Editor’s Note: We are initiating a series of black and white photographs taken this summer season in or near the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ. These two images were obtained inside that magnificent building during the Music of the Spirit Concert on Sunday, August 26, 2018.
PENTATONIX. (Christmas in August: “Mary, Did You Know?”)
Blogfinger. 2020 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 clash about Sunday sermons this past summer.
The CMA ran the town from 1869 to 1980—-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 they 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.
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 activities. 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 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.
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
“I dreamt we were standing
By the banks of the Thames
Where the cold grey waters ripple
In the misty morning light
Held a match to your cigarette
Watched the smoke curl in the mist
Your eyes, blue as the ocean between us
Smiling at me…”
THE POGUES. “Misty Morning, Albert Bridge.” The Pogues were a Celtic punk band from London, popular in the 1980’s.
Molly moved to Ocean Grove recently. She rents in the Grove and works in Red Bank.
She was walking alone on the boards late in the day. It was cold out, but Molly wore a smile. I had my camera and I took this shot without any discussion. That’s what “street photographers” do.
I happened to have a 28 mm wide angle lens on my Leica Monochrom 246. The “decisive moment” * is what we seek. You dance with the girl you came with, and so it goes with interchangeable camera lenses. If there is time in photography, one could get closer, but not in this case at that moment. Fortunately our software allows a viewer to click on the image and get a closer view.
A few minutes later I caught up with Molly. I said, “Hi” and asked, “Can I take your picture?” There was not a hint of caution on her part. She continued to smile and to say, “Sure.”
We will post those portrait shots another time. We chatted briefly, and I gave her a Blogfinger card.
She said, “I love it here.”
*Cartier-Bresson, the famous French street photographer coined the phrase: “The Decisive Moment.”
September 10. 2016. Ocean Pathway, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
The ad said “rain or shine,” but today at the OG Giant Fall Flea Market, there was a bit too much shine. It was hot—nearly 90 degrees, but nevertheless, a large crowd showed up, and there were sea breezes.
The Boardwalk Pavilion was crowded as a group had assembled to enjoy the simple pleasures of the shade along with cool air from the ocean.
I like the ambience of flea and farmers markets, while Eileen is more of a shopper. I, on the other hand, could visit every one of the 385 vendors here today and I would find absolutely nothing that I would want. But the photo ops—that’s another story.
If you are a photographer you can sympathize with me. At noon, with the light changing at every step and with my automatic meter being unreliable, I had to figure out exposures from moment to moment, and it was annoying to manually keep changing the settings.
Noon is the worst time of day to get good photos due to the harsh high-contrast light. I much prefer to shoot in the shade whenever possible. And then there are the flea market throngs, with a giant person stepping in the way just as a Jennifer Lawrence look-alike enters my field of vision.
Some people ask me why I photograph women. The answer is quite obvious—what is more beautiful? Even women enjoy looking at pictures of women, especially those unique types whose dress and manner are so graceful, interesting, and enticing.
And especially at the famous flea market on Ocean Pathway in the Grove, by-the-sea, where a photographer cannot deny girls in their summer clothes.
Flea Market Gallery: First turn on the music. Then click on one then follow the large arrows. To return to this page, click on the small X on the left.
