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SS Morro Castle (1930)

1930 ships1934 in New JerseyMaritime incidents in 1934Ship firesShips of the Ward Line
Shipwrecks of the New Jersey coastTurbo-electric steamshipsUse mdy dates from May 2014

SS Morro Castle was an American ocean liner that caught fire and ran aground on the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana, Cuba, to New York City, United States, with the loss of 137 passengers and crew. On the previous evening, Morro Castle's captain, Robert Willmott, had died suddenly, and his place was taken by Chief Officer William Warms as a strong northeast wind was developing under heavy cloud. At 2:50am, a fire was detected in a storage locker which burned through electrical cables, engulfed the ship in flames, and plunged it into darkness. Response by crew, Coast Guard, and rescue vessels was notably slow and inefficient, with empty capacity in the lifeboats. The decks were too hot to stand on, smoke made breathing difficult, and passengers were forced to leap into ocean swells where swimming was impossible. By mid-afternoon Morro Castle was abandoned and the survivors were landed on the shores of New Jersey by an assortment of craft. The cause of the fire was never established, though an overheated funnel and certain points of cabin design and electrical circuitry were noted. A theory of arson by a crew member has attracted support over the years, albeit without any concrete evidence. The high casualties are chiefly blamed on the crew's incompetent handling of the emergency.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article SS Morro Castle (1930) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

SS Morro Castle (1930)
Asbury Park Boardwalk,

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N 40.2281 ° E -73.9942 °
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Asbury Park Boardwalk
07711
New Jersey, United States
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Mrs. Jay's

Mrs. Jay's was a popular bar and restaurant located in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It was founded by John and Ida Jacobs and was located on Ocean and Second Ave., the current location of The Stone Pony. John and Ida started by selling hot dogs to tourists in 1922 at the Second Avenue location, but with the help of their daughter Jeanette and son-in-law Murray Wiener, eventually purchased the seasonal snack bar along with the property and established a family restaurant naming it Mrs. Jay's. John and Ida also opened Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden located on Ocean Avenue to the left of the restaurant serving 2% beer until the end of prohibition in 1933. Starting in 1965, Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden briefly offered Go-Go dancing as entertainment, but a dancers see through blouse resulted in a police raid and the quick demise of Go-Go at Mrs. Jay's.The Wiener's sold off the restaurant in the 1970s keeping only the beer garden, which by this time had become a popular music scene and bikers hangout. In 1974, the new owners of the restaurant building converted it into the nightclub known as The Stone Pony. Steven Adler from Guns N' Roses wore a Mrs. Jay's T-shirt during the "Paradise City" video. Many bikers drank here and a very large number of motorcycles can be seen parked in front of Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden in photos. Since Mrs. Jay's was an open-air establishment, it was open during the summer months. Mrs Jay's served mostly beer in pitchers or mugs and hotdogs and often featured live music. After a change of ownership in the early to mid-1980s, Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden fell on hard times and eventually the venue closed around the end of the decade, a victim of the disintegrating Asbury Park beach front area. During its existence until its final closing, it played host to many of the local scene's most popular bands and solo artists, capitalizing on the seaside shore town's nightlife scene. Bands such as the Tim Ryan Band, The Z Band, The Mango Brothers and The Acme Boogie Company were among the many local talents that regularly could be found on the stage there, with entertainment seven nights a week. Sometime later, the beer garden structure was razed with the empty lot being acquired by the Stone Pony for use as an outdoor concert venue.

The Empress Hotel (New Jersey)
The Empress Hotel (New Jersey)

The Empress Hotel is a popular gay resort located in Asbury Park, New Jersey.The Hotel opened as a luxury resort for vacationing families in the 1960s. It was a successful resort, attracting the likes of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.In 1980, the Empress was featured on the picture sleeve of Bruce Springsteen's hit single "Hungry Heart", which depicts a photo of Springsteen standing near a phone booth on the Asbury Park boardwalk, with the hotel visible in the background. Bruce Springsteen was an early employee of the Empress, where he worked a busboy during the summer of 1962. By the summer of 1976, Asbury Park was in a state of decline, albeit the Empress Hotel remained a popular establishment. During a New York Times interview, the hotel's manager boasted: "all of our 101 rooms are taken!" Unfortunately, by 1988 the hotel was struggling for business, and closed shortly after. A strip club, Extreme Fahrenheit, opened in the building in 1993. It became notorious for drugs and prostitution, and was eventually closed because of lewd conduct.In 1998, Shep Pettibone bought the abandoned building and opened the Paradise Nightclub inside.The nightclub lured crowds of gay travelers away from Fire Island and instead to the beaches of Asbury Park. The hotel portion reopened in August 2004, and is very popular among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender travelers in New Jersey.In 2008 a dining establishment, the Ketchup Grill, opened inside. A clothing store, Esphera, catering to gay beach-goers, was added to the ground level in 2008 and is open during the summer months.The hotel also features a gift shop, lounge, nightclub and outdoor pool.