Long Branch...back in time

[DarkSkies]

Close your eyes and sit down in your favorite chair people. I'm going to take you back in time to NJ's Long Branch and let you imagine you are back there in the 1950's through the 1980's.

It's now a crown jewel for the developers, Mayor, town council, and all the people who had the "vision" to create Pier Village and the resulting 5,372 1/2 luxury condos and apartments. All revenue-producing for the town, which is no longer strapped for cash like it used to be.






It's "beautiful" now with the chic shops, mocha latte places, health spas, upscale jewlers, restaurants, everything needed to make Long Branch a sparkling Monmouth County success story, right?






None of that impresses me. I still fish there, day, night, whenever I can get down. Recent conversations with people who frequented that town made me realize how much I missed out on.





I can't go back in time, but I'm gonna bring a slice of old-time Long Branch life to you people. I'm hoping that some people will read this, and add more memories.

Feel free to jump in with your comments, pics, and stories as I share with you some of the things that made Long Branch the entertainment capital of Monmouth County, and the fishing mecca of NJ, for decades until the fire on June 8,1987.

[jigfreak]

It was better years ago. Now it is all yuppies, living in a can of sardines.

[DarkSkies]

There are so many memories people had of this fishing and entertainment mecca:

Baldanza's
Blue Dolphin bar
Cafe Bar
Carmine's Pizza

The Saltwater pools:
1. Chelsea Pools
2. Crammer's Salt water pools

3. Kid's World pool and attractions:
In 1985, six years after developers Pat Cicalese (owner of the Chelsea Pool and the Mile a Minute Waterslide) and his business partner Carmen Ricci purchased the Long Branch Pier across the street that they had been leasing since the year prior to the purchase, Cicalese rethemed the pier, the pool, the Bumper Boats, and the waterslide as Kid's World, inspired by Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania (It should be noted that Cicalese purchased Ricci's half of the business in 1980).
Many of the rides from years past had been replaced by this time by new rides, but the park still drew children. The famous Haunted Mansion that started the revamp of the pier in 1978 remained as part of Kid's World. Kid's World also featured an attraction based on the popular children's program Romper Room. The park was heavily advertised on TV in New York and New Jersey. The previous advertisements for the pier were mostly geared towards the Haunted Mansion, but when the Kid's World concept was introduced, the advertisements were toned down to something more family friendly.
The Fire and closure
On June 8, 1987, at around 3 pm, a fire broke out at the McDonald's at the end of the pier. The fire quickly spread throughout the pier, despite efforts by the Long Branch Fire Department to save it. After the fire, all that remained of Kid's World were the water attractions across the street from the pier. However, after the fire, business had slowed down, so the rest of Kid's World closed down for good at the end of that summer.
Cicalese had originally planned on rebuilding the pier. However, his insurance didn't cover the cost to rebuild what was destroyed, and the town would not fund the project, so the plans were abandoned. What was left of Kid's World remained abandoned for 17 years after the fire.
What was left of the pier had deteriorated over the years, and it was finally demolished in 2001. The rest of Kid's World across the street met the wrecking ball in 2002.



The Haunted Mansion, like no other in NJ

Junior's grill (which later became Big Al's?)

Max's Hot Dogs
Num's

Pier Pub

Shooters Bar


The rides and attractions....

Flying Swings
Mini Golf

Scotty's Arcade

Skeeball

Pistol Pete's

The Long Branch Waterslide




And the most important piece of fishing real estate on the Jersey coast at the time.....



The Long Branch Fishing Pier!!

[DarkSkies]

It was better years ago. Now it is all yuppies, living in a can of sardines.

Exactly, Jigfreak. The pier, mansion, and boardwalk burned down in 1987. A sad day for people who used to go there and counted on it for fun family vacations, partying and drinking, or just plain hard-core fishin.

These are some of the comments people had to say about it:

"...I lost a part of my youth when that place was destroyed by the fire."

"...I cried when the boardwalk burned, I felt like a part of me died."





I never had the chance to go there. I regret not knowing about it. it seems so many people had great times there.

So help me out here, people. Let's see some stories, pics, or info you have or can find on the Long branch fishing pier, the Haunted Mansion, or anything else associated with it. Cite your sources if they're copyrighted.

When I get time, I have some great tales of fishin on the pier from those who used to fish it. I could use help with anything else you can think of, thanks.

[cowherder]

Hi Dark, great thread!

