Seaside Heights. October, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net
Below a scene from Mighty Aphrodite. Paul Desmond’s music was featured. And speaking of the Greek Goddess of Love, today is Eileen Goldfinger’s birthday. Happy Birthday kid!
When I was a high school and college musician, I played a French made Selmer alto sax, as did Desmond.
Paul Desmond was my musical hero. I always tried to emulate his “cool” style. It was a sweet sound which touched me for its floating-in-air quality.
Paul Desmond. The search for a perfect reed is the bane of a sax man’s life. Internet photo. Reed sentiment is mine: PG
He was not only a performer with the Dave Brubeck group, but he was a jazz composer as well, and his “Take Five” was the first jazz song to sell a million copies. Paul Desmond’s sound provided a special flavor for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and was widely emulated by jazz musicians like me as a member of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Jazz Band and leader of the Paul Gary Quartet. (seen below on a Selmer tenor sax)
Bunny, I, Charlie (bass) and Frank (drums) warming up in Frank’s basement in Rutherford. We were college kids. Bunny and I were from FDU while Frank went to Seton Hall. Charlie was a precocious high school senior whose girlfriend was our groupie. Bunny rarely sang, but when she did, it was “Willow Weep for Me.” (We weeped for her singing.) Bunny was so slim that she could play between the white keys. Wallpaper compliments of Frank’s Mom. There are no recordings of our group.
Desmond’s remarkable tempo style was featured in Woody’s 1995 film “Mighty Aphrodite.”
The song below, “Romance de Amor,” is a Brazilian composition by Paul. It is from the album Skylark.
Paul Desmond drank and smoked heavily. He died at 52 of cancer.
Romance de Amor. (Love Song). Written by Paul Desmond.
2nd Life Bikes. April 2014. Photos by Paul Goldfinger. Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Kerri Martin, the Director of Second Life Bikes at 21 Main Street, right outside the OG gates and a little to the right, presides over an ocean of used bicycles within a cavernous space that looks like it could house a brewery or an armory. Kerri founded this “community organization” in 2006 when she ran it out of a garage as a sort of bike church.
Kerri Martin. Director. By Paul Goldfinger 2014.
The idea is to help the community and promote solid values through the “resurrection” of bicycles and secondarily of endangered poor kids. She says the program “changes the destiny of people and bikes.”
People donate old bicycles to the group, and they are fixed up by a team of 3 experts: Kerri, Pete and Terry. Then the bicycles can be purchased from $60.00 up or given to kids free through the “Youth Earn a Bike” program. Kids ages 12-18 must work 15 hours to get a bike. They learn how to use tools and restore life to damaged cycles.
Kerri is quite famous around these parts for her witticisms which she writes by hand on a blackboard outside the shop. She says that she is giving vent to her “inner comedian.” The program has been covered by national media, but now Blogfinger gets a shot.
I brought over my son’s Huffy which had been ridden twice before the brakes failed. Pete, a bike repairman and raconteur, found that the bike was fine, but it had been assembled wrong. So much for the great deal at Walmart.
Pete is originally from Jersey City and he used to do darkroom photography, so we had a few things to talk about. Pete has a short graying pony tail; maybe I should get one of those.
Kerri isn’t sure what this building was used for in the past, but it stood empty for many years before Kerri and her biker gang took over four years ago. I felt like Bob Bowné at the silk mill when I roamed around taking photos. But unlike the silk mill, this strange building has humans and cats milling about still.
Kerri said that another blogger was due in for an interview and photo-shoot, but, at least for today, Blogfinger got the scoop.
The crew at the 2nd Hand Bike-land also consists of volunteers, and visitors are welcome. You Grovers should walk over there and step inside. It is a fascinating and unique treat. You might even be inspired to make a donation—the 2nd Hand biker gang wants to buy the building and continue the good deeds at that very special location.
Paul Goldfinger St. Emilion, France. Dordogne region. Growers of Bordeaux wine. Silver gelatin dark room print by the photographer. Click once for full view.
SIDNEY BECHET (soprano sax) with “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere” from the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@ Blogfinger.net Photos and text. Relevant in 2018 regarding the contrasts between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.
In case you haven’t noticed, according to last Sunday’s NY Times, Asbury Park, at least the part by the ocean, is a huge success attracting hot-shots from all over the mid-Atlantic to this “beach destination.” It seems that the turning point is the new 110 room Asbury Hotel, a brilliantly conceived venue which the chief designer, Anda Andrei, calls “luxury with modesty.”
