LSS 300: Rethinking Landscape!

Meaghan Collins

It begins in the morning, with the smell of fresh saltwater emanating from the low tide, the sounds of the waves peacefully washing in and out while squawking seagulls greedily pick through the tangled seaweed for their breakfast. By afternoon, enlivened children run from their parents across the crowded promenade toward the hot, sandy beach as the smells of cherryflavored custard and sunscreen oil waft through the hot, humid air. In the evening, a crisp wind blows steadily from the east, prompting visitors to don jackets as they stroll the weathered, wooden planks, guided by the dim light of streetlights that line the boardwalk as they gaze out at the wide, moonlit Atlantic Ocean. This scene has played itself out everyday, every year for more than century, although the participants seldom understand or appreciate the complex history of the landscapes that surrounds them. Walking the Long Branch boardwalk is both a personal and shared experience as collective memories are continually weaved into the fabric of the landscape, yet remain seemingly invisible. When individuals stroll along the boardwalk, they are not aware of their shared experience of the landscape with the others that came before them, because each moment is truly personal. The primary purpose of the boardwalk is often visualized to serve as a simple public pedestrian path along 2.5 miles of coast, but throughout the course of its history, it has also evolved into a reliable, economic tool for sustaining the city of Long Branch as a valued destination. It is treasured because of its prolonged memories, its interconnected experiences over the course of its history. This linear landscape has absorbed both community hardships and prosperity while simultaneously belonging to both humanity and to nature. The early Long Branch community molded the concept of a boardwalk to be a path that guides visitors along the shorefront for good health, to serve as a destination for observation of

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Meaghan Collins

culture and nature. This desired path has since morphed into a constructed space that is available for the public use, but this landscape struggles against the pervading efforts to privatize and exploit the boardwalk and its evolving cultural history. The boardwalk has faced several devastating events that have ultimately affected its local economy and simultaneously helped shape the identity of the landscape from the depths of tragedy and reinvention. CONSTRUCTION In 1668, associates of the Monmouth patentees, including settlers John Slocum, Joseph and Peter Parker and Eliakim Wardell, negotiated with the local Lenni Lanape tribe for land located along the northern New Jersey coast bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Monmouth patentees bought this land, which included todays city of Long Branch, for an only estimated total of $170,000. 1 The first five families of the Long Branch settlement built their homes along the oceanfront, but decided to plan the towns economic center inland similar to what the Lenni Lanape tribe had previously done. At the time, it was mutually decided that the Long Branch shorefront was worthless because of its eroding beaches and uncertain weather conditions whereas there was better farmland inland and in large part due to this decision, the settlement population did not increase for nearly a century.2 However this natural terrain has always been out of societys control, there was an estimated four feet of the beachfront that eroded every ten years. Due to this damaging erosion, the land that bordered the beachfront rose nearly twenty feet above the sand, which then created a bluff, composed of a raised bed of compacted sand and clay from tidal wave action.3

LSS 300: Rethinking Landscape!

Meaghan Collins

From the settlements beginning, there was an instinctual desire for humans to reside along the coastline as well as resistance due to societys ambivalence of the unpredictable beachfront conditions. This human resistance was ultimately overpowered by the natural serenity that the shore provides. The fresh saltwater air, the ocean and sandy beaches are environmental components only available to experience and observe along coastlines. The ocean and beachfront were not considered commodities at this point in its history, it was simply cherished terrain that inevitably moved the heart of Long Branch and visitors to the shoreline. It was not until the early 1800s that the oceanfront became an integral part of the town. Local residents would walk down along the 5-mile long bluff and observe the oceanfront, which simultaneously evolved into a designated desire path. This path of wandering observation was soon used by visitors from both Pennsylvania and New York as a getaway from growing urban life.4 Due to the growth of human exploration and observation in the city of Long Branch, this space transformed into a processional landscape, revealing the landscape in a more secured space. The bluff path was located above the beach grounds, enabling visitors to feel secure from the ever-eroding landscape and to personally view the ocean in this organically-developed space. The bluff path was occasionally altered due to erosion over the nineteenth century, but remained a publicly-created landscape. After the War of 1812, the people of Long Branch sought to develop an important watering place on the bluff in order to appeal to even more visitors and bring further revenue to the city.5 Boarding houses were the first resort-like businesses to sprout along the coast of the city, charging only $8.00 a week. This low-priced fee allowed the middle class to bask in this growing resort landscape since both the beach and the boardwalk were free for access. Most

