Driving around with Bob Crane...

Of all the wrongest wrongs that ever wronged wrongness (as my math professor used to say), demolishing, not preserving history and arts is way up on the list.

On Thursday Machete Media Productions got to see the real Tillie and Women in Bumper Cars murals sitting in the developer’s storage, courtesy of Bob Crane, founder of Save Tillie a non-profit preservation organization. Save Tillie, a group first formed to bring back Palace Amusements building (demolished in 2004), raised approximately $70,000 from Springsteen himself and amassed thousands of signatures, coaxing officials to at least conserve Tillie and two other murals, of women in bumper cars.

Filmmaker, Bridget Machete got to drive around with Bob Crane and talk about what it’s like to see Asbury Park now. It’s been years since he has been here. They went to see where Palace Amusements once stood. Palace Amusements was a historical indoor amusement park in Asbury Park, built by Ernest S. Schnitzler and officially opened for business on July 4, 1888. The Palace inspired ten decades of visitors, and stimulated New Jersey songwriters, photographers and artists to create their best works.

Now the deal is- when this piece of land is bought, the owner must display the murals inside or outside the new building. Apparently the land on which the Palace Amusements sat is a good location for a new hotel. As per information on the Save Tillie organization’s website, according to a New Jersey State study, developers who restored historic constructions were able to cut costs, constituted more jobs and pumped more money into the local economy than by building de novo. So the big question here is why destroying something this beautiful and unique, not to mention valuable to the community, in the first place?

Asbury Park still has many hidden treasures and “Asburied In Time” documentary is dedicated to bring you some of them and show how everyday people struggle to preserve them. In this feature length documentary past meets the present, breaking the fictional facade and showcasing the real people behind the true Asbury Park. For more information about Save Tillie group go to http://www.palaceamusements.com