A Rainy Day in Downtown Asbury Park
April showers may bring May flowers…but what to do when you have plans to go to a beach town and it rains? This was my predicament in early April when my friends Krista (blogger for Creating Krista and quite possibly my oldest friend) and her husband Dan came to visit. We had been planning to go to Asbury Park since they haven’t been there in a long time. Because I didn’t want to change the plan, I took this as a opportunity to showcase all the fun things you can do in Asbury Park on a rainy day.
EAT
There is no shortage of restaurants and bars in Asbury Park, so we decided to hit up a few of them. Our first stop was at Bond St Bar (208 Bond Street), a bar known for their grilled cheese and cheap beer.
April is national Grilled Cheese Month, and Bond St Bar has one of the best grilled cheeses in NJ…so good that it made my list of the best places in New Jersey to get one. View the list HERE and you can thank me later. We very much enjoyed our varieties of grilled cheese and $2 PBR. Lunch for 4 people cost us $20. Not too shabby.
Also on our agenda for the day…getting a big pretzel from Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten, one of my favorite spots in Asbury Park. Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten (527 Lake Ave) features lots of great local and imported beer, has great German inspired food, and overall has a great vibe.
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Last but not least, we shared free pizza at Johnny Mac’s. That was not a typo. Johnny Mac’s (208 Main street) features free pizza every day with the purchases of a drink. The pizza is also delicious.
For $8 I shared two beers and a personal pizza. It is definitely one of my favorite bars in all of New Jersey. There is plenty to look at on the walls, great beer, SKEEBALL, an outdoor beer garden, and free candy in addition to the pizza. I really can’t think of a reason not to go there.
There are plenty of awesome restaurants and bars in Asbury Park, these just happened to be the ones we visited that day.
SHOP
Need a place to duck inside while it’s raining? Shopping is always a good choice. There are lots of independent stores in Asbury Park waiting for your business! One of my favorite places to go is the Shoppes at the Arcade.
Located on Cookman Avenue, the Shoppes at the Arcade features plenty of stores ranging from woodwork (Asbury Wood Craft), antiques (Lark Gallery), vintage clothes (Backward Glances), wood sunglasses/accessories (ACDWSH), home interiors (Flux Modern & Beautiful & Gracious Home Interiors), records (Groovy Graveyard), old video games (kill screen games) and more!
Since Asbury is the home of Tillie, you can find plenty of Tillie related merchandise throughout the stores in Asbury Park. These were found at Flying Saucers.
Other stores we visited that day include Rebel Supply Co, (550 Cookman Ave) a store that features clothing, accessories, and local art. A mix of vintage, upcycled and new. I really liked this store and ended up buying two pieces of jewelry that day.
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We also walked in Foolish Ginger, Holdfast Records, and Shelter Home…all great stores in Asbury Park. Foolish Ginger features great accessories, clothes, housewares and more. There is always something I want to buy there. Holdfast Records is the place to go to buy vintage records. Shelter Home has great stuff for the home and also has lots of great itemfor Asbury Park Enthusiasts (including Tillie themed merch). All of these stores can be found on Cookman Ave.
I also enjoyed walking through Paranormal Books and Curiosities (627 Cookman Avenue), one of the more unique stores in Asbury Park. Here you can learn all about ghosts that haunt the area, buy equipment for your paranormal activities and more.
Asbury Park also has an indie book store (very rare now a days) called Words! which has new and used books. I highly recommend it.
…and that’s just a few of the stores we checked out that day. Asbury is definitely a shopping destination.
PLAY/RELAX
Although we didn’t get around to doing the the following…I recommend the Silverball Museum, the Grand Arcade, and the Showroom for additional indoor fun.
The Silverball Museum (1000 Ocean Ave) features over 200 games focusing mainly on pinball machines.They also have skeeball, air hockey, and classic video games. If you love pinball…this is the place to be.
The Grand Arcade (300 Ocean Avenue) is what sits between the historic Paramount Theater and Convention Hall (which also have events year round, probably a good idea to check them out on a rainy day too). The Grand Arcade features stores, the Asbury Park Roastery (coffee), Criterion Chocolates, a radio station, pop up shops and more. I enjoy seeing the Christmas tree lighting there, as well as independent bazaars that feature local artists and craftsmen.
The Showroom Cinema (707 Cookman Ave) is one of the best places to view independent films. Going to the movies on a rainy day is always a good idea. This 3-screen movie theater offers an important selection of independent first-run films — critically-acclaimed foreign, festival winners, family, local and shorts. By the time I took this photo the sun came out. Ironic for this article, aye?
Asbury Park is constantly growing and expanding with stores to check out, places to eat, and things to do. This is a small portion of ideas to get you going. You can also get a tattoo, visit Dark City Brewing Co, visit Hot Sand to do glass blowing, visit a spa at Kur Wellness Studios…the list goes on and on…
Don’t let the rain discourage you because there are PLENTY of activities in Asbury Park to keep you busy.