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Meaghan Collins

visitors came to the Long Branch bluff path for health reasons at this time, due to the conditions that a beach offers, such as fresh air, warm sun during the summer and the water was the magnet.6 The natural elements of the landscape have continued to enable a cultural and economic value to the boardwalk. Without the shoreline, the boardwalk would not exist, however the boardwalk developed a necessary landscape for shorelines to serve humanity. The boardwalk ultimately informs the surrounding natural landscape of human existence as well as informing society of nature. By the mid-1800s, over fifteen inexpensive hotels and boarding houses were constructed behind the bluff and remained a place for visitors of all classes. In 1867, Ocean Avenue was constructed adjacent to the bluff path, which opened up a wider boardwalk-like path for visitors and locals to stroll, engage and for carriages to pass through, while simultaneously enhancing a growing boardwalk culture.7 By the mid-to-late nineteenth century, the landscape evolved into a cultural phenomenon and a destination booming with seasonal opportunity and community activity. Ocean Avenue advanced as a business model, where privatized efforts could establish hotel businesses and gambling attractions. At the time of the Ocean Avenue construction, there were enough luxury hotels and boarding houses to accommodate 4,125 people. The bluff path encouraged economic prosperity as a place where businesses could capitalize on the security of the landscape. By 1868, there were eight hotels along Ocean Avenue and estimated 50,000 guests had visited the shore during the previous summer.8 However, no boarding houses were further constructed on Ocean Avenue since it was clear that such luxurious hotels could reap great profit from tourism on the boardwalk. All of these hotels hosted nightly social events, including dining

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and dances.9 Gambling was another major recreational activity for the wealthy visitors, which included the Casino Annex built along Ocean Avenue, which faced the shorefront and the bluff path. The Victorian Era was largely displayed along Ocean Avenue, which became the first historically noticeable boardwalk culture in Long Branch. This time period reflected great luxury among the upper class, but even middle class visitors engaged in the same oceanfront activities such as strolling the boardwalk and bathing in the ocean. Many U.S. Senators and even U.S. Presidents, such as President Garfield and President Grant, came to the shore for vacation, deeming it The Nations Summer Capitol.10 The beach was widely used by all classes. In 1868, one reporter from the New York Daily Tribune characterized the bluff walk in Long Branch as a social event, The beach was the spot where all social classes met, if they did not mingle. Although the hotels advertised beaches for the exclusive use of their guests, they were actually open to all who wanted to use it.11 However, this did not entail extended freedom from the social norms at the time. Throughout the 19th century, there was a social protocol, which required women to have a chaperone attend if ever walking the boardwalk.12 This gendered etiquette was not a permanent societal condition of the boardwalk, but rather apart of an extensive and continuous cultural dialogue within the landscape. In 1889, it was written, Ocean Avenue in itself is a beautiful thoroughfare, a broad driveway along these five miles of bluff, commanding a superb view of the ocean and swept by its cool breezes.13 This landscape permits influence from society-at-large, allowing and absorbing cultural shift within its own landscape.

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Meaghan Collins

In 1890, a storm washed over Ocean Avenue, which spurred community concern over erosion, since the time between 1833 and 1883, over 1,600 feet had eroded from the shore. Due to this community outcry, bulkheads and jetties were constructed along the shoreline throughout the first decade of the 1900s as a preventative measure. Ocean Avenue was also redesigned and built along the shore to accommodate the preventative erosion efforts along with the hopes of increasing local retail.14 The boardwalk was a powerful landscape and protective measures were becoming more apparent since its surroundings rely so heavily upon its existence. Throughout the 19th century, private enterprises sought to build a resort structure extending from the bluff, which essentially expanded the center path of the bluff into the ocean through the construction of piers. Piers became known as privately owned boardwalks but ultimately failed to capture the essence of the organic development of the boardwalk. The first pier the Bath House was constructed in 1828 and lasted twenty-six years until its ruin from a disastrous storm. In 1872, the owners of the Grand Excursion House constructed a second pier, called East End Excursion Pavilion Pier, which only lasted a week before it crumbled into the ocean because of yet another damaging storm. Nearly seven years after the second pier was destroyed, the Long Branch Pier Association built a 600 ft-long iron pier purposely located across the bluff from the Ocean Hotel, but by 1890, the pier had been washed away from a storm.15 By 1881, a fourth pier was built, known as the Iron Pier. The design of this pier was constructed similar to the previous pier except it extended to end adjacent to Ocean Avenue on the ocean and contained a variety of amenities, including a popular restaurant, refreshment stands, rocking chairs, a drugstore and even rocking chairs. These amenities veered away from

