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Community Corner

Facebook Page Remembers Long Forgotten Shore Sights

'Things that are not there anymore' has folks reminiscing.

Ah, the speed of social media.

Last Monday Steve Eccles of Seaside Park created a Facebook page titled “Down the shore, things that are not thete anymore” (sic) where folks can reminisce and share their thoughts about some of the Jersey Shore landmarks that are, well, not there anymore.

And, boy, has Eccles hit upon something.

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With the group only about a week old, nearly 10,000 people have been added to the group, a number that has left Eccles astounded.

“I started it as a little joke, really,” Eccles said. “I never thought it would turn into this monster.”

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Eccles’ “little joke” has struck a serious nerve with some people, apparently. An early question posted to the group was where did the members go to high school and when did each graduate. Many of the responses showed the members to have graduated in the ‘70s through the ‘90s: old enough to recognize changes that have altered the Jersey Shore over the decades and yet relatively young enough to be savvy with social media websites.

Some have even uploaded pictures and videos of fondly remembered neighborhood hangouts, watering holes and more.

Eccles, who grew up in Neptune before moving to Lavalette and then Seaside Park, said he made the group’s page after viewing a similar page dedicated to Central Jersey. “I wanted to make one for Monmouth and Ocean counties.”

The popularity of the group has astonished Eccles. “It struck a nerve, I guess. It’s about the old days.” The group has allowed for members to remember favorite bars, stores, pizza joints, arcades and the like. And people do like to talk about the old days, when everything seemed just that much more simple, friends were friendlier, the beer colder and everything was just better.

The speed at which the group has grown has surprised Eccles, who finds himself adding people by the hundreds, several times a day. The group now has members who live as far away as Florida and California who have some experience with long-missed but not forgotten Shore memories. “I lit the match. Everyone else kept the fire burning,” he said.

Aside from removing a few miscreants who have used language too salty for a public forum, Eccles has had few problems with managing the page.

Eccles said some of his personal favorites have been the “Southern House in Point, the Drawbridge in Brielle, Two Guys. Ryan’s Pub, across the street from St. Rose High School. It was the only bar on the Jersey Shore to have bumper pool. And Mary’s Husband’s Pub in Belmar; they had turtle races.”

So whether it is the old Mantoloking Bridge, the Haunted Mansion in Long Branch, long-since-closed drive-ins, or the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Bayville, what’s your fondest memory of the Jersey Shore that is no longer there?

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