---

Come the end of November, a number of the people and locations in and around Asbury Park will be featured in the newest Local Quarterly magazine [at right].

The contemporary magazine sends reporters out to gather stories from a different American city for every issue. The Asbury Park issue will be their third. Previous cities include Jersey Shore, Pa. and Roanoke, Va.

In the Asbury Park issue, readers can expect to find a recipe from Porta, features on a number of the city’s female “movers and shakers”— including M Studio owner Jenna Zilincar, Second Life Bike’s Kerri Martin and restaranteur Marilyn Schlossbach— Franks Diner, redevelopment in the city and what it means for the future of Asbury Lanes, a photo feature on the Westside, Roller Derby and Convention Hall, and a piece on Ocean Grove’s tent city among other stories, according to Daniel Webster Jr., the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

While searching for a good subject for their summer issue, Webster, 27, was contacted by his former Dickinson College intern Anthony Silverman. Silverman, a Brielle native, put in his best effort to advocate for Asbury Park, so Webster and one of his colleagues came to the city in late May on a scouting mission, according to Webster.

“Overall it was a pleasant visit. Asbury put out a really good face for us,” he said. “We felt good vibes and thought it would make for a great third issue.”

The city fell in nicely with the pseudo-rubric Webster and his staff have set up in terms of city selection, he said. Those elements include a population under 100,000, racial diversity and a certain bit of re-imagining and realigning in terms of development.

Webster got the idea for the magazine 7 years ago while watching the documentary film “When Cultures Collide” about Jews moving their kosher meat packing plant from Brooklyn to Pottsville, Iowa, when costs in New York grew too high. He kept the idea on the back burner until finally mentioning it to a friend while attending graduate school. His friend was all for it, and it took off from there. With no prior experience, he started the publication and now has a core group of five people along with around 30-35 people who assist him with it.

“All of us are moonlighting this,” he said. “It’s not a financial thing, but more of an extreme hobby horse.”

The Asbury Park issue of Local Quarterly is expected to be on stands nationally by the end of November. A magazine launch party is planned for Friday at Asbury Lanes starting at 8:30 p.m. Before the launch party, short documentaries filmed during magazine production will be shown at The Showroom Cinema from 6:30-7:30. Members of the public are invited to attend both events.

“This is a party for all of Asbury, and we really hope community members are able to see the hard work Local has done, but more importantly, see the value, humor, and relevance their hometown has to the world,” Webster said in a news release for the event.

A price point of $9.99 has been set for the issue. About 5000 copies will be distributed nationally and Webster hopes to get the magazine in Barnes & Noble stores in New Jersey and New York before the end of December. Local stores that will carry the magazine come the end of November include Cafe Volan, Lightly Salted Surf Mercado, Asbury Lanes and Turnstile Coffee Roasters in Belmar.

A select number of copies will be available for purchase at the Asbury Lanes launch party Friday.

Webster and his crew are also in the midst of completing an app for iOS and Android users called “Local Field Guide.” They hope to launch a beta version of the app by the end of the month. The companion “sightseeing” app will list places within the featured cities for people to eat, stay and shop, he said.

The plan for their next issue is to tell the stories of Harrisburgh, Pa. and the location for issue four has yet to be decided, Webster said.

————————————————————

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook and Twitter

---