Paul:
I do not recall seeing a rendering of the OG Boardwalk from this perspective. It’s looking like the 30’s or 40’s. Didn’t even realize the South End Pavilion had a concession area. A simple sign letting passerby’s know “Hamburgers, Frankfurters, and Orangeaid” can be had. Looking close reveals a bit of detail down the boards on and off the boardwalk. At first look I thought this was another beach town post card.
Anyway, Can you smell what they’re cookin’?
From Rich Amole, OG historian @Blogfinger
ANNETTE HANSHAW
And the made on on-site black raspberry ice cream *was* the best, suezb! Thanks for the memory!
I am the grandson of Bill and Myrtle Hogan and spent many a fine day of my youth behind the counters at my grandparent’s South End concession. It continued to operate into the late 1970’s, when https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Debra_(1978) destroyed the property.
I remember getting ice cream at the shop at South End. They made flavors daily. My Mom would give me some coins from her beach bag and off I would go. I can still remember they had the best Black Raspberry ice cream. Thanks for sharing the photo.
Paul,
I think that was it for the south end but the north end on the east side had a coffee shop, auction house, The Macaroon Shop, a barber shop, Bradley’s lemonade stand, handbag shop, book and gift shop, jewelry and souvenir store, porch sign wood carving stand and the Strand Theater which showed second run films. On the west side was The Homestead Restaurant, candy shop and gift shops with the discount store on the end. In the center aisle was Zad’s Portrait Gallery, a small post office, Kohr’s Custard and Fairbank’s Scale and newsstand. I might have missed a few.
Along the lake was a merry go round, roller skating, PuttPutt Golf, slot car racing, bowling alley, archery and target shooting.
The olfactory sense is one of the most powerful in terms of memory, at least to me. To this day, 50 some years later, whenever I smell beef searing on a hot grill, my mind goes to that south end and a hamburger I had in that white building, and the tunnel under the boardwalk from the bath houses and their green algae coated floor boards. I’m lucky to have a photo of Dad holding me in front of the place, I must have been about 4, maybe 1960. I’m glad to see that post card which I’ve never seen. You could see the spot where the tunnel was, after Sandy, between where the wooden boardwalk ended and the paver stones in Bradley now start.
I certainly don’t want Pt. Pleasant here in Ocean Grove, but something at both ends, keeping the entire center section commercial free? Might help in several ways financially with boardwalk maintenance expense. Full blown restaurants would cause an increase in the parking nightmare, but food stands probably wouldn’t. I do see a problem with the North End since it’s really isolated with a very underutilized beach. Didn’t seem like much of a problem during that postcard era, though.
Would any of you care to write a mini-restaurant review about the food at those burger/hot dog/burger places on the beach? Just comment at this post.
Frank S: I checked with Pat Darcey at the Francis Asbury Manor,and she said that their beautiful dining room is open only to residents and their guests. Also, if someone is looking into the Manor for themselves or family, they will often be invited to stay for lunch. But no, you can’t just show up and order the meatloaf special. In fact, even if you are to join a resident there for a meal, a reservation is required.
So Frank S: If you are considering becoming a resident at the Manor, just call Pat Darcey, and you can have a tour and a free lunch.
Just Curious:
Technically you have posed great question which I hope gets answered, but remember, during the tourist season at the north and south central part of the beach, there are those two wonderful white wooden barbecue pavilions that serve burgers & hot dogs and hot dogs & burgers & burgers & hot dogs & chips etc. which I believe makes a lot of visitors glad for the convenience.
Another thought, imagine having Nagle’s at one end and Day’s at the other end of the boards in the Grove……..bring on the mint chocolate chip !
Up until the late 90’s there used to be a little ice cream/candystore/snack place in basement of what is now a B&B on corner of— If I recall— Broadway and Beach.
Also if I am told correctly one can, if one pays for it, eat at Francis Asbury Manor at Stockton Avenue in Ocean Grove. They have a very nice dining room.
Just curious … So both ends of the boardwalk had commercial space at one time. When was it decided that there wouldn’t be anymore? What was the thinking behind the present ban?
You could also access the concession from the bath houses. There was a back entrance just before the tunnel under the boards. Always boug.ht green licorice there
Tom P……….from what I have researched the South End Pavilion came down in the 1960’s and I believe that allowed the boardwalks of the Grove and Bradley to come together. Prior to that there was a walk bridge over between the two towns close to Ocean and Broadway on the Grove’s side. FYI all, Bradley Beach was the 1st shore town in the USA to charge a beach fee. Badges were made of tin…………
I think it was there all through the sixties until a fire burned the lockers and snack bar down. I seem to remember that a Hogan ran it.
The concession was owned by the Hogan family. The northern part was a gift shop. Behind was a sit down coffee shop. Th “L” shaped structure in the lower right of the photo, on the beach is the entrance to the tunnel that led to the bath houses. Walking on the boardwalk in bathing attire was not allowed.