all roads lead to asbury park - word doc with photos

8/6/2019 All Roads Lead to Asbury Park - Word Doc With Photos

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All Roads Lead To Asbury Park, N.J., USAMy Trip To The Holy Landby John J. Kelly

If youre a Beatles fan, you flock to Liverpool, England. If you loved Elvis, you go to Graceland.If the Motown Sound turns you around, your destination would be Detroit to see that littlehouse where such big hits were made. But if you are a Bruce Tramp like us, if you consideryourself a member of E Street Nation and if the soundtrack to your life was written by BruceSpringsteen, then all roads lead to Asbury Park.

This is the story, complete with photos, of five fabulous and fantastic days and nights featuring

picture perfect weather, breathtaking sights and sounds of parades and fireworks, plus almost awhole days worth of sightseeing and touring Asbury Park and Freehold. In short, this is thestory of a trip that exceeded every expectation and provided us with enough stardust memories tolast a lifetime. This is the story of our trip to the Shore, where everything really is all right.


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Our plane lifted off early Thursday, July 2, destination: LaGuardia Airport in New York. Ourmission that day was to make it to Asbury Park in time to check in to the Berkeley Hotel andthen make our way to the Boardwalk for a gathering of the tribe; the BTX tribe and dinner. (We


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would have flown into the more convenient Newark Airport, but when we made our planereservations we were considering spending a day or two with friends in NYC.) As it turned out,LaGuardia proved to be somewhat problematic because it necessitated our circumnavigationaround The Big Apple to get to the Jersey Turnpike, which was no easy task given that we wereforced to drive in a near monsoon of pelting, down-pouring rain. But we braved that storm and

before we knew it we were free and clear of New York and bound straight for the Shore.

Upon checking into The Berk (as it is lovingly referred to) we were a bit dismayed to find wewere assigned a room with two full beds rather than the one king-size bed we had requested.However, this mistake turned out to be fortuitous after we were reassigned to a perfect cornerroom, complete with the right-size bed and two windows providing a dual view of both the ocean

and famous Ocean Ave. We couldnt have been more pleased with our luck and the kindness ofthe Berkeley Hotel staff. And though parking was a challenge with the hotel jam-packed withteen dance competitors and their surprisingly enthusiastic parents, we got lucky again with a verytough-to-find parking spot behind the Berk. Call it good karma. Call it good vibes. But with ourAsbury adventure just beginning, Lady Luck seemed to be on our side.

First stop was dinner at Langosta Lounge on the boardwalk, a dinner conceived and arrangedmasterfully by the Queen of BTX Parties, Flashbelle.


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So we made our way down the boardwalk and couldnt help noticing how healthy and vibranteverything looked in the early evening light. My first visit to Asbury was in the winter of 1995and I couldnt believe how far the boardwalk has come. The boardwalk itself looked great. The


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old low-rent HoJos is now an upscale restaurant called McCloones.

The boardwalk concourse that runs between the Paramount Theater and Convention Hall is nowfilled with shops and restaurants. The beach looked well-groomed and fairly crowded, especially


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for this late in the afternoon. And the shutters were off many of the shops along the boardwalk,with the addition of a few new small shops.

Even the most famous spot on the boardwalk, Madame Maries, was open for business duringthe day with the late Madame Maries daughter out front, ready to give her next palm or tarot

card reading. At night it was windowed and well lit..


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Most noticeable was the amount of pedestrian traffic traveling north and south on the boardwalk.It was late Thursday afternoon and the place was buzzing.


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Dinner was delightful and we met so many new friends. Flash formally presented each newBTXer and their companions and each person received a warm welcome and a round ofapplause. Oh, and we were each handed a nametag as well. (Heck, it wouldnt be a Flashbelleparty without nametags.) The food was both delicious and plentiful, with an array of appetizerspreceding the main course, including something called Greek-fried olives! The meal ended

with dark chocolate and white chocolate covered cheesecake balls. Flash couldnt have selected abetter spot to break bread, have some cold beverages and get primed for that nights Southsideshow.

