CONAL FOWKES. From the soundtrack of “Midnight in Paris.” By Woody Allen.
“Do do that voodoo that you do so well.” By Cole Porter
Posted in Asbury Connection, Music from the movies, Photography in Asbury Park, Photography the other side of Asbury Park, Photography: The Other Side of Asbury, tagged Asbury Park, You do something to me. on July 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »
CONAL FOWKES. From the soundtrack of “Midnight in Paris.” By Woody Allen.
“Do do that voodoo that you do so well.” By Cole Porter
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, tagged Asbury Park on March 15, 2022| 1 Comment »
KEN PEPLOWSKI (clarinet) AND FRIENDS: “All the Things You Are.” By Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, tagged Asbury Park on December 15, 2020| 4 Comments »
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
The Asbury Park Press referred to this iStar project as “The Changing Face of Asbury Park.” There are 17 stories, 130 condominiums— most over $1 million, and a hotel with 54 rooms. There will be parking within and a beach club. The skyline has already been dramatically altered, and that can be the subject of appreciation or scorn as seen from Ocean Grove.
It will certainly signal a fundamental change in what the future will hold in that town. Most of the structures along the boardwalk in A. Park are one or two stories. But now, will iStar get greedy and plan to demolish those buildings and put up more view-blocking and congestion-creating buildings along the ocean? The lure of great wealth might result in Asbury Park’s becoming Long Branch.
And will some of those commercial smoke signals be read in the Grove where the future North End design is currently being plotted by money driven developers and politicians, some of whom are Ocean Grovers.
DUM DUM GIRLS “Are You Okay?”
Posted in Asbury Park lifestyles, Photography the other side of Asbury Park, tagged Asbury outdoor art, Asbury Park on September 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Asbury Connection, Ocean Grove photographs, tagged Asbury Park, The night life at the Jersey Shore, Wesley Lake on April 21, 2019| 4 Comments »
WILLIE NELSON. “The Night Life”
Posted in Asbury Connection, Asbury Park Connection Photo Gallery, Asbury Park history, Blogfinger Presents, tagged Asbury Park, Springsteen--"The Rising" on December 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »
We were in A. Park when Bruce Springsteen launched his album The Rising on July 29, 2002. It was about his feelings regarding 9-11.
It was like a scene from Brigadoon. Ordinarily no one was on the beach in AP, even in the summer. It was like a ghost town. But this day, the beach was mobbed, and there was live music. Celebrities were there, bright lights illuminated where the Today Show was being filmed at the water’s edge, with Katie Couric getting wet up to her knees. Danny DeVito was to be interviewed on the beach. It was all very festive. On the boardwalk there were dancers and all sorts of characters looking on.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN from the album The Rising. “My City of Ruins” was dedicated to Asbury Park. It was first performed in Convention Hall in 2000.
Posted in Asbury Connection, tagged Asbury Park, Convention Hall Asbury Park, Fate steps in at Convention Hall on August 5, 2013| 2 Comments »
We learned about this event on Sunday from the Ocean County Signal and then today we have a link below from the Asbury Park Sun (courtesy of Tom Constantino of Ocean Grove). Convention Hall is a decrepit structure, but there are walkways on both sides overlooking the beach and the ocean. This past Sunday at about 11:30 am., a 4 inch slab of concrete shattered on the northeast side, right where a baby shower was to take place about one hour later. There were no injuries. See the link below for the latest story.
Falling cement roof at Convention Hall
Ironically, I was taking a walk on the AP boardwalk at 7:30 a.m, Sunday morning. I was taking pictures for a photo essay when I arrived at Convention Hall. I was attracted to that open walkway on the southeast side. I took one photo (below) and then walked down to the end. No one was there, so I enjoyed the view and left. A minute later, as I walked past Convention Hall, I looked back at the northeast walkway. About four hours later, the roof came down at that location.
Thank goodness that the baby shower was not going on when the roof fell. It reminds me of the line from “When You Wish Upon a Star” which says,
“Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through..”
LEON REDBONE. “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Posted in Asbury Connection, Blogfinger News, tagged Asbury Park, Main Street in Asbury Park NJ, New Jersey Transit Coast line on June 10, 2013| 10 Comments »
By Paul Goldfinger Re-posted from 2013 but still relevant. Not much has changed to 2018, but there are signs that Guadalajara-in-New Jersey boulevard is beginning to change for the better.
Almost every day I have an automobile adventure as I set out for Wegmans. The first part is heading north on Main Street, a multicultural showpiece in Asbury Park where driving is a challenge. To begin with, bad driving is a norm there. You must watch for abrupt lane changes, especially by cab drivers; jay walkers (it is the Jaywalking Capital of America;) oblivious drivers who stop cold and block one lane of traffic; giant pot holes, and getting caught behind cars trying to make left turns–like the guy who can’t wait to get to “Meat ‘n More ” or the driver who missed the left signal at Asbury Avenue—sort of the Times Square of AP.
Sometimes the fire engines come screaming out of their garage onto Main Street. I guess the main virtue and problem along that stretch is the the high volume of cars and people in a relatively small area.
But Main Street is a moveable visual feast*, so it is better to walk than drive. Don’t be tempted to sightsee while you drive north on Main Street. It could be dangerous. Some of the sights are fascinating such as the hair braiding places like Sir Jean’s and the frequent Mexican restaurants ( “I wonder which one is best,” you think.) Or you might be tempted to study the line outside the sneaker store and engage in some cultural analysis. You spot the Salvation Army thrift shop (now gone—2018) on the left and you think, “I have an old leg of lamb that I could donate and get a tax deduction”
You also pass the offices of the Coaster, a newspaper that specializes in old news.
