|
Praise for Asbury Park's Glory Days
"Ms. Pike spares neither villain nor hero in her saga of
her favorite resort. There are mobsters and stand-up clergymen;
showgirls and shopkeepers; restaurateurs with class and the
classy people who kept them in business. Most of all, there are
the little stories told by just plain folks interspersed
throughout Ms. Pike's historical narrative."- New York
Times
Winner of the 2005 New Jersey Author Award for Scholarly
Non-Fiction from the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance
Description:
Long before Bruce Springsteen picked up a guitar; before
Danny DeVito drove a taxi; before Jack Nicholson flew over the
cuckoo's nest, Asbury Park was a seashore Shangri-La filled with
shimmering odes to civic greatness, world-renowned baby parades,
temples of retail, and atmospheric movie palaces. It was a
magnet for tourists, a summer vacation mecca-to some degree New
Jersey's own Coney Island.
In Asbury Park's Glory Days, award-winning author
Helen-Chantal Pike chronicles the city's heyday-the ninety-year
period between 1890 and 1980. Pike illuminates the historical
conditions contributing to the town's cycle of booms and
recessions. She investigates the factors that influenced these
peaks, such as location, lodging, dining, nightlife,
merchandising, and immigration, and how and why millions of
people spent their leisure time within this one-square-mile
boundary on the northern coast of the state. Pike also includes
an epilogue describing recent attempts to resurrect this
once-vibrant city.
From the webmaster: I have an autographed copy! This is
a great book to keep in your living room. Between Helen's book
and this website, you get a true feel of Asbury Park's past,
present and future.
|
