Remembering Donna 1960

As we brace for Florence’s arrival I’m remembering Donna in 1960.

• Hurricane Donna--Had a very erratic path in the summer of 1960 that started in the Caribbean, then went to the Florida Keys, then into the Gulf of Mexico, where it would make a turn to the north and make a second landfall over Florida at Fort Myers. It continued northeastward across the Florida Peninsula, and moved back out into the Atlantic near Daytona Beach. Not done yet, Donna headed up the East Coast, and made another landfall at Topsail Island, North Carolina. It then finished its trip by heading into New England, and a final landfall across Long Island. At its peak, Donna had wind gusts ranging between 175 and 200 mph, a minimum central pressure of 27.46 inches, and a 13 foot storm surge. Its total damage cost was over one billion 1960 United States dollars while Donna left 50 people dead.  

I wrote about her landfall in Elberon when my home burned.
http://pats-addition.blogspot.com/2017/09/donna-september-121960.html

Thrilled...

Yes. I was thrilled. I'm on a trip to a wedding in northern NJ. I took the scenic tour...one night in Philadelphia, one night in Long Branch, one night at the wedding in the Budd Lake area. A very organized wedding!

I stopped by our old house in Elberon for two hours on the beach on a perfect October day.

Then I stopped at the Elberon Library where i had the patron number 1132. I started browsing the shelves for a book with my number written in the back. The librarian asked if I needed help and I told her I was an old patron from the private library days. She started looking and found a book right away. Main Street, Sinclair Lewis

We got talking and she brought out the scrap book of library history. I said "Oh I know quite a bit, I wrote a blog about it." She drew back and says "Are you ... Pat?" I owned up and both librarians told me they read my blog and loved the history of houses and the library piece. But they were too shy to comment! We ended up taking pictures.

I was thrilled to meet readers (who weren't my family)!

Donna, September 12,1960

Fifty One

July 23, 1966

675 Ocean: Further Comment on Elberon

After writing about our old house, comments on my Facebook Hometown Long Branch page and getting feed back for Nancy I think I'll add on.  Nancy mentioned a Mrs. Wolf living in the house.  I'm betting that was Florence Wolf.

She owned a house where Harbor Island Spa was built. Here's a great article about the house.

That was there when I knew her and her son Sammy Wolf.  They were friends of my Aunt Jean and uncle's crowd.  That included  Marty Schneider.  He delighted in taking off his wooden leg to shock folks.  At his parties the kids would collect champagne corks.  He was rumored to have been a rum runner in the old days.  "Boardwalk Empire" anyone?

There was Jack and Gwennie Wagner who lived in the "servants" part of 1023 Ocean.  He sold ambulances and hearses and she was a special friend of our friend Bam.  It was complicated.  Bam used to entertain at lunch with cocktails and gourmet food (my introduction to poached salmon) on his patio.  I think of him every time I poach a fish.

Frank Holmes was also in the group.  In 1946 as Director and Sec. of the State Department of Conservation, Division of Commerce and Navigation Council in Trenton.  he was partly responsible for the "T" jetties being built on the Elberon ocean front.  This group were heavy drinkers all, on the order of  "Mad Men".

Any whoo...Sammy gave great parties.  Barbecues on the beach.  I've never had better hamburgers.  They were really not kid parties by anyone's standards.  His mother Flo was strange even then.  She would appear on the third floor balcony that circled the central hall of the house, what ever the weather, in a bathing suit or the all together, a sight to behold either way.  Sammy always wore a bathing suit, even to go to the store in winter.

From what I can gather Flo had a falling out with her son over the house.  Here's a Red bank Record article about the fire in her house.  This link goes to a great issue, have a read.

And here's a second article.  Having lost the house to the mafia I think she was living at 1165 Elberon with her cats in August 1963.

I wish I had pictures from this era. I love digital.  This would have been some group to record.

Read the whole six part series about Harbor Mansions.

The Jersey Coast: Long Branch to Sea Girt, Then and Now

I took a group of pictures when we were in Elberon a year or so ago (or maybe more). Along with images from my postcard collection and a New York Times article I found on Hometown Long Branch describing the area in 1888 I give you a view of the area now and then.  I remember my Nana talking about riding down Ocean Avenue in a carriage.  She was born in 1891.

Here she is (center) at her high school graduation around 1907. 

Here's the NY Times news clipping, part 1.  Click to read the whole thing.

Elberon houses now.  (Some of what's left anyway.)

This was a coach house originally.

A photo shoot was happening here.

 

For sale. 1.5 million.  Pool.  Needs work.

This is old time Long Branch boardwalk and Ocean Avenue.

 1898

 1906

 1910 Note the dirt roadway.  This postcard image I found on Facebook's Hometown Long Branch.

 Shadow Lawn in the West End.  This building burned and was replaced with what is now the home of Monmouth University.

1912

1917

These old post cards from my collection hint at the grandeur.  This is the Elberon area.

 

 

1917

 

 1923

 Early Deal.

 NYT article part 2.

Early Asbury Park. Deal Lake

 

1907 7th Avenue, 2nd Avenue

 Natatorium and Boardwalk at night

 1938 looking south, fishing pier

 Looking north

This 3 fold panoramic card is my favorite of Asbury Park. It was sent to my MIL's mother Minnie in Zwittau Austria by her sister Theresa in NJ. My MIL, also named Theresa, immigrated in 1922. Zwittau was later the site of the Schindler's List factories.

Asbury Park today. (Seriously, I want to cry.) Convention Center. Many a concert and Monmouth College basketball games seen there.

 

Beach to the south. Wreck of the Casino, scene of ice skating and Merry go rounds.

 

"New" motel from the 50's replaced the grand old structures.

Looking north.

The  Berkeley-Carteret Hotel still stands.

Looking south

Ocean Grove boundary.

Old view into Ocean Grove.

 

 

The Great Auditorium, constructed in 1894.  Originally seating 10,000, now reduced to 6,00 it is the center of concerts and summer attractions.

Looking south.  No swimming on Sunday by order of the Camp Association.

Looking north.

Old view toward Asbury Park.  I was a waitress in the low white building.

 

Restored Victorians.

 

Highly sought after tent housing.

Further south.  NYT article part 3.

Belmar.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmar,_New_Jersey  1911.

 

Spring Lake.  One of the grand hotels.  It was the site of a 1916 shark attack that inspired the film "Jaws".

 

Sea Girt.

NYT article part 4.

I love collecting the old postcards. Some were sent between family members and some I've scored antiquing.  My high school reunion is coming up this fall and I'll be back in town to see the changes. Everything changes, not always for the best.