{"id":2631,"date":"2023-12-06T15:39:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T15:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2023-12-06T15:39:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T15:39:21","slug":"asbury-lanes-asbury-park-nj-the-best-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/asbury-lanes-asbury-park-nj-the-best-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Asbury Lanes (Asbury Park, NJ) The Best Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story and accompanying photos represent the best of years of the Asbury Lanes<\/strong> bowling & music club from my personal experience from the years 2006 to 2015<\/em>. No doubt you have your own experience, lore, and opinions about the Asbury Lanes — those are yours, these are mine. This story is a continuation of my story about Asbury Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around 2006 my Monmouth County friends began raving about a club in Asbury Park called Asbury Lanes. It was a bowling alley where bands played on a stage erected in the center of four lanes, it also had a bar, a kick-ass DJ, and a restaurant that served sushi, grilled cheese, and tater tots. And it was a short walk to the beach — what more could you ask for? Coming off the afterglow of the culturally resonant Big Lebowski movie, the nostalgia of a post-mid-century bowling alley, combined with great music, comfort food, and comfort drinks, the Asbury Lanes was like a big hug from 50% of everything I loved.<\/p>\n

Photo: Asbury Lanes (9\/29\/2012). Like most Jersey Shore businesses, the Lanes look the brunt of hurricanes, nor’easters, and rowdy humans. It was not rare to see a missing letter on the wall, a missing part of a sign, or an abandoned U.F.O. on the lawn.
\n\"09<\/p>\n

Repairing the sign<\/strong> (5\/12\/2012):
\n\"05<\/p>\n

I saw and heard at least 100 bands at the Lanes. Shows performed by The King Khan & BBQ Show<\/strong>, Peelander-Z<\/strong>, Quintron & Miss Pussycat<\/strong>, and Fancy Space People<\/strong> were the most memorable. The King Khan’s shows were so phenomenal and mesmerizing that people would put their phones in their pockets, and dance. This was the era when a crowd would stand still as statues and film concerts with their cell phones. When a band was so good that the phones disappeared, that was a great band.<\/p>\n

Aside from these hyper-unique national bands, indie rock bands like Electric Six, Supersuckers, and the Horton Heat, and local favorites like The Obvious and the Ribeye Brothers played memorable shows there. (Visit Setlist.fm<\/a> for more Asbury Lanes shows).<\/p>\n

Aside from music, The Asbury Lanes was home to the first two Asbury Park Comicons<\/a>, a Big Lebowski festival, a Troma<\/a> movie festival, D.J. dance contests, Sex Toy Bingo, garage sales, and many art shows curated by Lanes manager Juicy Jenn, who also co-owns the art gallery Parlor Gallery<\/a> and runs the Wooden Walls<\/a> mural art project.<\/p>\n

The Door<\/strong>, starring the father of Milk & Cheese, Evan Dorkin<\/a> (9\/29\/2012). This photo was taken during Asbury Park Comicon 2.
\n\"Evan<\/p>\n

The Bowling Lanes<\/strong> (9\/29\/2012). A “Dutch angle” or “drunk about to fall” shot.
\n\"09<\/p>\n

Pick your shoes<\/strong> (3\/3\/2012):
\n\"03<\/p>\n

Bowling balls<\/strong> (9\/29\/2012). The Lanes had dozens of balls to choose from, in classic black and a myriad of spacey, swirly candy colors.
\n\"09<\/p>\n

Disco balls<\/strong> (10\/25\/2011) are also spacey and colorful, but for floating above the lanes, not rolling down them.
\n\"10<\/p>\n

The Bowling Pin Art Show<\/strong> (9\/28\/2008):
\n\"09<\/p>\n

Jucifer<\/strong> (7\/27\/2015) was one of the loudest bands I saw at the Lanes (I think Mr. Payday was the loudest band I’ve seen).
\n\"07<\/p>\n

The Obvious<\/strong> (10\/20\/2009) were local favorites back in the late 2000s.
\n\"10<\/p>\n

One of the members of Peelander-Z hiding in the crowd<\/strong> (8\/15\/2010). Peelander-Z<\/a> is equal parts Power Rangers, a Japanese game show, and a power-pop-punk rock band.
\n\"One<\/p>\n

Fancy Space People<\/strong> (10\/25\/2010). Fancy Space People<\/a> are part psych-rock, glam rock, space rock, and shiny glitter body suits. Not a cult.
\n\"10<\/p>\n

The floor plan<\/strong> as I remember it from the 2006-2015 era.
\n\"floorplan\"<\/p>\n

Sadly, Asbury Lanes has been under new ownership and management since 2018. I have not been there since 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story and accompanying photos represent the best of years of the Asbury Lanes bowling & music club from my personal experience from the years 2006 to 2015. No doubt you have your own experience, lore, and opinions about the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-2631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaches","tag-new-jersey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancentury.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}