Ocean Grovers enjoy walking to downtown Asbury for restaurants, special events, music and a lively bar scene. Paul Goldfinger photograph for Blogfinger.net. 2016
Main Street at Asbury Avenue—a big disappointment. Someday Main Street will come to life. Blogfinger photo. 12/2/23.
This photo (A Sunday in July 2016) was part of a NY Times article; photo by Tony Cenicola. Asbury Park had a Mermaid Parade (a la Coney Island). Posted 2018 in Blogfinger. The Ocean front in A. Park is a huge summer success as is Cookman Avenue year round.
Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps produced a fine big sound heading east on Cookman Avenue for the Pride Parade. All photographs by Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net. 6/7/15 . Click on all photos to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net.
In 2016 we posted an article about the praise being lavished upon A. Park.
Last spring Money Magazine named AP as having the second best beachfront in the US, ahead of many famous locations in California, Texas, etc. “Asbury Park offers the classic combo of beach and boardwalk,” the magazine says.
The Asbury Park Press also reported that list. Asbury has also been ranked high for the city’s “cultural scene.” In 2017 it was named the “coolest small town in America.”
And also they have fine parks, an artist colony, a famous musical destination with a historic pedigree, many civic and religious organizations to help the town and the poor, and a wide variety of fascinating restaurants, coffee shops and specialty food stores such as the Creamery for amazing home made ice cream on Cookman. The restaurants in and around Cookman Ave. are a draw for tourists year round.
As a place to live, the condominium scene is excellent and growing, and there are some wide and beautiful avenues to the west of the tracks where restored single family homes prevail.
But, not so fast. Asbury has recently been reported to have the second highest violent crime rate in the state. And, according to the AP Sun, the city has been named this February to the “top 50 worst cities to live-in across the nation.” Similar reports have been mentioned in articles in the AP Press and the AP Patch.
Main Street hasn’t grown up yet; it has many low brow businesses and at least 6 Mexican restaurants. Parking in A. Park is still difficult, and restaurant tourism on Cookman relies on customers coming and going by Uber. Some visitors and workers park for free in Ocean Grove, much to the dismay of residents of that historic town to the south of A. Park.
There are quite a few charter schools around in the hope of rescuing the many poor and under-educated kids around. The high school is beautiful, but the test scores are not.
Among the statistics, the city is reported to be high in poverty rankings, low median incomes, and high median home prices.
So, which is it: best or worst?
Blogfinger: The best or the worst? “It depends on where you stand.”
Editor’s note April 21, 2026. : Travel and Leisure Mag. has named A. Park the second best place to live in New Jersey. Really? I think these awards are paid for.
NANCY LAMOTT: “Not Exactly Paris.”
There’s a wonderful movie people should watch,: “Riot Redemption Rock and Roll.” It’s free on most movie sites. It is about just how important Asbury was to the American music scene east and west of the tracks.
Love Asbury Park!
Asbury Park was, is, and always will be a tale of two cities: affluent, mostly white, folks close to the ocean and poor, mostly black, people west of Main Street. There will never be affordable housing built anywhere near the beach.
As for the music choice, some thought that Springsteen’s “The Rising” was about NYC after 9/11, but Bruce wrote it earlier about AP.
Consider two songs decades earlier:
4th of July, AP, 1973:
For me this boardwalk life is through
You ought to quit this scene too.
Thunder Road, 1975:
It’s a town full of losers,
I’m pulling out of here to win.