The Metropolitan Hotel, Asbury Pk, NJ, circa 1948
The Metropolitan, just the other day.
RIP Metropolitan Hotel, Asbury Park, New Jersey
I heard a while ago that they were tearing down this old hotel but didn’t think much of it. I’d heard it’d been empty for 20 years.
Then today, when I saw the picture at the top, I realized that I’d been there almost 30 years ago. You see my grandfather, better known as Grandpa Harry, used to go there with his 2nd wife, Florence, on the holidays and they’d spend a long weekend ballroom dancing. Grandpa Harry loved to dance. Even at 80. And Florence, who we mostly refered to as “Flo Bat” since she was a bit batty, you could tell she’d been a flapper in the 20′s. I think Grandpa Harry also loved her big boobs.
(Actually it turned out she was a bit of a cleptomaniac too. My Unlce Stu used to drop her off at the Mall with a couple of empty shopping bags, then pick her up in the afternoon, shopping bags full. He’d ask “What’d you buy?” “Nothing” she’d reply. But my Grandpa Harry was never short of all kinds of little knick-knacks. He gave me a mini-pen set once. They were encrusted with colored rhinestones. “Where’d you get this?” I asked. “Florence. She’s got bags of this stuff!” )
Anyway…Granpa Harry used to pay me $15 (In ’79 that was almost like $50!) to drive him and Flo down to the Metropolitan. And if I brought my girlfriend he’d always give her $1. “Here’s dollar” he’d say. “Buy yourself a pack of cigarettes.”
It really meant a lot to him, that ride. Looking back, it meant a lot to me as well, even if I treated it then as a bit of a laugh, and a way to make some easy cash.
Grandpa Harry was a jokester, an entertainer. He could play the piano with his nose, and would at every chance. He also taught me The Great Napkin Trick at my Bar Mitzvah. Turn a cloth napkin into a bra, then Mickey Mouse ears. He loved that. He was so proud to teach me. I’ve used it many times over the years, including my 5th anniversary dinner in a posh restaurant in Brooklyn. The other diners were properly impressed I should say. Sta got a kick out of it, too!
His favorite joke was
“Did you hear the supermarket took the Butterball Turkeys off the shelves? Yeah, they forgot to butter the balls!” He’d even stop the stockboys in the market when I’d take him shopping and tell them. I thought it was great.
Grandpa Harry had 12 pairs of the same shoes in various colors, pale yellow, pale blue, white, etc, and he had pants and ties to match.
He used to tell me, as I was persuing an acting career, that the best jobs were government jobs. You work 20 years and retire with a great pension. As it turns out, he was right. Those government workers have amazing benefits. Which is one reason why our state is in such lousy financial shape!
Grandpa Harry died in ’89, 2 years after Sta and I were married. I have a great picture of him at our wedding. I’ll have to find it and take a digital photo of the pic and post it.
All he ever wanted was that he was my favorite Grandpa. My dad’s father, Grandpa Ben, lived in Fla and I rarely saw him and Grandma Diane. I did love him as well,
but Grandpa Harry, you always were my favorite Grandpa.
Love to all
I told my Uncle Stu about the demo of the Met and sent him a link to this page.
This is what he emailed me:
hi seth *{me}*
u reminded me that i went to the met to meet my father and flobat on their honeymoon in 1969.
i was in the army at fort dix and i drove to asbury park to meet them in the hotel. when i got there they were more interested in dancing than talking to me, in army uniform. flobat wanted my father all to herself. so i drove up to maplewood, *{my house…}* hung out, and went back to the base probably on sunday.
too bad the hotel is torn down.