Installation by world renowned artist HOTTEA at the Asbury Park Boardwalk. The Wooden Walls Initiative proudly presents an original installation by world renowned artist HOTTEA at the Asbury Park Boardwalk for the summer of 2019. Artist Eric Regier, recognized for his larger than life, site-specific installations, has generously donated this work entitled “One Last Moment Under the Sky” to the Wooden Walls Project, a non-profit art initiative based in Asbury Park, NJ. Will Asbury Park's historic Casino, built in 1929, but allowed to deteriorate during the 1970s and 1980s, be restored to its former glory? SUBSCRIBE NOW $3 for 3 months.
(image via: Unbillable Hours)
The enormous Art Deco casino on the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park bore witness to the full range of human emotions for the better part of 75 years until it, along with many of its neighboring structures, succumbed to the inexorable force of eroding shorelines, urban renewal and redevelopment.
(images via: LennyNJ and Shira Daniels)
Since it’s sometimes difficult to discern when demolition ends and rebuilding begins, we’ll think positively and assume accounts that developers are incorporating the casino’s iconic steel grate facade into whatever its replacement turns out to be. If so, that would be a “grate” tribute to the casino’s rich (for some) history.
(image via: TrekEarth/Travelyurt)
It might be 3:10 to Yuma but the odds of the Lyric Casino welcoming visitors from near or far are about a billion to one. Displaying sun-faded hints of its turquoise and gold former glory on its curious movie theater style entrance facade, this casino’s better days have long since passed it and everyone else by.
(images via: Sarah_G)
Judging by the trashed interior, scattered slot machines and general state of disrepair both inside and out, it’s reasonable to expect the good ship Jubilation is steadily edging towards termination. Formerly the Cotton Club casino boat operating out of Greenville MS, the Jubilation Casino opened in December of 1995 and closed just over 7 months later… failure to legally maintain minimum bankroll requirements to cover payments on table games and slot machines caused the Mississippi Gaming Commission to pull the plug… not literally, of course, as that would sink the ship.
(image via: Fujoshi)
Kudos to Flickr user Fujoshi who visited the docked hulk of the S.S. Jubilation in the steamy summer of 2011 to snap the image above… hey Cap’n, you’re supposed to roll the dice, not the boat!
(images via: REreno and Washington Lights)
If the casino itself is unlucky, you can bet suspicious gamblers will give it a wide berth. Such was the case with the Kings Inn Casino, crippled by ownership issues and an employee strike before it could even open its doors back in 1974. Open it did, for a while at least, before declaring bankruptcy in 1981 and closing for good in 1986.
(image via: AroundCarson)
Over the next quarter-century, the Kings Inn was flipped from one financially-challenged owner to another while the bean-counters at Reno City Hall waited in vain for hundreds of thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes. At least the derelict downtown building has been semi-appealingly boarded up, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
They designed the Ritz, the Vanderbilt, the Ambassador and the Biltmore hotels in Manhattan, along with townhouses for the Astors, the Yacht Club, and apartment buildings on 5th Ave and Park.
They were also architects on the team for Grand Central Terminal, that Beaux-Arts centerpiece of Gotham with its high marble walls, majestic sculptures, and lofty domed ceiling.
Also, Whitney Warren & Charles Wetmore designed the Casino Building here in Asbury Park, New Jersey a celebrated historical magnet for thousands of tourists escaping the heat and seeking buffeting breezes. The soaring glass paned windows may remind you of Grand Central, but also of that illustrated postcard on the cover of the Bruce Springsteen album, and of colorful resort town living.
If you had been promenading through this public thoroughfare that connects Ocean Grove to Asbury Park when it was bustling in the middle of last century, you would have seen Skee-Ball machines, bumper cars, games of diversion, and hot dog vendors. Now a cavernous yet sometimes ornate cave from yesteryear, you will feel the soft ocean breezes and hear the call of the seagulls echoing inside the casino throughout the day, and sometimes the night.
You’ll also see 5,760 pieces of colored yarn hanging from the beams above, forming a shape-shifting brick of radiating color that appears to levitate. The brand new installation by Street Artist Hot Tea is lifted and pulled and choreographed by the ocean air, dancing to the sounds of waves crashing, emulating the currents of the sea. 17 rows define the physical boundaries, but your imagination can go much further with it in a matter of minutes.
“One of the focal parts of this piece is about how people interact with it,” says Hot Tea (Eric Rieger) as he unbundles 153 containers of yarns he prepared in his Minneapolis studio and suspends them above.
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