THE LAST NEWS ABOUT THE STONE PONY

Buyer has plan to buy, reopen Stone Pony
Published in the Asbury Park Press 2/16/00

By KELLY-JANE COTTER
MUSIC WRITER

THE STONE PONY just might ride again.

And Domenic Santana, owner of the Hard Grove Cafe in Jersey City, hopes to
be the cowboy with the white hat.

Santana and his partners have been negotiating with Steve and Judy Nasar,
the current owners of the now-closed rock club in Asbury Park. Santana said
yesterday his group expects to close the deal as early as Feb. 24.

"Asbury Park is coming back," Santana said yesterday, "and we want to be
the thunder before the storm."

The internationally known Stone Pony, which opened on Ocean Avenue in 1974,
has had its ups and downs as a business, though its reputation as a venue
never faded.

The club's most recent setback came in 1998, when the Pony closed its doors
and sent its signature stained-glass window of a pony off to the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

Santana said he'll pay about $500,000 for the club, its name rights and
much-needed renovations. He plans to reopen the club as The Stone Pony on
Memorial Day weekend and run it as a rock 'n' roll venue with live music.

Current owner Steve Nasar could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"Sounds good to me," said Mayor Kenneth "Butch" Saunders. "I like to see
people invested in Asbury Park and I like The Stone Pony. I have fond
memories of the place myself."

"How many clubs last 25 years?" said Kyle Brendle, who began working at the
Pony as a stagehand in 1986 and later booked bands there. "There's a lot of
heritage there. As long as the upkeep that's needed is maintained, the
place will run itself."

Santana is planning much more than basic maintenance. With his investors
and his business partner, David Cruz, he hopes someday to open a fleet of
Stone Ponys, a la the Hard Rock Cafe chain.

"He's a wacky showman," Cruz said of Santana. "He took a small greasy spoon
at Grove Street and Columbus Drive and transformed into a happening
restaurant and bar."

Santana has been running the Hard Grove Cafe for five years and said it
took him about three years to establish the business, which features live
Cuban music. He expects the turnaround for the Pony to be quicker, because
of its legacy.

"The Hard Grove didn't have a name," Santana said. "I think The Stone Pony
will be an overnight success. And if not, I'll roll up my sleeves, flip
burgers, and do whatever it takes."

The future of Asbury Park's waterfront is uncertain, but for the first time
in many years, there is cause for optimism.

Redevelopment rights to the city's blighted waterfront have been tied up in
the courts since the early 1990s when developer Joseph Carabetta filed for
bankruptcy.

In the fall, three developers competing to rebuild the waterfront agreed to
work together on a $750 million project. The developers have insisted that
a state agency, the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority, play a key role in
overseeing the project. Asbury Park's City Council has not yet formally
voted on that proposal.

Deputy Mayor John Hamilton said he'd welcome the return of The Stone Pony,
but cautioned that the future of the waterfront is not yet mapped out.

Hamilton said the 1991 revision to the waterfront development plan did not
include The Stone Pony because the club was closed at the time. Because
that plan is still in place, Hamil-ton said, it is conceivable, though
unlikely, that the club could eventually be torn down, new owner not
with-standing.

"We'd have to introduce an ordinance to revise the plan," Hamilton said.
"It's important to have a major commercial development going on in that
area. It's a situation that we're looking into."

When it opened in 1974, The Stone Pony capitalized on an already
flourishing local rock scene. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was a
Stone Pony house band before gaining fame and a record contract. Bon Jovi,
Glen Burtnik and The Smithereens all cultivated followings at The Stone
Pony as their careers ascended.

But the club is most famous for its association with Bruce Springsteen, who
was already a star when the club opened. Springsteen hung out there during
its heyday and frequently jammed with local and touring bands there.

The club's original owners, Jack Roig and Robert "Butch" Pielka, went
bankrupt and closed the Pony in September 1991. It was then sold to the
Nasars, who reopened it in October 1992. By that time, the
rhythm-and-blues-fueled rock that had become synonymous with the Jersey
Shore sound was passe, but the club succeeded as a venue for alternative
rock.

With great fanfare, The Stone Pony shut its doors again in September 1998,
after a weekend of nostalgic concerts. Steve Nasar, then the club's owner,
vowed to transform it into a dance hall, but that plan quickly fizzled.

Since then, The Stone Pony has joined the other skeletons along the
waterfront. Despite its ongoing deterioration, tourists still occasionally
snap photographs of the club's black-and-white marquee.

