love

I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and want to tour some of the places important to Bruce's songs and life. If there is a Beatles tour of London, why not a Bruce tour of NJ? I'm not from Jersey, so how long would it take for me to see:

* Asbury Park: where it all began for Bruce and the E-Street band;

* Freehold: birthplace of the boss

* Atlantic City: memorialized in the classic song from Nebraska

* Rumson: current "hometown" of Bruce

* Breaker's Point (Independence Day)

* Swamps of Jersey (Rosalita)

* Monroe (Prove It All Night)

Any thoughts or additional suggestions?

Neil

I grew up just down the road from Freehold and I am a Springsteen fanatic. With the exception of Atlantic City, most of the places you mentioned are fairly close to each other. Asbury Park (you can go "driving up Kingsley", see what's left of the Palace, check out the Stone Pony, the boardwalk and Convention Hall, and then drive up to the Kokomo) is about 15 minutes southeast of Rumson, although these days Bruce actually lives on a farm in Colts Neck. Colts Neck is very close to Freehold, which is about 20 minutes west of Asbury Park. Highway 9 (Born to Run) goes right through Freehold. Rt 88 (Spirit in the Night) runs east out of the beach town of Point Pleasant. E Street is in the beach town of Belmar. I could never figure out where Monroe is--I don't think it is a real place. Anyway, all of these towns are within 15-20 minutes of each other. Atlantic City is about 90 minutes to the south. And there are swamps all over New Jersey.

Rachele

Hey Neil, I grew up the road from Freehold too. There is a Monroe Township, NJ, but it is near Jamesburg, further west, and there isn't really much to see there. Maybe there was a factory there or something. Checking out Asbury is really interesting, and Freehold is nice -- there is an area called Freehold Center which is very close to where Bruce's house was. Take a walk down Main Street (aka Rt. 79) - there are cute restaurants including Federici's Pizza (get it?) which is excellent and little shops. Freehold High School is also on Rt. 79.

love

You all have inspired me. I am buying tickets for next Wednesday's opening night on E-bay and hitting all of those spots and certainly dining on a few slices at Federici's. I found this too:

http://members.aol.com/daboss72/bruce/bruce.htm

Bruce is the ultimate American hero!

Neil

Rachele: I actually lived on Rt. 79, just a few miles from downtown Freehold.

For more info on all things Boss, check out www.backstreets.com. There is also a very lively Springsteen chat room at www.nj.com.

We'll be at the 8/12 show at the Garden in NYC.

Rachele

I grew up not far from Rt. 79 in Marlboro, and I've lived in NYC for 12 years. I saw Bruce at the Garden on his last tour.

Rachele

Love the Boss, I think you'll love the pizza at Feds. Really good thin crust and great sauce. It's a sit down restaurant, they don't sell by the slice, but you can get a small pie and they have a pretty good selection of beers (also full bar service). It's been around for a long time.

Rachele

Where are you from, love the boss?

Bill

Anyone know when tickets to the Buffalo show will go on sale?

ilisa

If you happen to run into Bruce, don't hesitate to say hi. A friend of mine from college was from Colts Neck, and used to see him all the time walking his dog. Apparently, he's pretty friendly. I grew up in NJ, though not in that area, and am a huge fan. I am devastated that I can't afford tickets to his concert in DC.

crew

Of course Bruce is friendly, nobody int his country knows more about the plight of everyday people than Bruce Springsteen. I live in LA and while I love it here, I am glad he moved back to NJ--it's where his heart is and the music shows.