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 freehold &greasylake

 

"I was eight years old, and running with a dime in my hand. To the bus stop to pick up a paper, for my old man." Undoubtedly true as were many other lines in the Springsteen ode to his hometown.

While Springsteen was born in Long Branch, he lived in Freehold until he graduated from Freehold High School in 1967. Outside the ranks of Springsteen fans, the town is "known more for its Revolutionary War lore (Molly Pitcher and the Battle of Monmouth) and its racetrack (Freehold Raceway) than for its special place in rock 'n' roll history" according to Santelli in "Backstreets" issue 26.

Springsteen's first band, the Castiles, was based here. The Springsteen told stories about his relationship with his father, about his neighbors and learning to play his guitar all have their roots here.

Springsteen's childhood was spent in three Freehold homes, two of which are still standing. In September of 1949 when he made the trip home from the hospital in Long Branch, 87 Randolph Street was called home. Santelli notes that it was here, in 1957, where Springsteen saw Elvis Presley on the

"Ed Sullivan Show" and begged his mother to buy him a guitar. The Randolph Street house was demolished years ago and a driveway that leads to St. Rose of Lima Church takes its place.

Home #2 was 39 1/2 Institute Street. The sycamore tree on the side of the house is the one Springsteen is leaning against in the photo which graces the lyric sheet of his "Born in the USA" album.

House #3 was at 68 South Street and was home to the budding artist in his formative guitar-playing years.

St. Rose of Lima grammar school is just a short distance from the South Street house. Freehold High School was his next stop from '63 to '67.

While a sophomore he joined the Castiles and hung out at Tex Vinyard's house on Center Street (which has since been demolished).

According to Santelli, "three things occurred that prompted Springsteen to leave Freehold: he graduated from high school, his family moved to California, and the Castiles broke up." He briefly attended Ocean County College on Hooper Avenue in Toms River. Springsteen gravitated east toward the seashore clubs and bars where his friends were plying their trade. It made sense to live closer to where the clubs were located, thus he moved east while his folks made the cross country trek west to California.

Some Freehold trivia for you:

  • Back when Bruce was growing up, folks would say, "I smell coffee, it's gonna rain." The reason being the Nescafe plant, where Bruce's Dad worked for a time, generated a strong coffee smell. Inevitably, if you could smell it in Freehold, it rained.
  • "They're closing down the textile mill, across the railroad tracks. Foreman says these jobs are going boys and the ain't coming back to your hometown." So went the line in "My Hometown." Just where did the jobs go?

    To a mill in North Carolina. Formally known as the Karagheusian Rug Mill, Bruce's Dad worked there for a time. A fire destroyed part of the factory near the landmark smokestack and has since been partially bulldozed. But much of the plant is awaiting financing for redevelopment which appears likely.

"Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun. Words were passed in a shotgun blast. Troubled times had come, to my hometown."

Another line from "My Hometown." Here's the Asbury Park Press account of the incident as published in the Thursday, May 22, 1969 edition.

"The police log book for Monday night's racial disturbance (May 19, 1969)... Police said a carload of white youths pulled alongside a car of black youths and a shotgun was fired into the back seat of the car of black teenagers. The victims, Dean Lewis, 16, of 8 Monmouth Ave., who suffered buckshot wounds in the left side of his face and right eye and Leroy Kinsey Jr., 19 Factory St., who was hit in the neck, were taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune."

Another article in the 5/22/69 Press told of four "neat and clean-cut" white youths being arrested in connection with the shooting. Both victims survived the shooting attack but Dean Lewis lost an eye. The small scale riots that resulted the night of the shooting were a precursor to the large-scale Asbury Park riots of 1970-71.

[Also of interest in the May '69 Press were advertisements for local clubs featuring entertainment by "Child," admission $1.00.]

 

greasylake

Unlike all the other tour stops on the Jersey Shore, a specific location for Greasy Lake proves to be an enigma.

One sure place it exists is in Springsteen's "Spirit in the Night":

"Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin' hands.

'Long came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night.

Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake.

It's about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight.

I got a bottle of rose so let's try it.

We'll pick up Hazy Dave and Killer Joe and I'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go."

Numerous theories exist as to the specific location of Greasy Lake. One version supported by articles published in the Asbury Park Press and The Daily Register (a.k.a. the Red Bank Register) subscribe to the theory Greasy Lake and Lake Topanemus in Freehold Boro/Freehold Township are one and the same. An alternate theory suggests that it was/is in Lakewood (a mile on the dark side of Route 88). The Route 88 theory includes a version that assumes the "dark side" is a reference to the black community in Lakewood. Others believe Greasy Lake was a marshy pond just off Buchanan Road in Bricktown between Routes 88 and 70. Still another theory says the lake owes its name to the duck scum. We'll explain each theory as best our research allows.

