Posted on 08/03/2005 9:25:56 AM PDT by Puppage
The rise of Belmar as a party town corresponds to the decline of Asbury Park, which was fully in the bucket to hell when rioters burned down Bankers Furniture on Springwood Ave. in 1968.
Belmar is much different than Asbury. Many slightly post victorian shore colonial style homes, 4-6 bedrooms. St. Catherine's Catholic School close by - very strong parish. Nice place to be in the winter. Not as ritzy as Avon-by-the-Sea or Spring Lake, so you have younger families.
Don't pay tolls - just get EZ-Pass!
Don't be scared - I never knew anyone local...the folks I partied with were from Brooklyn and upstate NY.
I grew up in Hudson Cty.
"Let's ban gravity, too. If is saves one child from falling out of a tree.................."
Forget gravity! We need to get at the real menace DHMO!
Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.
Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?
Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and saccharine), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
Each year, Dihydrogen Monoxide is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment. Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:
Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
Contributes to soil erosion.
Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere.
Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.
Despite the known dangers of DHMO, it continues to be used daily by industry, government, and even in private homes across the U.S. and worldwide. Some of the well-known uses of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:
as an industrial solvent and coolant,
in nuclear power plants,
by the U.S. Navy in the propulsion systems of some older vessels,
by elite athletes to improve performance,
in the production of Styrofoam,
in biological and chemical weapons manufacture,
as a spray-on fire suppressant and retardant,
in abortion clinics,
as a major ingredient in many home-brewed bombs,
as a byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion in furnaces and air conditioning compressor operation,
in cult rituals,
by the Church of Scientology on their members and their members' families (although surprisingly, many members recently have contacted DHMO.org to vehemently deny such use),
by both the KKK and the NAACP during rallies and marches,
by pedophiles and pornographers (for uses we'd rather not say here),
by the clientele at a number of homosexual bath houses in New York City and San Francisco,
historically, in Hitler's death camps in Nazi Germany, and in prisons in Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Libya, Iraq and Iran,
in World War II prison camps in Japan, and in prisons in China, for various forms of torture,
by the Serbian military as authorized by Slobodan Milosevic in their ethnic cleansing campaign,
by many terrorist organizations,
by software engineers, including those producing DICOM software SDKs,
in animal research laboratories, and
in pesticide production and distribution.
Get all the facts at:
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
As a kid, my parents would take us to the boardwalk every summer for the rides and to play ski-ball. We stopped going in '68. The city seemed to change overnight - all for the worse.
We went back as we got older but only because the bars stayed open until 3 am or to catch a good band at the Stone Pony (usually the Jukes). We referred to Asbury as Newark by the sea. They changed Long Branch. Maybe, someday, Asbury will make a comeback.
Yep - its still there but the days of five for a buck are gone. It's a club now and still packs them in on a Friday and Saturday night.
Beer pong and qarters are the dumbest "drinking games" ever invented. Drinking games are for meat-head, frat-boy frickin morons anyways. Stinking AMATURES!!!
(From a 25 year old punk tattooed rock & roll musician. AKA a professional drunk)
So did this guy:
Thanks for the update. It's unbelievable that it's still there. Lots of memories...most of which are hazy.
Do you remember another joint just off the beach, I think it was called Reggies (Regie's)? It was real popular in the afternoon but emptied out after dark when everyone would head for DJ's, The Royal Manor or Jimmy Byrne's.
Sure do. It was a great place to go before DJ's or - cool down after rolling off of the beach. It's gone now - with a few houses standing on the block where it was.
Jimmy Byrnes was a great place also - do you remember the floor bouncing up and down on the dance floor? One time I was in the basement and you could see the floor literally bending with the music.
Other landmarks still around is the Osprey and Leggett's in Manasquan and The Headliner and Kelly's in Neptune.
Oh, the (hazy) memories.....
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with." ('Atlas Shrugged' 1957)
Chortle.
"Raise the rentals..//seriously if you want a better clientele then you need to charge more to rent there."
Since the neighbors and city government officials want to take actions, just raise property taxes in this burough! That'll learn 'em!
Would the neighbors be willing to pay higher property taxes to live in a "quieter" setting? Or are they only willing to make the town less attractive to the current "renter" type that participates in these activities? Sounds like they would prefer to lower the value of the land owners who rent their property, instead of paying more for the town they prefer.
"It would be nice if there were more restrictions on rental properties. I miss what our beach community use to look like."
You, and the like minded, are more than free to purchase the properties and rent them to the clients of your choosing. Otherwise, you should vote for as high a property tax as possible, that'll make the homes unafordable for the lowlifes!
Man, do I ever remember! Whenever I'd have friends come visit I'd always be sure to take them to Jimmy Byrnes. They still, to this day, talk about their experiences there. The floor movement was bizarre. How did they ever get that many people into a room without the fire dept. closing them down? How did you get to go into the basement and what was down there? They had an upstairs that I thought was a hotel, of sorts, but never really figured it out.
We would always go there on the 4th of July and I vividly remember the band (Byrne Brothers?) playing God Bless America to a room crammed with people singing as loud as possible while waving sparklers. What was up with giving a bunch of drunken kids, stacked hip to hip in a huge room, sparklers to flail around?
After the song finished, the room was filled with smoke, people coughing and the foul stench of burning hair was everywhere. What a great place!
I've been to the Osprey and The Headliner many times. I don't think I ever made it to Leggett's or Kelly's...maybe I just don't remember.
Which was the one with the huge porch around the outside? I think that was the Headliner. Lots of fun. Many times, after DJ's, we'd just wander around Belmar looking for a house party just like what's in the story. I've met several people in Florida recently who had houses in Belmar for the summer during those days and, undoubtedly, had parties in them I attended. Small world.
I try to explain to people what it was like to be on the Jersey shore in the mid-70's to early 80's but I never manage to give it a proper explanation. I guess you just had to be there. I can't imagine there was anything like it elsewhere.
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