Actually, Yogi, it wasn't then. Asbury Park used to be a resort town many years ago -- my dad grew up there, and we went there to the boardwalk amusements as young kids. But then after a bit (okay, a lot) of political corruption it became largely abandoned in the '80s and '90s, and a bit scary, but recently it's been making a major comeback and it's been building back up rather nicely.

But through it all, The Stone Pony (the club frequented by Springsteen and Southside Johnny) continued to rock it out!

Edit: Looking at the wiki article, I had no idea that Bud Abbott (of Abbott and Costello) was born there. But I knew that Danny DeVito grew up there.