place

Mrs. Jay's

Asbury Park, New JerseyBeer gardens in the United StatesBeer in New JerseyFormer beer gardensRestaurants established in 1922
Restaurants in New JerseyUse mdy dates from September 2019

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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Mrs. Jay's (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Mrs. Jay's
Ocean Avenue,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Mrs. Jay'sContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.220347 ° E -74.000375 °
placeShow on map

Address

Ocean Avenue 1000
07712
New Jersey, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Share experience

Nearby Places

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.

Metropolitan Hotel (Asbury Park)
Metropolitan Hotel (Asbury Park)

The Metropolitan Hotel was a 180-room historic structure located at 309 Asbury Avenue in Asbury Park, New Jersey and was one of the last large hotels operating in Asbury Park before it closed in 1989. In September 2007, it was announced that the Metropolitan Hotel had deteriorated to a point in which restoration or rehabilitation was no longer a possibility. The hotel was demolished in early March 2008.The most recent structure was not the original, although a hotel had operated on the site under this name since the 1880s. The main structure was a Spanish Revival style built in a rectangle, with a four-story hip roof, central pavilion, two-story porticos with fluted Doric columns, and balustrade and enclosed porches. Decorative touches included the stucco surfacing, parapet roof and canales. The metal marquee was a later addition, and there was a newer motel wing on the east side of the property. The motel annex was razed in early December 2009. Longtime owners Martin and Sylvia Weinblatt received $2.25 million for their hotel when they sold it in 1987 to Jersey City developers Karim Ahmed Elsaid and Gomaa Elsaid, who filed for bankruptcy protection the next year. The Metropolitan is currently owned by a group of Morristown investors called 309 Corp., who purchased the property for $150,000 in 1993 (from a group that acquired it from a bank for $10,150 earlier that year). 309 Corp had planned to open the 38-room hotel annex to people who needed housing in Asbury Park while they sought financing, but the city turned down their request because of changed zoning laws.The Metropolitan was listed on the Monmouth County Inventory of Historic Sites, and was located in the Grand Avenue Institutional/Professional historic district.