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Meaghan Collins

the minimalist landscaped that the boardwalk These piers represented the efforts of private financiers and enterprises to build upon the bluff, to own and profit from these engineered structures. This pier lasted until 1903, three years until the official boardwalk was established along the Long Branch shore. 16 Unlike the continual success of the boardwalk, the piers were never secured infrastructural spaces for the public. Instead, piers were privately owned, privately funded projects that intended to capitalize upon the ocean. The Long Branch boardwalk was officially constructed in 1906 and the grass siding was removed between the bluff path and Ocean Avenue. No longer was the boardwalk a conceptualized landscape, but rather built to remain as necessary infrastructure to sustain the shorefront community. Although the boardwalk was drastically materialized with wooden flats, the meaning of the boardwalk remained the same only this time it was a more prominent landscape. In 1908, cars became a visible component to Ocean Avenue, which led more visitors and locals alike to walk along the boardwalk rather than the Avenue. However, the Avenue speed limit was kept to only 5 miles per hour.17 In 1911, Samuel Rosoff, who was a well-established contractor for the New York City Subway, proposed to build a lavish pier that would incorporate a dock for ships, dance halls and other amusements that would cater to the public. Unfortunately this proposal was never fully constructed with the amenities attached.18 Financier Danny Maher bought the pier in 1922, calling it the Ocean Pier and Amusement Company and added several amusement facilities and restaurants to the structure.19 Instead of being a community of less than two thousand people, the city now has a population of 18,399. Instead of depending almost solely upon the profits of the summer season, the town has learned from lean years the lesson of building up local all-year
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industries. Instead of looking forward to next season exclusively in terms of providing amusement for the summer guest, the community thinks of next year in terms of all its citizens.20 The prominent and splendid boardwalk resort culture and business continued to prosper until the Great Depression in 1929. The most wealthy visitors from previous summers could no longer afford to vacation and their many mansions along the shoreline were torn down. During this same time, real estate in Long Branch heightened due to the increasing demand for more affordable homes in this city. By 1935, according to the Bureau of Census, employment and business were increasing.21 However, there was a definite shift in the community and the cultural framework of the shoreline. Less extravagant structures were constructed and more affordable living was finally available. Another factor determined the more local-focused landscape, in the 1950s, the garden state parkway was built, ultimately leading tourists further south from the shores of Long Branch. 22 For the following 60 years, Long Branch entertainment remained stagnant, with the pier of amusements and nearby hotels for tourism with local tourist draw. Along with the same amusements operating, the city of Long Branch determined the erosion to be too impacting upon the physical landscape of the beachfront. In efforts to deter erosion, the Army Corps of Engineers placed the sand on the beaches were measured to be only a few feet before the project, however when the sand project was completed, it attracted more visitors to its shores.23 In the early 1980s, plans for oceanfront redevelopment began to take place. The mayor of Long Branch, Philip D. Huhn, was an avid supporter of redeveloping the oceanfront. 'We're not going to be a premier resort in that people will be coming here to use our beaches,'' he said. ''But people will be willing to come here and spend $70 a night for a hotel room if they can walk along the Boardwalk and

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enjoy the ocean.''24 The redevelopment plan mainly focused upon building more businesses that could be an accessible distance from the boardwalk, however the rhetoric through public relations was directed at claiming an identity for the Long Branch shorefront. The Atlantic Group, a planning company hired for redeveloping the area, took charge in implementing businesses within the vicinity. 'Our notion was that we had to have a destination - something to draw people and give the place a sense of identity,'' said Lawrence O. Houstoun Jr., a principal of the Atlantic Group.25 Destruction On June 8th, 1987 at 2:45pm, the boardwalk faced its greatest devastation yet. There were heavy 25-mile per hour west winds and a natural gas leak that sprang from the electrical arcing constructed underneath the boardwalk of the pier. Due to these detrimental factors, a fire erupted and quickly spread, with 100-feet high flames, destroying the 175-yard fishermans pier, which was the longest pier along the jersey coast. Three hundred feet of the actual boardwalk was also destroyed in the process. The Kids World Amusement park automatically lost 25% of its attractions and 50% of its regular rate of attendees. Other businesses were also destroyed or severely impaired due to the fire, including a McDonalds restaurant, Shooters nightclub and bar, a clothing outlet, Scottys Arcade, a tavern and the fishing pier. In total, there was an estimated 10 million dollars lost in damages, cleanup and absent revenue.26 In less than a year after the fire, the New York Times deemed the boardwalk and its surrounding community blighted. Luckily for storeowners, the Community National Bank granted 5 million dollars in loans made available for businesses destroyed or severely damaged by the fire, but the landscape was ultimately abandoned post-disaster.

LSS 300: Rethinking Landscape!

