The morning after Sandy in Ocean Grove and Asbury Park--
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| Ocean Grove Boardwalk looking north to the Casino in Asbury Park |
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| Benches along the Ocean Grove Boardwalk |
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| Beachside in Ocean Grove |
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| Beachside Ocean Grove #2 |
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| Along beachfront road in Ocean Grove |
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| A sweet little house intact, Ocean Grove |
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| The Great Auditorium, as seen across Wesley Lake from Asbury Park |
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| Ocean Grove Boardwalk |
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| The Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove |
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| Ocean Grove |
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| A block in from the beach in Ocean Grove |
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| That was the Ocean Grove Fishing Pier (see shot from a few posts below). The little house at the end is gone. |
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| Planter, Ocean Grove |
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| More of that white building beachside |
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| Seven fish in Sunset Lake Park, Asbury Park |
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| Light pole hanging above Heck Street, my street. Asbury Park |
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| MOGO rolls into Ocean Avenue beside the Empress, Asbury Park |
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| Stella Marina, Watermark, Cubacan along the Asbury Park Boardwalk |
5 comments:
WOW Paul
thank you for sharing these pics and their sense of overwhelming unreality.
viewing them for a second time i was also struck by the personal sense of what a distant memory sand under-one's feet is (a choldhood family beach). must be some mornings living so close to the ocea (and the sand) it's almost like a dream for you.
thanks again Paul
Thanks, David. When I get a minute--just getting back on track after having been away from home for the last week--I'll put up some pics of the flood along the lagoon of my family summerhouse an hour or so south of Asbury Park, which are even dreamier and have an odd sense of stillness about them.
These images move and sadden me. I came here looking around for work of yours related to Joni Mitchell (I'm a poet, and I've recently completed a chapbook that revolves around the Blue album; a poet friend mentioned your work). But these photos are very meaningful to me, since I've spent summers on the Jersey shore for the last ten years with my husband's family, who are from Manasquan. Manasquan and Point Pleasant were very hard hit, but I haven't seen any pictures of Ocean Grove, where we love to go for beach days (and where I spend a day every summer with my daughter, and her great-grandmother and grandmother, a cherished tradition.) It's sad to see so much devastation in Ocean Grove, but also good to see that some of the beautiful old buildings are intact, if battered.
Where would you point me for books of yours that contain work related to Joni? Thanks so much.
Thanks. I love hearing about your Joni related work--I have to look up your chapbook.
Joni is all over my work--usually referenced in relationship to autobiographical stuff (as in Famous Builder), though there's much more of her in The Narrow Door, the memoir that's coming out in a year and a half. The character Joan in The Burning House is named for her. And I wrote about "The Wolf that Lives in Lindsay" in that anthology which is written up in the most recent post on jonimitchell.com
Ocean Grove is doing a lot better in the weeks since October 30. Still very, very battered along the boardwalk, but just a couple of blocks west, you could almost convince yourself that a storm never happened. I know things are bad in Manasquan and I hope your husband's family isn't struggling. Take care!
Thanks so much for the reply. I will check out The Burning House and "The Wolf that Lives in Lindsay," and I'll keep my eye out for the forthcoming memoir. I am currently sending out my chapbook, and if I have any luck, I'll let you know where to find it.
I'm glad things are getting back to normal in Ocean Grove. My husband's family all have power back, and they're doing well. I'm a little worried about how all the little boardwalk stalls and the funkier beach shacks have fared, and the vintage rides in Point Pleasant, irreplaceable stuff. But I know the shore has come back from big storms before, and it will come back from this one, too.
Take care!
Elizabeth Majerus
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