there but parking is a HUGE problem, and it’s only going to get worse... but I love it nonetheless.
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Hillel Yeshiva High School is in Ocean Township.
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My office moved to Asbury Park around 2002 a few years after the start of its comeback. In the 11 years I was there the changes were incredible and I see from this article it has continued. I could never understand how you let beautiful beachfront property fall to ruin like they had. I’m so glad people are enjoying it again. I really grew to love it there. I hope all its residents get to share in the revival.
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My mother lived here during World War 2. My grandfather was a Royal Navy officer over here teaching weaponry to the US Navy
Then, 50 years later, I met my wife in Chicago. Her mother lived in Asbury Park
A very strange coincidence!
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When I was much younger, say 30 years ago, Asbury Park was far, far different than it is today. I often compliment Asbury Park for making the biggest comeback I've ever seen in any community. It was not exactly a nice place in say 1990 or so, in my opinion at the time. Now it is a beautiful place indeed, a total turnaround from what remember, and I couldn't find one thing to disagree with in the article. I live in Seaside Heights, another shore community, and I think that it is destined for a huge comeback like Asbury Park . Seaside Heights needs to recover a little more still from Hurricane Sandy and the big boardwalk fire, but I see a bright future for it like Asbury Park's success, which is remarkable.
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I have fond memories of Asbury Park's boardwalk as a small child in the 60's. It was sad to watch it fall into decay throughout the 70's and 80's. I so hope this time the reformation is both lasting and continual.
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@H Silk
I was a child in the 1960's. My mother worked as a switchboard operator for the phone company, so on her off day, we would often go to AP. I remember when Cookman Avenue had a lot of upscale stores. In the 70s, I worked at Steinbach, and also shopped some nicer stores along Cookman Ave. It would be nice to see it restored to its former glory, but none of that can happen with crime and unstable development.
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@Talullah Actually Cookman Avenue is now full of fun shops and restaurants. The shops are different than when you were there and more oriented to visitors than to locals but I don't think crime is an issue there.
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Really, it's time to stop calling decay and crime "quirky energy."
Aberrant behavior is incompatible with civilized coexistence. Vandalism is neither positive nor creative. Tolerating crime means the barbarians have gotten well beyond the gate.
Yesterday my 100-year-old friend telephoned to tell me that a delivery man was caught urinating in the lobby of her apartment building. He got away fast on his bike. Quirky, hey?
Let's hope Asbury Park is cleaned up, and quickly.
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@B
A spot on post
Except for the block facing the boardwalk and maybe one other
AP is still a dump and you couldn’t pay me to live there
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@B. I interpreted "quirky energy" in a different way. When neighborhoods or towns become increasingly expensive, many of the people who were part of the turnaround - the hardworking poor residents who hung in there, gay residents (wealthy and poor) who moved, artists - are pushed out by wealthy residents, some of whom don't live in their homes full time.
Independent shops, restaurants, music venues and galleries, small businesses may face increasing rents subsequently replaced by chain banks and eateries. If Asbury Park isn't careful, Toast City Diner could become Chick-Fil-A, Panera or TD Bank; Cookman Avenue starts to resemble the strip malls of Route 35.
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@Shaun agreed. I worry about the rents on cookman. I get the oceanfront boost but man, if Starbucks opens next to Rebel Supply, I wouldn’t be surprised. Who else can afford it?
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