Meaghan Collins

The fire, as tragic as it was, finally exposed the struggling identity of the boardwalk and the complacency of the community since the beginning of the twentieth century. The effects of the disaster on the economy were immediate, but the local spirit was squandered throughout the aftermath because the boardwalk was no longer a landscape for the summer community. The identity was lost and still yet found along the shore of Long Branch that summer because during abandonment, it was a molding a rebirth of identity of community space and possibility. In the aftermath of the disaster, the 1.5 mile-long northern end of the wooden boardwalk was replaced by concrete pavement paid for by the Green Acres Fund. The fund allocated 1.5 million dollars for the service to improve park and recreational usage of the boardwalk.27 Only one year after the fire, plans were already discussed about reinventing the entirety of the shorefront landscape including its nearby community. Condominiums and hotel complexes quickly became the centerpiece of this plan, since it was estimated that more money could be made from retail business than entertainment. Congressmen Frank Pallone even sought a redevelopment plan so large in scale that it would emulate the outcome of the Baltimore Harbor Project.28 Over two years since the fire occurred, the city of Long Branch claimed ownership of the property since the pier owner, Pat Cicalese, could not afford to pay for the damages through insurance alone. Even though the city of Long Branch then owned the property, the pier and the 150 feet of the central boardwalk were left in ruins for over the following decade. In 1992, a noreaster swept through the Long Branch beach and ultimately depleted the remaining amusement rides and other commercial structures. The New Jersey Master Plan was released during the same year as the devastating noreaster, advocating for redevelopment efforts to take

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place in cities such as Long Branch that once housed economic prosperity.29 Private The private sector has always tried to capitalize on the boardwalk and its security in Long Branch. Redevelopment activities officially began in 1994 at the same time of city council and mayoral elections in Long Branch, which resulted in a political gridlock between the competing politicians as to what redevelopment direction to take for the shorefront property. In response to this government standstill, retired local businessman Robert Furlong organized forty business professionals under the group name Long Branch Tomorrow.30 Although the group publicized that it was a community-based group, those actually involved in the organization were not the affected homeowners or tenants of the Long Branch shorefront. Instead, the group consisted of business professionals and local politicians. 31 Furlong then hired the Thompson Design Group, based in Boston, and paid the firm $165,000 through fundraising within the group Long Branch Tomorrow. The Thompson Design Group also designed and helped construct the Fulton Market Building at South Street Seaport in Manhattan and the downtown Baltimore Harbor to serve as structures to spur economic activity within blighted urban districts. Long Branch Tomorrow aimed for the same response to construction of the Long Branch shorefront and its goal of a greater economic outcome.32 The Thompson Design Group then hired the Atlantic Group, a research-based consulting firm that operated in Philadelphia, to research and analyze the social and physical factors already part of the seascape. The public was not involved in this analysis because the boardwalk was not viewed as a publicly owned landscaped. The Thompson master plan to redevelop 135.5 acres of blighted shorefront public property was released to the community that was ultimately approved

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by the public at city council meetings only one year after the group was initially hired. In 1995, the city of Long Branch sold the 135.5 acres of ruined lot to the development firm, which contained abandoned apartments, homes and businesses. 33 The mayor of Long Branch, Adam Schneider, who also served as a member of Long Branch Tomorrow, released a personal article describing his admiration and respect toward the organization and their plan, stating, We also soon saw the organization of Long Branch Tomorrow, a group whose main objective was to provide a civic base for acceptable change. With the involvement of Thompson Design Group, a prestigious architectural/planning firm in Boston, Long Branch at last had a firm grip on its future. We had a clear vision of what it would look like, how it would be developed, who would be responsible for that development, and how it would work for everyone. 34 Schneider went on to compliment the efforts of Long Branch Tomorrow and incorporated the use of we in his rhetoric throughout his formalized press release to the public. Community was a recognizable component. The redevelopment plan formulated its focus upon a year-round shorefront community and a year-round tourist destination. This new plan did not include reconstructing the amusement park, but rather rid its existence entirely. Instead, the plan included redesigning the area of the pier along the boardwalk to induce low-key recreation, such as fishing and strolling.35 The plan also included an increase in residential neighborhoods that would be incorporated with retail businesses plotted in dense vicinity, amounting to 1,400 residential units carefully established within only 44 acres. The southern section of the shorefront property parallel to the boardwalk was deemed to have 30 residential units per acreage with multiple-story condominiums. In addition to increasing density within the southern zone of the property, the plan also demanded the residential density