According to the Times, the “City by the Sea” has officially risen from the ashes and has become a place where “everyone and everything” is happening. Below are some of the observations reported by the Times in their featured article in the “Next Stop” series on Sunday, July 10, 2016, written by Eric Lipton, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist:
“IStar is the NYC based real estate company that owns all 35 acres of beachfront land. Madison Marquette is the company in charge of leasing retail space at the beachfront. These companies plan to invest over $1 billion in AP over the next 10 years.”
Regarding the demographics of those who populate the scene in AP, it is described as an “eclectic mix of professionals, families, young bar hoppers, and a large gay population—-all of them across income levels.”
The author of the article said, “Now the rebirth of Asbury Park is no longer in question. The only question that does remain is how much of Asbury’s character will be retained as it becomes a summertime mecca again.”
The executive in charge of iStar told the Times that “his company is determined not to turn Asbury Park into Disneyland.”
You can already get a feel for that when you check out the eating establishments on the boards—no pizza slices and French fries for them.
“The music scene is still the element that holds Asbury Park together with at least eight venues featuring live music.”
Downtown more than two dozen restaurants and bars comprise an eclectic collection of fine shops, galleries, and bakeries. The Festhall and Biergarten across the lake from OG is filled with “over 700 patrons on busy weekend nights.”
Clearly this Times article was aimed at a crowd that would respond to the “Brooklyn by the beach” nickname, but when Eric Lipton wondered about retaining the original AP “character,” it wasn’t clear what image he had in mind.
The article failed to consider that AP is a city that consists of more than just a destination for glitterati. There are people who live there who are ordinary folks—not hipsters, and they bring a beautiful down-home, multi-racial sensibility to the City which has deeper roots than fancy restaurants and cool destinations. There is a tapestry in Asbury Park, not just designer clothes.
Also there is no recognition in the article of the state of affairs in some parts of town west of the tracks, the poverty, the unemployment, the poor condition of Main Street, and the pervasive crime problems, primarily surrounding the considerable drug scene over there.
And as we all know who live in this area, Asbury Park is not isolated—it has neighbors. Regarding the “eclectic mix” that visits A. Park, the author says that the mix is “in striking contrast to the more stuffy (and staid) nearby beach towns, like Spring Lake.”
Uh, excuse me, but if you are going to contrast Asbury to a nearby town, there is an actual striking contrast with next door Ocean Grove, just south of A. Park—-a much more interesting place than “staid” Spring Lake.
There is a small reference to OG in a side bar which, like most inattentive media, gets it wrong about us—painting us as some shriveled-up museum-like religious town. He says, “Ocean Grove is a dry town built around religious summer camps—God’s Square Mile is its slogan—-so no bars with music there. But it is a museum of Victorian architecture.”
Eric Lipton mentions our ” more than a dozen bed and breakfast options,” but who would want to visit our embalmed town? The dynamic interaction between these two beach towns which is developing, goes unrecognized by the media. Ocean Grove may not be where the cool crowd goes, but our history, diversity, beauty, quietude, and family lifestyles provide quite an impressive and favorable comparison to the sparkling high life going on across Wesley Lake.
So, what will Ocean Grove become by comparison as AP morphs into a very special place with its own character, fame, and attraction? Will we evolve into a historical prototype of small town America with a famous Victorian architecture, a religious flavor, a unique character, a classy culture, and a wonderful personality of its own that will complement what is happening to the north?
Or will we be left in the dustbin of history as a place with stifling crowding, insoluble parking concerns, a has-been Victorian success story, condos all over town, a pseudo-Asbury at the North End, and a town devoid of community—– known for gizmos and Abba on the Pathway but no art, culture, or values of its own? All that will be left to focus on will be the Camp Meeting Association with its specific mission and lifestyle—worthy as part of the community, but less impressive all by itself.
CELIA CRUZ: (Live) Turn on the music and then look at the gallery below.
An Asbury Park gallery—-the other side of A. Park, by Paul Goldfinger @Blogfinger.net. Click on one and follow the arrows. Use the small X upper left to return to Blogfinger proper (or improper as the case may be.)
Lifeguards at the Ocean Grove beach during tournament.. Paul Goldfinger photo (2014) Click to make bigger.
Ocean Grove Beach 2022. A professional photo shoot is taking place. Paul Goldfinger photo from the pier.. You can imagine the rear view. Where will she hang her beach badge? Nobody stopped the photographer.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger. 2021.
