         
Please Visit
Links To Other Current Asbury Park News &
Information: Save Tillie: http://www.savetillie.com
The I LOVE
TILLIE Site: The Asbury
Park Site: Side O'Lamb
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ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY "A Seaside Ghost Town" Text and Images by Christopher Clay Originally Composed in 1998 - Occasional Updates through 2006 Read Through the Site for the Current "2006" Status of Asbury Park While no longer the ghost-town it was in the 1980's and 1990's, in my estimate, the future of Asbury Park will not resemble the once glorious Asbury Park resort of the past. It will offer million dollar condo's on the ocean. West of the train tracks, it will likely serve as a reminder of the urban blight that has plagued the city for so long. Meanwhile, I'll continue to document Asbury's famous past...as I have done online since 1998.
Image Above from 1997 photographed by Chris. Photo Footnotes 2006: The walkway pictured above has been removed. The building to the right has received a facelift as part of the "revitalization" efforts, but remains empty. The boardwalk boards have been replaced. The beaches in this northern section of Asbury Park, close to the Berkeley Carteret Hotel are still closed (as of August 2006). A new condo project is being constructed just north of the Berkeley Carteret and boasts 1.2 Million Dollar Penthouses! Per an article in a 2006 issue of New Jersey Monthly, the average sale price of a condo in this new development will be about $700,000.
Why These Web Pages Exist Welcome to my web pages intended to help preserve the memories of Asbury Park and to raise awareness regarding it's current state of affairs. Growing up along the New Jersey Shore in the 1970's and 1980's, one always maintains a love, a connection to this magical place along the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout the web site, you will find memories of many places, including several in New Jersey. The viewpoints and opinions are my own. Factual information has been researched on the internet, found in books or news articles or been emailed to me by the many who have visited this site. A very special THANK YOU to everyone who has written or shared a memory in the Guest Book. It is for YOU that these pages are dedicated and for so many who remember the "good old days" at Asbury Park. Like most, I only wish for the preservation of those places still standing in Asbury Park and a return to the prosperity for the city. Because I am not currently a resident of the town, it is difficult for me to maintain a daily record of events concerning Asbury Park. I thank the many dedicated individuals in and around Asbury Park who are fighting the battle every day! Your efforts do make a difference. With that, I invite you to visit my site, read about Asbury Park's rich history and remember the city through images collected throughout the 1900's. CURRENT NOTES: August 17, 2006: I made my official summer journey to visit family in NJ. During my visit, I visited Asbury Park and took several photo's, showing BOTH the new development, and the continued blight within the city. Read my latest findings in the History Section. I am about ready to "close my story" on the city. We'll see how that goes. I have been documenting the city through visits, and photography since 1988 --- 18 years before many who are buying new half-million dollar condo's even knew Asbury Park existed. Many I imagine would have never even set foot in the city some 10 years ago. While the "rebirth" is coming (slowly I might add), the NEW Asbury Park of the future will hold little of it's past. Forget grand hotels, forget wan boat rides, forget boardwalk amusement rides; to me, the future is centered around money - how much money can developers get by selling condo's for $400,000 to over 1 million in price. Therefore, my focus of this site will be to recall the original Asbury Park, a Jersey Coast resort, once thriving, once a resort destination for all. I find it particularly odd that several shops in the the city feature bountiful displays of the city's past, through images and photo's. Most of the the photo's are are places that have been destroyed as part of the redevelopment. Namely, the Palace Amusements. Of all the places demolished, this loss is the saddest for many. The image below captures the scene well. A "proud" Asbury Partners LLC sign erected in a vacant lot. The building to the left housed a bar "Down The Street" from the late 1980's until it closed in 1999. A new business "Anybody's" opened in that location in the early 2000's, and was still open in 2004. It is now closed. My understanding is the building will be demolished, like almost every other around it already has --- including the Palace Amusements which sat almost directly behind the sign. Read more "current history".
September 2005: The structure just south of the Berkeley Carteret Hotel, a skeleton that has stood since the failed development of the very late 1980's, and slated for demolition prior to Memorial Day Weekend (of 2004) still stands. Footnote: The structure was finally razed in the summer of 2006. May 26, 2004: On this day, the history of Asbury Park, and the future of it's corporate development were forever changed --- the wreckers have demolished the Palace Amusements, home of the famous "Tillie" face. Efforts underway for years failed, and the fact that the building was on the Historic Register apparently had no bearing (see my Christian Admiral pages for another failure of the Historic Register status). The developers, Asbury Partners LLC, say that the demolision of this (and I believe 10 more sites) are "necessary" for the future development. Apparently the land on which the Palace Amusements sat is a good location for a new hotel. Though this may mark the beginning for many, even a triumphant return in years ahead for this deserted shore resort, for me, this begins to mark the end for the Asbury Park of years past, the end of a time, a period. The "future" Asbury Park will not likely be anything like the once thriving seaside town it once was. Story and images: http://asburypark.net/news/2004/05/0527palace.shtml May, 2004: I am temporarily residing in New Jersey during the summer of 2004. I am planning to visit Asbury Park and see just how the redevelopment is coming along. I last visited in June of 2003. Information on this site was created in the late 90's, and some updates have been made since then. I also visited Asbury Park in April 2002 - after that visit, I wrote: The Albion Hotel is gone; the Empress Motel (now home to Paradise Nightclub) is under renovation; several small shops and cafes are returning to the downtown area. Lots of redevelopment conversation in town. A section of Boardwalk near the Convention Hall has been replaced. There were trucks working on the beach (big pile of rocks, new sand?). The Howard Johnson Restaurant is still open part-time.
Images from this site were used by "Metropolis" - in a story by David B. Sokol, Metropolis Writer for "Urban Journal".
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