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to increase to 15 residential units per acreage at the northern end of the property zone. 36 The aspect of community to private developers did not depend on the concept of the boardwalk, where public activity had always been most prominent in Long Branch, it was its representation of economic livelihood. Residential units were a crucial component to the planning process of this boardwalk, however Long Branch Tomorrow sought to heavily increase business investments within the redeveloping shorefront community with the planning theory of Smart Growth, a method applicable to promoting pedestrian-friendly urbanized areas that are dense with population due to mixed-use zoning. The construction of a retail and residential village, called Pier Village, was proposed and soon after constructed beginning in 2000. Both the Thompson Group and Long Branch Tomorrow deemed Pier Village as the answer to the demand for mixed-use zoning along the boardwalk. The structure complex models the classic Victorian-style architecture in both retail businesses and residential condominiums within the same lot. The Victorian-style complex visually represents the privatized motion for a postmodern return to the more luxurious Long Branch boardwalk culture from the nineteenth century. This carefully crafted approach to reinvent the Long Branch boardwalk community tugged on the heartstrings of the local community and visitors, to architecturally convey a sense of boardwalk nostalgia. Replacing the seemingly lost identity of the Long Branch post-fire was challenged by private authority. The original construction of the first phase of Pier Village took nearly five years until it was open and available for business. In total, the redevelopment plan cost 265 million dollars. The first Pier Village redevelopment zone cost 100 million dollars within a 10-acre plot. The second phase of

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the redevelopment moved westward from the first phase of construction, building 240 housing units. The construction of Pier Village required the boardwalk to change its material and overall structural framework in order to cater to business customers and boardwalk-visitors alike. The boardwalk foundation material, recycled plastic lumber, was the most modern material addition to the boardwalk floor and is often very expensive material. 37 The recycled plastic lumber boardwalk that parallels Pier Village is elevated when Pier Village comes in to sight from the boardwalk. This rising structure emulates a pier-like faade, however the promenade does not venture into the ocean, but instead sits several feet higher than the 1.5 miles of boardwalk beginning at the most northern end of the boardwalk.This is the only specific part of the boardwalk that houses actual business without visitors wandering off the boardwalk to access retail businesses. This promenade is a luxurious spectacle with public-used structures that also invite clear, inviting access points to the public beach and breathtaking views of the oceanfront. Although Pier Village is home to dozens of retail stores and restaurants, there are also three high-priced restaurants plotted directly adjacent to one another on to the promenade walkway, Sirena Ristorante, McLoones Seafood Restaurant and the Avenue Restaurant & Club. These restaurants often require reservations ahead of time and the food options are high in price. This small, yet still privatized section of the boardwalk promenade as part of the newly developed Pier Village directly disengages the visitors on the boardwalk and serves only the upper class. The Avenue is one of the three businesses located directly on the promenade. The Avenue serves as both a restaurant and as a private beach club, often called Le Club. Le Club membership fee is 5000 dollars per year, with an extended waitlist and is accessible year-round.

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Meaghan Collins

On the website of Le Club, the first homepage headline reads, Access the inaccessible. 38 This club directly promotes the exclusivity of the oceanfront view and literally bans the public from entering its premises. The Promenade Beach club is the only other privatized beach club along the boardwalk, but unlike Le Club, it is located on the northern end of the boardwalk with a summer membership fee ranging between 1500 to 5000 dollars. There is also often a several-year long waitlist before one can be granted a membership depending on the economic climate. The exterior of the beach club is visible from the boardwalk because there is a solid white fence that surrounds the resort structure, prohibiting outsiders to view the resort amenities from the boardwalk. When one is a member of the promenade beach club, they are granted exclusive access to a pool, a personal locker or cabana, a snack bar, restrooms and other resort accommodations. In order to provide an exclusive environment to its high-paying members outside of its structure, there are private security guards designated at the access points from the beach to the club who check for personal tags worn on each member wishing to access the beach and club. The Promenade is the only beach club in Long Branch that does not have instant access to its beach, so members are forced to become a part of the public by crossing the boardwalk in order to access the guarded entrance to the beach. The beach is able to remain a private landscape during the summer season due to the constructed jetties that divide both of its sides creating its very own Promenade club beach. However, the boardwalk ultimately prevents the Promenade Beach Club from entirely excluding the public. The boardwalk remains as a landscape.....Unlike the resort businesses that

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operated during the Victorian Era, the resort structure of the Promenade Beach Club consists mainly of members who are residents in the surrounding towns and does not cater to tourists. The Promenade Beach Club is only open during the summer season from Memorial Day in May to the first weekend in September and remains fully closed between October and April. However, during the fall, winter and spring seasons, the access entrance to the beach is made available to all of the public. Private enterprises have relentlessly tried to capture this cherished landscape to become a less available experience for the public and instead, aimed to design and produce a more exclusive and thus, economic appeal. However, the local Long Branch community has prevailed in claiming the 5-mile seascape as a public landscape due to the existence of the boardwalk and the complete public access to the beaches for three out of the four seasons. Public The public aspect of this landscape is the most visible layer of the boardwalk today. In fact, the public has been the most visible layer of the boardwalk since its creation when the community conceptualized the bluff path for secured public leisure and observation. Throughout all of the seasons, the public, specifically local residents of Monmouth County, roam the boardwalk for personal purposes and experiences today. However, as personal as this landscape may be, it has helped mold the boardwalk into a a collective experience and ultimately, a collective memory. In the aftermath of the 1987 pier fire, community concern became more apparent with the development of the shorefront landscape due to the fact that the community suffered from loss in employment and tax revenue from the fire destruction. Many residential homes were located