Here are a couple of fairly candid shots taken during dinner:


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After dinner we moved to the front steps for the requisite group photo and lots of laughs as wetried to put on our best BTX poses


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After dinner we hustled down a few blocks on Ocean Ave. to the Stone Ponys Outdoor Stagearea for the big event, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Although John had seenSouthside perform in many different incarnations, Janet was a Juke virgin. But she was as


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familiar with their music as anyone in the crowd John recently discovered she owned aSouthside Johnny vinyl bootleg! so as you might expect, she was very excited about seeing theband in person. We moved toward the stage and spotted a very sweet spot to stand, on the rightside of the stage just a few people back from Bobby B., and stayed there for the entire night. Weboth thought Southside and the rest of the band were in fine form and sounded like a million

bucks.


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All night long, Johnny sounded and acted much more focused than the last few times Ive seenhim. But the biggest difference was the sound mix. There were none of the problems with over-modulation or feedback that had ruined the last few shows Id seen. And Bobby B. played


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exceptionally well, even taking over center stage and lead vocals while Southside took a bit of abreak. After a long day of travel, fun and music, we headed back to Berk to bring the day to anend.We were both exhausted, but it was that wonderful good tired.

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

The next morning we slept in and then lollygagged around Asbury. In the afternoon, we neededto go to Red Bank and pick up the wristbands before the Kaboom Fireworks offices closed at5:00 p.m. The wristbands, were bought online a week earlier. At just $25 dollars apiece theyguaranteed us the best possible fireworks viewing in a special seated section at the furthest edgeof Marine Park, exactly 50 yards and dead center in front of the loaded fireworks barge. We wereconsidering driving back to take the train from Asbury to Red Bank with Flash and a few otherBTXers, in order to hang with them and avoid the traffic jam after the fireworks. But once wegot to Red Bank and saw that the town and waterfront already filling up we decided to just stayput. Although we missed the camaraderie of out BTX amigos, this proved again to be a lucky

move.

Once parked we walked toward the Navesink River waterfront, stopping in a few shops,including Bruces favorite Red Bank record store, Jacks, and picking up some essentialprovisions (sunscreen, food and beer) for the night ahead. It was a challenge finding this veryexclusive VIP area in Marine Park. None of the security officials seemed to know where it was,which seemed odd. When we finally found it we were pleasantly surprised to find an idyllicsetting.


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Upon arrival, we also were surprised to see about 200 empty chairs and two guys, smokingcigars and drinking beer. These two Red Bank fireworks regulars had arrived even earlier than usand set up an amazing party area with blankets, chairs, a picnic table and enough food and drink


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to feed an army. They were awaiting their families to arrive, and in the meantime invited us tojoin them. They proved to be among dozens of the friendly folks wed meet on our adventure andgreat conversationalists too. In addition to gabbing with these two gentlemen, we took lots ofpictures of this incredible setting on an equally perfect sunny day, right by the boats and theYacht Club. We pretended we owned one of the nicest sailboats.

As the sun slowly slipped behind the horizon, excitement was beginning to build. The area hadfilled up and we took a few more photos of the amazing sunset.


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Around 9:25 p.m., the radio station signaled the fireworks were about to begin. The KaboomFireworks organizers had set up special speakers all along the front of the VIP area (and directlyin front of us) so we had perfect, surround-sound for the radio simulcast! And what an amazing


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light and sound show it was. Janet has spent her Fourth of July watching the NYC fireworks formore than a decade, with a great view from her friends lovely terrace that faces the East River.John had been fortunate to experience the 4th of July fireworks on the Boston esplanade in hishometown, with the Boston Pops playing along on the Hatch Shell many, many times. But weboth believe the Red Bank Kaboom Fireworks topped them all. It was truly jaw-dropping as

we sat directly below the cascading, exploding colors of red, blue, green, yellow, phosphorescentwhite, magenta; every possible color in the spectrum. And we were surprised at the many new,creative and different types of patterns, including some of Janets favorites: little red horizontalfloating lanterns along with peace symbols. The music was synched perfectly, like JohnLennons Imagine, playing while fireworks exploded into peace symbols. And then, there itwas, the strains of cross the river to the Jersey side Ah, Jersey Girl.Boom. Bang. Bliss.


