Photo/Elaine Van Develde
There’s nothing quite like a little tiki party in the snow in Sea Bright.
Continue reading Retro Donovan’s Barren Snowcapped Tiki DazeRetro Donovan’s Barren Snowcapped Tiki Daze
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Tag Archives: Hurricane Sandy
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Retro Sandy Troops in Sea Bright
Five years ago people piled onto the Sea Bright municipal parking lot to get and give help in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
Focus: Sandy, Five Years Ago
It was the year that Halloween wasn’t. It was 2012 and Superstorm Sandy had pummeled the Jersey Shore. It decimated Sea Bright and destroyed low lying parts of Rumson. Fair Haven was a bit war torn and powerless.
Beach cabanas landed like Dorothy’s house to the Witch of the East on West Park lawns. Boats were hoisted by surging water onto dock tops and back yards. Gunning Island, in the Shrewsbury River, was loaded with the moored belongings of Sea Bright and Rumson people. Trees were downed. Transformers exploded.
Sea Bright residents were homeless. The beach was in the road. Sea Bright Rising began with some good-hearted burger flipping by Woody’s owner Chris Wood and chef Onofrio Moscato. The U.S. Army National Guard was parked in the Sea Bright municipal lot. There was no electricity.
There was a curfew. At nightfall, people scurried back into their homes, if there was anything left to go home to, like moles burrowing into cold, still night. Things were awfully dark. And Halloween was cancelled. There was no treat in Sandy’s trickery, just in the kindness of those who were good neighbors.
Take a look back … (and click to enlarge).
— Elaine Van Develde
Photos/Elaine Van Develde
Retro: Voting After Sandy
It was nine days after Hurricane Sandy hit.
It was the presidential election of the year 2012. Most in the Rumson-Fair Haven area were without electricity and heat. There was a curfew.
Focus: Sea Bright Still Rising & Razing
Everything’s still coming up — and down — in Sea Bright.
It’s been nearly three years since Hurricane Sandy just about leveled the peninsula town.
Since then, homes and businesses have been rebuilt, raised and razed. And, just recently, there have been some more changes to the landscape with more raising and razing.
Some homes are just now being lifted and revamped; and the old firehouse and police station are gone, leaving a clear view from Ocean Avenue to the ocean.
Take a look at some before and after photos of the same scenes.
— Elaine Van Develde
Retro Chillin’ With Donovan’s
There are a couple of things people in the Rumson-Fair Haven area couldn’t wait for after a long, snowy winter — summer and the reopening of Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright.
Well, both have happened. In fact, Monday was the hottest day of the summer yet, according to National Weather Service stats. And Donovan’s Tiki bar is back on the beach.
So, just to cool you down a little and serve as a gratitude nudge, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day offer a glimpse back to a cool snowfall on what was left of Donovan’s (which was pretty much flattened buildings and the Tiki hut) the winter after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of the iconic place.
The sky had an orange hue that day that seemed to paint it with hope. It made snow look invitingly warm and for what was a chilling scene for Donovan’s devotees.
Well, it’s back and sporting the literal sign of the undaunted “Sandy Who?”
Donovan’s has brought a lot of friends and couples together over the years. It’s a tradition, really, for Rumson-Fair Haven area people. Did you meet your boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, BFF or some other significant other or others in your life at Donovan’s? Yes? Of course, yes!
Tell us your story and send us your Donovan’s pics or email us at [email protected]. We’re putting together a Donovan’s Connection slideshow.
— Elaine Van Develde
Retro Patriotism in Sandy’s Aftermath
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
It’s the Fourth of July weekend and patriotism is in the air.
Flags are flying and the red, white and blue color theme is abundant. The same held true as people banded together in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Flags few amid a lot of wreckage.
Here’s one of them in our Retro Pic of the Day.
Remember this scene in downtown Sea Bright?
Man Indicted on Rumson Sandy Theft Charge
A man who took a $6,200 payment from a Rumson resident in the post-Hurricane Sandy era and failed to deliver and install a generator, as contracted, has been indicted on a theft charge and is facing, if convicted, a three- to five-year sentence in state prison, a release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said.
A Monmouth County grand jury on Monday charged Mark E. Herrneckar, 51, of Riverwood Drive, Toms River, with one count of third-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property.
Herrneckar, the indictment said, took the $6,200 payment from the Rumson resident in December of 2013 for a generator that was never delivered and installed. Herrneckar never returned the money to the homeowner, either, according to the indictment.
Herrneckar was arrested in December by members of the Monmouth County Superstorm Sandy Fraud Task Force. He is currently free on $5,000 bail, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley, J.S.C.
The case is being prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Andrew S. Fried of the office’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau. Fried serves as coordinator of the Superstorm Sandy Fraud Task Force.
The task force processes and investigates all complaints related to the storm. Homeowners or citizens are urged to report complaints via the following:
- The task force webpage at www.SandyFraud.com
- Call the task force hotline at (855) SANDY 39.
DIVE!: A Business Valentine Story
By Elaine Van Develde
It was a dank, dreary day back in October of 2012. Steven Graniero and Christina Dilorio stood at the bottom of bleachers overflowing with sanguine Hurricane Sandy victims at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School.
The weather gave them an eerie embrace as if to get in another jab as they held onto one another, wiping away tears and trying to comprehend what had just happened.
The engaged couple had just lost everything but one another to Sandy. After earning their stripes bar tending and waiting tables, the two, who met at work, had saved all their pennies to make a dream come true and open a small beachy bar/restaurant of their own in Sea Bright.
Sea Bright in Sandy’s Wake
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Our Retro Pic of the Day features a glimpse of what downtown Sea Bright looked like a couple of years ago about this time of the year.
Storefronts were torn and boarded up. Debris was knee-deep. Damage was being assessed.
And, among those assessing the damage was a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School graduate.
Do you know which grad at work in the featured (never seen before) photo?
Hint: He’s in the party photo gallery above.
A Look Back at Sandy Charity
- Clothing drive at Bicentennial Hall in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath. Photo/Elaine Van Develde
By Elaine Van Develde
Generosity was overwhelming in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
When the call for help was sent out by the newly-created Sea Bright Rising, surrounding community organizations and just plain nice people, supply and clothing bins’ contents were almost spilling into the streets.
At one stop in Fair Haven, organizers had to ask people to stop giving.
Remember this?
A Little Sea Bright Patriotism Post-Sandy
By Elaine Van Develde
When the Atlantic Ocean met the Shrewsbury River two years ago and obliterated Sea Bright, remnants of the superstorm named Sandy included everything from cars and torn up homes to furniture and jewelry.
On a side street in Sea Bright, among the debris, a flag was anchored in front of a devastated home, truck still in the driveway.
Remember?
You must be logged in to post a comment.