The OGCMA’s Beach Regulations have not been changed much since we first looked at them in 2021. We are going more or less by the rules expressed currently on the CMA web site: OceanGrove.org/beach. (2023)
A mailing was sent out in 2021 for those who wanted to obtain beach “tags” for 2022. If you ordered by mail, there would be a $7.00 mailing fee. You had to sign and return a card which promised that you would “follow all of the beach rules and regulations.”
In 2023 I ordered badges on line, and there were no rules to sign.. And the web site does not mention signing any rules pledge.
I wonder how many of you have actually read the rules. If you haven’t, here are some that are of particular interest.
Note that the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association controls most of these rules, not the Neptuners, even though the beach, boards, and parks are considered “public thoroughfares.” And it is not clear as to how the CMA enforces the rules. Note that the new pier has its own rules posted on the boardwalk.
The 2021 list below is stated somewhat differently now, but is essentially the same. Now they ban alcohol (a Neptune ordinance) and they don’t mention smoking. And there are rules about canopies or tents.
You can see the complete list at OceanGrove.org. Below are the rules and regs which we find particularly interesting at Blogfinger.net, and we editorialize about some of them:
You may not swim at the North End beach because it is reserved as the “primary surfing beach.” Is this fair?
You must “obey lifeguards at all times.” So if you are a sweet young thing in a bikini, you may not want to agree to this rule.
No electronic music unless you wear headphones. But how about other sources of noise such as loud parties or loud talk or sports radio?
Children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Will you parents with precocious, brilliant kids restrain them from going to the beach without adults if lifeguards are present?
No disrobing or changing clothes on the beach. Heck, that is a popular spectator sport.
No burying persons below grade or in standing position. Does this mean that both the buryer and the buryee cannot be standing? Do the same rules apply if you are burying a dead person? No hole deeper than 12 inches. And what does “below grade” mean?
Sports fishing is allowed in “locations not being used for bathing or surfing.” Is this clear?
No flying kites over beach or boardwalk. Is that 24/7 or only while the lifeguards are there?
Only service dogs are allowed on the beach or boardwalk. Do they mean year-round? Dogs are permitted on-leash off-season.
No bikes, skateboards or skates except between 3 am to 10 am (Neptune ordinance in season) Why is Neptune Township writing this rule? The CMA is empowered to make rules for the beach and boardwalk. The CMA has jurisdiction over those areas.
No smoking on the beach. CMA allows smoking in their parks, but they probably made this specific area smoke-free because people pay to get on; they don’t pay to visit the parks, including Auditorium Square Park which, strangely, allows smoking despite the big wooden structure next door. I guess you can smoke on the boardwalk??
No activity which may endanger the safety of others.
No open fires, but the CMA has night bonfires.
No fishing in bathing areas. (? 24/7)
Beach badges if over 11 years old
Below is interesting in this age of thong bathing suits:
“The standard for the application of the terms ‘indecent exposure’, ‘inappropriate display’, ‘abusive act or language’ as used in the preceding sentence shall be generally accepted standard for the community of Ocean Grove in keeping with the stated purpose of the Association being to provide and maintain for members and friends of the Methodist Episcopal , now United Methodist Church,, a proper, convenient and desirable permanent Camp Meeting Grounds and Christian seaside resort.’”
But there are no such standards for the “community of Ocean Grove.” In fact there is no “community of Ocean Grove.” Perhaps the standards referenced are those of the Camp Meeting Association which do not exist in writing.
Therefore, the idea of “indecent exposure” cannot be enforced. Any lawyer want to weigh in on this?
So, who is the party of the first part? Well, you get the idea. There are more such rules and regulations; you have to decide which ones you want to obey fully, which ones you will gracefully ignore, and which ones you will obey selectively. We don’t claim to have posted every rule that exists; go to OceanGrove.org for more info.
But they did send one of their enforcement goons to demand that I stop photographing by the Pavilion and even on the beach.
Oh, and who gets to enforce all these rules, especially if they are 24/7?
And how does the CMA insure equal justice under the law? And how does Neptune get involved if their ordinances are challenged, such as no alcohol and bike/scooters violations?
JOHNNY DEPP and HELENA BONHAM CARTER “By the Sea” from Sweeney Todd-the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics 1979)
“By the sea, Mr. Todd, that’s the life I covet By the sea, Mr. Todd, ooh, I know you’d love it You and me, Mr. T, we could be alone In a house what we’d almost own
“Down by the sea, anything you say Wouldn’t that be smashing?
“With the sea at our gate, we’ll have kippered herring What have swum to us straight from the Straits of Bering Every night in the kip, when we’re through our kippers I’ll be there slipping off your slippers”
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net Click once to enlarge.
