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THE FAMOUS palace amusements THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE IT & WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER ONE LIKE IT TOO.
When talking of the Jersey Shore history, the one place that will ALWAYS come up is the famous Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, NJ. Made famous on its own reputation and in song, TV and movies, The Palace had a beautiful beginning and a tragic ending to NJ shore buffs. Originally built in 1888 and additions added on in 1903 & 1955, the Palace was an amazing indoor amusement center. Sitting on the corners of Cookman Ave & Kingsley St and just behind it beautiful Wesley Lake. It had games, rides, a shooting gallery and some of the best eats in the area. The first phase of the Palace was built in 1888 which featured the carousel building (the building with the red and white step peak roof) . Back in that day it featured a carousel made by Charles Looff (3 rows with stationary animals) . A fire in 1910 damaged a great part of the carousel and it was repaired by William Mangels of Coney Island. He then added a 4th row and a jumping mechanism . The carousel endured another fire in 1942 and the lost and damaged animals were replace by animals cannibalized from other carousels around the country. And that is how the carousel remained until the Palace's closing in 1988. One of its most noticeable features was the Ferris wheel rising above the roofing. The wheel was manufactured by the Phoenix Iron Foundry of Phoenixville, PA in 1888. It featured 18 cars (Originally 20) and had a height of 74 feet. The carriages over the years featured different naming schemes from US cities, to war heroes names to the last one I remember, cities from Bay Head, NJ to New York City along the New York & Long Branch Railroad (Joint PRR & CNJ).
It was then the famous smile facing Cookman Ave appeared. Tillie, the smiling and winking eye face that adored the Palace for so many years came into the lives of the people who visited Asbury Park. Long a icon of the Asbury Park, The Jersey Shore and the local music scene, Tillie greeted thousands upon thousands of people every year. The 2 images on the Cookman Avenue side was just a part of the new neon facade of the Palace. When riding down Kingsley on a foggy night, you could still see the Palace lit up like a beacon at the end of the circuit ! Besides the wheel and carousel, the rides inside change through the years. Bumper cars, Tilt-A-Whirl, A Fun House, Olympic Bobs, dark rides like the Wacky Shack, The Orient Express & Hell 'n Back, Bumper Boats, The Whip and others. With a game room (Later a draw poker room), pinball & video games, a infrared shooting gallery and of course The Charcoal Pit for all your eating needs. There always were hours of fun at the Palace. The 1960's brought changes to the area. People from North Jersey (a.k.a. The Bennies), New York and the Philly area began going to the larger boardwalks further in South Jersey. The Garden State Parkway (GSP) and the Atlantic City Expressway opened up Seaside Hts., Pt Pleasant, Ocean City and the Wildwoods to more of the masses. Also Asbury Park like Long Branch up the coast a bit to the north were more urban than the others while the other towns were dealing more of a family atmosphere.
Then in July of 1970 was the true beginning of Asbury Park's downward spiral.
Riots started in the black community over social, economic and political reason
that last 4 days. Afterwards it started the mass Asbury Pk. exodus.
Residents and business' left the city in masses during the 70's. With the
news coming out of the area, the boardwalk area suffered. Springsteen and other artists like Steve Van Zandt, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes & Bill Chinook in the 1970's & Bon Jovi, The Smithereens, Glen Burtnik & John Eddie in the 1980's & 90's paid homage to their adopted hometown. But Bruce paid homage to the Palace in song video and print. Song like 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) sang about the Tilt-A-Whirl on the south beach drag . That Tilt-A-Whirl was in the Palace. In Born To Run, "Beyond The Palace, Hemi-Powered drones, scream down the boulevard." The lyric states it all. He also filmed parts of the video Tunnel Of Love inside the Palace, some of it never made the final edit but you can see the Palace and the carousel at the end of the video. Also the video for the song Lonesome Day features the Palace as a background in parts of the video. The video was shot the winter before it's He also used the Palace & Tillie's likeness in tour programs and promos like the famous promo photo of him and the E Street Band in front of a lighted Tillie in the photo to the left from 1973 and the photo of him sitting on the rail by Wesley Lake with the Palace in the background.. As time went on, neglect to the city's other landmark buildings and businesses began taking their toll. Buildings like the Asbury Casino, Convention Hall, Paramount Theatre, Baronet Theatre, Berkeley-Carteret Hotel, Metropolitan Hotel, The Steinbach Building and others went ignored do to abandonment or cut-backs. In the early 1980's developers decided to try to revive the city and major plans for redevelopment when into effect. But with corrupt city officials, a developer that went belly up and other downward turns, redevelopment stopped and Asbury Park was turning into a ghost town. Dubbed as "Beirut By The Sea" by many people who ventured to the area in that time. As inner turmoil grew in 1988 between the owner of the Palace and developer of Asbury Park. The developer used his option on the owner of the Palace to turn over the property and several other pieces of property for a 4 million dollar note. So on November 27, 1988 the Palace went dark forever. The developer in little time after that went belly-up and turn the paper for the Palace and other Asbury Park prime waterfront properties as worthless as Monopoly money. The carousel, Ferris wheel, rides, games, attractions were sold or auctioned off. A group formed to try to save the carousel but fell short of the asking price. Pieces of the Palace were then scattered all over the USA. Through the 1990's talk began in reopening the Palace again but that never materialized. The building fell into great disrepair to a point where the area around the Palace was fenced off. Tillie's face which once was a beacon to great vacationers and visitors to the seaside resort began to fade. But the late 1990's a new developer was on the scene in the city. Plans called for a total revamp of the waterfront area and the Palace Amusements was not in the plans. Despite being placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the NJ Register of Historic Places, the city father's, planners, developers and other robber barons did not see the Palace worth being saved due to its condition. Though many surveyed the property (including myself) and said the structure was in better shape than stated.
