Image via: Shorpy
Throughout the 90s and 2000, Asbury Park has seen better days. Once known as the jewel of the Jersey Shore, the famous beach town changed from a popular summer getaway to a forgotten, ghost town, on account of economic hard times, corruption, and the riots of 1970. Still the mystique of Asbury Park has never been forgotten, frozen in time, inspiring Bruce Springsteen to make his album Greetings From Asbury Park, and talk about psychic Madame Marie in 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). Still many more artists keep coming back to play at venues such as the Stone Pony.
The past couple of decades, driving through Asbury Park has garnered a completely different image than the old picture of prosperity (ie the black and white photograph above of women in petticoats and men in full suits). You were more likely to pass buildings with shattered windows, garbage strewn on the street, and bars blocking doorway entrances, rather than the a busy boardwalk full of joggers, shoppers, and out of towners. Asbury Park was crime ridden, run down, and dirty, left to decay after the hard times.
Image via: Keith Meyers/The New York Times
Despite the hardships of the past, each coming year it seems that Asbury is gaining a breathe of fresh air. I visited Asbury this summer and from just two years ago the changes are drastic. You can see from my post of Greetings From Asbury Park that more people are returning to this one time vacation destination. The new restoration projects, as well as the new stores that will be opening on the boardwalk, have some people excited and others groaning. After all, if a bunch of overpriced cafes serving $6 cups of ice coffee start popping up, some worry that Asbury may loose some of its authenticity.
Unfortunately that is what happens when a place starts to become ‘popular’ once again. Suddenly the Starbucks of the world want to put up shop. As for me, I’m torn. The juxtaposition of such old favorites as the Stony Pony and the Wonder Bar, next to the new trendy cafes on the Asbury boardwalk makes for a more interesting, and I hate to say, convenient visit. More than anything, although Asbury may be a ‘diamond in the rough,’ a ‘hidden gem,’ an ‘up and coming destination’ (insert any other trite, travel writing cliche here), now the city is given the opportunity to be what it once was, hopefully without loosing its unusual Jersey Shore town charm.
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