Down the Shore: Tales From the Beaches and Boards of New Jersey

By Larry S Gray

This little book is all about fun, good times, parties and great places to be. Sprinkled in amongst the anecdotes are some true statistics and some reference to popular music as it related to the times when these events took place. Most of what you'll read took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though it does follow through straight to the present day. So sit back and relax, and have a good laugh, or maybe a good shake of the head. Take a ride with me "down the shore" while I share some truly fun experiences with you.

Heartbroken by the events of Hurricane Sandy, Trent has pledged to donate 50% of the profit from this book to the ongoing cleanup and rebuilding effort along the Jersey Shore.

Larry Gray writes as Trent Redman for his "Down the Shore" series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry S Gray
• Release date: Oct 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310133572

Larry S Gray

Larry S. Gray is a student of life who loves to tell a good tale. Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, he now resides on the central east coast of Florida, with his family. He is an avid reader who enjoys rock music, baseball, beaching and exploring. His material is interesting, compelling, thought-provoking and, at times, just downright weird. His subject material includes mind-control and religion, time travel, parallel worlds, and ghosts, with a little humor sprinkled in for good measure. He is hard at work on several new projects, yet more interesting tales that will keep you up late into the night and disturbed well into the morning."The Cydronium Chronicles" concerns failed experiments in the field of mind control, with several slices of comicality tucked in amid the mayhem. "Spirit of Sussex" is an Olde English ghost story, plain and simple. "The Armageddon Project" is a non-fiction work co-written with his cousin; a haunting and harrowing tale of childhoods spent in the grip of a tightly controlled religious organization. The old phrase "truth is stranger than fiction" certainly applies here. "Timespan - the Vet" is an eerie account of time travel seen from a different angle and puts forth the hypothesis that time can actually be flexible, a mental concept of startling proportions. "The Secret of Meat" was written for young minds; a tale of exploration and discovery. A young rabbit and a young mouse set out on an unsanctioned journey to a city of humans, where they discover a ghastly secret that shatters the illusion of their happy little world. The darkly humorous "Palm Castle" takes a stab at the soft pale underbelly of the business office, following the antics of the supposed professionals employed there.In the upcoming projects, we have the insanely haunting "Parallel Worlds, Perpendicular Dreams" currently still under construction. A desolate, out-of-the-way small town, populated by simple people with bad habits and a secret underground laboratory hidden beneath the village church, is the setting for the mysterious and often absurd happenings of "Where the Skinman Roams," available on December 2, 2021. And the extensive epic apocalyptic thriller "Modern-day Noah - 2034" will be ready for readers in late 2022. Following that, anything is possible...

Book preview

Down the Shore –

Tales From the

Beaches and Boards of New Jersey

Trent Redman

A memoir of the Jersey Shore

50% of the royalties from sales of this book will be donated to the ongoing cleanup and rebuilding effort along the New Jersey Shore.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Copyright 2012

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition copyright 2013

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my parents, to my wife, to my children and grandson. To the friends and relatives who made the events, happenings and anecdotes in this book possible. And to my old pals Tim, Steve and Andrew, who are no longer with us.

CONTENTS

Author’s Note

Prologue

Asbury Park – In the Beginning

1977

The House on L Street

The Breeze House

The Bradley House – and Beyond

’98 and ’02 – the Kids are Alrigth

Thru to the End

Epilogue

Author’s Note

The events that transpire in these pages all took place exactly as described. All the locations are geographically correct and all the business establishments are real. If reading this book prompts anyone to come by and visit, stop in and buy something, or order a meal and have a drink, then I’m glad to have been of help. The names of the players have all been changed, to protect the innocent and the guilty alike, and to respect the privacy of everyone involved, now that we’ve all grown up. Or at least turned into adults… I use different first names and no last names, only initials. The only deviations from this path are the five Sandy’s. The storm that triggered this project was named Sandy, and in a blast of mad irony there are three girls that play a big part in this narrative, all named, you guessed it, Sandy. Their first names remain intact, but the last initials have been scrambled. The fifth Sandy is a Springsteen song, sung on the Fourth of July.

