Asbury Park, NJ
July 3, 2004

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Note: I have since been to Asbury Park on many occasions for some killer concerts (Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes and La Bamba's Big Band several times each, as well as to see Gary U.S. Bonds). When I have a picture editor, I will add pictures from those later outings.

The sunny Saturday before Independence Day, Mike and I, along with the horriblely sunglassed Kate, traveled up to Asbury Park, NJ. The main purpose of this trip was to see Clarence "Big Man" Clemons and The Temple of Soul perform at The Stone Pony, but we left a bit early so that we could explore Asbury Park a bit.

Asbury Park was once one of the crown jewels of the Jersey shore, a family oriented resort town, much as Ocean City or Wildwood is today. Over the years, the town fell into some disrepair and began to attract a different, rougher sort of crowd, bikers and rockers and folks of all kinds. This was the Asbury Park where people like Southside Johnny, Steve Van Zandt, and, of course, Bruce Springsteen got their start. Since that time, Asbury Park has gone from bad to worse. For a while, the town was literally falling apart, thanks in part to a corrupt and wasteful city government. In the last two or three years, a massive renovation effort has begun to turn the town around. However, this effort has not been without casulties, most notably the Palace Amusements, which began to be destroyed on May 26, 2004, starting with the oldest part of the structure, the Carousel House. Many more sites are planned to fall beneath the wrecking ball. So much for the National Register Of Historic Places...

The Palace, built in 1888, was until recently the oldest indoor amusement park in the whole nation. Fortunately, a coalition of groups headed by the Save Tillie managed to save many artifacts from the building, which will be placed in a proposed historical museum. Also saved were one of the giant smiling "Tillie" faces that adorned the Palace's walls. The "bumper girls" are also to be saved before demolition is completed. These will be incorporated into the design of the new complex that is planned for the spot.


Hole where the Carousel House, built in 1888, used to stand


Leftovers from the working days of the Palace


"Scooter Girls", you can see where the cuts are being made to remove them from the wall


Coaster section of wall fronting Kingsley Street... for the moment


Kate & Mike with Tille. You can see where the Save Tillie group cut out the other Tillie face for preservation


Tillie

Of course, there is more to Asbury Park than what remains of the Palace. We continued to walk around, dodging broken alcohol bottles and yet to be broken alcohol bottles. A pro-beach volleyball tournament was going on, but they wouldn't let us compete. We walked up into Convention Hall and took a peek inside the theatre area there while making use of the facilities, where Mike came up with an invention idea that will someday make him a billionaire. We then walked back down the boardwalk, grabbing some food before the show.


The Casino Carousel House


YOUR MOM! OOOOH!
I'm sorry, that was really immature, it won't happen again.
This is actually just a close up of one of the faces on the Casino Carousel House. These faces used to appear in the center of the windows as well, but are now boarded over.
OOOOOH!


The Casino


I don't think this was orginally a parking lot, but it is now. Certainly a strange place for tiles if it always was a parking lot. Mike really wanted me to take this picture.


Madam Marie, out, but obviously not rehabilitated


Convention Hall


The Power House


Casino Carousel House at night

After all this exploring, there was still the rock n roll. Unfortunately, being an idiot, I didn't take my camera in, nor did I take a picture of The Stone Pony (Note: I rectified this on later trips).

However, it was an awesome night of rock, featuring the Nick Clemons Band (great!), Primitive Soul (who weren't so hot), and Clarence Clemons & the Temple of Soul (simply amazing). After Clarence came a special set by La Bamba's Big Band, featuring either 17 or 19 members (Us Mikes are still arguing between which it was) crammed onto the indoors stage at the Pony. You haven't heard or seen music 'til you've heard and seen La Bamba's Big Band...

Later shows have included Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes (the word "awesome" does not begin to describe this band) and Gary U.S. Bonds