There are a variety of restaurants to check out, but no Starbucks. “Where can I get Starbucks around here?,” some might wonder, as they look from side to side. (Only a visitor who is culturally out of touch would look for Starbucks on Main Street.)
If it’s Saturday in the summer you can stop at the Sunset Avenue Farmer’s Market, but watch out for people crossing with their bags of tomatoes. Also, be alert for the tourists pulling luggage as they head from the train station to the Grove, or the school kids, or the crossing guards, or the day workers, or the little Mexican moms shepherding a few kids to school, or the cars turning into the two Dunkin’ Donuts.
If you, like me, enjoy people watching, Main Street can be of great visual interest, but it’s like texting when driving, don’t take your eyes off the road. Sometimes I am drawn into beautiful Sunset Park because I see something worth photographing.
You might also be tempted to turn into Frank’s Restaurant where everybody goes for breakfast including cops, contractors, politicians, bloggers, realtors, homeboys, wayward Grovers and stylish types from across the border on Cookman Avenue.
And another distraction is the cacophony of loud music emanating from stores and cars and trucks: Salsa, hip hop and then Beach Boys from the white guys in the Jeeps.
Once you have survived that leg of the trip, you need to turn left at Sunset Ave by the Dunkin Donuts. You go one block and you meet the train tracks. I always slow down there because of the “bumpity bump” that threatens my wheels, tires and suspension. I once saw a guy swerve hard to the right to avoid the rattling wheels. One time I tried that, and the driver behind thought I was turning right, and a moment later he was passing me on the tracks.
So, a few weeks ago, work began on that Sunset Ave section of track. After a couple of weeks of not remembering and then having to make multiple U-turns past a stadium that I never saw before, I found an alternate route, but soon the work was over.
I guess the stadium is the home of the Asbury Park High School Bishops. Be the first to tell us why their mascot is a bishop, and you will win a prize.
Now, there is no more clickity -clack when you drive over the tracks. It is as smooth as silk. After that, the trip to Wegmans is very nice—that is until you get to Rt 35 in Ocean—white bread country—where there are other issues, but we’ll leave that for another time.
So take another look at Main Street as a place to visit and to have dinner. Send us a restaurant review. It actually is a much more fascinating place than Soho-by-the-sea which is downtown vertically to the east, and a lot less spicy.
* Credit to Ernest Hemingway for the “movable feast” line.
MARIACHI MEXICO DE PEPE VILLA “Cancion Mixteca”
Posted in Photographic Gallery, Color, tagged Asbury Park, Photos Farmers Market on August 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Photos by Paul Goldfinger. Place your cursor at the bottom to bring up the controls. You can stop any picture and then go forward or backward.
Posted in Blogfinger News, Charles Layton, tagged Asbury Park, north end, north end redevelopment, Ocean Grove Home Owners Association on August 8, 2011| 15 Comments »
By Charles Layton
It looks as though, over the next couple of years, Asbury Park will resume construction of new beachfront townhouses and condominiums. But it will proceed more slowly and carefully this time to avoid the calamities that resulted from its fast-track development plans of the past.
There is a lesson here for Ocean Grove, as negotiations proceed over our own North End hotel/residential redevelopment plan.
Asbury Park had soaring ambitions in 2002 when it set out to revive its beachfront area. It drew up a $1.25 billion redevelopment plan that was to include 3,100 new residential units, mostly condos. But then, in the midst of construction, the housing market crashed. The Esperanza, a high-rise project that was to contain 224 luxury units next to the beachfront, was abandoned by its developer and foreclosed upon by its lender due to lack of sales. Wesley Grove, another condo project just across from Ocean Grove, also fell flat in the market. The developer only completed one of four planned phases, leaving a forest of unsightly wooden stumps in an open field where the rest of the homes would have been.
Last December, the City of Asbury Park took its master developer to court, accusing the developer of defaulting on its obligations. And three weeks ago an arbitrator ruled that the developer was not responsible for most of the delays and failures the city had cited. Instead, he declared, the primary failure was the city’s own fast-track plan, which was at odds with housing market reality.
“The market conditions in the United States, including New Jersey, during this time period were, and continue to be, extremely poor,” the arbitrator, retired federal judge Nicholas Politan, wrote. “Testimony elicited at the hearing supports the fact that there exists a housing market catastrophe. This is particularly true in areas primarily geared to seasonal and second home development.”
(Every realtor in Ocean Grove would probably say “amen” to that.)
And so, rather than allow the city to acquire a new master developer and plunge headlong, as before, Politan prescribed a more modest and prudent course. He ordered the developer to deliver plans this month for a new project – 28 townhouses at Asbury Avenue and Kingsley Street – and to complete those homes within about a year and a half. Once 50 percent of those units are sold, the developer could begin building 168 more units at Munroe and Cookman. Until 50 percent of those are sold, other proposed housing projects in the oceanfront redevelopment area would remain on hold.
How does all this affect Ocean Grove’s North End? Well, in the first place, besides a hotel, the North End plan includes as many as 85 residences, most of them condominiums. In the second place, as Politan says, the catastrophically bad housing market continues. And in the third place, the additional residences likely to come on line in Asbury, right across Wesley Lake from the North End, will be added competition for the North End condos — and in an already glutted market.
Last month, the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association approved a list of suggestions for Neptune Township to consider as it negotiates a final agreement with the North End developers. One of its suggestions is a timetable somewhat like the one Politan is imposing on the Asbury Park developers. The HOA suggests that each block of condos should be 75 percent sold before the next block is started, “to insure no empty partially constructed structures.”
The wisdom of this suggestion is obvious.