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along Ocean Avenue and were deeply affected by the economic blunder neglected by the local government in the early 1990s. The Long Branch community has developed an active role in the decision-making process regarding the future of the Long Branch seascape. This misfortunate spurred the community to action during the planning process throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. However, local residents were left out of the Long Branch Tomorrow group and thus, were only heard at monthly city council meetings. This struggle to publicly identify the boardwalk stigmatized the boardwalk as a communal landscape since government efforts relied on private motivations. In the mid 1990s, when the Thompson Design Group released their plans for redeveloping, the topic of eminent domain rose from strategies around how to fix the blighted area.39 Residents of the oceanfront did not oppose the redevelopment until they received notice of eminent domain imposed on their property. The threat of eminent domain challenges the current intentions of the boardwalk to cater to public life along the shoreline. From this point on, the perception of public ownership ignited into tangible advocacy and activism, to define the landscape as communal space. In 1996, the city of Long Branch sectored oceanfront property to be susceptible to the plan of eminent domain. When Phase I of Pier Village began in early 2000, 140 homes were first possessed with mixed community reaction. Homeowner, Bruce McCloud, only received 140,000 dollars for his beachfront house that consisted of seventeen rooms and Victorian-style architecture. McCloud was not the only homeowner who faced this substandard market-value compensation for his home. In a 2010 New Jersey Monthly article A Seaside Gem Sparkles Again, reporter Caren

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Chesler briefly exposed the local Long Branch residents point of view of the redevelopment efforts along the shorefront of Long Branch. The homeowners fighting eminent domain are not alone in criticizing the ongoing redevelopment. Some locals claim the activity at the waterfront has yet to boost the nearby Broadway shopping district. The redevelopment hasnt helped us, says a longtime employee at one business, who requested anonymity. Our business, in certain aspects, decreased when hundreds of people were displaced.40 The city of Long Branch stimulated high praise throughout the press for their revitalization efforts along the shorefront, however few else was said about the effects of displacement until local residents spoke out. When residents of Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue along the Long Branch oceanfront were informed that they were going to be forced out of their homes due to eminent domain, claiming that their area of the city was blighted, they fought against the government order. These residences organized as MTOTSA and evolved into a grassroots community advocacy group that composed of residences from 37 residential units total. For the first time recognized in its history, Long Branch residents organized to protect and preserve their shared space along the boardwalk, causing private corporations to fight for ownership. The boardwalk provides a sense of personal ownership, a place where local individuals feel connected to this space and have been spurred to action because of such personal ties. MTOTSA efforts brought national attention, including CBS Nightly News, because they refused to leave their homes and hired an attorney to claim their property back from the hands of private industries. However, twenty homes were still seized by the government and most landlords ended up selling their home due to the provision and all tenants in the razed zone automatically lost their homes, completely unable to return since affordable housing was no
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longer available. These private efforts challenged the contentment of the boardwalk community, both visitors and local residents. In these moments of activism, the identity of the Long Branch boardwalk was recognized as a publicly-owned landscape. Personal narratives of life on the boardwalk became part of the dialogue, it gave meaning to the landscape when fighting against eminent domain. Since the fire, the northern end of Ocean Avenue, which lies directly adjacent to the boardwalk, is only available to pedestrians and bicyclists. However in 2007, city council announced its provision to allow full vehicular access to Ocean Avenue again in order to increase visitors to Pier Village. This proposed ordinance evoked powerful community mobilization in the Long Branch area. Outraged Long Branch citizens organized under the name Save Ocean Avenue in efforts to end this provision. This grassroots organization protested and made their voice heard at city council meetings and ultimately ended the ordinance. 41 Four years after their first victory, the organization still maintains a vital presence in city council decisions regarding the care and maintenance of Ocean Avenue and the boardwalk. Recently, the group had the city council approve the boardwalk new name as Seven Presidents Ocean Walk, replace boardwalk material and put up new signs for pedestrians. 42 The state of New Jersey has recognized the importance of public access to the boardwalk. During his first term as governor, Governor Jon Corzine required public access points to the beach on the boardwalk at every quarter-mile, bathrooms designated at every half-mile on any public beach and 24-hour access to their beach. In 2008, the appeals court overturned Corzines decision and instead ruled that beaches did not have to acquire bathrooms or allow 24-hour access to the beaches, however the Long Branch boardwalk is always accessible.43 Accessibility