2021 re-post (The original question posited in the headline is still valid.)
There are multiple factions in the small town of Ocean Grove (pop 3,700,) and these organized groups are largely isolated from each other. Woven into the fabric are homeowners and renters who live here but do not belong to any organizations, thus becoming, by default, a faction of their own.
According to social scientist Steve Valk, whose family has lived here for several generations, it would be important for these factions to find ways to appreciate and cooperate with each other. For example he cites the religious groups and the secular groups which ought to find common ground for the benefit of the town. One example of such cooperation is the recent interaction, since Sandy, between Ocean Grove United (OGU) and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (CMA); however we have recently seen how tenuous that relationship is when we recall the recent clash about Sunday sermons.
The CMA ran the town from 1869 to 1980 as a tax paying part of Neptune Twp.—-111 years.
Neptune Township treated OG as a sort of gated community. The CMA made the rules and imposed blue laws until the N.J. Supreme Court put a stop to that in 1980 when Neptune took over active governance in the Grove (although the Neptuners were technically the governing body almost since the town’s founding.) Since 1980, the CMA has continued its mission and it has largely kept out of the way of Neptune Township.
But we now see the CMA and the Township working together on the North End Redevelopment Project, but suspicious elements have been revealed, and that project does not seem to be designed primarily with the town’s best interest at heart. By 2021, the CMA, OGNED, and the Neptunites seem to be on the verge of going ahead with the NERP.
As for the Neptune Township governance, you have seen the results of our recent poll which shows that 80% of respondents mistrust the Neptune Township Committee. Interestingly, over the years, there were times when the citizens rose up against Neptune control resulting in law suits and even a failed referendum to allow the Grove to become a separate town which it did for one year in 1925.
The other organizations here also tend to have their own agendas and to be run like private clubs. Such groups include the Homeowners Association, the Historical Society, Ocean Grove United, and the Chamber of Commerce.
They don’t work together very much for the good of the town. They are busy with their own agendas. For example, the Chamber of Commerce runs big events to try and drum up business for the merchants. But what do they do for the benefit of those who live here? We asked them to take over sponsorship of the Town-wide Yard Sale, but they refused.
When we introduced a new idea for the town—the Blogfinger Film Festival—a benefit for the boardwalk—-only a few of the members would be sponsors for the program, and hardly any attended the event.
When we think of factions in town, we can see the visible ones, but how about the invisible ones such as families that have lived here for generations and are part of networks that act in concert with each other, with the CMA, and with the Township governance, especially where land use, zoning, and parking are concerned. Let’s call that “the OG network of special interests.”
For them the town of Ocean Grove seems like a gift that keeps on giving. This network never speaks publicly, shows its face, or identifies itself, but what it does and has done will impact all of us and will determine what the town will be in the future. Take a look at all the Grovers who are involved with OGNED and will gain financially from that North End project; to the detriment of those of us who live here and pay taxes.
We have seen the results of favoritism for those special interests in the Greek Temple and Mary’s Place. The North End Redevelopment Project is a good example to keep an eye on. Who will be the winners, and who will be the losers?
Because of indifference by the public, organizations, and special interests, Ocean Grove may become an at-risk town which could end up a failed historic place without focus and character, such as is seen in other shore towns—unless the public pays attention and the organizations here begin to work together for the overall benefit of the town and not just on their narrow pet projects, like the Homeowners Association which is currently circulating a simple-minded parking survey while ignoring the improprieties and illegalities around town regarding land use issues. The HOA has teamed up with the Neptune Committee ever since 2008 when it supported 165 residential units, mostly condos, at the North End.
In 2002, a professor* at Monmouth University published an academic paper about OG history, emphasizing the powerful way that the activist HOA of 25-30 years ago fought for the town and saved its life. Below is a quote** from that research about that era.
Contrast the conclusion below with the current HOA which now is failing Ocean Grove through impotence, inaction, and lack of focus towards the issues which currently threaten our town the most.
The Home Groaners need to step up and save the town once again, but this version appears to so far be hopeless in that regard.
** 2002: “The HOA has maintained or reconstructed the carefully planned infrastructure of the founders, and even as Ocean Grove is being reborn as a contemporary tourist site, the HOA has worked with the CMA to preserve its sacred foundations. Just like the CMA, the HOA has been outstanding in its ability to secure what it wants and what it believes the community needs. Property values have risen, the community is again a safe place, tourism has been revived, an enormous amount of social capital has been generated, and the Victorian charm of the town has been restored.”
By Karen Schmelzkopf* in the Journal of Historical Geography, 2002