Long Branch Pier

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Long Branch Pier was a pier located at 65 Ocean Ave, in Long Branch, New Jersey, United States.
[edit] History

The pier was popular among fishermen and club goers who enjoyed late nights at "The Pier Pub" night club. The pier was owned by the Sowul family until May 1979, when developers Pat Cicalese and Carmen Ricci teamed together to buy the pier and build the Haunted Mansion, inspired by the Brigantine Castle in Brigantine. The new pier had an arcade, several retail stores, a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) haunted mansion, a McDonald's, Big Al's Hot Dogs & Lemon Aide and Junior's Restaurant. The pier was heavily advertised in New Jersey and New York. By 1985, Kid's World was introduced, it was an amusement park inspired by Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The park featured a pay-one-price system, that included both the Haunted Mansion on the Pier and the Giant Waterslide and other attractions across the street. That section of Ocean Avenue was closed and became part of the park so kids could go from one side of the park to the other without fear of traffic. After the change, the advertisements changed from gruesome mansion photos, to happy, family-friendly photos of kids laughing.
[edit] In the end

On June 8, 1987, a gas leak and an electrical glitch sparked a fire in the pier. The heavy winds that day caused the fire to spread, destroying the whole pier. Luckily, nobody was injured.
There were rebuilding plans for the pier, but with almost no insurance, and no banks offering to pay for the project, the plans would never come to be. In 2001, after 14 years of slow deterioration, the remnants were torn down and replaced by a mixed-use shopping/dining/entertainment complex, Pier Village, which opened in 2005.
In 2005, it was announced that a new pier is in the works for the waterfront of Long Branch.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Branch_Pier

[storminsteve]

Found some great views at the historic tour of Long Branch. Ed Thomas Shoreview realty, he's a great guy for collecting all the pics.

http://www.historiclongbranch.org/

[storminsteve]

[plugcrazy]

Wow, amazing!

[buckethead]

My Dad took us to the Mansion when we were kids. It was a sad sight to see it burning on the news.

Once in a while he took us fishing on the pier. I remember it as being a colorful place and the fishermen seemed pretty dedicated to catching. I fished on the left with my Dad about halfway out but found myself wandering over to the front where the regulars were. They seemed like they all knew what they were doing and caught a lot of fish. When we went, we were just jerking around and didn't know much compared to them. We did catch some nice fluke, and some bluefish. There were a lot of blues back then. God this thread brings me back, thanks for posting.


http://www.darkinthepark.com/Haunted.../lbhistory.htm

HISTORY

The Haunted Mansion was located on the Long Branch Pier, which was situated at 65 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey. The history of the mansion starts with Pat Cicalese, a local businessman who owned the water slide and beach club across from the Long Branch Pier. Pat, who was a friend of Carmen Ricci, was involved in the amusement industry of Long Branch since the 1960s. When Carmen Ricci wanted to build Brigantine Castle in Brigantine, NJ, he went to Pat for financial support. Pat decided to help fund Brigantine Castle, which was completed in May of 1976. Pat was so amazed at the success of Brigantine Castle, that he decided to visit the attraction to get ideas for Long Branch.

Pat Cicalese

After visiting Brigantine Castle, Pat asked Carmen Ricci to come to Long Branch and help him build a similar attraction at the Long Branch Pier. After some planning, Carmen came up with the idea of the Haunted Mansion. The two men formed a partnership and started a company called Ric-Cic Incorporated. The company also consisted of Carmen's brother, Thomas Ricci, who would help develop the Long Branch Mansion and pier.
Although Pat Cicalese owned the water slide and beach club across from the Long Branch pier, the pier itself was owned by the Sowul family. In 1977, Pat and Carmen Ricci leased the pier from the Sowuls with an option to buy it. Ric-Cic then spent one million dollars building the three story mansion and renovating other parts of the pier. In 1978, the completed 10,000 square feet mansion opened to much success. The pier also consisted of an arcade, a fishing pier, and 50 other concessions. Ric-Cic bought the entire pier from the Sowul family in May of 1979.

Thomas Ricci, former co-owner of the Haunted Mansion, stands by a pier addition in 1979.

The Haunted Mansion was advertised heavily in New York as the world's largest haunted attraction. The heavy advertising lured crowds of up to 100,000 a week to the Long Branch boardwalk. In 1980, Pat Cicalese bought out Carmen and Thomas Ricci's share of the Long Branch Pier and Haunted Mansion. Pat continued to develop and expand the pier and mansion. He contributes much of the mansion's success to his excellent managers, Lil Grauman and Annie Rielley.

