Asbury Park developed as a popular Jersey Shore resort but was also shaped by racial segregation. Black residents and visitors were historically restricted from many beachfront facilities, while a thriving Black cultural district developed along Springwood Avenue west of the railroad tracks. After unrest in 1970 and decades of economic decline, many of the city’s grand waterfront structures deteriorated. The Casino and its monumental passageway survive as prominent remnants of the old resort.

I had known Asbury Park as a Jersey Shore destination long before I began thinking seriously about its racial geography. Photographing the Casino made me look beyond the familiar boardwalk ruins toward the history of who had been welcomed on that beachfront and the separate Black cultural world that developed along Springwood Avenue.