Living in Ocean Twp, NJ

Ocean Township consists of several sections in the town.  West Allenhurst, Colonial Terrace, West Deal and Wanamassa are located in the southeastern part of the town. The Oakhurst section and Elberon Park  are located in the Northeastern section of town and the Wayside section is located west of Route 35. There are also many zip codes in town (07712, 07755, 07711, 07723, and 07740). The town is approximately 11 square miles.

Television talk show host, Wendy Williams, graduated from Ocean Twp High School. She was nice enough to return home and celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with the children from the schools in town at the relatively new Ocean Twp Public Library on Deal Road which is part of the Monmounth  County Library System.  The library is located in a historic building that was preserved and renovated just a few years ago. The Ocean Township School System has always been rated as one of the top public school systems in the area (#3 behind only Holmdel and Rumson-Fair Haven). Recently Ocean Twp High School was listed as one of the top  High Schools in New Jersey as well as number 1484  in the Country by Newsweek Magazine.

Bamm Bamm Bigelow at one time lived in the Wayside section of Ocean Twp and his children  attended the schools here.

Former Oakland Raider Linebacker,Phil Villapiano, also lived in Ocean Twp and attended Ocean Twp High School. Here is a video where he returned to Oakland to cheer the team on with other former great Oakland Raiders from the 70’s.

Ashley Tisdale grew up in the West Deal section of Ocean Twp and went on to become one of the Disney Channel stars as well as a star in Disney’s  High School Musical movie series. Here is an interview with her promoting her first cd called Headstrong  

Bruce Springsteen lived and recorded in the Wanamassa section of Ocean Twp in the late 60’s and early 70’s at Eastern Challenger Surf Board Factory.

00/03/69 – CHALLENGER EASTERN SURFBOARDS, WANAMASSA, NJ

Complete set details are not known. CHILD conducts it first rehearsal at new manager Carl “Tinker” West’s surfboard factory. Tinker, a legendary surfboard designer/shaper with San Diego-based Challenger West Surfboards, had come to the Jersey shore in 1966 to set up a Challenger East business. Tinker (a guitarist and skilled harp player in his own right) had recently set up a concert promotion business called “Blah Productions”. Tinker was interested in new artists who performed their own songs. It was Vini Lopez who knew Tinker and brought Bruce to meet him – resulting in Tinker agreeing to manage the group. Vini Lopez has mentioned the Springsteen composition “Jennifer” as one of the songs played at this Challenger rehearsal.

“As it looked like in the late 60’s – the legendary Challenger East factory, the major Springsteen rehearsal center and band hangout from 1969 thru mid 1971. That’s Tinker West second from the left, with several members of Challenger’s Pro Surfing Team”.

There is a home in the Colonial Section of Ocean Twp that has had it’s fair share of celebrities visiting or living there. Prior to Billy Howerdel becoming a guitarist with A Perfect Circle and Ashes Divide he would stop by to play pool. A few years later, film maker, Kevin Smith, would rent the home for actors Ben Affleck and Jason Lee during the filming of Chasing Amy.

Shortly after that,  record producer, Ron Frangipane called this house, home. He played keyboards in the real band for the cartoon characters The Archies. He also produced numerous songs for artists such as John Lennon. 

Helping maintain the Jersey Shore as one of the premier music spots in the world is Ocean Twp based Petillo Guitars. They are considered one of  the best guitar craftsman in the country. Besides all of the Jersey Shore tallent that they serve (Nicole Atkins, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Stone Temple Pilots); they have also provided service to some of the top performers in the world  including Tom Petty, James Taylor, Elvis Presley, and Jonny Cash. Here Bruce Springsteen acknowledges how great Phil Petillo was.  

Eric Nies from Mtv’s The Real World Season 1 is also from Ocean Twp. His father Jack Nies was a long time NBA referee.

Ocean Township is a very convenient location for commuters. Route 18, Route 35,  and Route 66 all run through the town and provide easy access to Garden State Parkway exits 102 and 105. The North Jersey Coast Line runs along the eastern boundary of the town with train Stations in Elberon and Allenhurst. There are also a lot of national retail stores in the town in the various shopping centers located along Route 35. Some of the larger retailers include Wegman’s, Kohl’s, Target, Sears, Staples, Panera Bread, and Starbuck’s. There is also a Clearview Cinema with 10 screens.

The beach area is easily accessible between Asbury Park and Long Branch for the residents of Ocean Twp. There are  private and semi-private beach clubs in Loch Arbour, Allenhurst, Deal, and Long Branch along with the public beaches in Long Branch and Asbury Park.  The Southeastern part of Ocean Twp borders Deal Lake.

Ocean Twp has several municipal parks. Joe Palaia Park on the corner of Deal Road and Whalepond Road is host to several popular events each year including the 4th of July Fireworks Display and the Italian Festival that attracts tens of thousands of people each August. The town also has a swim club and lighted tennis courts on West Park Avenue for the residents of town. The town recently purchased the Colonial Terrace Golf Course to create a public course. There are also two prestigous private golf clubs in town. Deal Country Club and Hollywood Country Club. Hollywood’s golf course is rated as one of the best golf courses in New Jersey.

If you would be interested in living in the Ocean Township area, please call Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Preferred Properties at 732-224-9200 or email us at info@bhgmoves.com . You can also down the I-phone BHG App to locate shops and restaurants as well as other features. 

If you would be interested in a career in real estate, you can try the Real Estate Simulator.

Jersey Shore Beaches

It’s been pretty cold outside lately but here are some videos to remind you of summer time at the Jersey Shore.  The summer season along the beach area is the primary reason why people choose to live in the Eastern Monmouth County area.  Several times a year due to either nor’easter or Hurricanes passing along the coast, the waves can get extremely high and make the area perfect for surfing. Although not the norm, waves can exceed 10 to 12 feet a few times a year and some hurricanes in the past have created 18 to 20 foot waves along the coast. Normal waves are usually in the 4 to 6 foot range. You can check out the daily surf report to see the current ocean and beach conditions.

Pier Village in Long Branch, NJ is a newly created oceanfront development of stores, bars, restaurants and housing. It is one of the few Oceanfront shopping districts in New Jersey and the most popular oceanfront destinations in the Monmouth County area.  The complex was created using eminent domain. Long Branch has agreed not to use eminent domain any longer as a way of redeveloping the city. They lost a court battle last year with some of the residents just north of the Pier Village development. The Ocean Place Hotel at Pier Village was recently acquired by United Capital Corp.

Ocean Place Hotel Long Branch, NJ

Asbury Park is also creating a new Oceanfront commercial and residential area through redevelopment. The boardwalk area now has many popular restaurants mixed in with their well-known entertainment venues such as the Stone Pony located along the oceanfront area.  Asbury Park recently was voted as one of the top beach areas in New Jersey for 2010. During the off-season such as yesterday (Dec 7, 2010) Bruce Springsteen filmed an up-coming show at the boardwalk in Asbury Park.

The real Jersey Shore is not the one depicted in the popular Mtv reality show although visitors from a neighboring state may act that way while vacationing here as identified by Governor Christie in the video above. The video below is a spoof of the Mtv show from Saturday Night Live. The show is filmed at Seaside Heights in Ocean County. Most of the Monmouth County beachfront areas have become family friendly areas and have moved away from the night club atmosphere shown on the reality show.

The job of  selling real estate at the Jersey Shore is not a difficult one. Most realtors  here would agree that they truly believe in their service of locating housing for people in one of the nicest areas of the country. If you would be interested in a real estate career at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Preferred Properties, please contact George Coffenberg at gcoffenberg@bhgmoves.com or visit our website at www.bhgmoves.com