On Friday, September 23, 1949, at 10:50 p.m., at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, bus driver Douglas Frederick Springsteen and his wife Adele Ann gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, and named him Bruce.
A New Jersey Devil had literally been Born in the U.S.A., and would change the face of rock and roll forever when he grew to be old enough to wield a guitar and put songwriting pen to paper.
Ere long, that Irish-Italian family would firmly plant their roots in nearby Freehold, New Jersey, where the masses at Saint Rose of Lima Church not to mention the Backstreets throughout the city would help weave the hometown tapestry of the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen.
His path through the nightclubs of the nearby Jersey Shore, particularly those along Asbury Park, the titular locale of his first album, would become the story of a rock and roll legend's journey, gathering his fellow soldiers in the music revolution throughout the ensuing decades.
In September, 2024, fellow E Streeter Barry Scanlon and I were fortunate enough to be among the teeming masses standing on the sands of that selfsame beach at Asbury Park, across the street from the Stone Pony and many of Bruce's other local haunts.
The occasion was the Sea, Hear Now concert, at which Bruce and the Street Band were headliners and provided truly, perhaps the most unforgettable live rock and roll experiences of this concert-goer's five-decades of live shows. For more on that sojourn, you can read last year's blog entry, filed on Bruce's 75th birthday here: Sea, Hear, Now
However, the morning after the historic show, Barry and I took a few minutes to roam the streets of Freehold, visiting some of the sites that have populated both the lyrics of Bruce's song catalog, as well as the stories he often spins during song intros at live experiences. Andrew and I had taken a similar father-son roadtrip back in 2014 to take in a series of Bruce shows and visit the Jersey Shore and the Stone Pony.
First up was on this eventful morning was breakfast in Roberto's Freehold Grill on East Main Street- omelettes and coffee all around. And natch, I had to proudly wear the official E Streeters running tee, provided by fellow E Streeter John Piekos.
Damn good cup of coffee as FBI Agent Dale Cooper would say.
Behind the grill was a decoupage guitar featuring the covers of Bruce's album catalog, along with a pic of the Boss himself with the diner's own boss.
Bruce's homes in Freehold are all, amazingly, within easy walking distance from aforementioned diner. Literally, only a couple of blocks away from the main drag through the city.
The first Freehold home Bruce lived in at 87 Randolph St. has since fallen to the Wrecking Ball - can you believe it? But it literally stood in the shadow of Saint Rose of Lima Church, seen here in the background - not to mention the school of the same name, that he attended through the eighth grade. The home belonged to Springsteen's paternal grandparents, Fred and Alice Springsteen. The boss lived here until he was about 6 years old.
From there he moved, literally just a couple of blocks away, to a two-family home at 39 1/2 Institute Street.
This particular September morning, as we explored the streets of Springsteen's youth, we encountered several other fans of Bruce, including one traveler from Barcelona - who took pics for us, and for whom we returned the favor.
This house still stands. God only knows who occupies it these days.
Bruce lived in this house from the age of 6 until his high school years. Bruce lived here with his parents and sisters, Virginia and Pam, on the left side of the house. They moved out due to an imminent rent increase.
Bruce played his first-ever concert in the backyard of this house to about a half dozen neighborhood kids. If they only knew then.....
After Institute Street, the Springsteens moved to nearby South Street, where Bruce lived through his high school years. Amazingly, that house also was literally a stone's throw from his first and second homes.
When his parents left Jersey for California, Bruce stayed in the South Street home for a bit longer, joined by some of his fellow musicians. Eventually, though, the noise level from the neophyte rockers prompted the landlord to evict the noisemakers.
But back to Institute Street for a moment.
Alongside the two-family stands a massive Ash Street, gnarled in its trunk but towering several stories high.
Inside the inner sleeve of Bruce's third album, Born to Run, was featured this iconic shot of the Boss from Springsteen's childhood home:
And yeah, in case you're thinking we're super psycho stalkers for staking a claim to reenacting this pic, take note: we were far from alone this fall morning. Multiple other pilgrims made the visit and yes, they too, recreated the shot.
HOW COULD YOU NOT, I ask you!
Before we pulled up stakes and got to Working on the Highway trip back home to My Hometown, we made one more pitstop in Freehold, to the Freeway Raceway Mall Water Tower, seen below, Ironically, just days after we visited the site, news broke that the race track itself would be closing.
So there you have it - these two E Streeter's visit to absorb some of the sights of the main streets and backroads that helped shape the life of Mr. Springsteen, who turned 76 this September 23.
Whether or not one more tour remains on the horizon for Bruce and the E Street Band remains to be seen. All of us in E Street nation continue to wait for an announcement at any time that the group will be hitting the tour roadways once again. And of course, we will be there, for as many of the shows as we can experience before this magical journey comes to an end.
In the meantime though, like many of my fellow E Streeters, who all join to wish Bruce another happy circle around the sun - (just don't stare into the sights of it) as well as a healthy year ahead, we remain:
