VTC-POET: Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk

February 14, 2025

Did you know that between the 1930s and 1970s, the West Side of Asbury Park, NJ, was a vibrant hub of African American life and culture? The community, shaped by Black and African American, Italian, Jewish, and Latino residents and business owners, created famous spots such as Madonna’s Bar, Grossman’s Sea Food, and the Orchid Lounge along Springwood Avenue (known by locals as “The Avenue”). VTC-POET and its partners created an ArcGIS StoryMap Collection highlighting the legacy, stories, and ongoing contributions of the West Side neighborhood and the residents who continue to uphold its vibrancy today.

Begin The Tour

This project is a finalist in the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, Storytelling for a Better World competition. Please vote by March 12, 2025

Vote for The Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk

Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk Flyer

The Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center needs your help! Out of 570+ storytellers from 58 countries, VTC-POET, and its project partners are finalists in the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, Storytelling for a Better World, for The Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk project!

Recent Posts

Andrews, et.al assess heat and air quality in low-income housing

Personal exposures to heat and PM2.5 in urban environments Abstract Current methods for assessing exposure to extreme heat and air pollution depend mostly on readings from regulatory monitoring stations. We hypothesize that this does not accurately represent the...

2026 NJDOT Complete Streets Summit Recap

On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, the NJDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center hosted the eighth New Jersey Complete Streets Summit. This year’s event, centered on the theme “Every Journey Safer,” was a resounding success, bringing together more than 250 planners,...

The fastest way to ease the housing crisis? Rent control

Op-ed by Tram Hoang, a senior associate at PolicyLink, a national research and action institute and Mark Paul, associate professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Massachusetts is losing its working families. Not just to...