Eight blocks south of Deal Lake, we find Wesley Lake. It stripes Asbury Park's southern border and runs from the boardwalk to Main Street, about half the length of town. A sort of walled lagoon, it's rather narrow for a lake. In fact, a strong golfer could probably drive a ball across it. Not long ago, U-Peddle boats dotted the blue surface of the water. The lake featured motorboat rides and a giant motorized swan that a whole family could ride around in. On the other side of Wesley Lake is the lovely village of Ocean Grove. It is a Victorian community with a continuing Methodist tradition.

 Wesley Lake, looking west. This photo was taken in the '30s, but the same scene in the '50s and '60s looked not much different (except for all the little boats and the giant swan).

Sunset Lake is situated in the northeast part of town, two blocks from the ocean. It is more like a large neighborhood pond than a lake. East to west, it is four blocks long. It is one block wide. The most interesting thing about Sunset Lake is its seven cupcake islets. These are mossy humps overgrown with tall old trees. You can walk onto only one, the largest, Saint John's Island. You descend a few old steps from the Grand Avenue Bridge. The closest other hump was always just a little too far to leap to (even with a running start from the sidewalk). Families of swans and ducks used to inhabit the islets. Floating in formation, the swans suggested grace and tranquility. For me, these creatures are one of the elements that represent the enchanting antique beauty of Asbury Park.

 Sunset Lake, looking west. As you can see, in the distance, a bridge divides the lake (along with a parallel footbridge). The thick growth of trees on the other side of the bridge is evidence of the "cupcake islets." In the foreground of the image is the monument to Founder James A.Bradley.

The little bridge from Grand Avenue to Saint John's Island.

 This photo shows the Berkeley Carteret Hotel, the Monterey Hotel behind it and the Sunset Avenue Pavilion.

The Berkeley Carteret has been a fixture in Asbury since 1925.

 Northeast side of the Berkeley.

Several remarkable places epitomize Asbury Park. The Paramount Theater and Convention Hall are two such places - or maybe one such place. It's a matter of opinion whether we're taking about one building or two. I like to think of them as two places in one building separated by an arcade (the arcade being yet a third division). And what a building it is! - a gargantuan ship of a place that crosses the boardwalk and juts into the waves. This fascinating building was designed by Warren and Wetmore, the architects who designed New York's Grand Central Station, the Biltmore Hotel and many other terminals and hotels of repute.

 This photo, looking south, shows the Paramount Theater (with the tower) and the Convention Hall, which juts out onto the beach. Between them, and joining them, is the Arcade. 

I define the exterior of the building as Venetian Deco. Its sand-colored colonnades, its red bricks frosted with medallions, garlands, symbolic and nautical figures; its iridescent tapestry effects and sundry compilation of windows, pilasters and arches; its lantern and torch spires of sea-weathered copper, all contrive to enthrall and transport. This is a place that is in the world but not entirely of it. It reflects "Somewhere Else." The heart begins to race.

 The Arcade section, looking south, between the Paramount Theater and Convention Hall. Note the assortment of architectural embellishments, including the copper ship.

The Paramount Theater

With 1500 seats, the Paramount Theater is the biggest of the Asbury Park movie palaces. The town had several gorgeous ones; and somehow, in my mind, they blend together and mix with the movies themselves all while remaining absolutely distinct. The dark hollow presence of the Paramount was sprinkled with touches of turquoise, purple, and gold. Everything was a little bit bigger, spread out, in the Paramount - the giant rosette on the ceiling above the orchestra; the golden proscenium, the carpeted lobbies, stairs and staircases sashed with heavy drapes that led to the loge, the mezzanine, the balcony and all sorts of mysterious places.

 Stage and grand proscenium of the Paramount.

On its gala opening night in 1930, the Paramount hosted the musical comedy Love Among the Millionaires, a film starring Clara Bow, the "It" Girl, who is most noted for her silent films. In attendance that evening were several of Hollywood's valued stars: Fredric March, Carol Lombard, Ginger Rodgers, Ed Wynn... I have heard that a few of the Marx Brothers showed up.

The Paramount not only featured first-run films. Throughout the '30s and '40s, theater and concerts found a home on its 40-by-27-foot stage.

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Paramount and Convention Hall received $1.2 million for restoration from the state. With much effort, the theater has been admirably saved and restored. This has been heartening for a town that for so long has seen mired in nearly indescribable - almost uncanny - stagnation. The Monmouth Symphony Orchestra gives concerts there. (The Paramount's fine acoustics, and its 13 dressing rooms, have made it well suited for opera.) Singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen, who has become associated with Asbury Park, has given performances on its stage. 

It's a short walk from the Paramount Theater to the Convention Hall. Just stroll across the Arcade. You must know about the Arcade. In effect, it is a covered continuation of the boardwalk, but without the boards - a huge, softly day-lit hollow that echoed with the rustle of life. Oh, the scent of it! Like the Arcade of the Casino (which later we will see and smell), this arcade had a special perfume.

 the entrance to the foyer of the Convention Hall.

Fascinating shape is evident, architecturally, in the Convention Hall. Deco is everywhere. Its foyer, just off the Arcade, is bordered on two sides by stairs that are party sheltered by yellowish half-walls. These matching partitions are shaped with a building-block effect.  Old-fashioned, brass-barred ticket windows line both sides of the foyer.

Outside the Convention Hall, a covered deck skirts its north, south and ocean sides. People would sit in (what else?) big green deck chairs and take the breezes; they'd watch the crowds on the beach, or observe the comings and goings of boardwalk life. The south side was a great place to witness fireworks displays. In the summer, the boardwalk would be packed, and the Convention Hall deck was always a choice spot to be in, especially on the Fourth of July.

 South deck of the Convention Hall.

The Boardwalk!

 The Asbury Park Boardwalk.

How can I describe the Boardwalk at Asbury Park? I'm not quite sure. I think, perhaps, we should feel it. Yes, feel it, smell it, hear it.

Picture this, if you please: a warm summer day - no, make that a hot and humid summer afternoon - midday domed by the vast but gentle soundings of an ocean that cuts the heat with crisp refreshment. You might not notice these elements - not exactly - but they're present, at work. Nor might you notice the white coconutty smell of sun-creams or the sweet pinkish scent of cotton candy that drifts into the darker festive pink of cooking hot dogs. At spots, the alabaster perfume of sugary confections brings to mind (perhaps without your knowing it) the moldings on a wedding cake or on some mansion in the neighboring town of Deal. Next comes the ride grease - the oil for mechanical amusements - faint and faintly darkish. Then ... what is it? There's another scent besides. How do we define it? Read on...

Along with the seamless voices and movement-sounds of strollers and bathers; the cries of joy or the occasional scream from a bouncy ride, the funny colors too of music and of bells from a shadowed gaming place, there wafts to your un-nosing notice the warm and gently toasty, woody, faintly salty sweetish warm-iron-on-cotton scent of ...? Of what? The aroma hovers ripplingly on the summer heat, ghosting up from the ash-colored stripes below. This is the creosote scent of the Boards.

What is this "noticing-without-noticing," this "realizing- without-realizing?" Did you grasp that "the white perfume of sugary confections" also contained the facade of an edifice in Paris (or anywhere else you may have seen a white building with elaborate moldings)? You've got to be fast - these worlds fly by at Einsteinian speed. Perceive them or don't, they are present - flaring to life inside you. This is the structure of aesthetic life, personal eternity in miniature.

The Asbury Park Boardwalk and Casino.