Asbury Park Casino - Palace Amusements

This is the last of the Beach Series taken this past Sunday. As our day was ending we decided to ride along the shoreline to see where we'd end up. We hit the end of the line at the division between Ocean Grove and Asbury Park, NJ. Straight ahead of us was something I had never seen before and I told my sister to "Park here!!" I needed to see this place up close and I knew it was photography gold for me!

We parked, grabbed our gear, and got closer so we could explore. This large structure was labled "CASINO" on the front. I knew it wasn't an actual casino so I figured it was an "amusement park" on the beach of sorts and I would research the details until I got home.

It was a shame to see this abandoned place. There was a huge sign showing a "revitalization" of the location with an estimated date of 2006. So, I'm guessing the renovations stopped in the middle for some reason. It saddened me to see another wonderful New Jersey location abandoned like this...I'm a person who is big on memories and history and places like this need to be preserved.

I did a Google search and I don't know the full story behind the renovations that were planned but I hope that this Asbury Park Casino Amusement area can one day be saved and converted into something else. I found a lot of websites with photos of the place and it looks like they have already torn down so much of the place...so who knows what will happen....

SITE 1
SITE 2
SITE 3 (as seen from google earth)
SITE 4
SITE 5 (WeirdNJ.com)
SITE 6

I also discovered that the Asbury Park Casino and neighboring Palace Amusements was used as the setting for the movie "City by the Sea" starring Robert DeNiro. Asbury Park is used to portray a dilapidated Long Beach, NY.

"Many outside of amusement park or Bruce Springsteen circles (or perhaps Jersey itself) have never heard of this run-down town, which sits south of the wealthy community of Deal and above the quaint seaside burg of Ocean Grove. Unlike Coney Island it was never "the world," but to those who grew up watching the evening sun hang in the sky from the end of the Casino pier it was a warm & familiar place to spend a day having fun with the family or explore a taste of life with friends. While Coney has started its Renaissance the hopes and dreams for those who loved Asbury have never seen its second coming begin. It seems that we are left with more false starts, such as the skeleton of a building that stands next to Ocean Avenue, than substantive change. However, the hope remains that the Palace and Casino will be places that once again make memories instead of becoming memories themselves." Excerpt from HERE.

Here's my view of the Asbury Park Casino in HDR:















More of my HDR work can be seen in this gallery: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3868580/1/252065249