Asbury Park Landmark – The Stone Pony

The Stone Pony is about as close as you can get to being synonymous with Asbury Park, and the legendary club has an amazing story and history.

It wasn't exactly a great start for the Pony. On opening night, in February of 1974, the Stone Pony wasn't greeted by lines of music lovers. Instead, night one featured a snowstorm that brought seven inches of accumulations.

The heater broke that night as well, and according to stoneponyonline.com, the total receipts for that night was one dollar. Things didn't look good for the club named by one of it's founders after seeing a girl wearing a shirt with ponies on it.

By the end of 1974, it looked bleak for the Pony until a house band named The Blackberry Booze Band started playing regularly. The band featured a couple of local guys named Southside Johnny Lyon and Steve Van Zandt.

The band changed their name to the Asbury Jukes and started playing a few times a week, and the rest is, as they say, rock & roll history.  The band was signed in 1976 by Epic Records and performed a live Memorial Day concert that was actually broadcast on the Point (then simply known as WJLK).

And as I sit on the boardwalk broadcasting live this morning nearly in the Pony shadows, I think back to the music history that was happening and being broadcast on this station almost exactly 40 years ago from this amazing city and I can't help but get goosebumps soaking it all in.