--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "Gabrielle Obre"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It was joke Gabbi, and a funny one. The brunt of the joke is the
World, not Asbury, in case you didn't get it.
I hope spouses are at least off limits for abuse around here.
>
> sorta sounds like something a scamming drug addict would say.
>
> "just when i was 6 months clean, smack drops in price"
>
> do you think any of ap's failures have anything to do with the
people
> that have been making decisions and not making decisions here for
the
> past chunk of decades?
>
> don't get me wrong, i don't mind the "failures". I am not one of
those
> people who moved here because i thought "its gonna be great in a
> couple of years" or because i invested in the place, i was happy to
> take it as is. but lets be real about its issues. maybe not so
easy to
> do if you have tentacles reaching into the halls of mediocre
power, or
> if you are afraid of being wernerized.
>
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "justifiedright"
> <justifiedright@> wrote:
> >
> > My wife told me the entire World Economy tanked BECAUSE Asbury
Park
> > was making a comeback.
> >
> > Like it was a last ditch global effort to keep the place down.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "dfsavgny" <dfsavgny@> wrote:
> > >
> > > November 16, 2008
> > > Our Towns
> > > A Boardwalk Is Poised for Revival. Then the Economy Tanks.
> > > By PETER APPLEBOME
> > >
> > > ASBURY PARK, N.J.
> > >
> > > Yes, it is something of a bummer.
> > >
> > > Three or four decades of stops and starts mostly stops in
this
> > > legendarily faded and ill-starred stretch of the Jersey Shore
and
> > > finally, finally, things seem to reach a critical mass.
Revived
> > music
> > > halls of all shapes and sizes. Cool bars, a Mexican taqueria,
a
> > surfer
> > > shop, glass blowers and a potter on the Boardwalk. The
renovated
> > > Convention Hall and Paramount Theater with its "Greetings From
> > Asbury
> > > Park" sign out front. And the famous Thursday night "yappy
hour" for
> > > pets at the Wonder Bar.
> > >
> > > The idea is sort of Jersey Shore meets South Beach while still
> > staying
> > > Jersey Shore, and it's not nearly as much of a stretch as it
might
> > > seem. But on a miserable rainy Thursday, with the economy
blowing up
> > > like a joke cigar, it feels more like Springsteen meets
Fellini: The
> > > ratty old Howard Johnson is now the hip seaside Salt Water
Beach
> > Cafe;
> > > and the stalled Esperanza condominium project on Asbury Park's
most
> > > famous lot of death, known for its doomed projects, is a
hulking
> > > reminder of what has gone wrong in the midst of plenty that
seems to
> > > be going right.
> > >
> > > Still, those who've bet their future that there really is one
in a
> > > place that a decade ago was about as much of a wasteland as
you
> > could
> > > find in America seem pretty philosophical about the bad
timing.
> > Let's
> > > face it, we're all feeling our way through the smoke without
much of
> > > an idea of what's around the corner. So maybe Asbury Park is
just
> > like
> > > any other place, only more so, one foot just out of the crypt,
the
> > > other reaching for firm ground, whistling past the graveyard
into
> > the
> > > great beyond.
> > >
> > > Take Marilyn Schlossbach, a Jersey Shore native and a well-
known
> > local
> > > restaurateur. Back in the false revival of the 1980s, she lost
the
> > > land she'd inherited from her parents in a failed restaurant
> > venture.
> > > This time, she and her husband are presiding over Pop's
Garage, the
> > > taqueria; Lightly Salted, the surf shop; and the just-opened
> > Langosta
> > > Lounge, billed as a "global fusion" restaurant. They are all
part
> > of a
> > > $60 million investment by the Madison Marquette development
firm in
> > > the Boardwalk, which this weekend has all its major
attractions open
> > > for the first time. Altogether, at least $160 million has been
> > > invested in an area that a decade ago was a seaside ghost town.
> > >
> > > You might think this is pretty cruel timing, but Ms.
Schlossbach,
> > who
> > > has seen enough over the years, figures that this is just
another
> > hand
> > > to play.
> > >
> > > "There's something about this place that sucks you in," she
said on
> > > Thursday, the ocean a dark, angry swirl outside the window of
the
> > > lounge. "You could say it's cursed or you could say it's got
karmic
> > > energy or you could say it's blessed. I don't know. But there's
> > > something about Asbury Park that keeps you coming back. I'm
living
> > > proof of it. I've already lost and gained and lost and gained
a
> > couple
> > > of times, but I'm here, and I still want to be here."
> > >
> > > If not for Bruce Springsteen, whose 1973 debut
album, "Greetings
> > From
> > > Asbury Park, N.J.," turned this place from faded Jersey Shore
town
> > to
> > > national icon, maybe no one would care all that much about
Asbury
> > > Park. Developed as a seaside resort in 1871, its Boardwalk
became a
> > > shore monument in the 1920s. The place waxed and waned over
the
> > years,
> > > and lurched toward disaster after racial unrest that peaked
with the
> > > riots of 1970. Then the waterfront slipped into total ruin and
> > > abandonment in the early 1990s.
> > >
> > > "To see people on the Boardwalk in the winter, it's a
miracle," said
> > > Leigh Grahill, who is moving her business, which sells hand-
sewn
> > > couture, to the arcade in Convention Hall. "Until last year,
you
> > would
> > > not find a soul, not a soul, there. I remember when I first
started
> > > looking at Asbury Park in 1999, parking my car in the middle
of the
> > > day and not wanting to get out because there was no one there,
not a
> > > car, not a sound, nothing."
> > >
> > > Various big residential plans came and went, but, partly
because of
> > an
> > > influx of gay men and lesbians looking for cheaper
alternatives to
> > > places like Fire Island, it began coming back around 2000. The
> > > residential revival helped bring back downtown, now quite
alive with
> > > shops and restaurants. Then came the beachfront development,
> > beginning
> > > around 2005. From 2007 to 2008, the number of daily beach-
access
> > > badges sold during the summer increased to 52,000 from 38,000.
Live
> > > Nation, the concert promoter, signed an agreement to promote
music
> > at
> > > various locations.
> > >
> > > After all those years of going nowhere, Asbury Park was
clearly
> > going
> > > somewhere. And then, boom the bottom fell out of the economy.
> > >
> > > A glass-full outlook might say that people need entertainment,
that
> > > two million people live within 45 minutes of the place, that
there's
> > > nothing comparable on the Shore and that in bad times people
might
> > > want entertainment closer to home anyway.
> > >
> > > Lance Larson, a veteran musician who helps run the Wonder Bar,
> > figures
> > > that Asbury Park has a heritage of music, art and eccentricity
that
> > > will attract people, tough times or no.
> > >
> > > "We have one thing that no one else does, and that's
entertainment,"
> > > he said, picking at a cheeseburger on Thursday
afternoon. "It's not
> > > just because of Bruce. It's always been that way. I've toured
every
> > > place, and there's no place like playing here. It's like Parris
> > > Island, the boot camp of music. If you can play here, you can
play
> > > anywhere."
> > >
> > > And if the economy goes totally in the tank at the start of
Asbury
> > > Park's big new moment? He shrugs. "We've been to hell
already," he
> > > said. "Been there, done that. If we could handle that, we can
handle
> > > this."
> > >
> > > E-mail: peappl@
> > >
> >
>
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