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has been one of the core strengths of the boardwalk, enabling all types of visitors and locals to engage on the boardwalk since its beginning. The identity of the Long Branch boardwalk has struggled between the notion of public and privatized space. Private domain lies on either side of the boardwalk, but the physical structure and location elicits permanent public accessibility. Amusement parks, piers and homes have been built and burned. Politicians and celebrities have vacationed and departed. Private developers have succeeded and failed, but the boardwalk has remained the one constant in the built environment of the Long Branch shorefront for the public. It has served as a place of luxury, a place of recreation, a place for families and a place for the lone morning jogger. The identity of the Long Branch boardwalk will always prevail as a communal landscape first and foremost. Future The construction of the Pier Village III is currently underway located directly south of where the previous two phases recently took place. This phase is another attempt to return to the previous Long Branch, one where it evokes nostalgia. However, the Long Branch boardwalk never witnessed dense domesticity, but this notion that the boardwalk was now the perceived Main Street of Long Branch. Currently, phase three of the redevelopment zone consists of mixed-use residential, hotel and retail complexes. There are 200 rental residences, 75 condominium homes and a 100-room hotel planned for upcoming construction. There will also be an added 20,000 square feet space allocated for retail space and a public park adjacent to the boardwalk, and there will be no addition of specific amusement facilities that once existed before the pier fire in 1987. Instead, the third phase will include new green roofs to newly built

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residences and retail buildings, as well as repair and expand the boardwalk, however it is uncertain how phase III development will exactly repair and expand the boardwalk.44 On June 16th 2010, the Thompson Design Group, along with several premiere architects, presented a charrette report to the public at a city council meeting in Long Branch with the intent of reconstructing another pier. This meeting specifically requested input from local residents on what they envisioned the new pier should serve as a walkway toward the ocean from the boardwalk. Several proposals, backed by recent research from the Atlantic Group, were initially made by the Thompson Group in addressing specific environmental concerns, such as tidal patterns and structure endurance, that originally led to the demise of the previous five piers built from the edge of the Long Branch shorefront. Along with incorporating the researched environmental engineering designs, the Group also proposed building a winter garden, a fishing area, outdoor concert area and open space on the pier for year-round appeal.45 The main component of the pier, however, would be a docking point for a ferry to operate between Manhattan, New York and Long Branch. During the meeting between the Thompson Group and the public, several suggestions were made in reassuring that the pier would blend in to the communal seascape and not into a separate landscape of its own. Although the Thompson Group invited the opinion of Long Branch residents, developers in Pier Village have clearly not examined the importance of the public and the simplicity that can accentuate the most alluring experiences like the boardwalk does. The physical structure of the boardwalk embodies a minimalist landscape design because its linear wooden and concrete structure requires visitors to do nothing but experience what the natural setting of the oceanfront already provides. Although visually simplistic, the historical

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Meaghan Collins

memories of the boardwalk are bound by the master narrative of its historical development. Business models such as Pier Village and private clubs are examples of bold attempts to privatize the same basic experience that the boardwalk can already provide. However, Pier Village is not located on the boardwalk, but adjacent to it, still giving the public a choice whether or not to engage in retail, restaurants and entertainment. The design and the purpose of the boardwalk gives one the choice, to experience the landscape in their own way. The boardwalk does not represent Long Branch and its community, but rather encapsulates a communal desire to view and prosper as its own landscape. The Long Branch boardwalk is a landscape within a landscape, prompting recognition and significance of humanity within nature. As personal as the experience may be, whether a stranger or a local resident, there is a great sense of personal ownership and accountability of the boardwalk that has developed since its origin. However, even in the midst of reinvention, we cannot change the ocean, only the way we can view and interact with it. The reality of nature forces us to adapt to our own ways and conversely the way we view nature changes.

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Meaghan Collins

Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration, State of New Jersey.

Entertaining a Nation; the Career of Long Branch. Long Branch, NJ: JERSEY PRINTING, 1940. Print. Page 11
2 3 4 5 6 7

Ibid,11 Ibid, 16 Ibid, 18 Ibid, 23 Ibid, 25 Hazard, Sharon. The City beyond the Bluff: the Life and times of Long Branch.

