mandag, april 02, 2012

Asbury Park: The Boardwalk

På pilegrimsutflukt til Ashbury Park, på konsert om kvelden, søndagsturen ble på boardwalken.


Stripa ligger merkelig isolert fra bebyggelsen og resten av den lille byen. Skulle tro det var interessant å drive mer næring og bo ned mot havet, men nei.


Inngangen fra Ocean Grove-sida gjennom det nedlagte tomme casinoet.




Although it was placed on the National Registers of Historic Places, in 1988 Palace Amusements was closed, and was demolished in 2004 despite attempts to save it. In 1990, the famous carousel at the Casino Pier was sold to Family Kingdom Amusement Park in Myrtle Beach, SC, where it continues to operate.

The city's changing fortunes, together with municipal mismanagement, led to civic unrest. On July 4, 1970 riots resulted in the destruction of aging buildings along Springwood Avenue, one of three main east-west corridors into Asbury Park and the central shopping and entertainment district for those living in the city's southwest quadrant. In 2007 many of those city blocks have yet to be redeveloped.



Paramont Theatre til venstre, den store konsertsalen Convention Hall til høyre og markedsplassen med popkornlukt, T-skjorter og pynteting i midten.




Soon radicals, beatniks, hippies, and musicians moved in, making Asbury Park a very diverse place. In 1988, the city had had about enough of its new cultures, and a plan to redevelop the entire waterfront went into affect. Most businesses were ordered to be closed, so the boardwalk, casino, hotels and amusements all closed for the redevelopment. High rise hotels and condos began construction, but were then abandoned before they could be finished, leaving the waterfront an odd mix of abandoned buildings and rotting construction.

The city declined in the 1990s, after almost all businesses failed. Crime rose, and Asbury Park had higher crime than any other town in Monmouth County.

However, in 1998, Shep Pettibone converted an abandoned Hotel into a gay nightclub, drawing thousands of gay travelers to Asbury Park. Every Friday night the city became the only place on the East Coast that could rival Fire Island! Gay couples and artists began buying cheap homes, abandoned bars and nightclubs, closed storefronts downtown, and abandoned pavilions on the boardwalk, and restoring them to they way they once were.



Utsikten til boardwalken fra den cubanske restauranten vi spiste på. Fargene på havet og himmelen og sanda skiftet hele tida etter lyset, fryktelig fint.

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