Many of us have already noticed that Lake Avenue has become a destination for walking and biking. It used to be quite a glorious pathway about one hundred years ago.
OG side of Wesley Lake, around 1900. The postcard is from Eileen’s collection.
Now you can go there and enjoy watching the swan boats as they glide around the lake and you can admire those bridges that look like something from Europe. There are ducks paddling around, and you can people watch. On a nice day, quite a few people are moving in one direction or the other. You can go to Asbury Park or head for the boardwalk and the ocean.
In fact, while I was photographing on the New Jersey Avenue bridge the other day, I got into two interesting conversations. One was with a Grover named Jack who was biking to meet someone on the AP side. We got to discuss photography, and we learned some things from each other. One mystery left unresolved was the true story of what famous photographer Robert Frank was thinking about when he shot his celebrated image of a segregated bus down south. Stay tuned for that story.
Another guy came from the direction of Captain Midnight’s evocative cottage on the Grove side. We’ve been talking on the blog about how diversity of the human kind makes a place more interesting, and certainly that is true of architecture. Captain Midnight has been a fascinating mystery that we should solve one of these days. Is he really a captain? Is he really mysterious? Maybe he’s a super hero.
Meanwhile this guy told me that he was from Colorado and that his brother owned a house along the lake—OG side, near where we were standing. He wanted to know if I was “allowed” to take pictures of those houses. I said, “I don’t need permission.” He said, “Oh, I was just curious.” Really? I asked him if he ever had a Rocky Mountain high. He just walked away.
It reminds me of when I was doing some candid shots of a wedding down by the pier in OG–I was not the wedding photographer, just a photog looking for some interesting OG subject matter. The father of the bride approached me, in his tux, and asked me to stop taking pictures. What to do? Should I say, “Make me,” like we did when we were kids? Instead, I said that he can’t stop me, but then I walked away.
It was a boring wedding anyhow. No hora or chopped liver. In fact, no food at all. Yikes–it’s a photo shoot , and they wanted me to leave. It reminded me of the wedding scene in the Godfather, and I didn’t want $10,000 worth of photo gear tossed into the Atlantic
By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger, Editors at Blogfinger.net
Scene: It is a stifling peak-season sunny July Saturday afternoon. The Grove is crowded and there is nary a parking space except for one across from where we are standing.
Eileen and I are gardening on the Delaware Ave. side of our house. A car pulls into that sole remaining space, and a young man emerges. He looks around and then walks over to us.
He: Can I park here?
We: Yes, but be sure you are close to the curb.
He: Checking his tires. “I work at the Brick Wall in Asbury, and someone told me that I can park in Ocean Grove for free.”
We: It’s not only the workers who park here, but your customers as well, and we’re not happy with the idea.
He: Oh….I’m sorry.
We: No need to apologize. It is legal for you to park here.
He: I’ve been paying over $100.00 week to park for work.
We: Wow. (We felt bad for him….he obviously is a “working stiff.”)
He: Well, thank you.
We: It’s OK. Bye.
He: Smiles and heads towards the New Jersey Avenue Bridge across Wesley Lake to A. Park.
We: We agree that A. Park is exploiting their workers by neither providing parking or paying for parking. $100.00 is a lot for this worker. We should feel compassion for these young people, but this is Asbury’s problem to solve, and it is a reasonable concern for Grovers.
The AP City Council refused a plea from Neptune to help us with this parking situation which is their fault, and now they demand that we open our bridge-gates.
If you would visit Cookman Avenue on a Saturday night, you would see many college age girls dressed up for bar hopping and fine dining. They might travel with guys, or they might walk about in groups of three or four.
Sundown. Chico hates to leave. Paul Goldfinger photo. Asbury Park dog beach. July 12, 2014.
The dog beach at the north end of Asbury Park is a gathering place for the dog community there. They are allowed to bring their canine friends once the lifeguards are gone. It was obvious that it was a social event for the dogs and their owners. The dogs ran around off leash and they had a great time. Some frolicked in the ocean. The owners made sure that everything was clean and safe. It also is one of the most beautiful times of day to visit any beach on the east coast.
The dog park group in Ocean Grove asked the CMA to approve a similar dog beach for OG north end. CMA said that it is “not part of our mission.”
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger–re-post from 2014. Keeping hope alive.
Bruno Mars wants to get married. Say it isn’t so Bruno. Have some dancing juice and play the field for awhile. Ryansecrest.com
By Paul Goldfinger (Oct. 2015 re-post)
Once upon a time, songs were about getting married (eg the Chapel of Love), but just when you thought all that was dead and zombified, along comes Bruno Mars and takes us all back to it. Here he is—some kind of nut? Consider this lyric. Somebody ought to have a talk with Bruno:
“Don’t say no, no, no, no, no
Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
And we’ll go, go, go, go, go
If you’re ready, like I’m ready”
And, not to change the subject, but it is a blog, so here’s the “Band From Zombie Land.”
We want to drink your blood and then play a tune. PG photo half- live in Asbury Park. Last week. (note: this band was NOT at the Harvest Festival in OG.—we have our own kazoo band.)
What did they play? I don’t know, they flew by me and were gone within 20 seconds. But let’s guess—here’s a good song for this group (by DANNY KAYE:)
