Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, USA!!
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:08 pmFriends Doug and Lyell bought an old house down in Asbury Park a few years ago, and I went down for the first time in two years recently, for a barbeque and to see how the place is coming along....
Here's the house- much better than last time I was here, helping rip out the old rotten eaves. They had a contractor redo the roof, but Doug and Lyell and their friends have been working on the rest. Lyell is crazy about colors, and is a housepainter by trade... and you can be sure all of that is cut-in perfectly. She absolutely insisted on saving the old wooden shake siding and original windows... she's crazy, but in a good way.My flash is no good, otherwise I'd have taken pix of the interior, which although still kind of cluttered, is really coming along. Most recent project was ripping the aluminum off the porch, revealing those beautiful wooden columns. Lyell is painting the balisters of the railing in four different different colors- like I said, she's nuts. But she's brought a lot of cheer to this town. This house was an old ruin when they bought it, on a block that is slowly emerging from the crack-infested Dark Ages of Asbury Park's recent past. There's a big house across the street that just sold for $500K...
Decided to spend the night, and took ol' Peg (The Wonder-Rotty!) and her new friend Chelsea (D&L's new dog) down to the beach, just a few blocks away, for an early-morning romp. Peg was over-excited and overheated, so we paused by the famous Stone Pony for a bit...
Here's a view of the sorry remnants of what was once a fabulous waterfront amusement complex. There are plans to redevelop the area, but sadly most of these old buildings are beyond repair. Very sad- I visited this place a few times as a boy, back when it was still a rollicking old-school family hangout.
Peg loves water, but is usually leery of surf, so she surprised me by racing right into the waves that day!!
Okay, old girl, time to go.... Didja hear me?
Here's the house- much better than last time I was here, helping rip out the old rotten eaves. They had a contractor redo the roof, but Doug and Lyell and their friends have been working on the rest. Lyell is crazy about colors, and is a housepainter by trade... and you can be sure all of that is cut-in perfectly. She absolutely insisted on saving the old wooden shake siding and original windows... she's crazy, but in a good way.My flash is no good, otherwise I'd have taken pix of the interior, which although still kind of cluttered, is really coming along. Most recent project was ripping the aluminum off the porch, revealing those beautiful wooden columns. Lyell is painting the balisters of the railing in four different different colors- like I said, she's nuts. But she's brought a lot of cheer to this town. This house was an old ruin when they bought it, on a block that is slowly emerging from the crack-infested Dark Ages of Asbury Park's recent past. There's a big house across the street that just sold for $500K...
Decided to spend the night, and took ol' Peg (The Wonder-Rotty!) and her new friend Chelsea (D&L's new dog) down to the beach, just a few blocks away, for an early-morning romp. Peg was over-excited and overheated, so we paused by the famous Stone Pony for a bit...
Here's a view of the sorry remnants of what was once a fabulous waterfront amusement complex. There are plans to redevelop the area, but sadly most of these old buildings are beyond repair. Very sad- I visited this place a few times as a boy, back when it was still a rollicking old-school family hangout.
Peg loves water, but is usually leery of surf, so she surprised me by racing right into the waves that day!!
Okay, old girl, time to go.... Didja hear me?
:-/ 
