Johnny Cash Once Owned The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park

Written By Mike Greenblatt

When I told the legendary Johnny Cash [1932-2003] that I was from New Jersey, he broke into a wide smile and asked me if I hung out at all in Asbury Park.  The occasion was a press party for his step-daughter Carlene Carter. I told him about crazy times down the shore and he loved it.  Then he laid it on me.

Apparently, his close personal friend Henry Vaccaro, a local entrepreneur, in 1985, persuaded him to buy the Berkeley Carteret Hotel in Asbury Park with TV anchorman Ernie Anastos. The three of them did, indeed, purchase the property and spent many happy hours frequently visiting the area, walking the boardwalk, the beach and the Asbury Park streets. He’d dine in the numerous restaurants and probably played some pinball machines in the numerous arcades. (Cash loved pinball.) He loved this town!  To solidify his relationship with the neighborhood, Cash put on a historic show in October of ’85 at Asbury’s Paramount Theatre.

Johnny Cash and The Jersey Sound Editor Mike Greenblatt

Johnny Cash and ‘The Jersey Sound' Editor Mike Greenblatt

Now known as the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel, it’s still on Ocean Avenue, but doesn’t have its Johnny Cash Room anymore, according to Margot Macpherson, Director Of Sales. The Man In Black divested himself of numerous properties he had once co-owned including this one. Macpherson added, “the room is still there and we call it amongst ourselves `the former Johnny Cash room.’”

(Advertisement)

Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

Next

History: Dee Dee Warwick