In the beginning … Sea Bright before development, 1868. The place was called “Nauvoo.”

On the beach in Sea Bright at the turn of the century.

A family of bathers at Sea Bright, 1904. “Some aughts sunscreen” ??

A day at the beach in Sea Bright, 1910.

SB coast, 2010s.

SB coast, 2018.

SB beach area aerial image near P House, 1920s.

Postcard perfect beach day at Sea Bright, 1940s.

“Beach Club Row” in SB, 1927. By 1966, the borough was home to 12 beach clubs.

SB coast looking north, 2020.

Sea Bright Beach Club, early 1900s. The story is the club was organized in 1894 by rich Rumson summer residents seeking a private oasis. If so, that would make the SBBC the oldest beach club in Sea Bright?

SB Beach Club, 1908. Captain Miller Newman was the club’s first superintendent starting in 1894; he held the post until 1920.

Sea Bright Beach Club on Ocean Avenue, 1909. Guy Wilbanks was the club manager from 1969 to 1993.

SB Beach Club painting by Audrey Perkins.

SB Beach Club, 1920s. Captain Cyril A. Smack was SBBC superintendent for most of the 1920s. As far back as 1924, according to APP reports, he was fighting ocean population from NYC.

Sea Bright Beach Club & SB Railroad Station, early 1900s.

Sea Bright Beach Club, 1930s.

Sea Bright Beach Club, 1940s.

Sea Bright Beach Club, 1940s.

Sea Bright Beach Club, 1905. The club took a major pounding in a 1927 storm.

SB Beach Club after Hurricane Sandy, 2012.

SB Beach Club after Hurricane Sandy, 2012.

Sea Bright Presbyterian Church, late 1900s. Later to become the Chapel Beach Club.

Chapel Beach Club, 2019. Notable Rumson financier John A. Mulheren, Jr. was involved in the club’s development and ownership.

Chapel Beach Club, 2019. Mulheren’s 2003 New York Times obit called him “a charismatic Wall Street trader.”

Chapel Beach Club lobby, 2019. Born in the Bronx, Mulheren was a graduate of CBA in Lincroft.

Chapel Beach Club after Hurricane Sandy damage, 2012.

Surfrider Beach Club on Ocean Avenue, 2000s. First opened in the Summer of 1955, it proved so popular the club was expanded two years later.

Surfrider Beach Club, 2020. Membership tell me the Lo Biondo family runs things here with class. They have owned the beach club since 1985.

A morning at Surfrider, 2020.

Surfrider Beach Club ad, APP, June 1962. The club’s origin dates to the mid-1950s when Carl Fleming was manager and W.A. Burkhardt was director.

Surfrider the long view, 2010s.

Ship Ahoy Beach Club, 1940s. In May 1935, Otto A. Gillig, Sr. won town approval to open and operate a private club with liquor license restricted to “refined and congenial people.” In 1948, “The Skipper” died and son, Otto, Jr., took over.

Ship Ahoy Beach Club, 1940s.

Ship Ahoy Beach Club & Motel, 1950s. The club was greatly expanded and remodeled in the postwar years. A riverfront motel was opened and all the rooms had porches overhanging the Shrewsbury River for easy fishing.

Childhood dreams made at Ship Ahoy, Summer 1965 (Helen Apy Photo).

Ship Ahoy Beach Club and Motel, 1957. The club’s riverside motel was expanded to 28 rooms in 1956 and by 1962 it had 41 units. It was all torn down in 1978.

Ship Ahoy Beach Club and Motel, late 1960s. Dual ocean-side pools were added in 1959; wrecked in 1962 and quickly rebuilt.

Ship Ahoy damages after Hurricane Sandy, 2013. Like all town beach clubs, the membership and owners looked upon ruin after Sandy in 2012.

The new Ship Ahoy Beach Club after Sandy, 2015. “Rising after the fall.”

Ship Ahoy Beach Club on Ocean Avenue, 2019. Darryl and Marie Jackson own the club today.

Ship Ahoy Beach Club painting by Jennifer Smith Donaldson.

Ship Ahoy Motel, 1953. The 14-unit complex seen from the Shrewsbury River was built across the street from the beach club in 1952 by Otto Gilling, Jr. It replaced the Ship Ahoy restaurant club that burned in 1951.

The Lombardi family enjoy a day the at Ship Ahoy beach club, June 1968. Legend is that “The Coach” was a lifeguard here in 1935?

Ship Ahoy ad, APP May 1959. J. Robert Jackson took control of the business in 1959 and the family still operates the facility today.

Edgewater Beach Club, 2020. The Stavola name is deeply tied to both the Edgewater and Driftwood beach clubs in Sea Bright, according to Asbury Park Press news archives, going back 65 years now.

The club took a real pounding from Hurricane Sandy, 2013.

Edgewater Beach & Cabana Club, 2019. In February 1958, Stavola brothers John, Frank, Joseph, and James came together to built the Edgewater Beach Club just north of their brother Michael’s new beach club called Driftwood.

“Relax … And Let Yourself Be Pampered” at Edgewater — sketch for a March 1987 APP ad.

