Memories from Asbury Park, New Jersey: The Stone Pony at 50

In the minds of many — and even in certain written accounts — The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is the house that Bruce Springsteen built.

Not exactly. Springsteen actually honed his craft and reputation at other Jersey Shore venues and already had two albums under his belt when the Pony opened for business on February 8, 1974. (It’s also worth noting that on that date, he was hundreds of miles away for a gig in Atlanta).

According to Backstreets — Springsteen: The Man and His Music by Charles R. Cross and others, the first documented performance by The Boss at the Pony was seven months after its opening night. He has stepped onstage at 913 Ocean Ave. dozens of times since, so it’s more accurate to say that The Stone Pony is the house that Bruce Springsteen embraced.

Like Asbury Park itself, the Pony has had its share of rough patches since ’74. It closed twice in the 1990s; there was a brief period in 1998 when the Pony became a dance club dubbed Vinyl. But when businessman Domenic Santana and a group of investors became the owners in 2000, it returned as the Pony and as a live music venue that May, with performances by The Smithereens, Gary U.S. Bonds and others. The building’s name and purpose have remained the same under subsequent owners.

With the golden anniversary in mind, four notable New Jersey-raised musicians who’ve performed often at The Stone Pony, as well as two of its longtime workers, recently checked in to talk about their Pony history and why it’s not just another concert venue.

Southside Johnny Lyon

He grew up as John Lyon in nearby Ocean Grove, but for the singer known best as Southside Johnny, Asbury Park and The Stone Pony in particular were his musical homes. With guitarist Steven Van Zandt, he led the Blackberry Booze Band, which was rechristened Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Southside Johnny: When The Stone Pony first opened, they were looking for bands to play the off nights. They had a band called Colony, which was a very good Top 40 cover band. We didn’t do covers except for the Isley Brothers and things like that. But they hired us for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays — the worst nights of the week and, lo and behold, we built up an audience.

Pay for those early shows was $125, Southside recalls, so that amounted to $25 each for the five-piece band. He eventually had a talk with “these two big guys who owned the bar” — Jack Roig and Butch Pielka — and talked them into giving the band the door.

Southside Johnny: We charged $2 to get in, and I think we made something like 300 or 400 bucks on a good night. Of course, being a Jukes crowd, the people drank like prohibition was coming in the next day. They made a fortune. We got to pay the rent.

I’m still grateful that they gave us a chance — even if they did threaten to beat the [crap] out of me more than once. You know, the good old days.

Jim Babjak and Dennis Diken of The Smithereens

Growing up together about 40 miles north in Carteret, Jim Babjak and Dennis Diken heard about what Johnny and Jukes were up to in Asbury Park during the Pony’s early years.

Diken: I think it was before their first album [1976’s I Don’t Want to Go Home] came out ... it really got promoted by Vin Scelsa on WNEW-FM [in New York]. He was talking about it a lot. A couple of us, we were trying to get in to see the Jukes, and we kept getting shut out.

Drummer Diken’s first Stone Pony performance was in 1979 with another Carteret musician, bassist Mike Mesaros, as part of Mark Mazur and the Targets. Flash forward to June 1980: As The Smithereens, Diken, Mesaros, guitarist Babjak and Scotch Plains–raised singer-guitarist Pat DiNizio played their first Pony show.

Diken: We were fortunate that a good friend of Pat’s, Sam Lindley, was playing drums with Lord Gunner and lobbied for us to get a weekly opening slot.

Babjak: It was every Thursday. [The first was] Thursday, June 19.

Diken: For us, it was a huge deal. We were only a few months’ old; we were lucky to get crappy gigs, you know? We were already playing in New York at Kenny’s Castaways and had a stronghold there, and the Dirt Club had not opened up yet in Bloomfield. … We were just beside ourselves that we could get [into the Pony] so early in the game for us.

Babjak: It was quite a few people [at our first Pony show] — probably 50 to 100 people. We were received pretty well. … I remember we were paid $25 every Thursday, and I think we paid half price for drinks.

Buzzed Meg, Babjak’s side band, was a headliner at the Pony 18 years later for what was billed as The Stone Pony’s Last Ride.

Babjak: It was three days — September 18, 19, and 20, 1998 — and we played on the 20th to a packed house. I remember we played really well, but the only problem with that was people were expecting Springsteen to show up on the last night, and he didn’t (laughs).

The Pony’s return over Memorial Day weekend in 2000 meant a lot to Diken and Babjak.

Diken: We were glad that the Pony was able to get back on its feet and continue. We appreciated tradition and our band history and the places where we cut our teeth.

Babjak: I wasn’t surprised that it reopened as The Stone Pony. For some reason, in the back of my mind, I felt like that was what was going to happen.

Over the past 20-plus years, the 900-capacity Stone Pony has been a regular and desired concert venue for The Smithereens, who most recently performed there in November 2023.

Diken: For me, it’s the tradition, the history. It’s a place people like to go to and have a good time. Our audiences are always pretty rabid at the Pony, so we look forward to a good show. … It feels like home.

Babjak: I feel the same way. It’s very comfortable, and the staff and everybody running it now treat us very well. It’s just a joy to play there.

Kyle Brendle, Stone Pony house promoter

In summer 1982, Kyle Brendle got his start at the Pony helping out another company with showcase events. By 1986, he was running events directly for original Pony owners Roig and Pielka.

