Jon Stewart, nursing an injured left arm, at the Count Basie Theatre in 2012 for an appearance with news anchor Brian Williams. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six years after a packed-house appearance, satirist and Red Bank homeowner Jon Stewart plans a return to stage of the Count Basie Center for the Arts this month, the theater announced Wednesday.
Obliterated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and revived last summer as an open-air bar (seen at right), Sea Bright’s Donovan’s Reef is finally on track to having a permanent home again, NJ.com reports. The oceanfront watering hole is two weeks into a construction project that’s estimated to take about 10 months, the news site reports.
“I’m looking forward to the return of a Donovan’s that, like the rest of the new Seas Bright, is built to last,” Mayor Dina Long told NJ.com. “Donovan’s is an integral piece of the Sea Bright fabric. Without Donovan’s in Sea Bright, it feels like something’s missing.” (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
A Red Bank couple was charged with criminal fraud in connection with federal relief funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office announced Wednesday.
James Avellini, 67, and Susan Horty-Avellini, 65, seen at right, were among seven defendants charged with filing fraudulent applications for relief monies, the state alleged.
With new access ramps over the sea wall, the restored tiki bar at Donovan’s was back in business Friday afternoon, as co-owner Chris Bowler announced via the signboard, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Thirty-two months after it was knocked cold by Hurricane Sandy, a Sea Bright watering hole stirred back to life in limited form Friday afternoon.
Employees of Donovan’s Reef, which had been a magnet to Wall Street millionaires and Side Street store clerks alike, threw open a fenced gate to its beachfront tiki bar shortly before 3 p.m., marking the end of a long, frustrating struggle, its owners said.
NBC News anchor Brian Williams onstage at the Count Basie Theatre in December, 2012. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Was news anchor Brian Williams robbed at gunpoint while selling Christmas trees in Red Bank in the late 1970s, as he has repeatedly claimed – including once before a packed house at the Count Basie Theatre?
That question, and some speculation by local old-timers, threw fuel on an already-raging firestorm about the truthfulness of the NBC News helmsman and former Middletown resident, who was later suspended by the network earlier this month for misrepresenting facts about an incident in Iraq.
Brian Donohue, an nj.com writer and commentator, did some legwork on the Red Bank piece of the story. And while he and his colleagues failed to unearth any specific evidence supporting Williams’ claim, he found plenty to refute the rose-colored reminiscences of locals who said it could not have happened because stuff like that just didn’t happen in Red Bank in the 1970s.
On Monday night’s edition of the Daily Show, Red Banker Jon Stewart weighed in on the controversy over NBC News anchor Brian Williams, whose embellished account of an incident early in the Iraq war has drawn widespread media scrutiny. Stewart did not comment directly on a claim by Williams, a former Middletown resident, of having once been robbed at gunpoint in Red Bank, which he made to Stewart himself onstage at a Count Basie Theatre fundraiser in December, 2012. (Click to enlarge)
NBC News anchor Brian Williams, left, onstage with comedian Jon Stewart at the Count Basie Theatre in December, 2012. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Was news anchor Brian Williams robbed at gunpoint while selling Christmas trees in Red Bank in the late 1970s?
The big-money network newsman, who’s in hot water for claiming he was in a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire in Iraq a dozen years ago, claims that he was mugged one night at what’s now known as Veterans Park, at the junction of West Front Street and Riverside Avenue.
But some area residents think the story is bunk, according to a report by the New York Post Saturday.
Two fire trucks have been relocated out of town and another sits beneath a tent since the firehouse, in the background, was condemned. Former Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Last we heard from former Sea Bright Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka Adams, she had just failed to relcaim her old job after an election race that turned in part on property taxes she owed the town.
Fast-forward to now. Kalaka-Adams may start collecting $4,500 a month in rent from the borough for a vacant lot, even though she owes the town $40,000 in overdue property taxes, according to the Asbury Park Press.
McLoone’s Rum Runner in Sea Bright, destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, will be rebuilt at its Ocean Avenue location abutting the Shrewsbury River and reopen before summer 2015, according to a report by Word On the Shore. Under plans approved by the planning board last week, the new version of the restaurant will be elevated 10 feet, according to the report. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
A day after pleading guilty to defrauding Rumson homeowners over repairs to their Hurricane Sandy-damaged home, a New York man was arrested again Tuesday, according to the Staten Island Advance.
Frank Lewery, 52, of the Tottenville section of Staten Island, who was free on $75,000 pending sentencing on the fraud charges, was nabbed on “a slew of charges” Tuesday, the newspaper reports.
A New York man admitted in court Monday that he defrauded Rumson homeowners of money intended to cover repairs to their home damaged by Hurricane Sandy, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office said.
Frank Lewery, 52, of the Tottenville section of Staten Island, pleaded guilty in Superior Court in Freehold to one count of third degree theft and one count of failing to register with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
FRIDA FINNEGAN: “It’s taught me that so many people care.” Full audio: Frida Finnegan 102913
At Sea Bright’s community dinner and bonfire Tuesday night to commemorate the first anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, redbankgreen waded into the crowd to ask victims of the storm whether and how the experience of the past year had changed them.
Here are some of the answers.
Workers putting finishing touches on the restaurant’s interior last week. Owner Ray Lena, below. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Nearly a year after it was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, another of Sea Bright’s stalwart businesses is set to reopen Wednesday night.
