MAGIC. Ocean Grove. Click to enlarge. Paul Goldfinger ©
Reposted from 2010 with the comments. Blast from the past, with a memorable last line:
By Mary Beth Jahn, former mayor and Committeeman. She is the only Committeeman ever to comment on Blogfinger.
Hey OG Resident – Oh My!, guess what? I was one (a Grover), too, from 1993 to 2006. I lived in the big orange apartment building on Main and Pennsylvania. I got used to throwing my blinkers on for a few minutes in the fire zone, unloading the car, and heading for the 100 blocks of Heck or Abbott to park on Saturdays until the Aud. let out.
The bus service was there when I moved in, and it came in darn handy when the train to NYC went down. In 1993, the majority of the Grove was serving mental patients, so the renaissance with stores and eateries has been and continues to be a delight and a true wonder of how determined citizens who are willing to take a gamble on a magical place can turn it around.
There was a time when Ocean Grove was much more isolated – no Dunkin’ Donuts (though we briefly had a Wawa there), no Windmill, no West Grove Square. Not all progress is bad. I’ll agree the density went wildly out of control in the 70s, 80s, and probably the the 90s, but when the state is paying you $1,600 per person, it was hard for owners of large hotels to turn that money down. As for the triage bus the county has asked us to house, fuel, and insure, I haven’t spoken to one first-responder who says we shouldn’t have it, especially as the southern Monmouth area consolidates services.
That aside, what are the things you love about the Grove? All that seems to be getting lost here. I can’t tell you how many people in town I initially met at the old Wachovia ATM. The Jersey Shore Arts Center is pretty amazing. Shuffleboard is tons of fun. The Historical Society and Camp Meeting have great events. There’s Nagel’s and Day’s and the Starving Artist. Smuggler’s Cove and Ocean Grove Flowers always have the perfect gifts for any occasion. For a town that size, that’s hardly shabby.
We all control our own quality of life. There are certain things we have to learn to live with, especially in a small area. When we let the negative aspects take over the positive, sometimes you have to make choices. I personally learned to turn a blind eye to parking on summer weekends so it didn’t make me crazy. I knew what it was when I moved there, so it wasn’t like I hadn’t signed up for it. I’m not saying that’s the approach everyone should take, but at some point, with this much anger roiling around some folks, maybe it’s time for some contemplative thought about focusing on the positive rather than the negative.
I moved out of the Grove for two reasons: one was that I was still not in remission with my severe rheumatoid arthritis, and therefore, unable to perform most home repairs, which would have left the bulk of any work we could do ourselves on my sister, which wasn’t fair. Second, we still weren’t sure whether I was going to fully go into remission (which I have, thankfully), but to be on the safe side, we needed a home which we could afford if I ended up on disability. So far, so good.
I miss the smell of the sea when I walk out the front door, walking down the street to the ATM and News and Such, and spending time on the boardwalk. When I think back on my time in the Grove, those are the things I remember most, not circling around blocks for a parking spot, and I suspect most people, when they remember this summer, will remember the great beach days, dinner parties, drinks on the porch with friends and family, Frisbee on the beach, and the like.
The sheer tininess of this town is part of what gives it the magic it has. We can choose to grasp the magic and work toward solutions, or we can become bitter and ruin an entire beautiful summer’s worth of memories.
Which side are you going to choose – the magic or the tragic?
THE DUBS (music added 2017)
Before I bought my house in Ocean Grove, my father told me stories about the traffic he and his family drove through to get to Ocean Grove only to find parking problems once he got here. He told me about how crowded it got on the weekends and about visitors who didn’t understand the traditions of Ocean Grove. My father was talking about his summers in his family’s house from the early 1920’s to the late 1940’s. My father also told me that I would love living in Ocean Grove, just like he loved it. I guess some things never change.
OG is not nearly as bad as Brooklyn, though. At least here one doesn’t have to move one’s car to the opposite side of the street three or four times a week. And, in both Brooklyn and San Francisco, the parking crunch doesn’t let up on weekdays and in the non-summer months.
“Ocean Grove is a magical place to live, its right up there with Brooklyn and San Francisco. You can’t find parking there either.”
“We’re supposed to write about the things we LIKE about OG. Every time I mention that I live in Ocean Grove people say:
“Oh, you’re so lucky! I love that town. It’s so quaint.”
That encompasses everything I could mention! It’s a great town!”
In August of 2001 I bought a small house here in the Grove that was to be my retirement home. Though I did some inital research on the town, I was much more interested in having a place for myself and my teenage daughter as a weekend escape from the chaos of my high powered job in NY and her highly competitive school in the bedroom community of Livingston,NJ. Little did I think that less than a month later, the house would become my solace after losing friends and colleagues in the WTC.
Perhaps it was my love of history that sought out a community with a sensibility of the past, back to a time when you knew your neighbors and everyone looked out for each other.
Ocean Grove is not like any other community in NJ. What began as a (religious) summer retreat has managed to retain that feeling of a relaxed haven without alienating those of us who are not Methodist or religious. We do not cater to the chain stores or large commercial interests. We have the good fortune of a wonderful beach and incredibly well maintained structures like the Auditorium and the Pavillion. Our main street at Christmas is almost like a page out of a Dickens novel.
Now I live here year round and I can honestly say that my life is better for being here. Its not that I have no complaints about taxes, the education system, roads or other annoyances. After growing up in Montreal, living in NYC, NJ, Boston, and Oakland, CA, I finally have come to realize the grass is pretty green right here in the Grove.
I was talking about The Grove today with the Neptune police chief, Howard O’Neil, who used to live here, and the first thing he mentioned about this town that is also the first thing I always mention is the small-town feeling — the fact that you can walk to the post office, walk to the hardware store, walk to the news stand. It’s that simple quality, more than anything else, that captures and keeps me here. Of course, a part of that walking-down-the-street ambiance is that you meet other people, other Grovers, and they are so friendly.
When Mary and I first moved here, it was very shut down in winter. Almost the only place open for food year-round was the Daily Grind. And as good as that place was, on dark, cold winter days you felt like you were living in Reykjavik and the real world was a continent away. Now, though, OG is fully alive the whole year, and although the downside of that is more people, traffic, etc., I wouldn’t trade back to how it was before. Not for the world.
Well said Mayor Jahn.
I read this quote somewhere and thought I’d share it………..it seems to apply. I believe it was said by a shore town real estate agent.
“…if your Jersey shore town does NOT have a parking problem in the summer, YOU have a problem.”
Just saying……………………… 8)
I am all for the magic side of Ocean Grove. It starts when I drive down Broadway, I always feel I’m home. So, we have to contend with more traffic, no parking, wall to wall people on the beach, for what, two months? Out of towners are our guests, they bring money to Main street, B&B’s, the beach, the Auditorium, why complain, summer is so short.
Let’s all enjoy the magic of Ocean Grove. The only thing that will drive us out are the ever increasing property taxes.