Members Wanted! APP ad, August 1984.

Edgewater Cabana Club sketch, APP 11/1985. The club was greatly expanded over state objections in the late 1980s.

Edgewater Beach Hotel after fire, May 1954. The property later became the Edgewater and Driftwood Beach Clubs. The oceanfront hotel was once a 30-room mansion owned by William Nelson Cromwell, the top lawyer for the Panel Canal company in 1902.

Old Cromwell estate. Today’s Driftwood. A May 1953 APP report about Sea Bright has “Edgewater Hotel” owner Arthur O. Axelsen wanting to open a nearby bathing beach. He was also the SB assessor at the time. A job he held for 28 years.

Driftwood logo, 1959. In November 1956, Michael J. Stavola of Middletown Twp. got it all started by acquiring the 320-feet of oceanfront property of the old “Edgewater Hotel” and surrounding land.

Driftwood Beach Club, 1960s. Michael J. Stavola built the original club for $400,000 in 1958. No matter what he touched — beach clubs, contracting, quarrying, horse-farming, real estate – it came up a big winner. The Jersey City native died in December 1998 at age 81.

Driftwood cabanas, 2018.

Driftwood Beach Club damages after Hurricane Sandy, 2013.

Driftwood Beach Club damages after Hurricane Sandy, 2013.

Post-Sandy repairs at Driftwood, 2013.

Driftwood from above, 2020.

Driftwood Beach Club damages after Hurricane Sandy, 2012.

Sands Beach Club, 2010s. John Chimento bought the Sands in 1972 from the original owners who built the beach club in 1926. The family still runs the club today.

Sands Beach Club, 2017. Bill Sandlass built the original club in the 1930s.

In 1963, John Chimento acquired a classic seashore mansion in Monmouth Beach (above) with the hopes of creating a private beach club there. The home had been built by the McKesson family, future pharma giants. Local officials said no. By the next decade it was high-rise condos.

Perhaps the most elaborate of the oceanfront beach clubs was The Peninsula House hotel and beach club. The original house (c) was built in 1881 and burned in 1986.

Summer of ’62. Asbury Park Press ad.

The P House — Postcard Perfect, 1940s.

No report on SB beach club history is complete without mentioning the Sandlass family name. Their family historian Susan Gardiner is out with a new book, Sandy Hook’s Lost Highland Beach Resort ($21.99; Arcadia Publishing). “Only the Sandlass family has owned and operated three beach clubs/bathing pavilions in Sea Bright between 1909 and 1963,” Susan explains. “Starting in 1888, the Highland Beach resort area was considered its own neighborhood and real estate development project until it was annexed by Sea Bright in 1909.” When it came to the beach, Susan said her family “were eager entrepreneurs in the industry.” Our thanks.

Sandlass Brothers Bathing Pavilion on Ocean Avenue, 1927. The business was run by Bill Sandlass, older son of Will Sandlass. His younger brother, Henry Sandlass, was a silent partner. Today this spot is the Chapel Beach Club.

Harbor Light Day Beach Club on fire, 1963. Robert Osgoodby acquired the 8-acre property along the Shrewsbury River in 1953. He also ran a football camp there.

Downsea Beach Hotel at 150 Ocean Avenue, 1930s. Sometimes called a “roadhouse,” it was badly damaged in a Sept. 1958 fire. A large saltwater pool was added in 1962.

Downsea Beach Hotel aerial image, 1960s. The spot later became Gaiter’s.

Gaiter’s, 2011. The restaurant and marina was owned by Victor Scudiery, who chaired the Monmouth County Democratic Party forever.

Tradewinds Beach Club, 1970s. Starting as a beach club in the 1950s, it grew and grew. Architect Jerome Larson did a big redesign in 1976.

The original Tradewinds-by-the-Sea beach club on Ocean Avenue, 1950s. In 1962, the new Tradewinds Beach Club under construction got a liquor license from the old Sea Bright Motel, both owned by Irwin Levy.

Tradewinds Beach Club, 1970s. The club opened an in-door swimming pool in 1964.

Tradewinds Beach Club on Ocean Avenue, 1970s. Ed Levy and family reopened the nearby Tradewinds nightclub in 1976 after three year hiatus.

“Final Curtain” — Tradewinds Night Club at the end, 2002.

Hurricane Sandy leftovers, 2012. The nightclub, an important part of the Jersey Shore music scene for 30 years, operated until December 2002. At its peak, the club could accommodate 1,200 patrons indoors.

Sea Bright Beach Pavilion, 2020. The “town’s beach” is a real wow.

Sea Bright Beach Pavilion, 2019. The borough’s modern seashore facility cost $4 million.

SB public beach, 2019, (Frank Snead Photo).

Sea Bright Bathing Pavilion, 1940s. The building was torn down in 1948. Sometimes called the “Surf Bathing Pavilion.”

Sea Bright Bathing Pavilion, 1940s. Elliott and Shropshire were SBBP owners from 1924 until selling to John Chimento in 1964.

Hurricane Sandy damage on Ocean Avenue, 2012.

SB Beach Club, early 1900s.