24 Hours on the Jersey Shore!

I picked up Lance in Philly on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago for a quick trip to see Don Rickles at the Tropicana in Atlantic City. Made a few stops on the way home - Asbury Park, by far the highlight. It's actually being redeveloped now but some of the decay remained yet. Some wikipedia history:

"Developed in 1871 as a residential resort by New York brush manufacturer James A. Bradley, the city was named for Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Along the waterfront Bradley installed a boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms and a pier at the south end of the boardwalk. In 1888 Ernest Schnitzler built the Palace Merry-Go-Round, the cornerstone of what would become the Palace Amusements complex; other attractions followed. During these early decades in Asbury Park, a number of grand hotels were built, including the Plaza Hotel. The 1920s saw a dramatic change in the boardwalk with the construction of the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall complex, the Casino Arena (SEE PICS of the crumbling casino) and Carousel House, and two handsome red-brick pavilions. Noted Beaux Arts architect Warren Whitney of New York was the designer. He had also been hired to design the imposing Berkeley-Carteret Hotel positioned diagonally across from the theater and hall. At the same time, Asbury Park launched a first-class education and athletic program with the construction of a state-of-the-art high school overlooking Deal Lake.

The opening of Great Adventure, a combination theme park and drive-through safari located on a lake in Jackson Township ~ and close to a New Jersey Turnpike exit ~ proved to be stiff competition for a mile-long stretch of aging boardwalk amusements. Although it was placed on the National Registers of Historic Places, in 1988 Palace Amusements was closed, and was demolished in 2004 despite attempts to save it.

The city's changing fortunes, together with municipal mismanagement, led to civic unrest. On July 4, 1970 riots resulted in the destruction of aging buildings along Springwood Avenue, one of three main east-west corridors into Asbury Park and the central shopping and entertainment district for those living in the city's southwest quandrant. In 2007 many of those city blocks have yet to be redeveloped. From 2002 onward, the rest of Asbury Park has been in the midst of a cultural, political, and economic revival, led by a burgeoning industry of local and national artists. Its dilapidated downtown district is undergoing revitalization while most of the nearly empty blocks that overlook the beach and boardwalk are slated for massive reconstruction. In 2005, the Casino's walkway reopened, as did many of the boardwalk pavilions.

The year 2007 has proved to be an important one, full of milestones for the redevelopment of Asbury Park. The eastern portion of the Casino building was demolished. There are plans to rebuild this portion to look much like the original; however, the interior will be dramatically different and may include a public market. There has also been more of a resurgence of the downtown as well as the boardwalk, with the grand reopening of the historic Steinbach department store building, as well as the rehabilitation of Convention Hall and the Fifth Avenue Pavilion (previously home to the last remaining Howard Johnson restaurant). The year 2007 has also seen the purchase of the historic Berkeley-Carteret Hotel, which is to be restored to four-star resort status."

Also learned by experience the Jersey Shore is great birdwatching area, so it was a brief (24 hr) but complete trip; Rickles, losing at slots, $49 room overlooking the ocean and grey sky, best people watching ever (NJ takes the cake!), actually seeing Asbury Park(!), bird nerding, and trying out and appreciating our new GPS system! Here's some proof: