Mrs. Jay's was a popular bar and restaurant located in
Asbury Park, New Jersey.
It was founded by John and Ida Jacobs and was located on Ocean and Second Ave., the current location of
The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony is a New Jersey music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.[Beer Garden
A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.
Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...]
located on Ocean Avenue to the left of the restaurant serving 2% beer until the end of
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
in 1933.
Starting in 1965, Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden briefly offered
Go-Go dancing
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken ...
as entertainment, but a dancers see through blouse resulted in a police raid and the quick demise of Go-Go at Mrs. Jay's.
The Wiener's sold off the restaurant in the 1970s keeping only the beer garden, which by this time had become a popular music scene and bikers hangout.
In 1974, the new owners of the restaurant building converted it into the nightclub known as The Stone Pony.
Steven Adler from Guns N' Roses wore a Mrs. Jay's T-shirt
during the "Paradise City" video. Many bikers drank here and a very large number of motorcycles can be seen parked in front of Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden in photos. Since Mrs. Jay's was an open-air establishment, it was open during the summer months. Mrs Jay's served mostly beer in pitchers or mugs and hotdogs and often featured live music.
After a change of ownership in the early to mid-1980s, Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden fell on hard times and eventually the venue closed around the end of the decade, a victim of the disintegrating Asbury Park beach front area. During its existence until its final closing, it played host to many of the local scene's most popular bands and solo artists, capitalizing on the seaside shore town's nightlife scene. Bands such as the Tim Ryan Band, The Z Band, The Mango Brothers and The Acme Boogie Company were among the many local talents that regularly could be found on the stage there, with entertainment seven nights a week.
Sometime later, the beer garden structure was razed with the empty lot being acquired by the Stone Pony for use as an outdoor concert venue.
Notes
{{Restaurants in New Jersey
Restaurants in New Jersey
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Restaurants established in 1922
Beer gardens in the United States
Beer in New Jersey