Is this the historic look that the HPC wants for the North End?* The CMA seems to want to re-create the good old days in the Grove and call it “historic.”
This space on the southern border of Asbury Park, across from Wesley Lake, will get condos in the future. Does Ocean Grove need to add more condos to the neighborhood? Isn’t AP more in need of “redevelopment” than we are? Blogfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
If you were wondering what our new North End hotel might look like, better hope it doesn’t take shape like the one on top. The NERP calls for an 85 room hotel, but don’t worry—-remember that the HPC must approve the design. What? You don’t trust the HPC? Perhaps you are thinking about the Greek Temple on Main Avenue or about the new Mary’s Place which will take up two lots and look like a pseudo- Victorian building designed to fool the tourists.
Or perhaps it occurs to you that there are enough hotels in the neighborhood counting the one above, so maybe we don’t need another hotel in the Grove. Currently in Asbury Park there are 3 hotels: Berkley-Carteret, Tides, and Empress. In Ocean Grove we have Majestic, Shawmont, and Laingdon.
How about a nice park which we could call “Hotel Park” to remember the old North End Hotel which became useless in its time and was finally torn down in 1978.
Did you have a look at recently built condos in Ocean Grove (e.g. on Ocean Pathway) or in Asbury Park? What do you think?
Editor’s note March, 2021. We have posted the architects design* for the hotel and condos. It has a pseudo-Victorian look.
Historic zoning should not have permitted a hotel now at this site. Just because there was a hotel before in that vicinity does not mean that another one should be allowed. The 1911 hotel at the North End was demolished in 1978. Note that the Asbury Hotel has opened in the interim, while the Tides has closed.
MONICA ZETTERLUND (Swedish jazz singer) and THE BILL EVANS TRIO. This is from an album called Waltz for Debby which was recorded in 1964 to great critical acclaim.
“Once Upon a Summertime” is a French song written by Michel Legrand. Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyrics as heard in this album.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. There are a few minor revisions in this 2015 and 2018 re-post.
Some of you might wonder about the persistent search for a great coffee shop near OG, since there are several places in the Grove where you can buy coffee. The reason is, for some of us, we seek more than just coffee. In our culture, and in Europe, the coffee shop is a comfortable gathering place where one can appreciate the best coffees from around the world.
Such shops are not general practitioners, they are specialists, and they know how to create a first rate cappuccino or latte. Coffee is of primary interest in such places, not an afterthought. The Barbaric Bean was beginning to be like that, but the Grove’s only true coffee shop has vanished.
A real coffee shop is a welcoming place which has seating and where you can savor the barista’s drinks while reading the paper, having a fascinating conversation, people watching, or enjoying a special snack. It tends to be where the local characters go. Wi-Fi is often available for those who are working on the next great American novel. After all, J.K. Rollings wrote Harry Potter while sipping some brew in a local coffee shop.
In Asbury Park today an Ocean Grove friend introduced me to a real coffee shop; in fact, Café Volan seems like a throwback to old Soho or Greenwich Village in the ’60’s. Café Volan on Bangs Avenue, just off Cookman near the Brick Wall, is so laid back that you can imagine Bob Dylan singing unamplified on a stool, or Lenny Bruce doing shtick.
It is a dumpy place, but that’s fine because it feels like home—–like cafés I visited when my friends and I would wander around Bleeker or Christopher Streets in “The Village.” It is the sort of coffee house where the locals and regulars wander in.
My impression from the moment I walked in was: “I am going to like this place.” It resonated at a very personal level and felt like somewhere you might re-visit again and again.
A visit to Café Volan is like time travel, but there is one thing that doesn’t spell nostalgia—it is the delicious high quality of their coffee. They also serve some unique snacks and toasted exotic breads. They get their coffee from North Carolina, and their breads and pastries are brought in from Brooklyn. I haven’t been to Williamsburg for many years, but this entire place seems to have been shipped intact from there.
