This bicycle ride is for all those Bruce Springsteen fans, whether they are serious bike riders or not, timed for the 50th anniversary of “Born to Run”. Even if you’re just a so-so fan, you get to see the beach. What else do you need?
My 23-mile ride starts at the Belmar Public Library because it’s at the corner of 10th Avenue and E Street — get it?
There’s also this oversized mock Fender Esquire guitar out front, patterned on the one pictured on the “Born to Run” album cover. Which Springsteen had bought in Belmar.
Before “Scooter and the Big Man bust[ed] this city in half,” well, Springsteen (Scooter), Clarence Clemons (the Big Man) and the rest of the band were rehearsing in a garage just down the street at 1107 E Street (a band member’s mother lived in the house).
From the library, it’s just five blocks to Ocean Avenue and the boardwalk. What a glorious day we picked to be the Jersey Shore! It’s after Labor Day, so the kids are back in school and the crowds are gone, the streets are quiet, free parking is plentiful, and the beach is free again. It’s 80 degrees and sunny. You couldn’t ask for a chiller time to bike.
Turn left (north) when you’ve had enough of watching the wave crash and pedal past Avon-By-The-Sea, Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove. It’s only a few miles until you reach Asbury Park, the epicenter of Springsteen’s Jersey Shore life. Slow down; you’ve got five Springsteen spots within a handful of blocks.
–The Stone Pony, where he’s played about 100 times and where he met Patti. Back in 2002, as a friend wrote for The Wall Street Journal, a developer wanted to move it as part of a grand plan for condos and more. The Stone Pony is still there, but Asbury Park still gentrified with some glitzy hotels and million-dollar condos.
–The Student Prince, now Porta, is on the street just behind the Stone Pony and is where he met Clemons.
–Madame Marie’s fortune-telling booth, a little shack between Ocean Avenue and the boardwalk. She gets a shout-out in “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”: Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie
For tellin’ fortunes better than they do?
This is the view from the street:
–The Wonder Bar. Another spot he’s played. It’s supposed to have Bruce memorabilia inside, but it was closed when we biked by. Note the nod to Tillie, the face that once graced the Palace Amusements (that in turn is referenced in “Born to Run” as “beyond the Palace, hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard“).
Tunnel of Love. Hey, that’s a Springsteen song! And album name.
–Asbury Park Convention Hall, now closed. Will it ever re-open? I caught a very un-E-Street Springsteen rehearsal concert for the Seeger Sessions here back in 2006.
Am I missing anything?
We kept biking north, through a couple of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them Shore communities and into Deal, with some jaw-dropping mansions. Some I liked (especially the modern angular ones with oversized windows); at others I could only shake my head.
Our goal, though, was the opposite of a mansion: a little bungalow just off Ocean Avenue in Long Branch. 7 1/2 West End Court is where Springsteen wrote the songs for the “Born to Run” album. (You can search Born to Run House on Google Maps. Seriously.) It’s privately owned, but creep as close as you dare to see the plaque on the porch.
Then we were off to a special exhibit about “Born to Run” at the Long Branch Arts and Culture Center, on a commercial street and surrounded by Hispanic restaurants This once was a bank; you can still see the vault with all the safe deposit boxes. Just about everything else has been cleared out so the exhibit fills one large room.
Note: it runs only through Nov. 15.
Cyclists, bring a lock and be prepared to lock your bike to the nearest pole. No bike racks in sight.
We read every panel, looked at every display case.
One tidbit I learned: Springsteen was born in Long Branch, not Freehold, because that’s where the hospital was.
And then we headed to a construction site: the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music on the Monmouth University campus. This is supposed to open in 2026, and I suppose it will then be easier to cut through campus. We found Cedar Avenue too busy for our taste, so we hopped on the sidewalk for a block to Norwood and then cut through campus before we headed south.
Through residential neighborhoods we cycled, one Shore town after another, and then we were back in Asbury Park. One final stop: 702 Cookman Avenue, once home to the Upstage Club, where Springsteen first played in Asbury Park. It was upstairs, above where a liquor store is now.
We then cycled through the heart of Ocean Grove, the antithesis of its neighbor. This is home to the Methodists’ Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a town that fights to keep the beach closed until noon on Sundays and whose pier just happens to be in the shape of a cross (because, you know, more fishing spots, uh huh). No liquor sales. The summer tents, attached to “sheds” with proper kitchens and bathrooms, were still up right after Labor Day.
Then it’s again Bradley Beach and Avon. You can bike through the neighborhoods, or head back to Ocean Avenue when you’ve had enough of the constant stop signs.
And before you know it, you’re back in Belmar.
Please note that this is a pretty slow-moving ride, nothing for those speedy, endorphin-seeking club riders. And no matter what your cycling style, you probably don’t want to try it when the streets are full of summer beach traffic.
More Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen’s Freehold by bike
Practical stuff
Parking. Hey, it was after Labor Day. We could have found a free spot in front of the library. But before we got there, we saw 10-hour parking spots by the train stop in Belmar. Also free.
Food. Anyone want to weigh in? Federici’s on 10th is a pizza spot just a block from the library and is related to the Federici’s in Freehold that Bruce has frequented.
Two other Shore pizza spots get raves from Jersey pizza afficionados: Vic’s in Bradley Beach (reachable on this bike route) and Pete and Elda’s in Neptune City.
Ice cream: Cookman Creamery in Asbury Park and Day’s Ice Cream in Ocean Grove.
Some other Shore photos:
Exploring by bicycle 
The Born to Ride Tour.
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