Midnight: Bowling to the Beat The second band was ready to take the stage at Asbury Lanes. Ethan Silverman briefly glanced up, then finished his fifth frame. Nearby, Jen Skidmore grabbed a candy apple from a tray nearby before taking her next shot at the 8-ball. This is a bowling alley with a difference in the heart of an abandoned neighborhood in Asbury Park. As most of the properties near the waterfront are seized for redevelopment, Asbury Lanes has thus far escaped the wrecking ball. Two years ago, the club’s manager, Jenn Hampton, and fellow music aficionados turned the bowling alley, which dates to 1961, into a venue for lesser-known rock, punk and rockabilly bands that were unable to get booked at the better-known Stone Pony a few blocks away. “You can be yourself here, and everyone gets along,” said Ms. Skidmore, 21, who moved to Bath, Pa., from Howell Township last year, but still comes back to Asbury Lanes each month. Along with the bowling, which continues during music sets (except on the lanes where the stage is set up), the club has a pool table, a separate bar area and a kitchen that serves cheap, sometimes free, food. Mr. Silverman, 23, lives in New York, but came here for the first time last month, with a friend who lives in nearby Ocean Grove. “There’s nothing like this in Manhattan,” Mr. Silverman said. “It’s like stepping into the past.” Asbury Lanes, 209 4th Avenue, Asbury Park; (732) 776-6160; _www.asburylanes.com_ (http://www.asburylanes.com/) . JILL P. CAPUZZO _The Weekend: Oh! The Places They Crowd - New York Times_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/18/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/19njsat.html?pagewanted=all)