Published on February 16, 2000

A dream to revive a rock landmark
by Jay Lustig
Star-Ledger - 02/16/99
Restaurateur aims to reopen the Pony

Today, the once-proud rock club The Stone Pony is vacant and covered with
graffiti, surrounded by empty lots and abandoned buildings, a monument to
the downfall of Asbury Park.
Most people would look at Bruce Springsteen's former stomping grounds and
see nothing more than a sad shell. But Domenic Santana imagines a brighter
future.
Hopeful that the crumbling Shore resort will soon wake up from its
economic
slumber, Santana, the outgoing and outspoken owner of the Jersey City
restaurant Hard Grove Cafe, is planning to buy the club and reopen it
Memorial Day weekend.
The closing of the deal -- he will pay current owners Steve and Judy Nasar
$375,000 for the building, its liquor license and the rights to the Stone
Pony name -- is set for Tuesday. Santana says he's also planning to spend
at least $125,000 in renovations.
"The Stone Pony, to me, is part of American nostalgia," said Santana, 37,
of Bayonne. "I'm really honored (to buy it), being a Cuban immigrant, and
growing up and remembering Asbury Park as a kid, and seeing how run-down it
has become."
The Pony, which opened in 1974, peaked in the late '70s and early '80s and
struggled for most of the '90s, said goodbye with a farewell weekend in
September 1998 featuring Southside Johnny, Cats on a Smooth Surface and
other former regulars. Nasar then reopened the venue as a dance club called
Vinyl, which closed after only a few shows. The club has been vacant ever
since.
Even now, the Pony boasts more name recognition than any other Jersey
club.
Springsteen used to hang out there, and often jumped onstage with whatever
band happened to be playing. The club has also been a breeding ground for
Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes and other Jersey bands, while
touring acts like Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Kinks, and Hootie
and the Blowfish have stopped there. A mirror that once graced the back bar
now resides at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Santana said that over the past six months he's been keeping an eye on
Asbury Park news -- including the December announcement of a $750-million
redevelopment plan supervised by the state -- and wants "to steal the
thunder before the storm. I know there's a storm coming to Asbury Park, and
I feel the Stone Pony could spark a lot of the attention."
There's a catch, though. The redevelopment plan, which has not yet taken
shape, might envision another purpose for the property, and Santana could
be forced to sell.
"That's a possibility," says assistant city manager James Famularo.
"There's also a possibility that the developers may choose to build around
it, and incorporate it into the oceanfront redevelopment plan."
"If they want to tear me down," said Santana, "I'm going to put up a
fight."
There is currently only one rock club in town that regularly presents
shows: The Saint, which is considerably smaller than the Pony.
Tony Pallagrosi, whose Red Bank-based company Concerts East is the leading
concert promoter on the Jersey Shore, said Santana faces an uphill battle,
largely because the rest of the town is so dead.
"Because you don't have potential for walk-in traffic, like the clubs in
Red Bank, or Sea Bright and Belmar in the summertime, you're really
handcuffing yourself," said Pallagrosi, who promoted shows at the Pony for
much of the '90s.
The Stone Pony name itself, he said, is not a significant attraction
anymore. It would draw people for a grand opening or farewell show, he
said, "but there's all that time in the middle where the name loses its
significance, and it comes down to what you are doing with the building."
Pallagrosi also said there are "severe structural problems with the
building. I can't imagine that any of the electrical service approaches
conforming to code . . . which means the walls and ceilings would have to
be torn up. The floor sags, so at any moment the floor could collapse into
the basement. All kinds of things have to happen before it can be a
legitimate concert venue."
Santana said he's aware of the building's shortcomings, and is ready to
fix
them. "I've done intensive surveys on everything," he said. "We know what
we're up against. That floor is definitely a concern."
He's also planning to make changes to the club's look, freshening it up
without destroying the old Pony's ambiance. "I'm looking to preserve the
dark dinginess that made the Stone Pony. I'm not going to go in there with
chandeliers."
Santana said he'll book rock 'n' roll on the weekends, with a gospel
brunch
on Sundays. Different weekday nights will have different themes: jazz,
comedy, blues and so on.
At the Hard Grove Cafe, Santana currently presents entertainment about one
night a month. He has waged long public battles with Jersey City officials
on such matters as bar closing times and the city's ban on outdoor eating.
Santana has resorted to such measures as bringing a coffin to a city
council meeting -- to illustrate his belief that Jersey City nightlife was
dead -- and putting a sign on a 6-foot Statue of Liberty in his restaurant
that reads, "In Jersey City I can't dance. For this I came from France?"
He said one of the reasons he is coming to Asbury Park is because he is
tired of dealing with the resistance he has met in Jersey City.
"The Hard Grove will always stay there, and we're fortunate for the
success
of the Hard Grove," he said. "But if they don't want a nightlife in Jersey
City, I will give in to that."

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