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After the Grand Finale, we paused to allow pedestrian and car traffic to clear a little beforemaking our way to an Irish pub in downtown Red Bank. The place was packed but we managedto get in and had a very pleasant time watching the 20-something, decked-out Jersey girls andboys preen and parade past us as they hoped to make their night just a little bit luckier. As we


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toasted and kissed, we felt we already had.

Saturday morning, 4th of July, Asbury Park

We awoke to the sounds of honking horns and fire engines, pushed aside the curtains, peered out

our windows and saw what appeared to be the Asbury Park 4th of July parade. So we rushed toget ready for the day and strolled across the street and found a place to stand and watch, acrossfrom the Wonder Bar. It was your classic, all-American, small city, corny as hell, but also quitecolorful and silly 4th of July parade. As they say, plenty of good clean fun. So like good patrioticAmericans, we stood and waved and cheered and John took his hat off and waved it around.There were a number of different marching bands (strangely an unusually disproportionatenumber of bagpipers), not to mention Sousa bands and a float bearing a barbershop quartet.Heres one example..


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And then there were the inevitable gang of clowns. Lots and lots of clowns (I had to put aside mytotally irrational fear of clowns its a long story), but in the end these were the friendly typedoing clowny things, mugging for photos, chasing each other in circles, bonking each other on


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the head, and throwing candy. Janet says I was stealing candy from the children, but I dontremember it quite that way. Here Janet captures on film one particular league of clowns comingour way...


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We also were befriended and entertained by several men (we think they were men!!) dressed aspirates who seemed to be from France


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And there was, of course, the ubiquitous Uncle Sam on stilts who stopped to have his picturetaken with Janet (not on stilits). (Janet prefers to keep that a private moment! PM her if you wantdetails.)The Asbury Park 4th of July parade also featured a beauty queen who had won something orother, though the exact contest and title bestowed upon her was quite unclear. What was clear

was that she was bound and determined to make her presence known. Actually she was quitestunning in her own way, all decked out in what appeared to be a sequined, long flowingwedding gown. And, of course, the queen must have her crown.Overheard:John to Beauty Queen: Hi! Happy 4th of July!!!!Beauty Queen to John: You look familiar. Do I know you?Yes, it was a lovely conversation and after the parade had ended, John got his chance to have aphoto taken with her in front of an old fashion fire engine.Oh, my lucky day.


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Then it was over to McCloones for sustenance (On-the-menu: the old school HoJo clamstripstheyre better than ever) and a bit of hair of the dog that had bit us the night before. Afterlunch, it was back to the hotel to change into our bathing suits and then straight onto the beach.Despite living the last several years in Boston, it had been some time since John had been in the

ocean. Janet has lived in either Michigan or Ohio for about 15 years so, apart from some beachtime on vacation in Hawaii and Florida, it had been a while for her as well.

But, oh what a wonderful thing the ocean is. We set up our place on the beach then walked intothe Atlantic, where the waves were pummeling the sand. Despite heavy protestations, John gotJanet to wade in up to her knees and it wasnt long before waves knocked both of us on ourasses. We laughed and laughed and splashed around and John went for a legitimate dip whileJanet looked on. Then, armed with plenty of sunscreen, we soaked in the sun and the Vitamin D.As we lay on the beach and listened to the waves cascading upon the sand, it felt like paradise.We smiled at each other, read to each other, snuggled and walked on the sand.


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That night there would be more fireworks, as Asbury Park put on quite a show. We went toBeach Bar (the former Tiki Lounge) attached to Convention Hall and again found good fortuneand new friends when a women named Diane invited us to sit at a table already occupied by


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herself and two other friendly Jersey Shore folks. We sat and bought them drinks, and if theAsbury fireworks werent quite as spectacular as those in Red Bank, there were pretty darn goodnonetheless.


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Afterward we grabbed some late night appetizers on the top floor/supper club of an almost emptyMcLoones. A four -piece jazz band was playing gentle melodies and we danced alone to somefamiliar tune. Then we just sat and held hands at our booth and laughed at the days events.In so many ways, it was our favorite 4th of July ever. Or as John might say, the best Evah!!!

