December 10, 2017

Down the Shore

I'd reserved Sunday for a family visit. Perhaps, I suggested, we could take a walk on the boardwalk and enjoy an early dinner.

View of the beach and snowy boardwalk in late afternoon, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Yes, it does snow at the beach. Evidently the sand held enough heat to fend off any accumulation from this early storm.

Carousel House, Asbury Park boardwalk, Asbury Park, New Jersey
It was uplifting to see Asbury Park in its revitalizing state. I'm sure I rode the merry-go-round as a child; the building remains, though the carousel is long gone.

When the city slid into its deep decline, we'd stroll the boards through the neighboring town of Ocean Grove and turn back at the border. The line in the sand wasn't hard to miss; sketchy characters loitered on the Asbury side. It was no longer the town that Bruce romanticized.

Nautical motif and ship atop the south entrance to the arcade, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Things are turning around, these days. A jazz band played as we strolled through a fair inside Convention Hall, where artisans were selling their wares.

I never had the chance to notice the architectural details, before.

Carved banner with pair of fish atop a doorway inside the arcade, Asbury Park, New Jersey
The interior could use some more work, but somehow the building and its ornamental flourishes survived those sad decades of neglect.

Breaking waves at the beach under gray clouds as the late afternoon sky turns pink, Asbury Park, New Jersey
And the wintry waves of the steely gray Atlantic roll on.

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