Boardwalk Days part 14

There were probably a few factors that led to my decision today to walk up to the Asbury Park boardwalk and sketch and take notes.  The area might have been in mind, because last night one of my movie stations was showing "City By The Sea", a movie from about a decade ago that was set in New York, but when they needed a seedy, disintegrating, hellish location to film in, used a much less gentrified version of Asbury than currently exists.  Or maybe it's because I read today's Munchmobile (class of '04) review of boardwalk cuisine and he included some interesting places from Asbury's boardwalk.  Or maybe it was just because this week I was looking at this block that has been untouched since 2012 that would require a bit more location research and this was the first nice day in weeks.

So in the late morning, I drove up to the Studio, stopped in to ask about some unrelated business, and began my walk east and north.  I had been asked recently about how things were looking on Ocean Grove's boardwalk.  I was last there early this year, collecting shells from the beach for my class on a rare day above freezing with no snow, and it was functional but not fancy.  Since then, they have replaced much of the boardwalk.  An example of that can be seen above.  In the center of that photo, you can see where the big dune coming from the left ends, and where there were no dunes, Sandy's waves destroyed the boardwalk.  Those new brown boards (plastic coated composite) were used to rebuild those areas.  The gray boards (weathered wood) are showing their age, but didn't need replacing right now.

Above and below are shots of the length of the boardwalk.  Above, shortly after the storm, even the sections that weren't destroyed were shifted, creating a fun house effect, as evidenced by those crazy angles on the light posts.  Below, everything is now nice and straight now.

In the immediate aftermath of Sandy, it was not possible to walk along the boards into Asbury, as piles of rubble and sand filled that area, so I don't think I had been there in quite a while.  I walked through the Casino/Carousel House (both extensively used sets in that movie, great locations for murders and criminals in hiding) and all the way to Convention Hall, the setting for that boardwalk block.

I did a few detail sketches in a small sketchbook, and took a few general photos (like the beach scene above), but mostly I was taking notes.  On my block, the buildings are done, and what I need is to fill the space with people.  I took a lot of notes about what I saw- ages, physiques, clothing, accessories, etc.  Plus other details from the area.  I can fill in generic figures to start, and then adapt them using the notes from today.  Still a few special things/people I'd like to get, but those weren't things I expected to see, so I'll have to work a little harder to figure them out.  Meanwhile, I have some stuff to keep me busy next week.