Down the Shore, to Asbury Park
A recent book event at the Asbury Book Cooperative led me to an excursion the Jersey shore. I’m always fascinated by the differences among coastal towns. Asbury Park is far more built up than Montauk (where The Stark Beauty of Last Things is set). It has a very different history as well. While Montauk was undeveloped until the latter half of the 20th century, growing in popularity over time, Asbury Park was a resort from the get-go in the 1870s, and has cycled since then in and out of popularity and economic status.
Currently it’s undergoing a renaissance. Its downtown is lively and thriving, with tons of fun shops and terrific restaurants. On the boardwalk/beach side of town there’s a mix of buildings and a large swath of undeveloped land awaiting redevelopment.
Adjacent to Asbury Park is the more genteel Ocean Grove. Founded as a religious resort, it was a “dry” town with strict rules governing behavior. For instance, it was forbidden to have horse-drawn carriages, and later, cars, on the streets on Sunday. In 1975 this 19th-century planned urban community was designated a State and National Historic District. It, too, fell on hard times, but in the last several decades it’s experienced a dramatic revival with the restoration of older hotels and the accompanying increased property values.
One of the themes in The Stark Beauty of Last Things is the relationship of development to preservation. Many times the difference between various communities comes down to whether or not community members have the foresight to plan appropriately and to have a vision for what they value and want to preserve. Often, market forces win out.