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Sunday morning and it was time to stop stalling; time for JJK to take Janet to some of the mostimportant sites in Asbury and Freehold. Wed been in the Holy Land for several days and hadnot yet done any sightseeing, so we dedicated this entire day to JJKs First Ever Fabulous Tourof Asbury Park and Freehold. (With lots of help from Stan and Jeans Rock and Roll Tour of theJersey Shore book which was absolutely indispensable.)

First we covered many of the fabled bars that had been long etched into our memories fromstories told by Bruce onstage, stopping to take photos to remember them better by and to capturethem on film before they might (heaven forbid) fall victim to the wrecking ball. (Please people of

Asbury Park, fight tooth and nail to stop this from continuing.) First, we stopped by a closed-upbuilding on Fourth Avenue., the site of The Fast Lane and nestled between Asbury Lanes on oneside and the Baronet on the other.

Then we were driving down Kingsley, to take a look at the squat, one story building that oncehoused The Student Prince. We also took some photos outside The Stone Pony, arguably themost famous and well-recognized rock and roll bar IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. Next it wasup Cookman to the old Thom McCann building, site of the old Upstage club, the spot where somany great Shore musicians first met and jammed together into the wee hours of the morning.We noted a sign on the front of the building that said it was up for auction and commented thatwe hope it ends up in the hands of someone with a knowledge and respect for that buildingssignificance in the careers of Bruce and so many others.


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Then we headed up Route 33 toward Freehold.


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I showed Janet where Bruce lived at different times in his life. We took photos of each otherstanding next to that famous oak tree next to 39 Institute St., the house that Bruce moved intowhen he was five years old and lived in for many years


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As we were about to leave, the man who occupies that house came out to make sure we hadfound the correct tree, which we had. Then ensued a long and interesting conversation with thisfellow about the pros and cons of living in this historic house. We also took time to check out St.


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Rose of Lima school and parish...

...along with the nearby house at 68 South Street, that once stood next to Ducky Slatterys gas


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station. We talked about how that must have been the house where Bruce had his most difficulttimes.

Before we left, we walked a bit on Main Street, taking time check out the Bruce Springsteen


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brick. (I guess although Bruce didnt want a statue in his hometown, he figured a brick at thecenter of downtown would be sufficient.)

We also stopped to see Freehold Public High School, the little park with white crosses dedicated


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to Freeholders who gave their lives in service to their country (noting the cross for originalCastile member Bart Haynes and Bruces uncle Frank Bruno. Finally, we visited the buildingthat once housed the A&M Karagheusian Rug Mill, along with Vinyard Park across the street,where Tex and Marian Vineyards home once stood. All in all, I think we took about 150 photos,which well be able to view and talk about for years to come. Then it was back to the Berk,

dinner and drinks at The Wonder Bar and The Pony and then lights out on the busy, busy day.

Monday, July 6th, 2009

This would be our final day in Asbury and with an early morning wake-up call the next day tohop a flight back to the Motor City, we needed to make every second count. So what did we do?We did as little as possible. Meaning we went the beach again, this time opting not to getknocked on our butts, but just getting our feet wet. It was the fifth straight fantastic day with justa tiny breeze, bright sunshine and barely a cloud in the sky. We stayed at the beach as long as wecould. We took some final photos of the Casino building (or thankfully whats left of it) and theold Carousel building, and then caught a scrumptious dinner at an Italian restaurant called Stella

Marina on the boardwalk. Then we slowly strolled back on the boardwalk, under a beautiful pinkfull moon, that turned to orange, then yellow. It was a surreal sense of calm overtaking us,knowing we had achieved all the zen that Asbury Park and the Shore had to offer.


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We took it in, savoring it for a few more minutes as Tuesday it was back to the real world.

But for five days in early July, Janet and John had one of their best vacations ever in a famous


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little city by the sea, Asbury Park. We departed knowing that we will be back, perhaps manytimes to revisit the old haunts and see for the first time the places we missed.

Maybe next time well actually get to see the man who made this city famous in rock and rollcircles.in action.

Dream baby dream.

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all roads lead to asbury park - word doc with photos

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