--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, Tracy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My view as an outsider, a first-time visitor this past summer, with no > previous knowledge of AP or its past/present (I usually go to South > Jersey beaches): > > You needed something to fill in the blank spaces > between buildings
Well, you have to appreciate why those spaces were there in the first place. I may be completely off here, and Werner can fill in the engineering history if I am, but I've always been of the understanding that those spaces between the pavilions were very specifically designed to remain open and analogous to the flared ends of the east west streets. This was to facilitate both ocean views and air flow (in the days before air conditioning) for the many hotels that would stretch back a few blocks from the beach along each street <http://flemingwhite.com/Historic%20Images/AsburyPark/Asbury%20Avenue.jp\ g> . Even in the post-hotel age, both longtime residents and new condo dwellers might appreciate having something to look at from their front porches other than the back of a used Sea-Land box. This would be a marketing point for realtors and thus a very real concern if it's lost for good. > I don't think you can turn your nose up at any reasonable opportunity to > generate commercial activity on the BW if you want to attract visitors. Agreed, but I don't see nose-turning so much as disappointment in what, yet again, strikes some as a second-best approach in a town that has been dealing with second best for many many years. >I probably wasn't looking in the right places, but we couldn't > find breakfast within walking distance of the Berkeley (and their > continental sucks). >I will be curious to see how beach tourism does in the next few years, >as the economy crashes. On one hand, it will attract people who used to >drive/fly further away for vacations - more regional visitors. And you >are on a train line, which should help. > Will we be able to afford a few nights of the dubious > Berkeley charm? We will see... The irony is remarkable. As you point out, the sinking economy means more folks will be taking vacations closer to home, if at all. And yes, Asbury Park is on a train line, which means people who either don't want to spend the gas $$$ or who don't even have a car (lots of folks in the NYC/Jersey City area) may still want to hop on a train to spend a few days on the beach. This SHOULD mean growing demand for affordable hotel rooms. And yet, in a town that used to have several dozen hotels as seen in the pic I linked above, you now have exactly TWO. One of them has, apparently, decided to brand itself as the "party" hotel, complete with waivers for the late night noise. Fine for some people, but not others who just want a decent, clean, quiet and affordable place to stay, either with their families or just themselves. That leaves only the Berkeley, which has been raked over the coals for its amenities and service, including above. Between your observations, Werner's experience trying to look at the wiring, and the reviews on Tripadvisor, it seems like the people running Berkeley know that they're the only game in town and figure "why bother even trying?" (I know the Tides just opened, but I can't find any rates on their Web site, so I don't know if they're affordable or more on the boutiquey end, like Mikell's. Either way, they really haven't established an identity yet the way the Berkeley has) This is where competition could really help Asbury Park. Imagine how much better the Berkeley would be if the Metropolitan were to be replaced by a brand new hotel with all the accoutrements and rooms starting at $80 a night, and the Esperanza were to become a new Monterey, with a rooftop swimming pool, 1st class conference facilities, and rooms at $90 to $200 in the summer and $60 to $170 in the winter. If the Berkeley's owner is indeed as financially solvent as suggested in Werner's post, he or she would have to spend the money to not only get the hotel's structure up to speed but also to train the staff in the fine art of customer service, including putting out a much better continental. Instead, the same financial crisis that could ostensibly create a demand for new hotel construction in AP also prevents such construction, leaving half-finished condos, empty lots with red dumpsters and lackadaisical lodging owners who charge 200 bucks in the winter for rooms that should only be 100 in the summer. AND you can't even get a decent breakfast! And were the economy to turn around enough to fund new hotel construction, those families and young professionals would probably go back to taking the plane to Disney World or Myrtle Beach. It's like living on a gold mine and you can't even find a pick axe. 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