Let's Not Forget "Asbury Park: A West Side Story"
At the end of last month, Asbury Park Roastery, was busy, as it usually is on the weekends. Everyone stops by at this cozy, little cafe located on Asbury Park boardwalk for a great cup of coffee. One never would have predicted that Hurricane Sandy—which hit almost three years ago—had smeared out the whole boardwalk and shut down beachfront commerce for the better part of that year.
We were pleased to meet there our next interviewee, an author and photographer, Madonna Carter Jackson and we’re sure glad she did not decline to meet us, as Madonna no longer lives in New Jersey and her drive was quite a hike for her. We are truly grateful for this amazing meeting.
“Asbury Park: A West Side Story” began its pre-book days in the early 1940s as Madonna’s father, Joseph A. Carter, Sr., started collecting his black and white film negatives documenting various events and times in Asbury Park. What’s astonishing is that through his images and as a silent bystander he was able to capture how much the life of Asbury Park community has changed in the course of almost forty years.
“Asbury Park: A West Side Story” was printed by Madonna Carter Jackson in 2006. With over two hundred black and white photographs that were taken in Asbury Park from the early 1940’s through 1980 by her father, her book was an instant hit among the fellow Asbury Park residents. The Second Edition of “Asbury Park: A West Side Story” was a must! And more of Joseph A. Carter’s pictures have been designated to save the reminiscence of Asbury Park, and other New Jersey Shore towns.
Asbury Park community on the West Side came together through love and happiness but violence of 1970s riots threatened to tear them apart. Madonna, in her search for something beyond the savagery of the streets, had destroyed all of the photos pertaining to the devastating events of the riots. She decided that no one needs to remember the sad and cruel times. She discovered that for her father “It was heartbreaking to even take those kind of pictures.” Mrs. Jackson doesn’t want Asbury Park to be remembered that way and the goal of her book was to represent Asbury Park’s West Side the positive way.
The book in itself, offers a behind the scenes, intimate and illuminating insight into the genesis and creation of one of Asbury Park's landmark neighborhoods on the West Side of the town. This is a book that appeals to the Asbury Park enthusiast as well as those curious about the history and life of African-American community as those type of images were a rarity in mainstream American media.
The interview with Madonna Carter Jackson and with many more amazing authors and photographers will be featured in “Asburied In Time” documentary.