“Did I think it would be a year?” said Anjelica‘s owner Ray Lena, while overseeing the installation of a rustic shelf and dealing with a stream of contractors and vendors. “Sometimes, I thought it would be never.”
It was a year of waiting, dealing with the bureaucracies of FEMA and insurance, and four or five months of construction, said Lena, a former sportswriter who opened the restaurant, named for his daughter, 17 years ago.
‘Mount Sandy’ and the small mountain of storm debris are gone from the beach, where Sea Brighters will gather on October 29. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
How does one mark the anniversary of a once-in-a-lifetime storm that destroyed one’s home or business?
In Sea Bright, residents and merchants will note the year-ago devastation of Hurricane Sandy on October 29 with a quiet potluck dinner and a bonfire on the beach to demonstrate their own resilience and determination to recover, recreation director Kathy Morris tells redbankgreen.
“It’s going to be very low-key,” Morris said, “just a place for us to meet, greet and chat.”
Yumi restaurant on Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright is now back in business, adding to the growing list of stores coming back on line in the hurricane-battered borough. The eatery features sushi and “neo-Asian” cuisine. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
Contractors swarming Chapel Beach Club in Sea Bright on Thursday. Below, a lifeguard boat at the ready at Surfider Beach Club. (Photos by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Seven months after Hurricane Sandy slammed ashore, Sea Bright enters the summer of 2013 far from fully recovered, with many buildings and storefronts still boarded up or demolished.
But there is ample evidence of rebuilding, and hope in the air, as the weather warms and more and more people begin to show up at the shore community.
For all our losses, we managed to keep our customers, said Frank Bain, owner of Bains Hardware, one of the first businesses on Ocean Avenue to reopen after the hurricane. Business has been steady since we opened our doors. Its safe to say the shop is back to normal. Were here, and were ready for the upcoming season.
The Mad Hatter in better days, above. The owners plan to revive the tiki bar out back next week. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
The people who run the Mad Hatter a sports bar/restaurant thats practically synonymous with downtown Sea Bright knew they had to do something to get open.
With the boroughs first post-Sandy summer quickly approaching and their oceanside establishment still unusable, they knew that they couldnt risk going an entire season without opening their doors for loyal locals and Shore visitors.
So they decided to improvise. Twice.
Now, after a stalled attempt to reopen under a tent on the municipal parking lot, owner Scott Kelly and his brother Michael have a plan they say will allow the Mad Hatter to come back in time for Memorial Day.
What weve done is effectively turned the back of the building into the front, in a way, Michael Kelly, the manager, told redbankgreen,
Undaunted by the damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy, the Sea Bright Firemen’s Fair returns this week. (Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
For residents of Sea Bright many of whom remain displaced post-Hurricane Sandy the sight of the flashing lights of a Ferris wheel shining through the air of their recovering community will mean more than just music, games and funnel cake when the Firemens Fair comes to town later this week.
This year, it will be another sign that things are slowly returning to normal in the small beachside borough.
The Mad Hatter has given up on a proposal to operate out of a tent and plans to reopen a portion of its storm-damaged building. Below, beer bottles seen through the restaurant window last month. (Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Dropping a controversial proposal to operate out of a large tent for the summer, Sea Bright’s Mad Hatter plans to reopen this month in its original, storm-whacked location, according to an announcement Wednesday afternoon.
In a Facebook post, owners Scott and Amy Kelly said the popular sports bar is scheduled to reopen May 23, operating out of the Ocean Avenue structure’s back room and tiki bar, supplemented for the summer by a mobile kitchen.
The earlier proposal, made to borough officials just last month, called for a 400-person tent to be erected at the edge of the municipal parking two blocks away, and faced an array of red tape involving state and local agencies. Some other downtown merchants opposed the plan, which they said would eat up too much public parking.
Frank Torock scanning the beach in Sea Bright for hidden metal last month. (Photos by Dan Natale. Click to enlarge)
By DAN NATALE
The beaches of Sea Bright have been given a makeover in more ways than one since Hurricane Sandy. The shift in landscape has attracted a fresh raft of hobbyists.
They’re hard to miss: walking slowly, heads down, sweeping metal detectors over the sand in the hopes of finding some storm-churned treasure.
Lou Jacoubs in the restaurant’s dining room Tuesday. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Another Sea Bright staple gets back in action when Harrys Lobster House reopens Wednesday night, the first restaurant in the downtown district to do so since Hurricane Sandy.
Owner Lou Jacoubs took redbankgreen inside his newly restored and renovated restaurant, located in the heart the Ocean Avenue strip, for a sneak peek at what loyal customers and curious newcomers can expect from the new and improved Harrys.
News anchor Brian Williams, left, and comedian Jon Stewart traded barbs on the stage of the Count Basie Theatre in a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Long on sarcasm, feigned eye-rolling and Jersey love, the hosts of the nation’s top-rated television shows in their respective categories traded zingers in a conversation about the media, politics and growing up in the Garden State before a packed Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank Sunday night.
In a sparring mood that might have been a continuation of their pre-show dinner at the nearby Broadway Diner, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams traded insights into their jobs and flashing wit for two hours and 20 minutes, including a Q&A session with the audience.
“Thank you for dropping the F bomb 41 seconds into this,” Williams said to Stewart, who sniped that Williams’ job entailed his being removed from a “vegetable crisper” just in time for each night’s news broadcast.
