By Syra Bhatt, Intern of Preservation New Jersey, Summer 2024 (Cranbury)
Once painted on the teal-blue exterior of a popular indoor amusement arcade, an Asbury Park mural served as a landmark for visitors and locals alike for nearly fifty years. Today, the cherished icon remains on the beachfront but reportedly inside a locked shed, hidden from public view.
Named after George Cornelius Tilyou, founder of Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park, Asbury Park’s Tillie mural is a version of the cartoonish “Steeplechase Faces” Tilyou integrated throughout his properties. Palace Amusements, which originally opened as a carousel house in 1888, added Tillie to their facade in 1955; Tillie’s uncanny smile made it a recognizable caricature, eventually appearing in the Emmy Award TV series The Sopranos and publicity images for the E Street Band. The mural’s historical significance made it a symbol for the coastal city, its legacy outliving Palace Amusement's closure in 1988. In fact, Tillie’s place in Asbury Park culture spurred activism against the demolition of the building in 2004.
“We got started entirely because of [Bruce] Springsteen fanaticism,” says Bob Crane, who founded the Save Tillie nonprofit to encourage preservation. “In a burst of naivete, we appointed ourselves to see if there was anything we could do… to try and save the Palace.”
Although local developers were set on demolition to make way for a parking lot, the Palace Amusements building fell only after the City Council and The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ensured the safe removal of all historic artifacts. The waterfront redevelopment permit designated for the temporary storage and eventual preservation of 26 metal channel letters, signs, wooden cutouts, and three large wall murals - the Tillie mural being one of them. The permit, however, lacked deadlines for said assurances.
“The stumbling block in all of this is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,” explained Crane. “...because the nub of the problem [is] the way the permit was written”.
Twenty years later, Tillie and two other murals rest in a shed behind a wastewater treatment plant due to an abandoned promise of preservation. Crane stated that Save Tillie hired an art conservator to inspect the artifacts in 2016, whose examination confirmed a loss of artistic integrity. The future, according to the state-issued permit, is dependent on the actions of the current developers: Madison Marquette and iStar.
“iStar [owns mostly] everything from Ocean Avenue to inland… but Madison Marquette is responsible for the storage, preservation, and reuse of the [murals],” explained Crane, noting that they have had “plenty of time” to find solutions. “The developers, eager to get this lucrative [contract]... never wanted this stuff in the first place,” he adds.
The loose deadlines and requirements on paper, in turn, are felt by the artifacts that represent the rich history of Asbury Park - especially Tillie, whose face has been recreated on t-shirts, stickers, and other souvenirs along the beachfront. The fate of the original, however, remains nebulous unless the developers involved take initiative.
“Preservation…is a responsibility. It doesn't mean you take things of value, stick them somewhere in a shed, and just leave them there,” urges Crane. “Preservation serves as a way of informing future generations what has happened...and if these [artifacts] are used in a way that serves those ends, it will all have been worthwhile.”
Palace Amusements was listed on Preservation New Jersey's 2024 Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites. Preservation New Jersey will continue to support and advocate for the Save Tillie Inc. in their efforts to call upon the municipality and current owner to think creatively and be proactive in returning these New Jersey icons to the public.
Comments