Fans welcome Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band back to the home state New Jersey and MetLife Stadium. Thomas P. Costello
(Photo: Doug Hood)
Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series looking at where celebrities grew up at the Shore.
FREEHOLD - This small borough left a big impression on its most famous son.
“This town, my town, would never leave me, and I could never completely leave it, but I would never live in Freehold again," Bruce Springsteen wrote in his 2016 autobiography, "Born to Run," describing his exit from Freehold in 1969.
He was headed to Carl "Tinker" West's surfboard factory in Ocean Township, although he'd soon spend many a night crashing in various Asbury Park locales, too.
Nightly, during his autobiographical smash, "Springsteen on Broadway," The Boss pays tribute to his hometown, referencing locations like the Nestle coffee plant, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, the Freeman Funeral Home and his paternal grandparents' house on Randolph Street, which was torn down long ago.
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"“Here we lived in the shadow of the steeple,” Springsteen said in June, during a performance at the Tony Awards, “where the holy rubber meets the road, all crookedly blessed in God’s mercy, in the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, race-rioting, freaking, soul shaking, redneck, love-and-fear making, heartbreaking town of Freehold, New Jersey.”
Here's a look at Springsteen's three Freehold homes (two are still standing, while the site of one is now a parking lot) in the small town that helped to mold him.
Buy Photo The pictured driveway once lead to the first house Springsteen lived in at 87 Randolph Street., which is one of the three homes Bruce Springsteen grew up in, in Freehold, NJ Tuesday August 7, 2018. (Photo: Tanya Breen)
87 Randolph St. (former location)
Bruce's first home in Freehold belonged to his paternal grandparents, Fred and Alice Springsteen. Young Bruce lived in his house until about age 6, along with his one-year-younger sister, Virginia, his paternal grandparents, and his parents, Doug and Adele. You can still see the house's driveway in the parking lot of St. Rose of Lima Church; the home, which Springsteen describes as increasingly decrepit, was torn down long ago.
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Buy Photo The pictured driveway once lead to the first house Springsteen lived in at 87 Randolph Street., which is one of the three homes Bruce Springsteen grew up in, in Freehold, NJ Tuesday August 7, 2018. (Photo: Tanya Breen)
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"Our house was old and soon to be noticeably decrepit," he writes in "Born to Run. "Our kerosene stove in the living room was all we had to heat the whole place."
Right down the street was St. Rose of Lima Church, a central feature of the neighborhood. "The church bells ring. My clan pours out of our houses and hustles up the street," Springsteen wrote. "Someone is getting married, getting dead or being born."
A copper beech tree used to stand next to Bruce Springsteen's first childhood home in Freehold (Photo: Jean Mikle)
Next to the house was a huge copper beech tree. "In our front yard, only feet from our porch, stands the grandest tree in town, a towering copper beech," Springsteen wrote. "...On sunny days, it's roots are a fort for my soldiers, a corral for my horses and my second home."
The massive tree was taken down by the borough around 2009. I had heard it was hit by lightning, but not sure if that's true. Does anyone know?
Behind the house was St. Rose of Lima School, which Springsteen attended through eighth grade.
39 1/2 Institute St.
The Springsteens moved to this two-family house when Bruce was about six years old. They lived here until his high school years.
Buy Photo 39 1/2 Institute Street, one of the three homes Bruce Springsteen grew up in, in Freehold, NJ Tuesday August 7, 2018. (Photo: Tanya Breen)
Bruce, his parents and his sister, Virginia, lived on the left side of the house if you're facing it on Institute Street. They moved out to avoid a rent increase and also perhaps because the small house had become a bit too cramped after Bruce's youngest sister, Pam, was born.
The small house had no hot water upstairs.
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It was while living at the Institute Street house that Springsteen saw Elvis Presley on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956. He describes the impact in his autobiography (and during the Broadway show):
"Then, in a moment of light, blinding as a universe birthing a blllion new suns, there was hope, sex, rhythm, excitement, possibility, a new way of seeing, feeling, of thinking, of looking at your body, of combing your hair, wearing your clothes, of moving and of living."
The seven-year-old Springsteen quickly convinced his mother to rent him a guitar from a South Street music store. But he found playing it too difficult and music lessons too boring.
Buy Photo 39 1/2 Institute Street, one of the three homes Bruce Springsteen grew up in, in Freehold, NJ Tuesday August 7, 2018. (Photo: Tanya Breen)
The guitar was returned shortly thereafter, but not before Bruce held his first impromptu performance, before an audience of "six or so of the neighborhood guys and gals in my backyard."
"It was over for now," he wrote about returning the guitar, "but for a moment, just a moment, in front of those kids in my backyard....I smelled blood."
The Institute Street house was recently sold for $255,000.
68 South St.
Another two-family house where the Springsteens lived throughout Bruce's high school years. His parents left Freehold for California in 1969, two years after Springsteen graduated from Freehold High School.
Buy Photo 68 South Street, one of the three homes Bruce Springsteen grew up in, in Freehold, NJ Tuesday August 7, 2018. (Photo: Tanya Breen)
I've heard varying stories as to which side of the house the Springsteens occupied, but the consensus seems to be that it was the left side, if you're facing the house from busy South Street.
The house was located next to a Sinclair Gas Station and it was while living here that Springsteen saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.
"From over the sea, the gods returned, just in time," Springsteen wrote of The Fab Four. He describes searching for The Beatles first album at the Newberry's five-and-ten on Main Street.
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"I went back on a daily basis until I saw IT," he wrote. "The album cover, the greatest album cover of all time (tied with Highway 61 Revisited). All it said was Meet the Beatles. That was exactly what I wanted to do."
Springsteen lived in this house through his high school years, and was living here when he joined his first real band, "The Castiles." He would live here for a few months after his parents left for California in 1969.
His sister Pam, went with them, but Bruce and his sister Virginia - Ginny - stayed behind. Ginny became pregnant in her senior year in high school, and soon married her child's father, Mickey Shave. They remain happily married today.
Springsteen's song, "The River" was based on their early struggles.
After Bruce's parents left Freehold, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez and Danny Federici moved into the South Street house, along with a revolving cast of long-haired hippies.
"My family home of seven years was instantly transformed into a hippie frat house," Springsteen wrote.
Eventually the landlord kicked out the motley crew: "Finally, everyone in the neighborhood had had enough and it led to a knock on the door, the landlord explaining he was closing the house for 'renovations' and we would have to leave."
It was the last time Springsteen would ever live in Freehold.
There is nothing like seeing Springsteen perform in his home state of New Jersey, as you can see in the video above this story.
Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com