Kenny–a Grover with a quirky** point of view.Paul Goldfinger photo. July, 2023. Ocean Grove, USA, America. Kenny is a photographer who will bring new ideas to town as a member of the Underground.
Paul Goldfinger photo
Road runners on Main Avenue. They know what’s what. Paul Goldfinger photo. July 2023.
**The Cambridge Dictionary says that “quirky” means “unusual in an attractive and interesting way: (He was tall and had a quirky, off-beat sense of humor.”). Synonyms: offbeat
As straight- laced as Ocean Grove often seems to be, it actually is quite diverse in terms of its demographics.
Years ago the Grove got a deserved reputation for housing many mentally ill patients, and some individuals referred to this town as “Ocean Grave.” It was very boring.
But that phase of our history was turned around by the courageous heroes of 1990’s OGHOA—another era all together.
In recent times, partly because of COVID and working from home, a significant number of New Yorkers have come here as full timers or second homers; more people than ever before wanted to buy or rent here.
So, recently, the kinds of people whom we have seen around town are different in a variety of ways. And this is not an influx of Methodists as occurred over 150 years ago.
If you moved to the Grove since the turn of this century, you will most likely be secular, younger and more interesting than the staid* crowd that prevailed when we came in 2001 as full timers.
At Blogfinger we have been noticing not only young seculars but people with a variety of interests such as the young man who makes and fixes guitars or the man who plays Eastern instruments, or exciting artists who popped up for the Art on the Porch, the yoga instructor who stood on her head at the feet of Stokes, the young man who wears a dress out and about, or the retiree who plays drums in a rock band.
And rumor has it that Southside Johnny lives in town, but shhhhh keep that quiet as they do in The City when Woody walks by.
We have come to classify these types as the “Ocean Grove Underground “in the hopes that the local old-timers and power brokers might take notice.
Kenny, shown above, is a photographer, and as his personal style reveals , he is an interesting type of Grover to talk to, and we want to get to know more like him.
There are those who spend their time walking around town, and they can verify this wide variety of new inhabitants who have a lot to offer for those who have an open mind.
You never know….today 5 African-American young women walking from Asbury came strolling down Mt. Hermon heading towards the beach. So that route is more than one way. We really do need more AA’s–they will bring new vocabulary options, ideas, styles, and another variety of music.
Despite the CMA which wants to return the Grove to a 19th century “Christian Seaside Community,” that can’t happen in this century. The CMA consists of religious tourists who are mostly from out of town, But the Underground here is revealing itself to be residents or new types of visitors. And, there will be legal challenges, Constitutional perhaps, to the CMA’s behavior. Just send some fan mail to Neptune United.
dictionary: *staid. sedate, respectable, and unadventurous.
And Kenny—the girls of the Underground:
From Sondheim’s Company:
Frank. You disagree with some of my opinions regarding changes in the Grove. I welcome your opinions, so no need to “swear off” Blogfinger just because we disagree.
Edits are proper for spelling, fact checking, brevity, punctuation, or clarity.
All professional news sources routinely edit contributions and they don’t allow personal attacks. (eg NY Times and Philadelphia Inquirer)
And we don’t allow personal attacks on Blogfinger. . I’m sure you can get your ideas across without such criticisms. We stick to facts and opinions based on facts.
And we often don’t even use names….just opinions. Even you don’t offer your last name, and that is OK.
Regarding. “boring” Grove when we moved here in 1998:
To begin : Ocean Grove in the early 2000’s was not a “staid” or “boring” place as you state . Frankly it was a much more interesting town back then . Because it was affordable there were lots of true artists and creatives here. Unfortunately they got gentrified out . OG is now less varied then it was then my opinion.
OG is now homogeneously rich folks with summer-weekend places most of whom could care less about the history and spirituality of OG. What you term the “underground” is happening all over: Williamsburg, Jersey City, Asbury, etc. AKA hipsters.
Backwards baseball caps, different style of dress, paying high rents does not make one an artist or make you creative . Appearances can be deceptive and meaningless.
Do not confuse superficiality with being genuine. Btw : Show us some of Kenny’s photos .
Also btw : SS Johnny is originally from OG . He is not a newcomer.
Your comment about seeing black woman coming into OG was prejudiced. They will bring “new vocabulary options” ? As if blacks speak other than English ? They will bring “another variety of music ” ? Huh ? Wow.
P.S. : Swore off replying to your site years ago but seeing this article compelled me to reply . Please do not alter or censor me as has happened in the past.