First theory:

"The Dark Side." Many folks who grew up in Lakewood assume Greasy Lake is Lake Shenandoah in Ocean County Park, which is out on Route 88 on the black side of town. A dam created the lake. Locals speculate that Wild Billy and Hazy Davy are two guys, Billy Applegate and Dave Anderson, who once played in a band in town. Because Springsteen's sister lived in Lakewood for a long time, there's some plausibility to this theory. However, since the lake was man-made and since a firm date cannot be established as to the creation of the lake, there is a possibility the lake did not exist when Springsteen penned "Spirit In The Night."

Second theory:

Carl Beams, a Bruce aficionado and historian from Freehold, researched the topic at the Brookdale Community College library. The tangible results are a newspaper clip from the April 7, 1981 edition of The Daily Register in Shrewsbury. The article supports the theory that Lake Topanemus was/is in Freehold Boro/Freehold Township. For purposes of legitimizing our sources, it should be said that the Register, which ceased publication several years ago, was #2 in circulation for years behind the Asbury Park Press in Monmouth County. Offices in the 50s and 60s were located in downtown Long Branch even though the paper was called the Red Bank Register for a time. The paper later relocated to a then-modern facility on Route 35 in Shrewsbury. Our point is that it was a very legitimate publication for years on the Jersey Shore.

Here's the pertinent clip:

Juveniles act out Springsteen tune Freehold aims to quiet lake's 'spirits in the night'

Freehold – Borough officials last night said they will attempt to subdue the "spirits in the night" at Lake Topanemus in response to several complaints registered by residents in the area.

Several residents of Pond Road and areas adjacent to the lake complained to the Borough Council last night of acts of vandalism, littering and blaring music at the lake from young people in the area. The scenes of night parties, which were immortalized at Lake Topanemus in Freehold-born Bruce Springsteen's song "Spirits in the Night," must now come to an end, according to Mayor J. William Boyle. The lake is referred to as "greasy lake" in the Springsteen tune.

"We are going to have to station a police car out there until this stops," Boyle said. "This has gone on for too many years."

Dr. Judith Jallowich, of 261 Pond Road, said incidents of drag racing,

littering, beer drinking, and drug consumption are "intensifying" at the lake. Jallowich said an effort to lock-up the park has not deterred the night visits.

Walter J. Baillic, director of public works, said he has locked the park during night hours, but his actions have drawn criticism from Freehold Township mayor Arthur Kondrup. Kondrup has repeatedly told the borough the lake is under the jurisdiction of the jointly-municipal Lake Topanemus Commission.

Boyle maintains, however, that the borough owns and controls the lake.

(End of relevant portion of clip.)

Historian Beams recounts childhood memories: "There have been two lakes that have been rumored to be Greasy Lake. Everyone from Freehold referred to Lake Topanemus, taken from an Indian name, as 'The Pond' or 'The Freehold Pond.' During the time Bruce was growing up in Freehold The Pond was much cleaner than it is now. (Efforts in late '98/early '99 to rejuvenate the lake were moving forward.) There was a small beach with a lifeguard, and sliding board into the pond. Mr. Joe Herman, the lifeguard, taught almost everyone in Freehold how to swim. Lessons were every day and free. That's where I learned how to swim. There were Freehold people that are about Bruce's age that local lore says were Crazy Jane, Killer Joe, and Hazy Davy. I have no way of knowing if, in fact, these were the people Bruce wrote about.

"Freehold Boro residents were given a sticker to place on the window of their car. This admitted them to the Pond at no charge. The Pond was a hangout for probably every boy growing up in Freehold, and I can imagine Bruce going there with a group of friends doing just what he wrote about. I spent many a night at the Pond with large groups of friends, standing around a fire drinking a beer into all hours of the night. In around 1979 they blocked off the road that went around to the back of the Pond to keep out the teenagers.

"Around 1965 or so the Pond became polluted and swimming was no longer allowed. In the time since then it has become overgrown with seaweed and muck.

"The other lake that has been mentioned as Greasy Lake is Lake Carasaljo in Lakewood. It is next to Route 9, and a few miles from Route 88."

Which leads us to our ...

Third theory:

This theory comes courtesy of Bob Crane, multi-time winner of the Backstreets Magazine trivia contest and one of the primary movers behind the "Save Tillie" campaign. Bob's source is original E Street Band member Vini Lopez. As told to author and anthropologist Allen C. Schery, Lopez says the Greasy Lake geography from "Spirit in the Night" is a composite – part fiction, part fact. The "88" refers not to Route 88, but to Exit 88 off the Garden State Parkway. Band members used Exit 88 to reach a lover's lane alongside greasy swamps at broad points of Kettle Creek. When they went swimming, they favored Lake Carasaljo, a beautiful lake surrounded by a park in Lakewood.

In the final analysis, we've read direct quotes from Mr. Springsteen himself stating that Greasy Lake doesn't exist and alternately that it's just outside Freehold (if the quotes are accurate). The bottom line is that using his literary license liberally, as is often the case, Springsteen may have combined two or more area lakes as well as the characters who frequented them with the end result being the Greasy Lake we're familiar with in song.