Virginia Beach, VA: Donning, 2010. Print. Page 81

8 9

Methot, June. Up and Down the Beach. Navesink: Whip, 1988. Print. Page 116 Ibid, 116 Hazard, Sharon. Long Branch in the Golden Age: Tales of Fascinating and

10

Famous People. Charleston, SC: History, 2007. Print. Page 33

11

Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration, State of New Jersey. Entertaining a Nation;

the Career of Long Branch. Long Branch, NJ: JERSEY PRINTING, 1940. Print. Page 56
12 13 14

Hazard, Sharon. Long Branch. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2007. Print. Page 11 Methot, June. Up and Down the Beach. Navesink: Whip, 1988. Print. Page 120 Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration, State of New Jersey. Entertaining a Nation;

the Career of Long Branch. Long Branch, NJ: JERSEY PRINTING, 1940. Print. Page 134
15

Hazard, Sharon. The City beyond the Bluff: the Life and times of Long Branch. Virginia Beach,

VA: Donning, 2010. Print. Page 24

16 17 18 19

Ibid, 25 Ibid, 23 Hazard, Sharon. Long Branch. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2007. Print. Page 17 Hazard, Sharon. The City beyond the Bluff: the Life and times of Long Branch. Virginia Beach,

VA: Donning, 2010. Print. Page 27

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LSS 300: Rethinking Landscape!

20

Meaghan Collins

Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration, State of New Jersey. Entertaining a Nation;

the Career of Long Branch. Long Branch, NJ: JERSEY PRINTING, 1940. Print. Page 140
21

Hazard, Sharon. The City beyond the Bluff: the Life and times of Long Branch. Virginia Beach,

VA: Donning, 2010. Print. Page 116

22

Chesler, Caren. "A Seaside Gem Sparkles Again." New Jersey Monthly 7 May 2010: Page 1.

Web.
23

Last, Jonathan V. "Razing New Jersey | The Weekly Standard." The Weekly Standard | A

Weekly Conservative Magazine and Blog of News and Opinion. 13 Feb. 2006. Web. Apr. 2011. <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/669opxko.asp?page=2>.
24

Long Branch Plans an Ambitious Revival DePalma, Anthony New York

Times Mar. 24 1985 (A.10) New York NY

25 26

Ibid Community Spirit Helping Resort Recover From Fire Parisi, Albert J. New

York Times Aug 23, 1987 (A.1) New York NY

27 28

Ibid Our Towns; From the Ashes: Will It Be Condos Or Tilt-a-Whirl? Ravo,

Richard New York Times Aug 12 1988 (B.1) New York NY

29

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment

of the resort town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 14
30

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment of the resort

town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 14
31

"Eminent Domain Abuse in Long Branch, N.J." Institute for Injustice. Web. Mar. 2011.

<www.ij.org>.
32

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment of the resort

town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 16
33

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment of the resort

town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 16

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LSS 300: Rethinking Landscape!

34

Meaghan Collins

Schneider, Adam. "Facing the Future Together." New Jersey Municipalities Dec. 2006: 4-6.

Web.
35

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment of the resort

town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 16
36

Coast Control: Long Branch, New Jersey, seeks a new identity Redevelopment of the resort

town on the Jersey Shore Mintz, Daniel; Thompson, Jane Planning, 1998 June, v. 64, n.6, p 17
37

Rain Forest Relief Web. Apr. 2011. <http://www.rainforestrelief.org/documents/

Summer_03_Raindrops.pdf>
38 39

Le Club Avenue Web. Apr. 2011. <http://www.leclubavenue.com> Kershner, Isabel, and Mark Landler. "Testing the Boundary Lines of Eminent Domain; Long

Branch Wants to Seize Old Homes to Make Room for New Ones." The New York Times Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 31 Mar. 2004. Web. Apr. 2011. <http:// www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/nyregion/testing-boundary-lines-eminent-domain-long-branchwants-seize-old-homes-make.html?pagewanted=2>.
40 41

Chesler, Caren. "A Seaside Gem Sparkles Again." New Jersey Monthly 7 May 2010: 33. Web. Varno, Christine. "Long Branch Drops Plan to Reopen Roadway." The Atlanticville [West

Long Branch] 2 Aug. 2007: A1. Print.

42

Varno, Chistine. City plans upgrades to Ocean Ave. The Atlanticville [West Long Branch]23

Aug. 2007: A1. Print

43

"Beach Access Surfrider Foundation." Surfrider Foundation Jersey Shore

Chapter. Web. Apr. 2011. <http://jerseyshore.surfrider.org/campaigns/beachaccess/>.

44

"Ironstate Development | Pier Village III." Ironstate Development | W Hoboken | W Marrakech

| Hoboken Real Estate | W Hotel | Luxury Rental. Web. Mar. 2011. <http://www.ironstate.net/ properties/piervillage3.html>.
45

United States. City of Long Branch. Mayor of Long Branch. Charrette Report:

June 16th 2010 Long Branch Pier. By Howard Woolley, Jr., Adam Schneider, and McLaren Engineering Group. Print.

25