On May 26, 2004 the second monumental act of vandalism in U.S. history (The first being the demolition of Penn Station in NYC) happened. The giant demolition claws clamped onto the Palace's walls to begin the end of an era. They soon took down the 1888 carousel house and most of the Lake Avenue side. The progress had to stop because the Save Tillie project had a count order to preserve the eastern Tillie mural and the bumper car mural on the Lake Ave. side. Volunteers cut, braced and lifted the murals out in June, 2004 and saved them to be incorporated into the new building that is suppose to go on the grounds where the Palace once stood. Also saved were 125 artifacts from the palace from the channel letters to parts of the fun house. These also are suppose to be incorporate into the new structure. Wish we can see into the future to see if this will materialize on day because already there is some big turmoil between the Save Tillie organizers and the Asbury Partners (The Developers). Asbury Partner and Madison Marquette were suppose to build weatherproof shelters for the Tillie and Bumper car murals and built shelters that a dog wouldn't sleep in. The state ruled at the time of removal in 2004 that they were to be constructed but they got 2nd rate shelters. Now it looks like the state and courts have to move in. Also construction on most of the redevelopment projects were halted in late 2007 due to the national sub-prime mortgage crisis. That isn't even including the economy crisis of Fall 2008 !
So that is a brief history of once was the premier amusement place on the
Jersey Shore. Gone are those sea foam green Thank you for reading this short history. Below are some great vintage videos of the Palace Amusements that are on YouTube.com . You will see what really made this place so special to so many people and see why it was worth trying to save. Also there are some very important links if you like to read further on the Palace Amusements. Mark Poklemba October 2008
It's over now, my friend Steven Van Zandt 1978
Most people do not know but the Palace Amusements has been featured in many forms of media and had other interesting facts.
PALACE AMUSEMENT'S TV COMMERCIAL FROM 1979
A CLASSIC ! A 30 sec. spot that use to appear on WNEW-TV and WPIX afternoon cartoon shows in the late 1970's. Mom? Dad? Can we go?
INSIDE THE PALACE AMUSEMENTS IN 1984
Inside the Palace Amusements in 1984. Great shots of the Funhouse, Carousel, Olympic Bobs and all the other attractions.
THE PALACE IN 1984
A quick shot of the Bumper Cars and a great view of the famous Carousel. Nice vintage footage.
OUTSIDE THE PALACE AMUSEMENTS 1986
2 years before closing for good. A great shot of outside the Palace wearing it's fresh paint. Also seen are the Flamingo Motel (Now Gone), The Empress Motel, The Casino Carousel House and the Casino Rink Building (Now Gone Since 2007). Check out the hair on the "Jersey Girls" in the 1980's
The link of links of the Palace Amusements ! The total history of the favorite fun place on the Jersey Shore For 100 years !
Meet the people who saved a very important piece of Jersey Shore history & lead a hand.
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In
the mid 1950's , the Palace changed to the look with new until it's end. With
the additions on the Cookman Ave and the other on the Lake Avenue side. The
Palace shaped up to the ultimate indoor amusement center by growing over an
extra 17,000+ sq. ft. 
Even through all this, this was the start of what would be called the "Asbury
Park Music Scene". It really began with the Upstage Club above the old Tom
McAn's on Cookman , The Sunshine Inn of First and the Student Prince on Kingsley
. It really began to roll when Bruce Springsteen was signed to Columbia records
and released his first album "Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ" in 1973.
Then the mother of all Rock Clubs opened in 1974 The Stone Pony on 2nd & Ocean.
This still bought revenue to the amusement area but couldn't help it alone. 
walls that I took for granted in my
youth. Long gone are the sights, sounds and smells that made you know you
were at the best place for fun on the Jersey Shore. That is why we at M&M are preserving the memory of the Palace
Amusements in O Scale. Three will be built in full O Scale and 2 in a
condensed version. All featuring a Ferris Wheel and Carousel, neon "EL"
lighting, custom made animated Tillie, Roller Coaster & Bumper Car lighted murals and
more ! Right now they are in the fabrication & drawing stage but
more info will be available the beginning of 2009.