A picture of the Long Branch Amusement Pier from the late 70s. The top of the Haunted Mansion can be seen in the middle of the picture.

In 1985, Pat re-themed the Long Branch pier as "Kid's World" after being inspired by Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. He started a pay-once system which is now common at most amusement parks. Since the re-themed pier was geared toward younger children, the scare-factor of the mansion had to be scaled down. The mansion continued to employ live actors, but the scenes became more "family friendly."

A Kid's World Pennant featuring Sandy the Sea Lion, the official mascot of Kid's World. Bret Malone provided us with this picture.

The Long Branch Pier met its demise on June 8th, 1987 when a fire destroyed most of the pier and the surrounding businesses. It was later determined that the fire was started by a gas leak and electrical arching under the boardwalk. Since there was a heavy west wind that day, the fire spread quickly across the entire pier. Unlike the Brigantine Castle, the Haunted Mansion was still in operation when the fire completely destroyed it. Because of this, no contents of the mansion were ever pillaged by souvenir seekers like at Brigantine Castle.

Pat Cicalese provided us with two New York television news reports from the day of the Long Branch Pier fire. Click on one of the versions below to view them in Windows Media Player format.

Channel 4 TV news report from Long Branch fire.Channel 7 TV news report from Long Branch fire.

[buckethead]

HM site, these are some of the pics they had. God that was a terrible fire. The last one is the proposed new pier, which never happened.

[fishinmission78]

Anyone remember the old Stevens shop? Run by Joe LoPresti, it was a primo example of the old B&T shops like they used to be. Then Brian bought it, and after a few years he had to close down for the rich folks. Who wants a bait and tackle on the street when they have all that other fancy crap? I guess that's progress.

[wish4fish]

dudes i wish i cud of gone fishin but couldnt get there in my diapers lol. that was like 22 yrs ago. the youtube commercials are corny i cant believe you guys were scared of that

[bababooey]

Anyone remember the old Stevens shop? Run by Joe Le Presti, it was a primo example of the old B&T shops like they used to be. Then Brian bought it, and after a few years he had to close down for the rich folks. Who wants a bait and tackle on the street when they have all that other fancy crap? I guess that's progress.

End of an era my friend, end of an era.

[DarkSkies]

As I said it was the mecca for fishing in NJ at that time. With the exception of Sea Bright, nowhere else in Monmouth County could you fish from the beach in relative safety and catch the numbers of fish you could catch at the Long Branch fishing pier.



I regret I never got to see or fish it. Lately I had been gathering info and stories about fishing on that pier. Most of it is as told by Finchaser, aka/ OGB. Some additional info came from his long-time fishing buddy Joe Melillo, now of Castaways B&T in Point Pleasant.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5299

I wanted to tell you people this story a week ago when I originally transcribed it, but I was delayed in getting it to Finchaser for his approval.

I'm doing it now, unedited, and may have to make corrections. It's my fault I didnt throw this up sooner. If I had, I wouldn't have people telling me how popular this topic is on the internet all of a sudden. For the record, all of my posts were done and on the drawing board last week, and that's all I'm gonna say about it. Effumall.

[DarkSkies]

I hope people aren't turned off by the way I lay this down, because I have a bias here. Finchaser and Joe Melillo are some of the most talented fishermen from that golden era of NJ fishing, and continue to lots of younger guys on a regular basis. They were in an elite club called Steven's Surfsters that consistently won tournaments on the NJ fishing club circuit. More about that later.

That's not the half of it though. I knew the OGB, but wasn't fortunate enough to know him well until this year. Sure he's a great fisherman, so what?

How many people know that he, Joe Melillo, and a few other stubborn old farts were responsible for fighting to get the out of state bunker boats away from our bunker?
JCAA and bunker boats:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5151

Did they do this in a few months? One year?

Hell no, they fought corrupt politicians, apathetic state officials, and the regulatory agencies for 11 years!

Yet I have never heard OGB or Joe Melillo brag about what they and JCAA members such as Tom Fote, Len Fantasia, Ron Sickler, and others did in the past, so that we have a future today!
JCAA history:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5150

While other guys couldn't be bothered, or were content to "let Joe do it", there was a Joe, Ron, Bob, Tom, Len, and a few others from JCAA who, against formidable odds, and apathetic fellow fishermen, wouldn't give up until they gained some ground, marshalled the support of all the fishing clubs in the area, and got restrictions placed on the netters.

What is the significance of this, Dark?
Why are you preaching at us, why should we care what a bunch of grouchy old men did?

