The owner of a successful Emory Street hair salon has found himself locked out of Cookman Avenue, with a lack of client parking to boot. Steven Statland, owner of Chop Chop Bang Bang, recently sought a move to Cookman, but zoning rules allow only retail, theaters, bars and eateries on that busy main drag. The planning […]

The Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce bites into the city’s culinary scene with its inaugural “Restaurant Tour 2012: Destination Asbury Park” event featuring 25 food establishments. The tour, scheduled for Sunday, April 29, from 12-4 pm, will feature small “bites” and sampling experiences at restaurants, lounges, juice bars and bakeries throughout the city. Restaurant Tour wristbands will be sold in […]

A typical council meeting last Wednesday erupted into a passionate discussion of the city’s recent increase in gun violence. Citizens’ comments included suggestions on how to help, as well as a few barbs. Asbury resident Myra Campbell suggested the code enforcement and police departments work together to reduce blight in the city.

A dilapidated Cookman Avenue building that once housed two long-closed entertainment venues is expected to be demolished within 60 days. The structure was last the home of the Club Phoenix, a go-go rock bar open for about a decade until the late 1990s. Previously, the building had housed the Odyssey gay nightclub from the early […]

The fresh air at the Asbury Park beach front could be even fresher this summer. City officials met last month to discuss designating non-smoking public areas in town, starting with beaches. Mayor Ed Johnson shared this news with the public after representatives from the Monmouth Cancer Coalition (MCC) attended the March 21 council meeting to […]

Area residents will get a reprieve until late next year from traffic snarls and detours caused by the Sunset Avenue bridge replacement project. Construction on a new bridge, which links Asbury Park and Wanamassa, is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2013, according to Monmouth County government spokesman William Heine.