If you like places that seem authentic and live up to it, try Café Volan —within walking distance of the Grove.
Note: 2020: There now is a coffee shop in the Grove . Odyssey is on Main Avenue, and Buskerdoo is at the intersection of Sunset and Memorial in Asbury.
And the OG bakery does a nice job with coffee, and they do have a wide selection of baked goods.
CHARLIE PARKER. He got his start in New York, but this jazz great didn’t play in coffee houses. Mostly he was up in Harlem in jazz clubs. The folk singers were in the Village coffee houses in the ’60’s, but there were jazz venues in the Village which my friends and I visited often, growing up in a Jersey bedroom community, 20 minutes from downtown.
This is “All the Things You Are.” It was written by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) We recently posted a Miles Davis version, and the song holds up even without those magnificent poetic lyrics. Below is Charlie Parker on alto sax.
Moe Demby, of our photo staff at Blogfinger sent us two black and white photos reminiscent of Robert Frank’s style of photography. As noted in our Frank article, photographers tend to learn from those who came before. Moe, a successful, award winning photojournalist by profession, has been influenced by Frank and by Robert Capa.
Ocean Grove. By Moe Demby, Blogfinger staff.
These two images were obtained on November 17, 2014.
GENE AMMONS (From Woody Allen’s film Fading Gigolo.) The song is “My Romance.” Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (lyrics) wrote this song for a Broadway musical (1935) called “Jumbo.” My Romance is a hugely popular song for jazz musicians.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger Re-posted after learning of the death of Bucky Pizzarelli on April 2. 2020 at age 92
Thursday June 26, 2014 at the Langosta Lounge, on the boardwalk, in Asbury Park:
PJ Rasmussen, a 23 year old jazz guitarist, grew up in Ocean Grove and went to St. Rose High School where he took up guitar at age 14. He wanted to play rock, but his teacher, Andrew Light, got him hooked on jazz. PJ went on to William Patterson University where he met the legendary jazz guitarist (from New Jersey) now 88 year old, Bucky Pizzarelli. The two became friends, and that story winds up at the Langosta Lounge in Asbury Park tonight where P.J. and Bucky played together at the summer-long Boardwalk Jazz Thursday night series at the Langosta venue which PJ has organized. (http://boardwalk-jazz.com )
I have been a huge fan of Bucky Pizzarelli and his musical family which includes John Pizzarelli, Martin Pizzarelli, and Jessica Molaskey. They often perform together, but last night Bucky was playing with three guys in their twenties, and he appeared to be having a great time. Bucky is a giant of the jazz world and he has performed with Benny Goodman, Les Paul, The Tonight Show Band, and many others.
PJ Rasmussen alternated lead guitar with Bucky and they played solos and duets. The rhythm section included a fine 27 year old bass player from South Korea named Daseul Kim and a skilled and innovative drummer, Joseph Spinelli, who rocked the room during the quartet’s version of Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
Some people say that jazz will die as the old timers leave the scene. But if you have ever listened to Wynton Marsalis discuss this issue or seen the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, you will find many bright young faces.
PJ agrees that a whole new generation of jazz players are emerging now, including himself. PJ says that jazz is “music that anyone of any age can love.” He tries to teach his audiences to enjoy jazz—-“If they listen, they will get it.” He also loves other musical forms including rock and he likes to experiment with various sorts of fusion music such as hip-hop and jazz.
For the Thursday night 3 hour concert, PJ and Bucky pretty much stuck to jazz standards such as Tangerine, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, Ellington’s In a Mellow Tone, and There Will Never Be Another You. PJ performed a lovely solo rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
PJ has made two CD’s, all with his original compositions. He says that “there is a lot of young talent out there,” and, although he is interested in modernizing and fusing jazz to capture the interest of young adults today, he has great respect for traditional jazz. He loves much of the “American songbook” which features music from the 1920’s, ’30’s, ’40’s and beyond . The bassist Daseul Kim agreed about the passion for vintage jazz that young musicians like him continue to play.