Because these guys were directly involved in the growth of the great NJ inshore trophy bass striped fishery we have today by getting those bunker boats removed.

I also ask when you see Fin post about the decline or lack of bass, take his words as gospel. He doesn't exaggerate, and his integrity is solid. This guy, and some others here and in the fishing world, have lived through the moratorium.

Sometimes it feels like he's yelling at me when he relates this stuff to me. That's why I call him a grouchy old bassturd. He has seen the stocks rebuilt. He and other friends of his fought for years to see that dream come true. Now they're declining, and many seem unconcerned.
(Where are the striped bass?)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...p?t=760&page=6

Can ya blame the guy for bein just a little grouchy?

Since they're not the types to toot their own horns, I chose to do it for them.

[DarkSkies]

I'm grateful to have made friends with these and other guys who were on the front lines 30 years ago, fighting the fights, so we could have the trophy striper fishery we have today.

As such, any thread about Long Branch isn't complete without a tribute to the guys, just regular guys, who were constantly at that pier, Fin and Joe Melillo included.

Through all the times they spent out there in the 40mph winds and 20 degree weather fishing for winter whiting,




strong bonds were formed, and great times were had.




So it took me a little time to put this together, to choose my words carefully as a proper tribute to these guys who not only fished that pier, they were part of it. Their souls were enmeshed in that pier. A part of all of them died the day that pier burned down.

As an outsider, I can't understand that completely, I wasn't there.

But I can tell their story. Grab a hot chocolate, coffee, or a beer, you're in for treat.



I hope you people enjoy as I share what they have shared with me.

[DarkSkies]

As related by Finchaser:

"There were many guys who fished that pier, It could hold a hundred on a good day. Some came only on their vacations, just to try it out. Others came once, saw the activity, the camraderie, the fishing potential, and became more hooked than a big bass on a horse bunker.

There were a hardcore group of fishermen who usually gathered there. Naturally, they gathered on the front, all the way out to the left end of the "L". The Northeast corner."



"That's where the best fishin was. Anyone who wanted to learn, they knew that's where the sharpies hung out.

Only ya didn't call them sharpies back then. Try that and they would have thrown ya over the rails.

Through this association and frequent visits, friendships were formed. It didn't matter if ya were rich or poor. Fishin the pier was a great equalizer. All that mattered was that ya were careful enough when the bite was on not to tangle with another guy's line, and that ya had the stones to hang out there in the brutal winds and cold winters when the whiting were there.

Anyone, even a pansy, could catch a bluefish or fluke, or three, in the summer when they were there.

The real measure of a man on that pier, was who could hang out in the freezing cold, not be a baby about it, and catch up the whiting. People had less money back then. When they had a triple digit catch of whiting, it went to feed their families. Men didn't whine back then, they toughed it out!"

[DarkSkies]

As related by Finchaser:

Long Branch Fishing Club
"We all used to fish from the LB pier, and it was a great group. There were a lot of colorful characters, many of whom are no longer around. The last I remember seeing them was in 1982."

Some of the members:
Joe Melillo - he was the Pres
Joe Melillo Jr
Me - I was the VP
Gary Burda, a top fluke fisherman
Brian Burda, his son
Mark Ballocco
Charlie - a Polish guy who taught me much


"We are trying to have a small reunion soon, so anyone who sees this and is in contact with any of the club members, please let me know."

[DarkSkies]

As related by Finchaser:



"There were several times the kids fishing the pier had some great catches and got their pictures in the Asbury Park Press.

Mark and Joe Jr were the kids in the club, they were only in their teens back then.

We used to let them catch all the bluefish they could carry, and then in the morning or end of day they would wheel a cart stuffed with bluefish to the LB boardwalk and sell the bluefish for a few dollars each for soda and pizza money.


My introduction to fishing was through Charlie, a veteran pier fisherman who took me there as a kid.

When we got older, taking the kids fishing was a natural extension of this. We all fished, and our kids came with us. My son, who is now 37, was out there with us as well. "

Passing it on:

"I tried to pass on the same knowledge and traditons that were passed on to me. I made a custom 5'7" rod for my stepson when he was 5, so he could fish it. He fished on a boat with me, and caught a 30# bass when he was 5 years old! He has been fishing with me for 13 years, and I tried to pass on whatever knowledge I have to him. His biggest fish so far is 37#, and I'm very proud of him.

He has good instincts, and has become quite a fisherman."

[DarkSkies]

some pictures