Summer 2008 on the Asbury Park Boardwalk

Wow.

I just got done telling someone I was around 3 when my parents first took me down to the Asbury Park Boardwalk. That was 1964.

In less then two weeks, my daughter graduates high school. It seems like yesterday that I asked her to write her opinions of what was then a lost Cookman Ave and Boardwalk. We'd park around the Palace or she'd go explore the old Howard Johnson's ramps. I'd tell her and my son ghost stories.

But that was the summer of 2002.

As each summer passed, I would tell them to just wait and see. Each summer passed with bits of progress here on there. Then one day, we were all eating dinner at Bistro Ole. Then the original Harry's Roadhouse. Then The Brickwall.

I sent a friend of mine who couldn't find a dress for her dance recital to Allen and Suzi on Cookman. She found two dresses and wound up winning around 13 ribbons in her competition.

So here comes summer of 2008. Madison Marquette, as the new partner in the redevelopment, presented plans a few short months ago to rehab the pavilions along the boardwalk. A new July 4 target date look like a reality as work continues.

A host of new shops and events will be here. The boardwalk will look and feel new. New streets, parking lots and much more. A new mini-golf course.

It's new. It's exciting. It's the new Asbury Park Boardwalk.

Take a drive. Spend a day or a summer.

Now you can.