For 17 weeks, Rasmussen will bring a wide variety of jazz performers to the Langosta Lounge including a big band on September 11. Each Thursday the concerts go from 7:00 pm-10:00 pm. They do two sets with a 30 minute intermission, and there is no cover charge or minimum. You can just sit at the bar, or have snacks or dinner. We enjoyed a fine meal with Asian accents.
My only complaints were that it was extremely noisy by the bar where we were sitting, and our chairs, placed at a high table, had no backs. If you go, make a reservation for dinner and sit at a table near the bandstand.
The service at Langosta Lounge was friendly, although the wait staff needed some more people.
PJ RASMUSSEN AND DASEUL KIM. “Love Letter (Goodnight)” from Kim’s album Relationship. This piece is mesmerizing and beautiful. PJ’s albums include Another Adventure and Adventures in Flight which are more avant garde than the material with Bucky Pizzarelli
BUCKY PIZZARELLI AND FRIENDS “Every-time We Say Goodbye” by Cole Porter. Bucky is part of an amazing ensemble on this album including Jay Leonhart on bass. This is such an emotional song, even without lyrics.
And here is a brief BUCKY PIZZARELLI SOLO with “Last Night When we Were Young.”
DORIS DAY. Here’s how it works: You go to Rome and visit the Trevi Fountain. Then you turn around and throw your money over your shoulder into the water. Then you get your wish. Really? And “thrown by three hopeful lovers.” But who’s keeping score?
By Paul Goldfinger, Traffic Editor @Blogfinger.net (Re-post from 2016)
Bruce Springsteen has always been generous at the Jersey Shore, especially in Asbury Park where he and other musicians spread their musical wings and found their voices. Bruce just published his memoirs called, what else, “Born to Run.”. It is over 500 pages, but early reviews say that it is a wonderful book, written in a style similar to his music.
This photo was taken in the jaywalking capital of the world—Asbury Park. I don’t know why, but people there love to cross Main Street against the light. Just today I was cut off by a bicyclist who suddenly crossed against the light in front of me, while not even looking to notice whether I would run him over or not. So if you do try to jaywalk in A. Park on Main Street, you’d better be born to run.
My theory about automobile and pedestrian risks in Asbury on Main Street is that the place is too small and too populated for the amount of cars; too many distractions and jaywalkers and buses and taxis and deliveries, and double parking for its own good—especially in season.
Plus, click on the photo to see a driver heading south making a westbound turn onto Third Avenue while about to run over a woman crossing the street. Ironically, they both had green lights indicating that everybody over there needs to pay attention and follow the rules.
I did not notice that drama until I viewed the photo. I was too busy reading the rear end of Cousin Brucie’s bus. So, I was merely following the mandate of some bumper stickers which say, “Watch my behind and not hers!”
If you drive along or through Memorial Drive in Asbury there are all sorts of stop sign issues which can create hazards. The photo below shows an OG car (ours–Eileen driving on 4th Ave.) which was clobbered on 4th Avenue when some jerk ran a stop sign at the intersection with Memorial Drive. She miraculously had minor injuries.
The Asbury driving chaos is out of hand. We have hazards in OG, but we don’t usually have the traffic congestion found in AP mostly all the time. (2020: The turn lanes will help, but Memorial Drive is still a problem)
Old Salvation Army housing is being turned into a boutique hotel in Asbury Park. Prosper Bellizia photo, Blogfinger staff. April, 2015. ©
Is this the historic look that the HPC wants for the North End?* The CMA seems to want to re-create the good old days in the Grove and call it “historic.”
This space on the southern border of Asbury Park, across from Wesley Lake, will get condos in the future. Does Ocean Grove need to add more condos to the neighborhood? Isn’t AP more in need of “redevelopment” than we are? Blogfinger photo.
