Seaside Heights, N.J. Facing the boardwalk.. Paul Goldfinger photograph 2018. The boardwalk was behind me. © Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger Editor @Blogfinger
In high school my friends and I went to Seaside Heights in the summer. We knew that we could find girls and great music in Jersey Shore bars such as the Chatterbox and the place in my photo above. But alas, we weren’t old enough.
However, 4 of us had a band. (one girl and 3 guys), and we played in the Red Rail Restaurant/Bar in Lavallette. We got a cabaret license to let us perform there—but no alcohol for us.
It was a very adult clientele who wanted fox trots and jittter-bugs. They were like our parents. And there were some folks sitting at the bar staring at us and requesting songs like “Fascination,” a waltz.
No hard-core rock and roll there, and all the girls in their summer clothes were elsewhere.
We 3 had an apartment over a garage and we sometimes met girls after work at about midnight on the Seaside boards where there were some who couldn’t get into the bars either. When they heard that we were in a band, we……well, let’s say a little celebrity goes a long way.
Bunny, our pianist, was an FDU coed, and she had her own place and a policeman father.
Last year, walking our grandson on the boards in Seaside, the sight of this place brought back some of my own American Graffiti moments.
THE DUBS.