I had thought to title this book Glory Days – A Jersey Shore Memoir but I changed my mind. I didn’t want to steal from Bruce. And hey, I call myself a writer, but I can’t come up with a more original title? C’mon… I know Glory Days in a good many ways fits the spirit of this story, but it’s been used. A tip of the hat to Mr. Bruce Springsteen for… you all know for what.

I also considered titling it Fuck You, Sandy, but that would have been rude of me. And people may have thought I was trying to peddle porn…

Every name is an alias, in case somebody squeals… yes, even my own. I am a retired retail slave exiled in Florida carrying on a mental health hunt, writing my way through my fifties. A lot of you have read my other material; I have a small catalog on Amazon and a small group of followers too. For that reason alone you may well recognize me through the very writing style of this book. It’s been said one can mask one’s face or disguise one’s voice, but there will always be somebody who can see through the veneer. That said; I still choose to change my name. This is for everyone else in the story; I can change all their names but if you know who I am, then you’re going to know who they are too, aliases or not. Thus, for Down the Shore I become Trent Redman and continue as such. If you guess my name, or recognize me for who I am, that too is cool. More power to you!

Some of you may think my grammar is incorrect, as I consistently repeat down the shore. No. In New Jersey it is the Shore, everywhere else it is the beach. And the shore is much more than just a beach. It is carnival rides and arcades along the streets and boardwalks. It is one-room bungalows straight through to twenty-room mansions and everything in between. It’s the land of Springsteen and the home of Miss America. It is truly one of a kind.

And in New Jersey you do not go to the beach, or even to the Shore; but rather you go down the Shore.

Those of you native to this area will enjoy this book immensely; and will likely become engulfed in many memories and ruminations of your own. Those of you who have never been, I graciously invite you down. Come check out our place, and see what fun and good times are all about. This cleanup is not going to take forever.

Trent Redman

November 2, 2012

Prologue

Triggered by an old vinyl disk – an aged and well-worn twelve-inch flat black sphere – and Hurricane Sandy, I sit here in exile and ruminate over some of the best times ever to take place in my long and interesting life. I’m not going to follow the crowd and call Sandy the superstorm, I have no intention to show her that much respect. But this bitch of a storm recently devastated Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and a whole lot more of the Jersey Shore. Memories, however, are fleeting but stable things, and no act of nature can wash them away or blow them out to sea.

I do not have a need or desire to describe Hurricane Sandy here. The Weather Channel, along with every major news network and every prominent newspaper nationwide, did a fine job with that. Unless you were in a coma just prior to Halloween in 2012, you have seen the pictures and heard the reports. Maybe you watched in horror from the comfort of your couch as it boiled toward the coast and finally crashed there, as I did. Maybe you lived through it. Maybe you lost things; property, money, time from work, your car, a tree or two. Your house, your business. You probably lost power and stood by helplessly as your beer got warm and your meat developed bacteria; or things much worse. I wasn’t there so I cannot say, nor can I profess to imagine how terrible those days must have been. I wasn’t there but I should have been; after all, New Jersey is my home, and the Jersey Shore is as much a part of me as my eyes and my ears. My arms and legs. And my memories.

This is partially a memoir, and partially a celebration of what was, what is, and what will always be the New Jersey Shore. It’s been said that for a memoir to be saleable, it should be written by someone interesting, famous, and old. An aging rock star, an ex-president, a retired business titan. But then again, maybe not; I am virtually unknown and far from old, but those who know me won’t dispute that I am a rather interesting fellow, to an extent. As to the fact that the memoir writer should be nearing the end of life; I would guess the reasoning behind that is so that the writer won’t have to produce a sequel? I am nowhere near close to the end of my life,