Brendle: I’ve worked with every single owner. … It’s still exciting, and I’ve still got the passion. I love working with the newest of new bands to the biggest of national tours. It’s just a wonderful place for anybody to come, have a beer, hear some music and forget about your troubles. … I look forward to coming in here each time we’re open for an event.

Throughout the Pony’s history, Brendle says its layout “has barely changed.”

Brendle: The actual layout is still the same — where the bars are, the dance floor. Sure, there have been upgrades [such as] the floors being redone to resemble the floor in its past. There’s only one little area that’s missing. There was a small raised-up area with tables and chairs; now we just have that spot open.

The stage and production part has grown the most. The stage is still in its original location, but it’s about double the size. The roof was raised at one point about 20 years ago, so [now the room] just has better sound. We’re constantly updating and maintaining the sound and lights. The Pony’s production — in the stage, sound and lights — is the calling card for the place. That’s why so many of these national tours and artists are coming here over and over again.

According to Brendle, there will be more to The Stone Pony’s golden anniversary than the events scheduled for February.

Brendle: There’s a few things going on. … The whole year is the 50^th anniversary, with lots of events, special weekends. We’re working on it.

Singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins

For Nicole Atkins, who grew up in nearby Neptune City, The Stone Pony was “always in my world.” As a child in the 1980s, around the same time she first had pepperoni pizza, Atkins learned about Springsteen’s ties to the Pony and to the area in general.

Atkins: We were having pepperoni pizza [at Pete and Elda’s Bar in Neptune City], and ‘Glory Days’ was on the jukebox. And I was like, “Man, this is awesome. I love this song; I love this pizza.” And my parents said, “Yeah, we used to see Bruce Springsteen play at The Stone Pony.” It never hit me that he was a hometown guy.

As a high school student, Atkins attended the Pony’s Sunday matinee hardcore shows.

Atkins: They were all-ages. [I would think], ‘Man, this music sucks, but the door guys are really hot.’ Then I started to be old enough [to see regular shows].

Atkins recalls one of her first Pony performances taking place in the early 2000s as part of the Light of Day benefit concert series. Her self-described “first big show” there as a solo artist was opening for Donovan in 2003.

Atkins: I was a huge Donovan fan. When the show was over, he was signing things. I went up to him and said, “Do you think after you’re done, you could sign my guitar?” And he said, “You’re sticking around, right? We should hang out.” And I said, “OK.”

We were backstage, and he said, “Play me your newest song. It doesn’t even have to be finished.” I played him this new song, and he started singing along to it — he didn’t know what he was singing, but it was Donovan. … He said, “Do people still draw pictures on guitars?” I didn’t know what he meant and said, “You could just do whatever you want.” And he drew all over my guitar: mountains and birds and cliffs. It was the only guitar I had.

The Pony’s endurance and importance are not lost on Atkins.

Atkins: It’s been through so many ups and downs and differences where the town is economically, and it’s always been there, and people respect it. Having a music venue that’s a legendary spot for so many big performers in such a small town, and for it to stay open this long — where else has that?

Caroline O’Toole, Stone Pony general manager

In 2003, Caroline O’Toole was approached by real estate developers Asbury Partners, who had purchased The Stone Pony from Domenic Santana, about becoming the venue’s general manager.

O’Toole: I had been in the bar business many years ago … but I already had a job. I was in the moving business and very happy. And the more I thought about it, I was like, “Hmm, it’s The Stone Pony. Do I want to turn this down and regret it?”

After a few interviews, she decided to accept the position.

O’Toole: If it was anything else but The Stone Pony, I would have said no. The other part was the redevelopers were working on bringing back Asbury Park, and I very much wanted to be part of that. It was not only just about coming to work at The Stone Pony, it was about being part of rebuilding a city I grew up loving, which was Asbury Park.

Through the years, O’Toole’s day-to-day duties at the Pony have changed considerably.

O’Toole: It started out just trying to basically stay in business. I had to teach myself all about the concert business in addition to how a venue actually operates, so there was that part of self-teaching. And then there was trying to work with different promoters and trying to get bands in the building that people would come to Asbury Park and see. And that was a really tough go; there were times I didn’t think we would make it.

Then [current Pony owners] Madison Marquette came here, and that changed everything. Through them, not only did we become more stable, but our [adjacent outdoor] Summer Stage, which is our livelihood for the most part, became bigger. So a lot of my year-round duties now involve Summer Stage because it’s gotten that big.

If there’s a good chance Springsteen will show up at the Pony, O’Toole says there are no protocols in place for venue personnel.

O’Toole: The venue is proud of the fact that he met his wife [Patti Scialfa] here — what’s cooler than that? We’ll take that as our claim to fame.

One of her most memorable Pony experiences didn’t involve a show; it was opening up so fans had a place to gather and pay tribute to the late Clarence Clemons.

O’Toole: On the day after he died [in June 2011], there were thousands of people who came through here. At one moment in time, our house promoter, Kyle Brendle, put on a live [version of] “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” And at the part where Bruce introduces the members of the band, I swear, I’ve never felt anything like that from a crowd in here. It was absolutely amazing, and that is something that could only happen at The Stone Pony.

Intimacy and a sense of togetherness are two of the Pony’s hallmarks, she says.

O’Toole: Whether it’s a local artist, your child in a band or a national artist, you are that close. And that doesn’t happen in a lot of places. The artist, the music and the vibe: It’s truly an experience.

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